tigerblues

The ref made some absolute shockers last night, not Nicki. Think some of the boos were acceptable in a sense but when he came off Nicki received some absolutely vile treatment from so called "fans", did we all have a good cheer when Bomber came off aswell? You wouldn't, if it was a Brit or rider you support it'd be totally different and before you ask I'm not a Nicki Pedersen fan at all. He's not a cheat, IMO, and the only person to blame for everything last night is that referee. You can all say what you want as it's your opinion but riders like Nicki make speedway what it is and this season British Speedway misses him IMO!

Music was brilliant IMO, some awesome song choices and it really added to it all. And btw.. me and lilmisstiger managed the Hokey Cokey

Was my first Cardiff GP and thought, away from the racing tbh, it was awesome. Cut it a bit fine on the way there having got a puncture on the car just coming off the motorway a few miles from the park & ride and being stuck at the side of the road for a good 2 hours, plenty of speedway fans drove past us who I did recognise in Cardiff but got back on our way after a bit of a wait and got there in great timing. Atmosphere before was something else, inside the stadium was just incredible. Will be going back next year for that alone I think. As for the meeting, what can I say that won't have been mentioned. Track was a disgrace, referee controversial as ever. Crump deserved the win, he is well back in it now, and Hancock rode well. Nicki was lucky as it gets. Gollob needed a good round to keep himself in it and didn't deliver one. Bjarne found his GP form. Harris was riding well until a nasty crash which he was probably lucky to get up from. Nicholls rode well but typical Brit to blow the chance. Although ref held tapes for what felt like a lifetime, wasn't impressed. Anyway to sum it up, as a GP it wasn't great, as a day it was absolutely awesome!

Hope to meet some of you tomorrow, going to be around Cardiff for most of the day apparently and probably in the PoW so may bump into some forum members. Bring it on!!

Some coverage like this is great, could do with more of that kind of attention in the press at other times during the season too.

Holder missed out in his qualifier recently, he only scored 5 points I think (same qualifier King and Steady came through), and apparently Bomber withdrew from the GP qualifiers.

How much were programmes last year?

Hopefully Nicki and Gollob to score poorly, a British race winner (!) and AJ, Hans, JC and Leigh in the final. So I fully expect 1st and 2nd to be Nicki and Gollob....

Holder Pleased to see Steady & King did well.

I presume you are referring to at Kings Lynn, yes he is but in a MEMORIAL meeting, and Rob Lyon has explained why this is the case

Reading V Rye House, he said to Johno "I was born in Scunthorpe, you can't get anymore British than that" and said very clearly he is a Brit. Hopefully he will come along in the next few years, we need riders like him right now. See Richardson's done well in a qualifier today or recently, hopefully he will give us some hope.

I think I'd find that funny if I didn't have to say that the riders responsible are from my country We're 4 rounds in and tbh I think they should be written off now for consideration for a wildcard. If they start to pick up, maybe win a round, get some good points and get in the top 8 then well done (yeah it will be well done aswell because right now there's more chance of Nicki scoring 0 in every remaining round) but I believe that next year the only hope Bomber or Scotty has is if they are given a wildcard. Bomber proves that although he was reasonably successful last year (dressed up with the win at Cardiff make no mistake but credit anyway) he can't justify a wildcard inclusion and Nicholls just proves that he is not a GP standard rider and blows every chance he gets (yes I know he got in on merit for 08, only just). To cut that short, the Brits are not good enough for the GPs and unless they get in on merit should be missed out next year.

The Brits are just not performing. Nicholls did look pretty good tbf but it wasn't a good performance if he didn't make the semis, IMO. They're both good enough to beat every rider in that field if they perform. Both riders had the chance for a race win but let that slip and still no race wins (and considering one is the British champion currently and another 4 times aswell it does show the state of our riders really). Find it pathetic personally, GB will win nowt again. Gollob was class as per, as was Pedersen and Crumpy was tidy aswell. Bjerre impressed me no end especially after what he's been through the past few weeks to ride so quickly, top stuff. Not much else to say but roll on the 28th, the next GP, Cardiff

I don't think the move on Lindgren was dirty tbh, I think if I had to choose a rider at fault I would definitely say Dryml, Lindgren looked to be in front and Dryml's bike I think did start to lift before Lindgren "leaned over onto him" (which I'm not that convinced he did but others disagree) but to me, no rider was at fault and it certainly wasn't intentional. Don't think Lindgren deserved to be excluded and I would have excluded Dryml. Nasty crash though Also.. why don't they show the riders on the phone to the ref anymore?

Who needs an excuse? Got tickets a few days back and finally sorted out transport so I'm very much looking forward to it now, first time to Cardiff for me

At the end of the day it's still a competition to represent our country and all riders should be extremely proud to do so, tbh Nicholls as the British champion in my eyes deserves to be there and then I would go for Bomber and Richardson if fit. Olly Allen at Coventry would be my next choice (if he's fit?) but absolutely any team I was taking to the world cup regardless of track would include Tai as I think he deserves his place and deserves the chance. Fair enough he might not get a maximum, he's an intelligent lad though and he'll just gain from it. Simon Stead is an interesting one, personally I don't think he would justify his inclusion but maybe at Coventry Lynch would fancy trying it. Personally I'm not exactly queuing up to join the Edward Kennett fan club but he's doing alright for himself and I would probably give him a chance if Rico is not fit, but for Coventry my team would be: Nicholls Bomber Rico/Eddie Tai Olly Allen? BUT, as previously mentioned, all 12 should be in the pits with the team regardless of whether they're riding or not just for the experience. Might teach them a thing or two and let's face it, we might not all rate them but the Kennetts, Wrights and Bridgers of this country are what we have for the future.

Why not just take all of the GP winners, and choose the 4 with the most points overall and have those in the race at the end? It seems like an odd idea the way it is but got to give it a chance, will be interesting when a rider wins more than 1 Super Prix GP

I remember was it Hans or Matej Zagar being wildcard in somewhere like Latvia the other year.. or it could have happened for both riders at some point.. I think having the wildcard from that country just creates more local interest hence the reason it's done when a rider can be competitive. Don't like to say it but fact of the matter is Holder puts many Brits to shame and would be well worthy of a place in ANY Grand Prix and would be well entertaining, unlike the Brits, I'm struggling to think of a young Brit who could mix it in a GP right now! Edit - British Final decides the wildcard for Cardiff, poor line-up dressed up by Nicholls and Bomber and unfortunately I can't see whoever the wildcard will be adding anything, whether it's Tai Woffinden (good little rider but not ready yet) or Ricky Ashworth (as amusing as it would be).

I've always supported the Brits because I think that's right being British but this is getting ridiculous. Can't even start with the excuses, there aren't any. Poor track? Yep, for all 18 riders. It didn't get worse as soon as a Brit went out. Nicholls proves the point one or two on this forum have been trying to make for a long time now that I have always disagreed with, he just cannot hack it in the GPs for some reason. Harris is struggling to justify his wildcard. Both making stupid mistakes that riders that level should not make and despite the riders they beat in the league they can't seem to be able to match it at this level. Hoping for an improvement, wait until next year if these two aren't those in for selling the Cardiff tickets, Ed and Lewis perhaps? Or even Tai? Truth is, these 2 are supposed to be about the best we have right now (unlucky Lee Richardson got injured though because he was going well and could have qualified) which is a worrying situation to be in.

Can't argue VV. Like I said on the other thread, you know it's a problem when rider safety comes into it, and it's not as though the weather has affected it or another factor, all we are seeing is a poorly prepared track.

ABSOLUTE DISGRACE! Few bad crashes, final straw there though. Tomasz Gollob does not just fall off. World class riders just flying off like they don't even belong in the GPs. See the state of the track that Gollob pointed out? Totally wrong, and very dangerous. Get it sorted now. What's going to happen when someone hits a rut and, as has nearly happened once or twice tonight someone comes and hits said rider, or if the rider just falls off hard enough to do some serious damage. What will Mr Olsen think of his crap tracks then? Time to do something about this, crap racing is one thing and we can all live with that, we all have to see it at some point but when world class riders are falling off and obviously are at danger then we know that the state of the track is clearly NOT acceptable.

I'm jealous of a lot of people, I don't go and push them over

AJ's won 2 so never mind Nicholls and Holta, we'll get him in there aswell. 91 points is 91 points no matter how they're scored

Even still, AJ had a good night, deserved the points he scored and the win in the final, Nicki's fault for making a mistake, AJ just took advantage of that. Check out AJ's trophy aswell.

Lol if Millard was commentating I'd have been willing to put a bet on him saying "and will the Bees pair teamride?" Agreed.