Subedei

I think it is - regrettably - a case of Nicholls getting himself a Nicki P-Andersen reputation. Two incidents, one after the other, both involving one rider - Scott Nicholls. I don't think he did anything wrong, but I think an aggregate of events told against him. A lot of riders seem to be coming a cropper after tangling with Nicholls these days.

Crump was leading and could choose whichever line he wanted. Come on, be realistic and honest, reverse the positions and would you have wanted Lindback excluded? The answer is a big fat NO.

A shameful display, for the most part, by Tomasz Gollob. Thankfully, as ever, young Jonsson didn't let me down. And he won the thing as well. Congratulations to the fellow - I'm sure a lot of people will be reminding me of past comments about Jonsson. However, I'm a fair Mongol, and I doff my hat to Jonsson (or I would, if I had one).

I still don't see that Crump did anything wrong. Lindback made a basic error by going to wide into the 1st turn, which allowed Crump through and into the lead. Crump just held the standard line, while Lindback tried to correct his error, only to find Crump was where he wanted to be.

Congratulations to Andreas Jonsson - a worthy winner in less than worthy conditions. As for Nicholls - there seem to be an awful lot of riders falling off when racing against Nicholls. Now, I don't think he did a whole lot wrong in any of his rides tonight, but, maybe, like Nicki P and Hans Andersen, he's getting a bit of a reputation for himself.

Of course you can. Conditions played a major part. And a huge error by Andersen for the second GP final running. But, take nothing away from Jonsson, he was superb all evening.

And the answer is Andreas Jonsson. Congratulations to him on his success, which was thoroughly well deserved.

I've got Sky, but it might be more entertaining watching it at Live Updates - so far, it's dross.

Is Malilla the Swedish equivalent of Manchester? Bloody awful so far.

Not forgetting an extra shot for each time we are told that Jason Crump was born in Bristol.

That'll probably be why I said the "only GP rider he defeated was Lindback". Didn't I read somewhere that Gollob had never seen Reading before and that his defeat by Harris was in his second race? Anyway, in the race-off, he also defeated Nicki P and Iversen. And, as has been said before, the GPs are a step up from the SWC, although, frankly, I think the SWC a more compelling competition.

Make that TWO beaten opponents, since the third, Hans Andersen, was excluded after Harris - yes HARRIS - did his dying swan impersonation when he realised he couldn't hold Andersen off. So, if there'd been a decent referee, he wouldn't have even beaten Lindback, since he'd have been excluded.

In the SWC final, the only GP rider he defeated was Antonio Lindback.

What a state British speedway is in. The youngsters - Harris and Stead seem to be the most prominent among them - would be an embarrassment in the GPs, so we have to look at the likes of Loram. I just can't understand Messrs Millard and Pearson always going on about Stead being a future GP star - he can't even hold down a team place in Poland.

Very true. On that occasion, Crump just wanted it more. But won't that always be the case with Jonsson? Talented as he is, there'll always be someone who wants it more than he does.

I do believe - and I'm sure you'll have all the facts and figures - that PePe has a bit of a history of qualifying for the GPs. But, I think it's hopelessly optimistic to see him actually doing anything of note once he gets there.

He seems a decent enough sized chap to me, but he does have a considerable weight of speedway ability as well.

There seems to have been quite a few posts about young Nicholls knocking riders off recently - most notably, I guess, Janusz Kolodziej. Andersen does throw his weight around, but don't be blind to the fact that Nicholls does also.

Andersen made a small error and 99.9% of riders wouldn't have exploited it. It was unfortunate (for Andersen) that Jason Crump was behind him and Crump's one of the 0.1% who would've (and did) exploit it. That 0.1% are world champions.

I've a feeling Wieslaw Jagus will make it through.

It suddenly dawned on me that following TR's sudden retirement from speedway, the Swedes improbably no longer have an active GP winner. So, who'll be the next Swede to top the podium and when will that be? Jonsson for all his talent and promise hasn't looked a likely winner and Lindback's very erratic. I think the Swedes could be in for a barren time of it in coming seasons, until Lindback matures - if he ever does - and Lindgren enters the fray.

I've seen "home" decisions from steele, albeit not in favour of British riders, for example, he was awfully generous to Tomasz Gollob during the Bydgoszcz GP (surely Gollob in Bydgoszcz counts as "home") a couple of years ago.

This was one of the few races I saw last evening - this one and the final. Gollob wasn't any more impeded than he was when he rode into the back of Stead in the SWC last year - and he carried on when that happened. But either way, it's a poor decision, Hampel should've had second or there should've been a re-run.

Not going to happen, but I guess the "nightmare" scenario for BSI and the FIM is where Kolodziej, Jagus and Protasiewicz all qualify, along with Gollob and Hampel in the top 8 - oh dear, what to do?

Well, looks like I could be wrong, again.