Bobbin' Along

Spot on Ron. Me old Ma's favourite saying "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Freedom of speech is one of our rights as a nation. I'm not sure I agree with every comment you've made Pugwash, but I can't argue with the sentiment behind them. I won't be dictated to as to who I have to cheer for, who I have to support. Once again I find myself agreeing with you Seb. As well as freedom of speech, isn't freedom of choice a part of what makes this nation? If I have the freedom to vote for whoever I want to in the elections, then I have the freedom to choose who I damn well want to support in the GPs. So there.

How ridiculous. I thought it had been a mis-spelling of Holder until I followed the link.

I humbly beg to differ. The only way a promoter can get so-called "stars" to ride in England is to pay them extortionate amounts of money. The amount of money that Peterborough owed Hans Andersen is testament to that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's cheque book speedway. And, whether we like it or not, stars are what we need in the RL. 2007 - Belle Vue had no really big stars - no Crump etc. And look what happened to them. I'm told crowds were down, takings down etc. If Swindon were to lose Leigh Adams and just go with locally grown or British talent, or even some good middle order riders, we would lose takings and there would be a lot who would stop attending - the speedway supporter being a fickle beast.

Them's the rules - and everybody should abide by them, regardless of how good their supporters feel they are. I can't quote the rules off by heart, but it's something along the lines of the top 8, plus 4 permanent wild cards, 1 wild card for each GP and the 3 qualifiers. Why should he get in just because he's 9th? I know- here's a radical idea - let's no have wild cards or qualifiers, let's just put the top 16 in and run a one-off world final..... Yes. He obviously felt that he was good enough to get through on merit - which he obviously wasn't (or at the very least 8 other riders were better than him, or wanted it more). I'd much rather have seen him qualify in the GP, but now he hasn't I cannot buy into the idea that we have to seed him in. There's a lot of people on here to seem to think he has earned the right to be seeded - not IMHO.

Totally agree with the issue of "making numbers up" rather than getting in on merit. I also agree with three out of the four nominations. But your comment about the also rans? Ulamek made his decision to go into the GP Challenge, and made a good job of it by qualifying. You can go on about the never ending cycle - why not go one further and include Nicholls while your'e at it? I'm pretty sure he's got into the GP a couple of times when he hasn't qualified but has been seeded in. At least Ulamek and Walasek qualified fair and square "on merit" I believe you called it) and will not now have to wait to see if the BSI (or whoever it is that decides these things) throws them a bone.

And if Hancock retires? Who then? I seem to remember that at the beginning of the year both Harris and Nicholls stated that they wanted to be in the 2009 GP series on merit - hence they didn't go through the GP qualifier rounds. I think it would be interesting if their bluff was called and others were nominated in their stead. Does each country have a minimum/maximum requirement for riders in the GP? Tatum said that Holta probably wouldn't get the nod if he'd finished outside the top 8 because Poland already had 3 riders in the 2009 series.

I don't think you can blame BSI for single handedly "killing speedway" I think the BSPA and the stupid rule book have at least part of the blame. I think it's very sad that after a superb meeting (best racing I've seen all year in the GPs IMHO) you choose to see it as 44 years of dedication "down the pan". I didn't like the idea of the GP going to Bydgwhatnot, but the racing was better than we saw at Gelsenwhatsit last year.

Strange, isn't it, that all the forumites based in Germany at the moment have been reporting stonking hot weather, yet the BSI/FIM press release says that the combination of wet shale and low temperatures in the stadium meant that the track was not fit for racing. At least knowing that it was called off at lunchtime explains why it was that Rosco was advertising the footy at his pub rather than the speedway! I'm angry at the whole situation. It makes speedway look, as was aptly put in an earlier post, like a mickey mouse sport. The sight of Keith Hewen trying to explain why it had been called off - without laughing and calling it a farce - was awful. Chris Louis looked like he could hardly contain his anger, and appeared to be stopping just short of calling them all clowns. If, and TBH we don't really know what happened, it was a schoolboy error by Olsen then he must go. It's been bad enough seeing bald, slick tracks all season (because he likes them like that) and the ridiculously dangerous track he prepared at Gothenburg.

Practice before official Press day, the year he signed for us. He ended up with my Dad cutting his "lucky leathers" off him because he broke a leg. The alternative that he was given was to rip the things off over the break..... I still vividly remember getting a phone call from Dad "Who do you know with the initials FinnThomsen who won't be riding for you this season?"

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong -but didn't we try the "one big league" thing a few years back? And it was such a great idea that we stopped doing it very quickly.

Just in case anyone should think that the Cardiff hotels are shafting only speedway fans, I would like to point out that for all major events (concerts, poofball, rugby, monster trucks - even the beer festivals! ) they all put their rates up, as well as the prices of their drinks in all but the Wetherspoons chain pubs. It's appalling - especially as you can book (and pay) for a room well in advance, and still end up being charged more at the time. And people wonder why we drive straight back home each year....

Thank you Mods for removing PanthersChamp06's remark.

(see above.....) You're a very sad individual if you think it's OK to refer to anyone using derogatory terms like that. Not only is it insulting to Edward Kennett, but worse -it's intensely hurtful to those involved with, or having, Down's Syndrome children not to mention to the sufferers themselves.

I know, that's why the smiley face was after the comment! I've said enough times on hre that in my opinion he's a true Brit, and he's been quoted as saying that he's British - I was just be faec..fec..sarky.

Must be my age - I'd completely forgotten about the others. Mike Lee was who I was referring to- 28 years is nearly 30....

The only problem is that they said exactly that 5 years ago - we'll build on what we have achieved, the riders we have etc. etc. Leigh Richardson and Scott Nicholls were the "great white hopes", then it was Eddie Kennett, Simon Stead, Chris Harris, now it's Tai Woffinden. And we have not become world beaters. It's kind of depressing when the last British individual world champion (not longtrack) won almost 30 years ago, and the last time we were WTC champs was when Tatum was captain in the 80's! I would honestly be delighted to see a British team win, and I will support them when they ride, but it won't happen for a long time - and possibly not within the 5 years predicted tonight.

Nope - not all bad. Just mostly. One bright spark - Tai Woffinden. As the Aussies have got through to the final, I wonder if he's regretting deciding to be a Brit?

It is for just a weekend away, which is all it really amounts to. The 5 adults in the Bobbin' famiy are 2 pensioners (no deals for them this year) and a 15 year old - an adult bum on a seat next year. Not forgetting that the prices will be up in 2009 - and as Coma points out the hotels in Cardiff will probably cost more than than. This was a rough "guesstimate" - the truth is it would be more. When you consider that you can get a week's holiday for a family for 4, in the sun, for just a little over twice what my projected costs are, I think it puts it into perspective. And despite what anyone thinks - there are families that this would be out of reach for. Having said all that - this was just an idea put forward by Invadersfan for discussion. I can't see it ever happening for the other reasons I stated.

Cut costs for who exactly? Unless you're up to driving to Cardiff twice, anyone who wants to see both meetings would have to stay overnight (not easy - all the hotels are booked out now for next year) and the ridiculous prices that the tickets would be set at, would mean a weekend costing approx £460 for the Bobbin' family (5 adults - £37 seats at GP and £25 seats at WTC, plus 2 hotel rooms at £75 each). These costs are based on what it costs this year - and you can bet your last Pringle that they wouldn't drop them. Plus the hotels always put their rates up for that weekend anyway - imagine how high they'd go if there was a "double header". It'd be out of reach for so many people. It has has been pointed out already that the track rutted up appallingly in one night - they would not have the time to put that right for the next day. Or they'd make a track that was too hard for decent racing on the GP to get something that was merely OK on the WTC next day. It's a nice idea Ivadersfan, but one that IMHO would never, ever work.

You might be watching on THURSday, but Rabs and me'll be watching Thrusday, thank you...

Having seen Olsen onTV yeterday, I can only suppose that he will be in charge of the track on Monday night. I trust, therefore, that the track will be a bald as a badger's nether regions in order for the Danes to go straight through to Saturday. Ermolenko said it last night - if the track at "Cuventry" (why he can't pronounce it properly is beyond me) is roughed up, the Brits stand a chance of winning. I also fully expect that the track will be prepared especially to Nicki's liking on Saturday (and Thursday if they don't win outright on Monday). Call me cynical, but they should not let that man within a mile of any track if you want decent racing. He does a bad enough job on the temporary ones - don't let him stuff up a permanent one.

Totally agree. When the Bobbin's looked at the permutations and realised there was a possibility of a drawn meeting, we automatically put Gollob and Adams into the raceoff. I can see teh thinking - Hampel was unbeaten and had already beaten Adams once - but Gollob would have never left Adams enough space on the first two turns. I heard that too - I also laughed my socks off when he said something along the lines of "It cant be a penalty shootout, the German's aren't in it" All in all, Millard wasn't as bad as I feared, despite the phantom Joker. I still don't want to hear him on Monday though...

Quite - I thought he was going to need an armed escort out of the stadium! Slightly away from topic, we used to have a fan at Swindon who had a condition that I can only compare with Tourettes. Everytime Leigh Richardson came out, he felt compelled to called him a really bad name (pick the worst one you can think of - you'll probably be right). It was only ever Richardson, and he was supposed to be a Swindon fan!

That's one thing you could never accuse me of - diplomacy! I'd love tobe able to name and shame the numpty, but I can't - because I've never seen him before or since.

It happened once in the bar at Swindon - some one wearing a Poole coat shouted something incredibly horrible at Antonio whilst he was riding. I won't repeat it. In the years I've been going to speedway this was the first overtly racist remark I ever heard - maybe because of the lack of riders from any other group than caucasian. We've always had remarks against Welsh or Scottish riders - although these could probably be classed as racist