SPEEDY69

Loads of you seem to be being mighty disrespectful saying the Bees gifted BV a point. So you know for sure that BV weren't capable of getting a 5-1 against anyone else? Let's see, Andersen & Harris both on 7 from 4, King on 7+1 from 4 and Kylmakorpi 7+2 from 4. Surely they just used the highest scorers in the 1-5? Whatever, it was good to finish nice and promptly on a decent evening.

Yes, one of Kenny's finest achievements. It was mainly the wet on that occasion though and even though a lot of the riders didn't like the conditions, it wasn't called off. Alternatively I remember many of the World Finals in the 70s, some at Wembley where everyone was hitting ruts and two-wheeling all over the place but there was no question of a call off.

Completely agree with this. Part of the skill of a rider for me is their ability to pick which bits of the track they ride on and have the ability to turn the throttle both ways, as needed. The latest high-revving engines don't help admittedly but you could see on saturday who were racing and who were struggling. This fashion for right leg lifting also makes the bike much less stable and prone to lifting our of control. As Gavan says, top class ex-riders have commented on the track and it's comparison to tracks when they rode - it's simply speedway and ruts, deep surfaces etc. have always been part of it. Maybe some riders should think how dangerous it is when they fence, turn left, or ride into opponents - as Batchelor clearly did to Pedersen on Saturday but got away with it - should there be stronger penalties, it's dangerous after all

Cook missed several Belle Vue away meetings last year - given his results away from home that's not necessarily a bad thing!

Is that what happened? Did he expect to ride?

Neither did former riders via Twitter who alluded to riders wanting billiard tables to compare their bikes on at full gas, rather than control the throttle around the track.

Maybe for the same reason that he wasn't asked to appear in the GP challenge at Poole a couple of years ago and prevented from riding in the Euro Champs

Bees are the bogey team for the Aces. Again a disappointing score from the aces no.1. 10 points from him and it would've been a draw. Friday may be closer than this.

After going to the Riga fiasco last season, feel sorry for the fans in Warsaw. Why can't speedway take a lower risk approach and follow the lead of other sports - e.g. Athletics where no major event can take place in a stadium which has not held at least one previous event. This way things like starting gates, lighting and the track can be tested before the world's media descends and the important event is upon them. The track was not that bad, they have had much worse in the past but probably that along with the tapes and inept referee just took them over the edge.

It was not a statement of fact, merely to say who I think deserves to be in the team irrespective of politics. Anyway, how about a few bumps be inserted at Lynn, the Aussies don't seem to like them

At present, given all are available I'd pick: Woffinden Nicholls Lambert Harris Howarth

As expected, home win for Aces, Schlein not an improvement on Bjarne. Nicholls' bank balance will be healthy after 7 meetings in the last 7 days.

It seems to me that Pedersen missing is all about Leicester strengthening themselves rather than the rider pulling out - his scores for Leicester have been shocking so far and I wouldn't be surprised to see him depart these shores soon. This is only my opinion of course.

cook and stead cost belle vue dearly it seems. they will need to improve away from home for aces to get anywhere this year. i expect stead will but not so sure abput cook.

As I said on another thread, faster does not mean better and I think the modern high-revving engines have a big impact, alongside electronic gadgetry around ignition settings etc. I don't really have an answer though - what's F2 speedway like, any better?

As with all motor sports, machinery plays a big part but I don't think that Greg's riding ability can be questioned. He has the tremendous ability to be able to perform at a consistently high level no matter what tracks conditions are like, whether big or small and very rarely gets out of control - that is pure motorcycling ability.

You can never please everyone, nor should we! Some riders do better in slick "full throttle" type surfaces, others where it's grippy or deep, others in the wet but whatever one of those, I think they all like the track to be consistent and not have patches of these variations within the bends.

Yes. At the Southern Track Riders 20th Anniversary meeting a few years ago there was a photographer and there are big selection of photos. See here for thread: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=74902

1st bold section: Not quite true though is it - he was only a reserve for the challenge final and only by luck did one of the qualifiers not take their place which then promoted him in to the final. 2nd bold section: Again not true though. Not all riders get the opportunity as those in the qualifiers are there only due to being selected by their country in the first place. No issues with him being in the series next year though because he took advantage of that chance and I wish him the best of luck - the more Brits in there the better.

The weather in March/April can be worse than October (definitely can be much colder!) - whatever months are used the weather plays its part and always has.

Qualification, whether through the top 8 or the qualifiers does not result in the top 15 riders in the world being in the series - merely those who have 'qualified' to be in the GP series. The 'top 15' would be difficult to agree if juts selected, howvere that was done. The point I'm making is why should current GP riders have two ways of qualifying.

I think they should change the qualification rules - the wild cards may then become even more of a talking point. The permanent 15 riders in the series that year should not be allowed to compete in the qualifiers, thereby giving as many riders as possible the chance to qualify (from those picked by each country in the first place of course). Those 15 already have their qualification series over the year whereby the top 8 qualify and the rest don't - why should they get two chances? Imagine if all 15 choose to go through the qualifiers, as they could under the existing system, the challenge could simply be another GP!!

I agree with this in respect of those riders 'lucky' to get in that you identify. Difficult one though because there are always those who get promoted in the standings due to other riders being injured/withdrawing/suspended, as you know

You're forgetting Linlithgow/Lathallan. Tidy little track with a nice bump into bend 3 that I remember well. Of course, being serious, 'best' can mean lots of things - best for passing, best for facilities, best for location, best for when it's raining, best for value etc. For racing then I think most tracks have their moments. I particularly enjoyed the Bradford World Final in 1990, the Semi they had there and the WTC in 1989 was dramatic of course - all for the racing and atmosphere. I remember seeing a decent Czech league meeting at Pardubice - the space there is astounding and in the middle of the woods. Mildenhall is a cool little track and Peterborough awesome to ride. Scheesel was an eye opener, simply for the speed reached, although that's longtrack so probably out of scope for this thread.

don't disagree with this but let's not forget that those in the qualifiers relied on a pick - certainly the brits were selected by BSPA/Rosco, so not all riders had the chance, but I know what you meant.