Grachan

If we have Rohan and Justin as heatleaders then we could be in trouble. No point having Nick and Josh scoring big against reserves when the other two are capable of dong the same. I think this weakens Swindon a lot, and shouldn't be happening. Poole to win then, unfortunately. If Holder can't bang in the points against Rohan Tungate and Justin Sedgeman then he may as well go back to the Isle of Wight.

I'm glad it's not the Sky meeting. I wouldn't be going if it was. The afternoon start is good for me!

You think Poland would give a stuff if - Woffy apart - they couldn't use British riders? We are lucky to have a rider who is above all others on the World stage. Whether we like it or not, speedway in Britain just isn't a priority any more due to its constant "cost cutting" tactics of the last decade, and also, for many top riders, it is the first to go to the chopping block when schedules get too busy due to its many race nights and also, no doubt, its lower pay rates. If it was, the top riders would be here. Woffinden is doing what he needs to do to maintain his place at the top of the tree. No point standing up for Britain when it's Britain itself that is causing the problem.

What you need to realise is that Poland and Sweden are the leagues riders need to be in these days if they want to make an impact on the World scene. It's not the British leagues any more. The only top riders in the EL are those who are looking for further meetings on top of what they already have.

A fascinating meeting. On form it's Swindon's to lose. On paper it's Poole's to lose. Could go either way.

I loved those 3TT eveents. Maybe because I regularly attended all 3 tracks back in those days of speedway obsession. But to have meetings at Swindon, Oxford an Reading all over the weekend was great for me.

I don't know who told him, but the person at the Swindon forum who said it was Ipswich who wanted it introduced was Matt Ford, who was there as a guest speaker.

I believe you are correct regarding Ipswich being instrumental in the introduction of the Tactical Ride. There was a pre-season forum at Swindon the year it was introduced and it was announced there that Ipswich wanted this and would not stay in the EL unless it was introduced - hence its introduction. And now they are in the PL anyway. Why would Sky want this instead of the old TS, which gave the top riders more outings and made matches closer and more tactical that the TR?

The averages are in a right state at the moment. THey have no bearing on the quality of the rider. The ace format needs to go back to one that gives riders proper averages. If that involves a second reseves race and a nomnated riders heat, I'd even be inclined not to include those in the averages so that heatleaders have a proper hight figure and reserves have a proper low figure. Also, there seems unneccesary complication of what a rider's average is when riding in a different league. For me it should be this: EL - use EL average. PL - use PL average. Whatever their average was, that's their average. Seems logical to me. If they only rode in one league in the previous season then use that one with an assessed average for the other league.

Not such a big call really. Not if you look back through the heats at who Tungate and Sedgeman had beaten and been beaten by. Another very good result by Swindon, who continue to surprise.

What needs doing? I haven't seen the article so I don't know what he suggests.

Depends what new rules they come out with really. It's all very well suggesting tearing up the rule book but they need a viable alternative first.

I can't find the link unfortunately, but there was an article where he said it was ridiculous that he had to ride in the semi final of the British Championships on the day of the GP practice and that he totally supported Tai's decision not to do it.

They already did that this year - to both Mr Woffinden and Mr Harris. Whoever decided that Chris Harris should ride in a semi final on the day of the GP practice is obviously trying to make some kind of point. I doubt Chris will be in the GP next year, but if he were and they did the same I suspect he, too, would pull out going on the comments he made afterwards.

Give the starting marshall red and yellow cards. Yellow card for Cook - cheers from the crowd. Good fun, and no doubt about the situation.

There would be no point Wright replacing one of the Aussies if he was down at reserve, Just because the rider at reserve can suddenly find points a lot easier to come by, doesn't mean they are suddenly better than the riders in the main team. I just wish they would put the race formula back to how it was so we can have proper averages where there best riders have the highest average rather than nearly a whole league of riders between 5 and 7 that tells us nothing.

Some people are making a lot of Swindon's current big scoring reserves, but in reality it doesn't make such a difference. Take last night as an example, and looking at how the team rode. Last night we had the following: Wright: 0, 1, 2 = 3 Tungate: 0, 0, F = 0 Sedgman: 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3 = 17 Morris: 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 = 12 Total = 32 One would expect, if the teams were as they should be, you'd have Wright at 6, Tungate at 2, Sedge at 4 and Morris at 5. If you swap the team round to that order and look at the scores, those people might be surprised at the "difference" in expected points. Assuming the following from last night's form - that Wright beats all reserves, Tungate beats all reserves, Sedge beats all reserves and second strings and Morris beats everyone but Iversen. Also assuming they all do the Hucklebuck, this is what you get (with possible errors on my part - but this is how it came out when I quickly went through!) Wright: 3, 1, 2, 3 = 9 Tungate: 0, 1, 2, 0 = 3 Sedgman: 3, 1, 2, 2 = 8 Morris: 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 = 12 Total = 32. So, in other words, the same. I didn't go through the scores so don't know if it would have affected the TR.

Read Rob Lyon's comments. It's bad when King's Lynn lose too! The only Swindon are "relying on their reserves" is because the riders who should be scoring elsewhere are in the wrong positions. Swindon would be at their strongest with Wright at reserve beating other reserves and with Sedgeman and Tungate as second strings.

If he did, as you say, see the error of his ways then surely that's a positive thing. Hancock? He was doing exactly the same thing - laughing and joking during his own national anthem - after winning a gp last year. If you think Tai was in the wrong last year for doing that then fair enough. But it doesn't mean he isn't British. And, this time, he showed the anthem full respect.

It's just people trying to find a stick to beat a successful Brit. It's always been the same. Tai took his hat off and was respectful throughout our ghastly national anthem, and fair play to him. There's nothing to criticise.

Why should he? He is there by right. You have to question his commitment, though, after opting out of practice.

Absolutely. And it's pretty obvious what the priorities of any rider who wants to be World Champion should be.

Holta never claimed to be Polish? He was in their World Cup team for Heaven's sake! I'm not convinced you are really Polish though. Great win from Woffy. Can't believe Harris missed the practice to ride in the British semi. No wonder Tai pulled out. What a crazy decision from the BSPA, or whoever organises the British finals. Harris rides in the semi and comes last. Tai opts out and comes top. So who made the right decision there?

The thing is, I remember reading in Speedway Star back in the 1980s that while Nielsen/Gundersen was a good rivally it lacked the interest of Carter/Penhall. Coverage of the sport dropped considerably during that time. Hans Neilsen's World Final win in Poland wasn't even on tv and I had to get the video just to watch it. I also have speedway stars from 1967, and there is an article in one of those bemoaning that speedway isn't as interesting as it used to be as it lacks the characters it used to have. I reckon the answer is 1930.

As I pointed out earlier. It's an illusion that the strong reserve is winning the matches, because the rider who should be there is struggling in the top 5 and can only be replaced once. Wright could have picked up plenty of points at reserve, and Tungate would have outscored what Wright scored in the top 5. It's wrong that these riders are at reserve. Pedersen at reserve for Poole is ridiculous. But it's not neccesarily making teams stronger. Pedersen beating reserves by half a lap doesn't score any more than Wright, Ellis or Howarth beating reserves by a small amount, but Ellis or Wright scoring 1 or 2 in the top 5 scores less than the likes of Pedersen and Tungate scoring 6 or 7. It needs sorting, but, in the end, it's still the same 7 riders. Swindon didn't win just because they had Tungate at reserve.