Grachan

So there it is. Phil Crump should NOT have been excluded. Ref wasn't Polish was he?

I guess you'd have to check an old rule book as I don't think they use the 30 yard marker any more. So I don't know. I've certainly seen it written on many occasions that the 30 yard marker was for outside assistance though.

The 30 yard marker was always for outside assistance to riders rather than when riders can go off from their line. It was just one of those myths that caught on. I've read that to be the case several times over the years.

Pretty much sums up how I felt when he announced the team. Kennett, in particular, is an obvious choice and Tai proved in the British final that he has what it takes at top level. I'm sure Stead and Allen will pick up a few points and we'll get through to the race off at least, but so would Kennett and/or Woffinden. Same result, but without those two gaining the World Cup experience.

I would agree that being in front doesn't neccesarily mean a rider can go where they like. This argument often comes up and I don't always see the relevence. You can still be dirty if you're in front. In the cases of Leigh and Bjarne I would agree that Leigh did move off his line, but compared to how much off his line Nicki moved it was minimal to say the least. Nicki just came swooping across and into Leigh's wheel. If Leigh had stayed straight Nicki would have still hit him as he did with Bjarne, who, as far as I could see, never moved off his line at all unti after Nicki hit him. Leigh's exclusion was definitely wrong, but the exclusion of Bjarne Pedersen was absolutely scandalous. He just rode to the corner like any rider from the inside gate should.

Be a bit silly having two people on the rostrum wouldn't it?

Of course he's going to stay down. Any rider is going to stay down on the track if they've gone down on the first bend. I'm sure there's not one rider in the GP who wouldn't have stayed down. Still would have booed him though. Boooo Nicki Pedersen! Booo!

Love Nicki. What would we do without him eh? Still would have booed had I been there though. All part of the panto. Perhaps he could paint on a curly moustache for the rest of the series.

I'm sure I remember Ivan Mauger once saying that he used to keep notes on different referees, on how they responded to different situations, who they excluded when there were incidents etc and play the refs. I wonder if Nicki Pedersen does the same and knows that if he comes across early and gets hit then the other guy will get excluded by this guy? If so, then I say good on him. As for booing. Of course people are going to boo him in that situation. It's part of the fun. Speedway needs someone to boo. In fact, we need more. Last year Swindon fans booed Rory Schlein after he came round after a race pointing to his name on the back of his kevlars. Quite right too. And good for him for doing it and getting the crowd annoyed. Incidentally, did anyone actually take time to listen to what Nicki said in his interview at the end. He made a comment about if the temporary tracks don't improve then the riders might have to "stick together". That would be interesting.

Don't know what Tatum's moaning about though as he originally called the Adams/Pedersen incident the same way as the ref.

The fix is in!

You have to wonder if Leigh was right when he spoke about "the Danish influence" because there is no way on Earth that Leigh Adams caused that. It would certainly explain why this man - who constantly come up with bizarre decisions - keeps getting the GP job. And what was Kelvin Tatum on about, saying Leigh came off hi line! How much did Nicki come off HIS line? I'm just so shocked by that. It wasn't even a borderline thing. Had to be eithe Nicki out or all four back. Baffling.

Blimey! Bo Petersen is bald!!

I also read that in 1967 Norman Hunter staged a one-man protest about the constantly bad starts by deliberately breaking the tapes. I've just tried to find it, but can't. Maybe he was protesting about the scrapping of exclusions for tape-breaking?

Thanks. They were definitely slack at excluding people in 1967 though if that's the case.

Looking at some old sixties magazines I noticed that riders weren't being excluded for breaking the tapes. There was a race in 1967 at Edinburgh, for example, that needed re-running three times due to the tapes being broken, and yet all four riders were in each re-run. So does anyone know when the tape exclusion rule was brough in? Must have been between 1968 and 1974, as they definitely had it in 1974. Unless, of course, the ref at Edinburgh had been eating funny mushrooms or something.

Wrong book Andy. You were thinking of THIS one.

I'm quite looking forward to this book in a "Swindon" kind of way.

Certainly looks better with an "e" so I'm really pleased about that. What about his first name? Jim or Gym? Don't answer that.

Forget all this nonsense about who is the best rider ever or the greatest rider never to win the World Championship. The ultimate question is this: how did Jim spell his surname? You read old magazines and you get both spellings. You do a Google search and you get both spellings. So what is it? Airy or Airey? Anyone?

After the track that was presented to us on Saturday I guess we can at least heave a sigh of relief that Mads is safe from one of those GP tracks.

Get out of it! Nicki took a dive. (Based on how I saw it, not who he is.)

Yet another perfectly decent speedway meeting followed by people coming on here and saying it was rubbish. What is this? Some sort of anti-speedway orchestrated campaign or something? Great to see Leigh win. Let's hope he can do more of the same this year and finally get the title he deserves. The crash in the semi was Nicki's fault. In fact, I think he "played" for it - like a footballer taking a dive for a penalty. Worked though. Can't really criticise him. I mean, look at these pictures. In the first they are away from the white line and Nicki looks over and sees Crump. Now look where they are in the second, when contact is made. Totally Nicki's fault, and he even looked like he laid the bike down.

My mum remembers Laurel & Hardy being there.

That was Kid Bodie, not James Bond. Pretty sure James Bond was his real name.