lucifer sam

Will the Park & Ride car park still be free for speedway visitors tomorrow afternoon? All the best Rob

I'm considering this one, although I would have preferred less time between the two meetings. How long is the British U15 round going to last - and what is there to do between the two meetings? All the best Rob

Dirt, you can't stop someone writing a biography about you. And there's no reason why there has to be just one biography either. Maybe one day Bruce Penhall will write his own autobiography, as Briggo and Ivan Mauger amongst others have done recently. In the meantime, you are entitled to your opinion on Penhall, although I think some of your views on Penhall place you very much in the minority. As for the 1983 World Final, I think Bruce would have won it. A big fast track such as Norden would have suited him well. And I enjoyed the Steve Johnson book - I read it when in Italy for the GP around five years ago. No, it doesn't provide any hard-hitting revelations (in fact, Bruce is much more hard-hitting in the Kenny Carter book "Tragedy"), but it was a pleasant-enough read. All the best Rob

The last rider to win the World Championship without any prior regular British experience was Egon Muller in 1983, who only had a very brief spell riding for Hull around a decade earlier. Jerzy Szczakiel (1973 World Champion) is the only World Champion never to ride for a single British club. Gollob hasn't rode over here since 2000, but arguably the three years he spent over here helped him as a rider. The British tracks are all sorts of weird and wonderful sizes, and it tends to help riders to come over here at some point in their career, to hone their skills. All the best Rob

I'd be interested in the answer to that one. I assume Cradley spoke to Bruce a couple of times - although probably not around 1984, as Oxford were given the choice of any Cradley rider prior to the 1984 season, because Cradley had lost a lot of money the previous year due to having to pay out bumper points the previous season for the all-conquering 1983 team (Oxford plumped for Simon Wigg, after giving serious consideration to signing Gundersen, meaning that Nielsen & Gundersen were very nearly 1984 British League team-mates, which would have been interesting!!). But which other teams other than Cradley spoke to Bruce after his retirement? Can't recall seeing Bruce Penhall answer that question before. All the best Rob

Nice try - putting in Gollob as captain two hours after he's completed his 24-point max. I think the transfers need to be made before the meeting takes place. All the best Rob

Rebels77, as a young Bruce Penhall fan, I found the attitude of the British crowd at that meeting somewhat hypocritical, to say the least. I can't remember anyone kicking up a fuss when Dave Jessup and Larry Ross allowed Michael Lee & Ivan Mauger to beat them in their final heat in the 1981 Overseas Final, but Penhall does it a year later and suddenly there's a huge uproar. True, he shouldn't have done the wheelies, but otherwise Jessup & Ross did exactly the same. All the best Rob

Tony, could you ask Bruce how Heat 19 of the 1982 Overseas Final was supposed to finish? In the Penhall book by Steve Johnson, it is revealed that the other three riders were supposed to finish in a different order. But in which order? Because I can't see an order which would have allowed all 4 Americans to qualify without the need of a run-off (which Shawn Moran lost). All the best Rob

No, as I explained before, the ref can award the postitions as of the time of the incident, as long as one rider crosses the line before the race is halted. That's three times I've explained it to you now. Read the FIM rulebook - it's all in there. All the best Rob

I do remember that, but Gollob had already lost 20 points to Rickardsson in the previous two rounds in 1999 prior to his injury i.e. the momentum was already with Rickardsson. One of those rounds were at Bydgoszcz. Gollob had already blown it under pressure, even prior to his injury. And that's maybe where Gollob has changed for the better, because last night he regained that momentum. After a couple of dodgy rounds in which he struggled a bit, rode a bit dirty and lost him a lot of supporters (especially his move on Emil), last night he rode like a champion and did it without resorting to the tactics employed in the previous two rounds. I know think Gollob WILL be World Champion this season, up until last night I had doubts that he could hold on. All the best Rob

TNT, I've already answered this elsewhere but I'll repeat it here: Races CAN be awarded - but ONLY if they are completed. Gollob had crossed the finishing line, so therefore the race could be awarded. Had Gollob not crossed the finishing line, there would have to be a re-run. The rules were set up like they are, an incident in the 1973 World Final, when Zenon Plech was leading a race which would have taken him into the run-off for first place with Szczakiel & Mauger, brough down by a Russian, and as Peter Collins crossed the finishing line, the race was awarded to Collins despite the fact Plech had been a street ahead of him until the Russian brought Plech down. These days, the referee can award the places as they were at the time of the incident, but only provided one or more of the riders finish the race. It's all in the FIM rulebook. All the best Rob

TNT, I explained this after the last Grand Prix. Races CAN be awarded - but ONLY if they are completed. Gollob had crossed the finishing line, so therefore the race could be awarded. Had Gollob not crossed the finishing line, there would have to be a re-run. The rules were set up like they are, an incident in the 1973 World Final, when Zenon Plech was leading a race which would have taken him into the run-off for first place with Szczakiel & Mauger, brough down by a Russian, and as Peter Collins crossed the finishing line, the race was awarded to Collins despite the fact Plech had been a street ahead of him until the Russian brought Plech down. These days, the referee can award the places as they were at the time of the incident, but only provided one or more of the riders finish the race. All the best Rob

Yes he has. In 1999, Gollob led Tony Rickardsson by 24 points with three rounds to go, 9 points with two rounds to go and 4 points with one round to go. The pressure got to him and he blew it. But I can't see him blowing it this time. That was a terrific performance from him tonight. All the best Rob

Old team: 2 Tomasz GOLLOB 4 Greg HANCOCK 8 Kenneth BJERRE 10 Hans ANDERSEN 13 Jaroslaw HAMPEL Out: 8 Kenneth BJERRE Old Value £50,000 10 Hans ANDERSEN Od Value £40,000 13 Jaroslaw HAMPEL Old Value £50,000 In: 1 Jason CRUMP New Value £50,000 7 Rune HOLTA New Value £45,000 14 Chris HARRIS New Value £35,000 New team: 1 Jason CRUMP 2 Tomasz GOLLOB 4 Greg HANCOCK 7 Rune HOLTA 14 Chris HARRIS Crump as captain for Vojens please. Thanks Pete for running this competition. All the best Rob

Pete, any chance that you help post the new prices for the second transfer window, so they anyone wanting to make changes can do so before tomorrow? Cheers mate. All the best Rob

The cut-off for the play-offs in the NL does seem a tad too early. Surely given the recent weather, it would be make sense to extend it by a couple of weeks to allow the league table to be properly sorted out. After all, the play-off semis are not normally held until the first half of October in any case. All the best Rob

How's that not letting things go? I was just making a comparison to another similar meeting. Maybe it's time to remove that chip from your shoulders. All the best Rob

Blimey, that was a bit long-winded. Nearly four hours to stage 25 races - it nearly took as long as the infamous 2005 CL Pairs at Wimbledon. All the best Rob

Parsloes, I filled in my first-ever programme during an Inter-League 4TT round at Oxford in 1980. I think it's the day I become a real fan of the Oxford Cheetahs - until then, it was somewhere my dad took me several times during the season. By the end of that season, I was a speedway maniac, something that hasn't been cured some 30 years later. The dominant rider on show that day as Mr. Gordon Kennett. Six rides, six wins (including two in the second half). I remember him pulling a huge wheelie as he won his final race. As a National League club, we didn't get to see wheelies, since it wasn't in fashion for the lower league riders to pull them. Most of the NL riders still had bikes stuck together by gaffer tape. I also remember a much larger crowd that usual than the NL meetings. Gordon Kennett, previously of the Oxford Rebels, was a big drawcard and he didn't disappoint. It's the second meeting I distinctly remember. The first was the Pip Lamb Benefit Meeting at the end of 1979, which was the first time I saw Bruce Penhall, a rider who became a hero to the young Lucifer Sam. However, I do have a keen interest in Speedway during the 1970s, for a long-time my collection of speedway books was mainly books on the 70s (in the 1980s, the number of speedway books dried up for a while), so the old Peter Oakes Speedway Yearbooks were picked up and read from cover-to-cover. It's why I feel qualified to comment on speedway in the 1970s in the same way I wouldn't on previous eras. All the best Rob

But Gordon Kennett was the highest scorer in the 1977 British League, scoring 466 from 36 matches for White City. He was an ever-present, and led the Rebels to the league title. And Kennett was a stalwart to his team, but it just happened his team moved from Oxford to White City to Eastbourne. 13th is too low. He should be in the top ten - JB got that one wrong. All the best Rob

Tony, I think the lack of reaction is maybe down to the fact that John Berry's selection was an uncontroversial one. Not quite sure how he managed to get Gordon Kennett as low as 13th though, he achieved more in the 1970s than the four riders above him (McMillan, Morton, and the Boococks), all of whom peaked outside the 1970s. I can't recall any of those riders finishing second in a World Final, as Gordon did in 1978. All the best Rob

As a three-time World Champion already, I doubt if Crump considers that much of a "demon". Theoretically a rider could end up winning the World Championship seven times without once successfully defending it. On the other hand, Gollob will struggle to win it once, if he continues to let the pressure get to him, as he has in the last two GPs. He had a much bigger lead in 1999 with three rounds to go (including one to come at Bydgoszcz) and then managed to let that one slip. I can see history repeating itself. All the best Rob

The "Rider Of The Night" second halves were rubbish - half the riders didn't bother, and those who did were testing machinery. Far better was the second half junior match from 1985 to 1992. Used to be some cracking racing in these. I once remember a lad called Daz Santos, who made a few appearances for the Oxford Cubs. He was a bit wild, once got his handlebar jammed in the fence, but kept going, and managed to rip down half the Oxford safety fence. Parsloes, straying from the subject, but I know you're a huge Buzz fan, so I would suggest getting a video of the Scunny vs Buxton match yesterday. Heats 13 & 15 are both classic Buzz, he came from 4th to 1st in Heat 13 whilst wearing the silly hat, and then won a photo-finish with Simon Lambert in Heat 15 after 4 of the best laps that you're ever likely to see. All the best Rob

Two belting meetings at Scunny today. After a high-octane Scunny-Sheffield derby, the Buxton NL match threatened to be an anti-climax. Enter two riders at the opposite ends of the spectrum, Jason Garrity and Buzz Burrows to ensure that the meeting ended on a high. Garrity went from fourth to first in Heat 12, Buzz did the same as a tactical ride in Heat 13, then Buzz & Simon Lambert were involved in the mother of all battles in Heat 15, with Buzz snatching the verdict in a photo-finish. Great stuff - I was cheering the old geezer on. All the best Rob

Just to clarify the rules in such a situation. It's true that a ref cannot award an FIM race if the four laps have not been completed, before the race has been stopped. However, if a race is completed, then the referee does have some powers in terms of awarding the race. If for example, the rider in second place crashed into the rider in firrt place on the final corner and they both fell, and then the riders in third and fourth crossed the line in first and second, then the referee can still award first place to the rider who was brought down, and then give second and third to the riders who actually crossed the line in first and second. The rules were set up like this after an imfamous incident in the 1973 World Final, which denied Zenon Plech a crack at the run-off for first place. Yesterday, as the rules stand, the referee could have excluded Gollob and awarded third place to Holta. As I said before, places can only be awarded for completed races, incompleted races must be re-run. It's all in the FIM rulebook. All the best Rob