lucifer sam

WadyWuck, I notice how you're now calling him Laguta. But you've made a good point. Assessed averages are far too low. As far as the PL is concerned, any non-Commonwealth should come in on a 9.00 point average, and in the EL, it should be 6.00. And BFD, I welcome the Aussies riding in our leagues, because the Aussies show commitment to riding in the British Leagues. They treat us as their surrogate home country, and ride in British meetings with passion. The problem isn't the Aussies, it's the Poles, Swedes, Danes, Germans and so forth who treat us as a third-world speedway nation and have British Speedway as thier bottom priority. It's these sort of riders we could do with getting rid of. All the best Rob

I don't think 7th & 8th in the world (Loram & Louis) was that bad at all. And Havelock was looking a possibility for a top three place that year, before the back injury that halted his GP career and left him never looking like quite the same rider ever again. If only we had riders like that these days. No of permanent Brits in the GP between 1995 & 2002: 1995 - five out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Cocker, Havelock, Smith 1996 - six out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Screen, Havelock, Smith, Cocker 1997 - four out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Smith and Wigg 1998 - three out of 21 - Louis, Loram and Smith 1999 - three out of 22 - Screen, Louis and Smith (Loram won GP as wildcard - and indeed finished fifth in world as wildcard) 2000 - five out of 22 - WORLD CHAMPION Mark Loram, Louis, Screen, Stonehewer and Smith (plus Martin Dugard won British GP as wildcard) 2001 - five out of 22 - Loram, Stonehewer, Smith, Louis and Screen (although Screen was injured for entire series) 2002 - four out of 22 - Loram, Nicholls, Stonehwer and Smith. None of the above Brits were seeded. They all qualified. Around 2001 is probably where it all started to go wrong. Loram had a disappointing defence as World Champion and wasn't a contender again, whilst both Louis & Screen suffered from injury. And the next generation, headed by Scott Nicholls, then failed to deliver. All the best Rob

In the early days of the Grand Prix you could hardly move for British riders - in the 1996 series, there were SIX British riders amongst the 17 competitors. And when seeded riders were first brought at the end of the 2001 season ready for the 2002 season, there was no need to seed in any British riders. But three, yes three, Poles were amongst the six seeds. How times have changed. All the best Rob

Fair enough. All the best Rob

Henry, yes I watched the whole meeting. Kolodziej looked the class act for his opening 4 riders, but you could tell the pressure was on in that final programmed ride. He was all over the place even before his started to slow, and he looked more likely to go backwards than forwards. But he's a great prospect and today's tough medicine may prove a blessing for him in the long run. All the best Rob

Well, that's difficult to say, isn't it? He was only in third, with the bloke in fourth not far behind. So it's not certain that he would have held on, had his bike not temporarily slowed. As for the pebble that got jammed, it probably came from one of the riders in front - had Kolodziej been leading the race, he wouldn't have had the problem. In many ways, speedway is a sport where you make your own luck. Kolodziej was the class act of the meeting in his opening four rides - but then all over the shop in his final two. He's not ready for the GP yet - an extra year sharpening his act may actually help him. I certainly wish that there were a few young British riders with his potential. But he needs how to handle the pressure. All the best Rob

What are you talking about? - the British riders in today's meeting were awful. There shouldn't be any Brits in next year's series - but no doubt Harris and AN Other will be seeded in yet again. But you can't deny the fact that Kolodziej choked today. He blew the start in Heat 17, and then wasn't hard enough on Lindgren in the run-off. He had two chances to qualify and didn't take either of them. All the best Rob

Yes, he had an engine failure whilst battling for third place - having completely missed the gate. All the best Rob

HenryW, he went from likely meeting winner to non-qualifier. And GP racing is harsh. Kolodziej rode superbly for 4 races, but then blew it. All the best Rob

Not a chance. Emil is the hottest young property in World Speedway - he'll be first pick when it comes to the four seeded riders for next year's series. IMG/BSI will be relieved that two Swedes have qualified - it makes it much easier for next season now. Seeds will be Emil, Nicki P, maybe Greg, and one but probably two Brits - Harris and, er, Nicholls??? It's not right that two Brits will be seeded, but that's what is likely to happen. All the best Rob

Kolodziej blow a great chance this evening. He was the best rider for most of the meeting, but didn't have the bottle when it came down to the crunch. He may still get in if Lindgren pushes up into the top 8. Otherwise I don't see why Kolodziej should be in the GP next season - he showed tonight that he can't perform under pressure so he's likely to struggle in the GPs. All the best Rob

ML, do I get a prize for correctly predicting who you will be cheering on? All the best Rob

Whatever the rights or wrongs, Harris will be in the 2011 GP series. Even if there's only one Brit, it'll be him. He's the best British rider at the moment, we haven't got anyone else who can, at least, be competitive in the GP series. Harris had a shocker last season, but this year he's proved that he's a 9-12th type rider in the GP series. What's the alternative to Harris? There isn't one. All the best Rob

I guess the nightmare scenario for BSI would be if no Swedes or Brits either qualify tonight, or in the top 8 (could happen if Greg overhauls Andreas & Freddie), and neither does Nicki P. That would leave the following to be seeded: 1. The Mad Ruskie 2. Nicki P 3. Brit No 1 4. Brit No 2 5. Swede No 1 6. Swede No 2 All the best Rob

Shame that this has fallen to the weather again. Did any Glasgow fans travel this time? Bongo & George? All the best Rob

Paulco, instead of presents, why don't you suggest a weekend away - how about in South Wales? All the best Rob

Parsloes... you can't still be tiling. If so, what are you tiling, the Taj Mahal? All the best Rob

Well I had my money out ready to buy it... and you said "I just need to speak to so-and-so" and disappeared. It was the closest you've come to that pint - come along to Scunny on Bank Holiday Monday and you can have it then. All the best Rob

WadyWuck, My prediction is: 1. Niels-Kristian Iversen 2. Chris Harris 3. Seb Ulamek All the best Rob

And how many of those meetings did Oxford fail to stage by the 31st of October, Parsloes, my old buddy. None, I think you'll find. And you're being a bit of a drama queen - it was 2/3rds of fixtures from the start of Septmber not October. And the reason was an unprecented 16 rain-offs for the Oxford CL side that year (2004). And I remember Bournemouth staging a NL match in the last week of October last season (the play-off final against Plymouth) - I know because I was there. Did you know we'll rapidly approaching the fifth anniversary of a certain CL match... in which your beloved Dons met their match. All the best Rob

Given that Gollob injured Sayfutdinov with a highly dangerous and reckless move tonight, should the referee been empowered to exclude the offending rider (in this case Gollob) from the rest of the meeting in such cases? Gollob rode like a nutcase tonight - he needs to calm down a bit, or else he won't make it to Bydgoszcz for the final GP. All the best Rob

I'm going to revert to having Gollob as my captain - thanks. All the best Rob

I remember Hackney once winning a meeting by a point with a final heat 5-0. I think it was in the days of Andy Galvin, although I'm sure Bryn will know for definite. Is there any more instances of this happening? All the best Rob

Tomcat, it was in 2001 and it helped cost Poole the league title that season. All the best Rob

Looking forward to reading the Ronnie Genz interview. His final year at Oxford was two years before I was born, so I never saw him in action. But he was one of top men at Oxford for almost two decades, spending 11 years at Cowley between 1954 & 1964, and then having a further spell at Oxford between 1968 & 1971 (although he missed either the whole of the 1969 or 1970 season through injury - can't remember off the top of my head which one it was). His 14 years riding for Oxford is a club record, no other rider rode for the Cheetahs for more seasons. For most of those years, Oxford didn't have much success, although Ronnie was part of the treble-winning side of 1964, and he also figured in an Oxford side that nearly upset the all-conquering Wimbledon Dons in 1960, when the Cheetahs led the league table for most of the season. It seems, these days, that it's very rare for a rider to stay to spend that amount of time at one club. All the best Rob