lucifer sam

Yes, but there's no way Lubos's average will stay that low. It's a good piece of management by Stoke - Lubos will soon be a much lower figure at which point they can beef up the team further, and they may end up with Lubos at reserve at some point, and he'll clean up from there. There's not an exhaustible supply of riders, you have to fit in who is available and is willing to ride. Please point out another rider who Stoke should have signed at this point. All the best Rob

Bagpuss, Stead's league form is much better, but it's a big meeting and we need riders with a "big meeting" mentality. Barker showed that at Wolves in the British Final and Stead didn't. It is strange that the British No. 3 is not being selected for a 5-man British team, especially around a track where he excels. But as you say, it's all down to opinion. All the best Rob

Well King's Lynn track specialist Ben Barker should really be in there, shouldn't he? Especially after his third place in the British Final. Cannot understand the selection of Stead, who's been in before and failed. All the best Rob

So a rider who has averaged over 5.00 in the Elite League in the recent past won't average 4.00 in the Premier League????? In the words of Captain Mainwaring, "Stupid boy". All the best Rob

Steve, maybe you should have watched today's race before commenting on it. If so, you'd have seen a thrilling opening lap (in which Button alone passed 5/6 drivers), plus Vettel passng 7/8 dirvers after the safety car went back in, as well as some fun'n'games involving Alonso and some other drivers. F1 does produce the odd very dull race, but today wasn't one of them. Yep, if you pressed me, I would say the Speedway GP was the better of the two, but as a speedway fan first and foremost I would say that. But F! is pretty thrilling in its own way. Now then, if you'd compared either with the dull Football World Cup Final... All the best Rob

Good Grand Prix last night. It used to be the case at Cardiff that the atmosphere was great, shame about the racing, but that no longer seems to be the case. Last night there was some terrific racing. And add in the tantrums thrown between the Aussies and the Danes, it all made it a great meeting. All the best Rob

Jarek Hampel as captain at Cardiff please. All the best Rob

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought Bryn was donning a black wig and doing his best Cher impression on the Millennium Stadium centre green on Saturday night. All the best Rob

Parsloes, if you're after a double-header, may I suggest Monday, August 30 (5pm): Scuuny vs Sheffield (PL) followed by Scunny vs Mildenhall Bog Moggies (NDL) I am planning to be in attendance, and I would imagine there's a good chance PhilK might be there as well. Hey, I might even buy you that long outstanding pint. All the best Rob

Jayne, that's somewhat worrying to read. I was encouraged by the introduction of the NL last year - because it seemed that it was more-or-less the CL, but with proper rules (the "rules" were always the bane of the CL). However, it seems that costs, which were already on the rise in the third-tier, have spiralled even more. It should be remembered that one of the primary reasons for the introduction of a third tier in 1994 was to provide a cheaper level of speedway, so that tracks could open that otherwise could not have. And it's also provided the entry point to the sport for Somerset, Scunthorpe, etc. If Buxton can no longer sustain NL speedway (after 15 years of running in the third tier), then something has gone badly wrong. All the best Rob

Hi Tony, thanks, see you there next week. I'd forgotten that there's also the books of Ivan Mauger & Leigh Adams coming out next weekend. It's going to be an expensive weekend. All the best Rob

Well I put him in for Torun, selected him as captain and moved from near the bottom to near the top. It took me ages to find my team (in the end I used Ctrl F), I wasn't expecting them to have moved up like that. All the best Rob

Actually, wasn't it Peter Craven who was the youngest ever World Champion? All the best Rob

Tony, Are you going to be at Somerset for the Pairs? If you are, I'll come and buy both the 1970 World Finals DVD and the Michael Lee book. Also plan to get Jeff Scott's new book that day. Going to be an expensive trip. All the best Rob

BFD, no, Malcolm is one of the good guys All the best Rob

British team should be: Scott Nicholls Chris Harris Lee Richardson Tai Woffinden Ben Barker All the best Rob

Ah yes, that's a good film for its own reasons, but difficult to discuss on here. All the best Rob

If you recall, I said, during the 2008-2009 winter, that I felt that Hampel had to be in the series, because he was amongst the best 6-8 riders in the world. But I think not getting that 2009 nomination actually did him the world of good. He has come back such a better rider. Although I think he still has slightly too much respect for Gollob, he should have slammed the door shut on Gollob in Heat 10 in last weekend's GP. If he wants to compete against and beat Gollob, he's got to be tougher on him. All the best Rob

This should be Lindgren's last year in the GP, unless he can turn things around before the end of the season. Just how many chances does he expect to be given? All the best Rob

Old Team: 1 Jason CRUMP £50,000 6 Nicki PEDERSEN £45,000 9 Fredrik LINDGREN £35,000 10 Hans ANDERSEN £35,000 13 Jaroslaw HAMPEL £25,000 Out: 1 Jason CRUMP £50,000 6 Nicki PEDERSEN £45,000 9 Fredrik LINDGREN £35,000 In: 2 Tomasz GOLLOB £50,000 4 Greg HANCOCK £25,000 8 Kenneth BJERRE £50,000 Gollob as captain for Torun please.

Great. You're persuading people to take money out of the pockets of Weymouth Speedway, which needs every penny it can get. All the best Rob

Nicki P as my Prague captain, thanks. All the best Rob

Come on mods, sort this out, it's a pretty poor show after the effort put in by Ballinger to run the compeitition. All the best Rob