stevehone

they've also ripped the heart out of British speedway. riders now are all about focusing on the GP's, sod the EL. and for most clubs, a lot of their income used to be made up from lucrative individual meetings ... no-one has those now as riders don't want/have time to compete in them. even the ELRC has gone downhill since the GP started, a meeting that used to mean something ... and the British Final, no longer a means to an end, it's just another meeting that means a couple of riders don't get a weekend off. all the big individual meetings from my day, where are they? The Brandonapolis, The Laurels, Spring Classic, Olympique, Pride of the East, 16 Lapper, Blue Ribband, etc etc ... the list will go on and on, but they were all meetings attended by the top riders that brought in big crowds. ok, so one or two will still run, but look at the lineups, they're not the sort we used to get, and the reason ... riders aren't interested.

one off finals were all about excitement there on the day and knowing the winner at the end of it, and for me that's what i prefer. you have the majority of GP's where you'd go away feeling like it was all a bit of an anti-climax as in a way nobody has won anything other than that meeting. by saying that if it was at Bydgoszcz you might as well give it to Gollob, well who is to say he would make it through the qualifiers? that was the beauty of the one-offs ... we had qualifiers that had different riders, and every meeting meant something, and all riders had something to fight for. every now and again we had riders that could have a great season in the league and ride through to a world final, that's not possible now as it's more or less an invitation series and would take a long time to find your way to getting an invite.

any chances of getting some more 250cc or junior racing at Kings Lynn this season?

i slept in the same room as the gold bike and masses of trophies at Ivan's, and it spent some time in my dad's garage before it was shipped back to Oz

grasstracking skills come in handy at Cardiff there is more to 'open the throttle and go' when riding a big, fast, race track.

but Scott still didn't manage it, no matter how easy it is

and i thought i posted that i'm pretty sure Stekkers paid for them

feel i have to mention something that Nigel Pearson said in his commentary last night ... he said the Poles obviously would have been at the track practising plenty of times before this meeting, something that isn't possible for British riders in Britain. well ok, i accept Cardiff isn't an option, but there are other tracks you can go to for testing things and bonding, just ask the Danes. they managed to have 3 or 4 sessions on different tracks at the start of the season, something that 'team' GB never managed to get around to, having their bonding session at the world cup! from what i can understand, Stekkers rented the tracks in question, although i could be wrong, but then if they can do it, why can't 'team' GB? full marks to Denmark and the team manager.

Pedersen world champion ... do you really think that move will worry the man

and poses for photos too http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2543528970100800452BEfsHf

hey JB, on Thursday you said you'd love it if Nicholls won ... what happened?

erm ... my eyes

or qualifiers, there is a difference. riders should be in the world championship on merit, not because their face fits and someone that makes the decisions finds them exciting. the top 8 from the GP should qualify for the next year, after that, make the rest scrap it out and earn it.

no other reason though

whatever takes your fancy J

it's actually down to nationality

i thought thats what they'd been trying to do for the last 75 years but it hasn't always worked has it.

because so many have deserted watching at the tracks, which means more clubs struggling to keep going. i like the Sky coverage, but there's a price to pay, and when Sky are no longer interested will we have a sport to follow?

every rider has a different mentality, i thought Hazzman summed it up hence the quote.

thats not the sentence i quoted though is it

it's called clutching at straws

looking forward to the next time at Kings Lynn too ... the kids certainly went out and gave it everything.

maybe you should ask Scotty why he used an old bike in the world cup (no jokes about Sophie please), but a proper one in Prague

he has a good imagination