Pollyanna

Speedway Star 's explanaton was that Andersen was one of six riders who finished on six points. Four riders had one win apiece, although with Holta and Hampel both failing to finish in one of their five rides, it came down to a straight choice between Andersen and Ulamek. Andersen got the nod for defeating Ulamek in Heat 8. So that is how the countback system works !

Errmmmm....and also by a group of Swindon fans, rabbit. I heard it myself and I haven't been to Swindon since that match! Other tracks are also guilty, but I haven't actually heard that myself...only what has been reported by other supporters. Whoever it is/was it is well out of order I agree.

One thing that Antonio Lindback has never been is big-headed! Because he was the only black rider in the Elite League, he was always under terrific media pressure...and handled it very well. Have you ever met him? He is one of the nicest people you would ever wish to meet...no big ego, no arrogance and always had time for the fans, in spite of some of the most appalling racial abuse he received at certain tracks. His answer to that was : "When I'm wearing my helmet nobody can see the colour of my skin." Yes, Swindon was one of the tracks where he was racially abused!

Actually, Antonio's official Green Sheet average is 7.94 I would like to point out that Matt Ford DID bring him on. He started at reserve and was up to a second string after the first GSAs...and he was only eighteen years old. He qualified for the GPs in 2005 and rode in his first GP at the age of nineteen, getting into the Final and finishing fourth, with a third Rostrum place in the Danish GP that year. It is very sad to see Antonio as he was last night. Nothing to laugh at IMO

A rider once said (Mauger? Briggs? ) that if you want to aspire to be World Champion, you must ride in Britain, because the variety in track shapes, track surfaces, number of meetings, etc. keeps a rider racing sharp. The GP last night proved it!

Well, I like Chas 'n' Dave, so there !!!!!!!!!!!!!

My feelings about the new scoring system exactly!

Nicki Pedersen was "on fire" tonight. A well deserved win. I had a feeling that he would win this. Yes, good to see that the surgery in the winter seems to have solved the problems he had with his arms. How he rode last year in such pain I will never know. A truly brave effort last year and a successful one tonight.

Sorry to hear about Peter Ljung. Do you have the results for Gdansk? And are Mikael Max and Peter Karlsson riding in Poland this year?

Thank you again, Mateusz!

Eddie is doing better than expected in Poland. Will give him good experience of riding the big tracks. Well done Eddie!

Thank you for that, Mateusz. Where can I find the Polish results and scores for today, please?

Who won the President's Cup? Good to see Robert Kosiecha going so well in this!

Only to Cardiff, I'm sorry to say...unless I win the lottery!

Too much bureaucracy and red tape, problems with flooding and last I heard they had run out of money. Such a shame; he and his wife must be applauded for the huge effort they made to get some Speedway into Spain...and sadly, so far, it's come to nowt!

Sorry. Thanks for correcting me on that one.

I think that was when they had five riders in each race. Much better with four in a race.

__________________________________________________________ I agree and anyway, how many fans are cheering for the rider from their own team, whatever his nationality? I bet the Belle Vue fans were cheering for Crump and the Eastbourne fans were cheering for Nicki Pedersen, the Reading fans were cheering for Hancock and Zagar etc.

We heard that Jason Crump sustained rib injuries in heat 2 when a bolt snapped on his bike's sub-frame. Is he OK?

Agreed, but your previous post suggested that he didn't earn his place in 2005...when he did qualify for that. I would personally like to see the top 8 go through, with the next 7 having to qualify for the right to be there for the following year. But, who will listen to me? Nobody!!!!

I thought the idea was to reward all the riders who got through to the semi-finals, but in actual fact this system doesn't!

______________________________________________________ But Lindback went through the qualifiers in 2005, when there were only two qualifying places, so he was there on merit. Harris didn't qualify so you can't make that comparison.

________________________________________________________________ I doubt very much that Ferjan will get a ride in a GP at all, unless it's a Wild Card spot at the Slovenian GP. Otherwise as a Meeting reserve, way down the list, he will only come into a Gp if 9 other reserve riders are injured and only then if a regular GP rider cannot take part, e.g. retirement as Rickardsson or injury as Nicholls. As No 1 reserve in the GPs this last season Andersen came in when Rickardsson retired and Sullivan (as 2nd reserve) came in when Nicholls was injured.

______________________________________________________________ I am a bit concerned that the number of GPs has now risen to 11. In 2005, the World Champion was known in the 8th out of 9, this year we knew the Champion in the 8th out of 10. I feel sorry for the Eastbourne fans who are likely to be without their No. 1 (Nicki P) in 11 of their 20 home League fixtures. I would not be very happy if it was my team. In view of all the comments from fans who hate having guests in their team, this is an unavoidable situation for Eastbourne who will have to track a guest, unless the new Promoter changes the race night. The GPs originally started with 6 rounds, now it is 11. Will it prove to be too many?