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I agree with previous comment Emil was in UK until this morning as racing for Coventry and has two bikes plus equipment and mechanics in UK BSI/FIM will pay points money and small amount of expenses . There is no reason for him not to ride as he able to do so, the Lagutas obviously have some very diffrent background as they have been refused entry permits to UK even to come here on holiday. I have spoken to our travel team at work as we often have crew going out to countries and also assist foreign crew when working over here and they have confirmed with ASLA a approved Uk entry visa agent that it takes around 3-5 days to get the required entry permit for UK for Russians but does involve quite detailed information about persons. People have mentioned the kid Tarasenko but from what I understand he is Artem and Grigory Lagutas sisters son so is likely to have the same issues

I cant believe that the Russians are plannning on using the Lagutas and Emil for race off and final I hope that BSI/FIM block them from riding in the event at all this season. The latest i have heard this morning is Russia may only have 4man team so some 3 rider races which will rob the fans even more it is bad enough that Russia are sending really poor weak team but to only field 4 riders I find unacceptable and I know BSI were very unhappy with Artem Laguta missing Cardiff so I think the chances of a Russian GP in next few years has just gone

Just been looking at things and seems don't even need work permits as get paid by Fim in euros or Swiss francs so all need is visiting permits which can be got in 2 to 3 days after Artem missed Cardiff you would think they would get this arranged don't even have to go to Moscow can be issued in other cities. I suspect they have been refused entry for some reason to visit UK at all and may be on a banned list. I remember they were due to go Australia then pulled out as couldn't get visas for the fans sake I hope Emil does ride to make them have some chance as others are useless. Only positive is for team GB as just Poland to worry about

If the Russians don't field full side they are robbing fans and Lagutas and Emil should not be allowed to ride in Poland at race off. I do have some sympathy with Emil as he will be class as usual but with no support especially with Darkin and Bondarenko both struggling in premier league and would not normally be anywhere near a Russia team place . Emil must feel why should I bother with it

Robbie B- Glad you enjoyed the 3D experience and the feedback that has been recieved from viewers and also from other broadcasters/ industry people has all been very good with some even saying it is better than football/NFL in 3D which is a credit to speedway and also the 3D production team. As stated previously we would liked to have done the World cup meeting at Kings Lynn but it would mean taking up a lot of extra space on the terraces and reduced the crowd capacity further and what is likely to be a near sell out event so has been stopped at present. I am confident that there will be some more 3D speedway this season maybe even before the play offs especially as we now have 3 3D only units available to us from our outside broadcast partners Telegenic who are obviously keen to get them out on the road earning money, I believe inside the next 6 months there will be a dedicated Sky sports 3D channel as content is improving all the time. Diesel- No need to worry yet 3D is expected to remain a niche/premium product for another 3-5 years but which time they should have sorted glasses free 3D at an affordable price and normal HDTV is likely to remain for another 20 years plus

I am very glad to hear that most fans who have the required tvs enjoyed the 3D coverage I personally thought it was very good and really brought the sport alive especially the new camera angles on the centregreen with shots down the straight made it seem that the riders were coming straight at you there was also some good 3D footgae from the start line girls who gave us lots of twirls and misses into the cameras. The trophy presentation was good as well and looked like the glitter was floting out of your screen. Overall everybody at Sky was well pleased with how it turned out and I know the 3D brand manager at Sky tv was impressed and is keen for more 3D speedway. At Cardiff we used 8 3D only cameras along with a 3D steadicam and 3D on bike camera on Holders bike which didnt work very well and needs bit of work on. We also converted shots from three 2D cameras mainly in pits and beauty shot from roof Steve Johnstone could not believe how good it was when we first showed it him. The biggest isssue we have at the minute with 3D is at present it is filmed as a totally seperate production with own cameras,cabling,camera positions,ob trucks,broadcast links,crew,commentary so just for the 3D coverage of the speedway meant an extra 25 staff and cost around an extra 25k to do. We would like to do the World cup event but space is at a real premium so I dont think that it s going to happen this year although you may see some Elite league action later in the year. All in all a very good busy day with over 300 staff involved in bring it to fans screens which is around the same amount of staff used for FA cup final and Carling cup final the HD coverage was as brilliant as usual and the 3D coverage seems to have gone down well

The 3D footage we filmed at Coventry on Monday along with some bits we got from practice is very impressive and I will be very interested to hear fans view on the coverage. You will be having the brilliant Jonathan Greene and super Aussie Steve Johnston as your hosts for the evening . Look out for the 3D wheelies and the shale flying from back wheels

BFD you didn't really miss much in Walkabout tonight apart from a few riders and fans having few too many beers but was an experience and good speedway atmosphere. Unfortunately I am likely to be too busy tommorow to see all the fans for pre meeting drinks but may pop in after racing is all done

topaz325, on 14 June 2011 - 11:04 PM, said: Ben Barker in Team GB,the guy is a PL rider with no ambition. You mean the guy who 2.5 years ago when still only an 8 point PL man went full time EL? There are a few things you can never accuse Barker of, one of them is having no ambition. I understand that Barker has also been called up to be track reserve at Cardiff along with a GP 2012 qualifier this weekend all seems strange for a guy with no ambition

Unless any last minute changes happen this will also be the first GP in HD on Sky apart from Cardiff, Due to a lack of HD equipped studios at Osterley London previously all GPS have only been in SD even if filmed in HD they are downscaled for broadcast on Sky as we wdo not allow SD presentation and then HD main action as deemed to be confusing to viewers. Once the new Harlequin 1 building fully opens later in the year all Gps and other studio presented shows should be in HD

Now that the trails and bumpers have been run on Elite league coverage I am very pleased to confirm this years Brutish Speedway GP at Cardiff will be the first ever broadcast in 3D and as far as I know will be first ever tv match in 3D. This will of course be on top on the usual HD coverage

Birmingham will be in the Elite league in 2011 and the new number one will be Hans Anderson much to the annoyance of Coventry who thought they had agreed a deal for him to go to Brandon and Richard Sweetman will be staying at Perry Barr talks are ongoing with Jason Lyons as needs to decide whether he wants to step up

I also understand that Sky sports pit side reporter and glamour girl Charlie Webster is going to be at the meeting presenting the trophys

For those that missed the world cup due to change of channels to avoid red button coverage the meeting is being shown again on Wednesday and Thursday evening again in HD

Does anybody have a rough idea on how many fans are likely to be at Kings Lynn do you think the crowd will be at similar level to last year at Peterborough ?

Ballinger do you still have the room available ? I have tried PM but says you can not recieve any new messages

Just tried the ETAP but none available so must have gone straight away or have not gone back into the system yet.

Ihave just been asked the near impossible question by a friend to try and find them a reasonable hotel in Cardiff anybody got any ideas as everywhere seems full or very expensive. I have told them that it may have to be a sleep in your car thing this year.

Anybody know the Balakovo line up ? And is that right that the only Brits taking part are Harris,Woffinden and Kennett which if correct is very disapointing

Seen this on an I phone any chance of somebody developing this for the Android platform

If the GP moves onto Red button it is likely that the GP will not record for the full duration and you will just get 6-8pm which is very bad news for everybody and even worse for Virgin media customers as they wont get to watch it at all

A final decision has not been made yet whether Sky will broadcast this meeting yet, They are awaiting final confirmation on whether Canal + Poland or Polsat wish to broadcast the meeting at all as Sky sports will be the host broadcaster for the event if they do show it is likely that Sky will broadcast it but it may not be Live.

With that tight trousers I would have loved to have seen a front shot I dont remember that snug a trousers

Yes that is correct diesel and in fact they have the use of full lighting rigs that are used at some day/night Cricket matches at Test game venues but it comes down to cost, To use mobile lighting rigs would add on an additional £1,500 per meeting production costs which over the course of the season would be over 50K extra and that is on top of an extra 140K a year to broadcast in HD which Sky are happy to absorb. At most stadiums to improve the lighting up to the required lux levels for HD coverage would cost around £5,000 per track I understand Sky are willing to make contributions but expect/want clubs and stadiums to pay as well for the increased clarity and benefits to sponsors logos which im sure will make it easier to sell adverts

Well I am hoping that now Charlie has proved that she can do the live anchor role that we will be able to have her at all GPs doing the presentation from trackside and then we may be able to get all the the GP's in HD as it is a lack of HD equipped studios in London that is holding up showing all GP's in HD. With being spoilt last week by having 3/4 meetings in high definition which all looked superb we had to go back to standard coverage of the Elite league match which just looked fuzzy and washed out compared to what we got used to last week. I believe the time has come now for BSPA/stadium owners and Sky to get together to find a way of improving lighting at live TV matches even if only on a temp week by week basis and moved round like the studio unit so that we can have weekly HD speedway