IainB

I wonder if Bomber caught any of the balls in the pre-meeting catch session... I'm picturing balls hitting him in the face and flying everywhere and him keep falling over his skipping rope

I think the trouble with Tai's ideas as far as the BSPA are concerned is that it's going to cost them money Crumpy it is then

didn't he just get binned off in Sweden?

would you invest in British Speedway? a Kevin Keegan

I think Golden Doubles were more of a cost saving exercise, as for Play-Offs, that's the price you pay for having TV coverage, only Football has the financial clout to be able to say no to Play Offs

And how much promotion do you think there would be to encourage people to leave the house and watch Tai if he did ride here? Back in the day (late 70's/early 80's) I always knew when the world champion was in town... I don't know how, I was only a kid, but I knew none the less

What about those Michael Parkinson and Alan Titchmarsh adverts about funeral planning... there's a whole captive audience sat there waiting to watch those adverts

I think the BSPA have pretty much washed their hands in the development of young riders and subbed it all out. You only had to look for the non-existent promotion of the recent WU21 team event at BV, it wasn't even mentioned on their website or twitter feed until the day of the event. As for TM, what about Rob Lyon, didn't he resign because the BSPA refused to back him with his ideas that seem to have now been pretty much fully implemented... maybe time to return to Rob?

I've been looking at a lot of the old sky matches recently, from when they first started televising it and it shocked me how much the crowds had fallen off in the last 20 years. Looking back then the matches seemed to have a carnival atmosphere and the coverage was quite innovative with the drive thru studio... sadly it looks like the BSPA blew it

The Aussies have Doyle and Holder, both brought up in the UK when the leagues were a lot stronger. Kurtz hasn't really kicked on in the last couple of years, the others that you mention remain to be seen what, if anything, they'll do, I don't see how they'll step up a notch as they're in exactly the same boat as GB, weak league and no test matches, the exception is Fricke. He does seem to have applied himself and although not quite there yet is approaching world class... IMO

1) I don't think we should be beating everyone because we are British, I see the quality of a fit Lambert and Cook and I think they should be beating the likes of Germany and challenging the non elite riders in the SoN field when fit... I was responding to "If anyone expected anything other than last then you need to give your head a wobble"... and if Cook and Lambert had been fit we wouldn't have been so far adrift 2) Like Emil's performance over the weekend. Or Zmarzlik if the Poles had won 3)That's absolutely not what I said at all, what I said was Bomber's performance made GB's performance as a whole look a lot worse As yet there is nobody and without a stronger domestic league or regular test matches there's unlikely to be. I found it very interesting listening to Jaimon Lidsey the other week on BT Sport where he said he came over to Europe and went straight to Poland and then came over to Britain to take 2 steps back to take 3 steps forward. Australia must also be worried that after Max Fricke there seems to be very little and I suggest that if Aussies keep coming over to ride in the British Leagues that they will also stagnate and not reach a higher level, it's no coincidence that GB, Australia and the USA are no longer serious players on the world stage, other than those riders that progressed from the UK when the league was a lot lot stronger than it is today

Come on, that's all very easy to say after the event, even without Tai and a fit Cook, Lambert... and Bomber you'd surely expect to beat the Germans and be giving Sweden and Australia a run for their money, along with Germany. GB probably had the most equal "Pair(s)" out there and I would have expected a number of 3-3's and the odd 4-2 Yet again, Poland prove themselves to be the biggest chokers in world speedway, just 3 world cups in 20 years outside of their home country and 1 world individual champion in the last I don't know how many years When the SWC first started, nearly 20 years ago now, it was such a refreshing change, a festival of speedway, there's so much wrong with the SoN as a "Team" event I'm not even going to get started on it, fine run it as a pairs event but they really do need to get back to a SWC type event, no matter who keeps winning it, maybe just don't keep having it in Poland every year But they kept saying they were there, commenting on the weather "here" and the atmosphere "here"... are you suggesting they were lying? I've got to disagree with that, you can't ignore last years Silver medal. I think most teams proved that they have an elite number 1, as we do and a capable number 2, as we do. Any team losing their elite rider would have been struggling, Holder for Doyle? Lindback for Lindgren, Bjerre for Madsen, G Laguta for Emil, Zmarzlik. I think what made us look so bad was Bomber's performance, who in all honesty, who, before the event would have known he'd have been so so so so far off the pace? Personally I would have gone for Danny King in that spot based on both their starting abilities

I doubt it would make much difference tbh. I think the answer lies in the strength of the domestic leagues. It's no coincidence that Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany have better/stronger leagues than GB, which is where riders really learn their trade

And what happens when those riders don't "make it", you've just wasted 5 years

It goes to Swindon

A hop? Have you seen where it is!

I don't know that's a fact... None of the other pairs were that impressive, only stand out individual performances from 3 riders. Had Cook and Lambert both been fit they could have quite easily gone through the meeting getting 3-3's and maybe the odd advantage and then who knows in the semi's and final. Look at Sweden, you wouldn't say they were out of it, it would only take a stand out performance from Fred on day 2 and they could be in with a shout of a medal

Danny King

What it would be interesting to know, is how many people are out there in the (paid for by) SpeedwayGB group and why one of them is not a reserve rider?

Maybe take a look at this before being too critical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiW61ygnw0s&feature=youtu.be

Didn't Wright dislocate his shoulder on Monday? Maybe we should have taken Rory

You should take a look at Swedish Speedway on Freesport... you'll love that!

I get your point... I just don't agree with it lol. Their time will come if they prove to be good enough, that's what all of the U21 competitions are for, the senior events are for riders who are the best in their country

I don't think it's about learning from Cook and Harris, it's about learning from everybody, all riders... If you're not going to treat it as something worth winning, a world final, it becomes not worth winning, not the example to set. Kemp is nowhere near the quality of justifying a place in a world final, there's many more ahead of him. We're lucky this year in the fact that we can use Lambert as "reserve" next year Cookie is not going to get a look in and will be standby reserve should Lambert or Woffinden not be available, that will be the time to blood young Bewley, when hopefully he'll be back to full form/confidence after his injuries

It's a world final, you put your best team out regardless of age, every other country has, even Denmark and Sweden, it's over 2 days, it only takes an injury for any team and they're up against it. The answer for lack of test matches is to arrange some and not chance youngsters who are nowhere near international class, yet, and possibly set them back a few years. Who knows what the likes of Bewley or the rest are going to be, they may just turn out to be club journeymen like so many before...