mickthemuppet

Did you mean a record high or a record low. Gates were about the same in Copenhagen , Prague was down and Ullevi was simply terrible. Gates at Cardiff more likely to be down than up.

Perhaps he is just getting to old . If a thing did not end badly it would never end at all.

Has Speedway a future. The events of this week concerning Peterborough and Coventry has surely taken it to a new low. Nobody in any other sport could understand what is going on ,in fact most people who follow Speedway do not know what is happening. Crowds are down overall in Great Britain so how many will be turned off by this latest farce. Grand Prix crowds are certainly lower. Ullevi crouds have dropped from 16,000 two years ago to probably under 10,000. I would think there has been bigger crowds at some EL matches than there were at Prague on Saturday.Looked about 3,000

On Television the crowd looked pretty small. Lots of empty seats on the home straight and only about 10 deep on the back straight. Was it as bad as it looked.They only had about 3,500 there last year

Did anybody notice the crowd at last night's GP. It looked absolutely terrible. They had 17000 two years ago and 14000 last year . Last nights attendance looked about half that

Best Odds for tomorrows Ullevi Grand Prix ,then Bookmakers then Betfair Place Odds Nicki Pedersen.........................5.00 Skybet............1.90 Jason Crump............................5.00.Skybet............1.80 Emil Sayfutdinov.......................5.00 Lad/Bet365.......1.70 Tomas Gollob...........................15.00 Lad/Sky/Fred 4.00 Andreas Jonsson........................17.00 Fred/Sky.........4.00 Jarek Hampel............................23.00 Sportingbet.....4.00 Freddie Lindgren.........................25.00 BetFred...........4.00 Greg Hancock..............................26.00 Sky/Fred/Boyle6.00 Antonio Lindback.........................34.00 Sportingbet.....5.00 Kenneth Bjerre...........................34.00 PanBet............6.00 Rene Holta...................................34.00.BetFred...........6.00 Hans Andersen..............................40.00 Sportingbet.......4.1 Chris Holder................................... 51.00.Sportingbet.....5.1 Chris Harris....................................201.00 Sportimgbet..10.00 Magnus Zetterstrom.........................201.00.Lad/Sky........16.00 Tai Woffinden...................................501.00 Unibet...........16.00

There is no othe Speedway at Ullevi except the Grand Prix. In fact there is not even a Speedway team in Goteburg which is Swedens second largest city.

Jules Sporting Bet have Jarek Hampel at 22/1 and Skybet have Antonio Lindback is 33/1

Dont worry about booking tickets . It's not been even half full for both the previous grand prix's there Holds 39,000 last year about 14,000 the year before 17,000

These are the latest odds Name Of Rider/Odds for Win/Bookmaker/Place Odds 1-2-3 On Betfair Nicki Pedersen..........................4.5.......Skybet/B/Win........1.60 Jason Crump..............................6.5.......Skybet..................1.72 Emil Sayfutdinov........................7.5........BetFred................2.20 Tomasz Gollob............................6.5........BetFred................2.20 Jaroslav Hampel.........................11.00.....W Hill....................3.00 Andreas Jonsson.........................17.00......Bet365.................4.00 Greg Hancock.............................23.00......Sportinhbet...........5.00 Chris Holder................................34.00........Skybet................5.00 Hans Andersen.............................41.00......Sportingbet..........6.00 Rene Holta....................................51.00......BetFred/Boyle......10.00 Kenneth Bjerre...............................51.00......Sportingbet.........8.00e Jan Kolodziej.................................51.00........BetFred...............6.0 Frederick Lindgren..........................67.00........Sportingbet..........6.90 Tai Woffinden................................251.00......Sportingbet..........20,00 Chris Harris...................................251.00......Sportingbet..........26.00 Magnus Zetterstrom........................301.00.......Sportingbet.........26.00

There is no 20/1 for Jarek Hampel to win this Saturday's Grand Prix and there never has been. His best odds for this weekend's GP is 10/1. The 20/1 is for the overall winner of the GP 's for the season.

Bernie Ecclestone says if the restrictions to air travel stay in place the next Formula One in Spain will be cancelled and they will hold another one in China. They need 6 Boeing 747 to transport all the equipment from one country to another. He even joked that they would hold all the Grand Prix's there if necessary How long I wonder will it be before there is an announcement confirming that the Leszno Grand Prix goes ahead.

Will the Grand Prix still go ahead if the air restrictions are still in place>. Will all the riders get there?. Chris Holder and Chris Harris both have League matches at Coventry and Ipswich on Thursday evening. Perhaps both of their teams will use a guest. I would presume that if you had bought a ticket and cannot get there then that is your bad luck.

You could also say in Cricket the Duckworth Lewis method is stupid were it is possible to win a match by scoring less runs than your oppponent. Then there is Tennis where you can win many more points than your opponent and still lose the match. Then in horse racing because you are a good horse you are penalized and have to give inferior horses weight all round. If you analyse it enough nearly all sports have funny rules.

In all these postings on when Speedway first started nobody has said where the word "speedway" actually came from and when. As far I can tell the word was first used during the 1890's in USA. It was defined as a stadium or arena for the purposes of Motor car or cycle racing. The word broadside also came into being around the same period of time. Even today the some stadiums are still called speedway. This would seem to suggest that these were the first Speedway meetings but where were they will probably never know. There is a stadium at a place called Speedway ,which has a stadium so perhaps it was there? Certainly the first meeting was not at High Beech as we are lead to believe. Funnily enough it was billed as Dirt track racing I would think that the meeting at Ipswich Portman Road on 2nd July 1904 has much more credence, as the first in this country. In his book "Ipswich Speedway, the first Fifty years" Colin Barber says there were 2 semi final races and a final. The first race was won by F E Barker, averaging 30 mph. He also won the final . Two similar meetings were held at Canning Town Cycle Track in 1905 on a cinder surface which again puts the origins of Speedway in doubt. There is also a report that the first recorded meeting was at Pietermaritzburg in South Africa in 1907

Ronnie Greene took over the promoting rights to Wimbledon Speedway in 1937. He ran Speedway there and paid rent to WJ Cearns who built and owned the stadium . The distances and starting gate changed in 1957. He retired in 1971 and John Cearns took up the promoting rights and appointed Cyril Maidment as Speedway manager. The track distance was increased from 343 to 355 yards for the first lap due to the old starting gate was too close to the first bend so it was moved back 23 yards. Nothing to do with the FIM because Wimbledon was quite a large track. Wembley being 378 yards.

If they cannot make profits on Grand Prix's held in Europe they certainly won't be going to Australia or New Zealand or anywhere else out of Europe. The only way the GP's will be more successful if if they hold them all in Poland.

I think you might find that it was the 1972 world final at Wembley. Barry's Briggs won his first race but in his 2nd ride he was involved in a crash with Bernt Persson on the 2nd bend of lap one. He was taken to hospital and lost part of his finger. That was BB. last world final. Ivan Mauger won after a run off with Bernt Persson, after they both tied of 13 points. Ole Olsen was third with 12 pts after a first heat fall and was the best rider on show that night.

If you are hiring a car why not try Lido de Jessolo. It's a great seaside resort. Has one long road for shopping about 6 miles long running parallel to the coast. This road is pedestrianised after six at night with masses of restuarants and bars. Unbelievable choice of hotels. and great night life as well . Only a boat trip away from Venice.Verona is nearby too

I think you will find that British Pathe News finished in 1970 Warner Brothers bought the original French company of Pathe News and all their films and ceased making Newsreels for cinemas in the USA in 1956.

I do not know when Speedway was first shown on World Of Sport but I have all the Speedway on VHS from 1977 onwards from this programme,

I think you will find that Ronnie Greene did not take over as promoter of Wimbledon until 1937 although it did not help them much as they finished bottom of the league

GRA are the main reason Greyhound Racing is dead in London as well. They now only have three tracks ,Wimbledon,Romford and Crayford left in London.. There are only 28 GRA tracks left in the country when there were at one time that many greyhound tracks in London. There were also over 100 Flapping(or unlicensed) tracks in the country which are now down to 12.

Have stayed in both Spa hotels. The both serve excellent buffet breakfasts but evening meals are very poor and very little choice. Trams pass the door at the Majorna and are very frequent even in early morning. Garda is 800 metres from the track although not on a bus or tram route which are about 400 metres away. There are no restaurant within the immediate vicinity of Garda Spa. This is in rather a remote part of the city. Majorna is on a main road with plenty of food places to eat although everthing was closed by 22.00 except a Greek Takeaway. Ten minutes to town centre. Both hotels are identical. Transport is very cheap. You can eat at the Ullevi stadium at Lunch time. If you eat there on a Friday about £6-7. if you ask nicely they will let you watch the practice which starts about 14.30. There is on the Saturday a special lunch for Speeday supporters at the Palace Restuarant which is in the main square and the largest eating place in Goteberg. It starts about 14.00 and costs about £16 for 3 course meal and two drinks. It is organised by Bo the Goteberg announcer and there are after lunch speakers like Olle Nygren,Bengt Jansson and Posa Serenius . Spoken in English and Swedish. A good lunch time session

My odds are for outright otherwise Tomasz Gollob would be favourite for the first GP I did not say Tomasz Gollob is on the slide big time although William Hill price him up at 16/1 as well but I don't think you will find many Speedway World Champions at 39 years of age. Even the world's greatest Speedway rider ever Ivan Mauger could only manage it when he was 37. Plus Poles do not win world titles except one fluke. William Hill's odds for one third the odds for 1st or 2nd are disgraceful. They would have riots if they offered only 2 places on 16 horse races.