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Nicholls: No-score was no joke for GB

Scott Nicholls is the captain, he's a world class rider, and he under-performed. He and his team have to look at themselves because the manager can't ride the bike for them.

Kelvin Tatum.
Quotes of the week

2008 SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP:
Race-Off - 6pm, Thu 17 July, SS2
Final - 6pm, Sat 19 July, SS2

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• LIVE Speedway only on Sky Sports
• Bet on 2008 Speedway season
• Check out the 2008 GP calendar
• British Speedway standings

Great Britain are through to the race-off but they produced a poor performance at Coventry on Monday night.

The riders all have experience of the Brandon track; three of them are actually in the current Bees side and Scott Nicholls won the championship with them last year.

I think it was a surprise not only to the supporters but also to the other teams that Great Britain didn't go well.

There was some talk about the track but I thought the conditions were good and it was well prepared. There wasn't a lot of grip on it but there was some, and it was the same for all the teams, so I'm reluctant to use that as an excuse.

We saw coach Jim Lynch use Nicholls as the tactical joker in heat six but it was a disaster - he failed to score any points.

Indifferent

I was uncertain about using him so early when all five riders had had indifferent opening rides - we hadn't won a race in the opening five.

In hindsight - which of course is a wonderful thing - it may have been better to have waited until one or two of the riders had got that first win under their belts. It's not an easy call but I was surprised that the joker was played so early.

So you could question that, and indeed I did question Lynch's team selection last week.

I don't think it's ideal to pick a rider and then announce they won't be used later in the competition - Tai Woffinden and Edward Kennett will come in for Olly Allen and Simon Stead at Vojens - it's a bit undermining.

But the fact is, the whole team didn't perform. Nicholls is the captain, he's a world class rider, and he under-performed. He and his team have to look at themselves because the manager can't ride the bike for them.

After heat 15 we seemed to get to grips with it al a bit better but it was one of those nights that you just have to forget because it was awful.

Last-chance saloon

Great Britain need a much improved performance in the race-off. You can't dwell too much on such a poor showing, you need to get it out of your system and fortunately they don't have to wait long until they're riding the bikes again.

I certainly would have had a forthright chat with the riders if I'd have been in Jim Lynch's position!

Heads appeared to go down but it was strange - the whole team seemed to be affected. Lee Richardson has ridden and won in the World Cup in previous seasons, and with Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls being in the Grand Prix, you would have expected better.

That's very frustrating for a manager because you can make a tactical substitution, for example, if you've got one or two issues with one or two riders but if everyone's playing poorly, it's much more difficult to deal with.

But we can't be that bad again and I don't think we will be.

With the realisation that this is last-chance saloon, I think we'll see a much improved effort. It won't be easy, mind - there's a tough night of speedway ahead on Thursday.

The team on paper didn't suggest that Sweden could ride as well as they did but all credit to them - they did a sterling job. Jonas Davidsson was brilliant and Daniel Nermark and Peter Ljung rode fantastically well.

Also going into the race-off of course are Russia, and I think they surprised one or two people in Leszno. They're an emerging country and in a few years they're going to be a team that will qualify for the final.

Kelvin's call:

I said watch out for the Danes and Aussies last week, and as winners of their respective rounds, they're both straight through to Saturday's final, but don't expect it to be a foregone conclusion.

It's easy to dominate in the rounds but the final itself will be a lot tougher because you'll obviously have four quality riders in the race.

The Danes are the strongest side on paper and for me, are still red-hot favourites. They have potentially five Grand Prix riders - four regulars and one who is more than capable of holding his own.

But Australia have a quality team, although they have a couple of riders who aren't quite there yet, and Sweden proved on Monday that they're also capable of doing well.

So although the Danes go into final as favourites, it won't be clear cut and at some point in the evening it will get tight.

And there is still hope for Great Britain.

They have an opportunity on Thursday to put all the wrongs right and regain the faith. They've got everything to gain and nothing to lose after Monday's performance.