7:00am Monday 30th June 2008
By Phil Chard
NICKI Pedersen has roundly condemned the British crowd's consistent loud frenzied booing of him at Cardiff as "disgraceful".
The defending world champion also believes Bjarne Pedersen should not have been excluded from their controversial semi-final.
Nicki felt all four riders back for first bend bunching would have been the right decision and he would have had no argument with that.
But he also pointed out it was not his decision to exclude Bjarne, or Leigh Adams in heat 17, so the British supporters inside the Millennium Stadium should not have taken their frustration out on him by booing the wrong man.
Nicki, who has a 10-point overall lead on British GP winner Jason Crump, said: "I felt very disappointed because of the way the British crowd booed me.
"It doesn't affect me when I'm riding, but it just makes me feel even more fed up with British speedway."
Pedersen, not riding in the Elite League this year after being dumped by Eastbourne and failing to find another track, added: "I think the fans' booing was disgraceful.
"It if was me I would have had all four back in those incidents, but it's the ref's decision.
"I'm very disappointed about the British fans and it makes me wonder whether I really want to ride in this country again.
"It also makes me even more determined in my fight to win the World Championship this year."
Pedersen, shown on Sky's live coverage screened inside the stadium clearly laughing about his semi-final reprieve while he was in the pits, continued: "The British fans are too focused on Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls.
"They don't think it's the ref who is making the decisions.
"I'm really happy I made the final, but I had four bad knocks and sustained a rib injury and took a heavy bang to my head."
Pedersen, who eventually finished third despite falling in the final, added: "This meeting was a big blow to me and I hope it's the only one of the season.
"You have to have one sooner or later, but the decisions didn't really go my way all the time in the first turn."
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