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I'm well up for innovation and evolution. Change is healthy. But this particular change is just change for change's sake. And it's a change that could easily devalue the product... As opposed to the previous format (which after years of GP tinkering, was the fairest) every race mattered. If say Zmarzlik and Woffinden are going to head to head at the top of the standings, then the heat they clash is a two (or more) pointer. It matters. But if it's just a qualifier towards the semis, they are much less incentivized to race it cut throat and - if they miss the start - settle for safe second or third. In the scheme of things, it matters less and is - potentially - irrelevant. Worse still, the new format opens up a greater chance of race fixing. Let's say Woffinden has sailed through his first four heats and has 12 points and is safe as a leading qualifier for the semis going into the last round of heats. Zmarzlik has finished on 8 points is sweating on a place in the semis. Woffinden lines up against three others on 6 or 7 points (non title rivals) in his last heat. I'm sure you can see what I am driving at...... Without every point mattering, Woffinden would actually have less to gain winning his heat than trailing in last and scuppering Zmarzlik's chances. I just don't think it has been properly thought through and discussed. I get why the FIM - from a distance - might like standardisation, but the onus is on the GP organisers to map out these scenarios and show why it is isn't possible to drive a square peg into a round hole.

Using no names as an example, just a scenario.Someone gets to the semi’s with 7 points another one gets there with 15. 15 man wins his semi, 7 man gets second. In the final. 7 man (now 9 on the night) wins and gets 20 points whilst 15 man (now 18) misses the gate, finishes last and goes home with 14 points!! Now on what universal planet are the MORONS who think this is a good idea or fair, living on?!.... Speedway is often seen as a joke these days (especially when it comes to British speedway) but the GP’s did use to come across as professional and fair (on the whole) but this farcical change just makes a mockery of the sports elite event.

And, while they are at it, we don't want to watch the start from behind either.

It is what it is...

No offence Neil, but the big difference is that those meetings aren't part of a series. I'm at a loss as to why they changed the system. We heard last night that they want competitors to keep pushing throughout the meeting, to make every race matter. Well every race did matter under the old system, not just for the one meeting, but right until the last race of the series. If you've got a reasonable score during the qualifying races now, the only thing you're racing for is gate choice. This can be critical but not always (last night for example). I, for one, never had a problem with the GP winner not necessarily being the top scorer. The meeting final and the points scored counted for different things. And you could easily work out each competitors meeting and year to date series score as I was doing race by race during the meeting in Torun last October. As others have said, if you really wanted to achieve an improved solution (?), simply increase the points awarded in the final (and maybe even in the semis as well).

If it not broke don't fix it. The scoring system as it was wasn't broken.

OK, two examples: Laguta has 14 points entering the semi-finals. His reward for taking a further two wins is another 6 points. Lindgren has 7 points entering the semi-finals. His reward for a second and a third is another 9 points. That's nuts! If it ain't broke, don't fix it with a sledgehammer!

Back to the original point personally believe it’s time we sent as many teams as possible to race abroad. Whether it be125 250 under 19 under 21 or full blown international meetings. We have been to insular for to long. Plenty of talent on these shores all willing to travel they just need the scb acu tosort it

What are you watching!!

The comments in the last hour on this thread just about sums up most speedway fans ... whinge whinge literally about anything .

Rubbish. Your dislike of Laguta is clouding sensible judgement.

Laguta not so hot when he doesn't gate!

No. They can’t change or they lose their sponsorship. Nothing to stop them changing. They always have the choice. Seems excuses from Zmarzlik.

I understand what Bellamy was saying though last night. Under the old system there was no pressure on the final for the highest scoring riders. I wasn't a fan before last night of the scoring. After though I didn't mind and actually added a bit more enjoyment. Zmarzlik, Madsen & Emil getting knocked out was good viewing & Freddie scraping through on 7 & bagging 16 points was great. It's about dealing with pressure and the 3 of them didn't.

What seems to have escaped everybody's attention is the quali system for the semis? Can anybody explain it to me? Semi 1: 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th Semi 2: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th So for the 4 losing semi finalists Semi 1: 3rd = 11pts, 4th = 10pts Semi 2: 3rd = 12pts, 4th = 9pts Confused!?! He'll probably remind you of KK tonight though Made me feel sick that did... also, and it's a real bug bear of mine and has been the same for ever... when you're actually at a Speedway meeting, remember those days, after a rider won an event or race, did you fix your gaze on the guy waving the flag? No? Perhaps you started looking around the crowd for somebody that was waving a flag of the nation of the victor? No? Maybe you stopped looking at what was going on in a rush to fill your programme in? No? Maybe just maybe you were looking at what was going on, on the track!!! Arrrrggghhh! A great GP last night after all of the dross served up so far in the Ekstraliga and great to have 2 commentators who inject some excitement and enthusiasm into proceedings, Didn't think the crowd was anywhere near 50% capacity and one thing I thought was noticeable by their absence were the start girls, was this down to pc reasons?

Many are doing that but the doom mongers prefer to overlook it. 7-8 Tracks I visited last season including my own had schemes similar to what you refer to.

Aye I suppose that semi final were alreet. Mind you, I seen Eric Boocock do same every ruddy week at t'Shay in t'sixties. And you try telling the kids that today... and they won't believe you.

How about the scb applying to hold the 125 championship in 2021 . Today we had 3 riders in the top 8 in the Czech Republic. Would be good to hold the meeting here and offer free entry to schools

Berwick did it two years ago. A couple of local riders went along, took a bike, one of them did a few skids on the grass, got their photo in the local paper. They allow under 16's in for free every week. They do great work with children, trying to get them involved in supporting the sport.

Now Scott has caught itiswhatitisitis.

Two really good meetings, and be honest when was the last time we had a GP as good as we have witnessed this weekend. Yes, some of the rules are ridiculous, but done correctly there isn't much that beats speedway for excitement and entertainment

Bizarre choice of gate just the same as Iverson in semi 1 .

Yeah, you are right, crap racing...

Get rid of that woman interviewer, she is clueless

She's useless

I don't dislike him. Just don't want it to become like F1.

Brilliant racing from Laguta.

Laguta lacks aggression and track craft when behind. Needs to smarten up and toughen up to be WC for me.

Couldn't have said that better myself. Perhaps they learned the whinging from BSF members???

Anybody else already bored with Laguta

As I said, I don't like it, but I agree 100%. Neither do their times and performances in the qualifying rounds count either. And nobody bitches about that... Reading this forum, it's like people claim to be speedway fans, yet are constantly looking for reasons NOT to be.

In a way, the new system has already accomplished what it set out to do. Freddie fulfilled it when he raced all the way to the end, not content wit 7+3, he exerted himself and got 16. A leeson given, and possibly learnt - we shall see tonight.

Of course and you won't find me advocating a return to the old system and the Nordic-British-American-Intergalactic Final and such. It had had its day and was flawed. I'm no black and white extremist - unfashionable as that may be. Broadly speaking, I think the GPs are a great product, with excellent racing and well presented. I'd like to see the sport in more territories, but overall the World Championship has taken a significant step forward under the GP format from its latter years as a one off. I also congratulate the organisers for pulling togther a series at all this year in a very challenging climate. But, the new scoring format dents the series' credibility, by removing some of the edge from the heats and increasing the possibility of manipulation.

I haven't filled a programme in for about 20 years... The point is you shouldn't need to. Perhaps it's why they've changed the scoring system to boost programme sales, it's the only logical reason.

R+R must be feeling proud that his pen and paper are now the equivalent of a supercomputer

My prediction is 2022

Yup, plus the pressure of winning the final and therefore the Grand Prix and standing at top of that podium at the end of the night. If Bellamy thinks riders are happy to sit back in second place in the final, he needs to go back and watch some of the finals from the last few years. When the Managing Director of BSI is so out of touch with the fan base, maybe a change is required.

I’ve said it before, the best scoring system was the old system where everybody scores count towards your final total. The only difference should of been results should of been changed to 4,3,2,1 points in the semis and finals to reward people for getting there even if they finished last.

Regarding the new scoring system 1) Doyle, Dudek & Michelsen all scored 5 points but Doyle is awarded 6 points & Michelsen 4, what is the purpose of that? 2) Sayfutdinov scored 11 points & Zagar 6, but Emil only gets awarded one more point! Does Emil only deserve ONE more point than Matej? Also it means if Emil had scored FOUR less points in the heats he still would have gone home with his 9 GP points!

But throughout the whole history of Speedway , particularly since WW2, only a handful of championship events, were specifically crafted to ensure that happened. Some happened by natural accident of course with run off where needed plus the Mickey Mouse events like Rider of the night finals where the money was split and the race was a sham to con the public. All the rest were just won by the team/rider scoring most points regardless of which heat the final winning score came in. Using any one person as if it were a peculiar aberration of the sport was your choice. BUT I am not an advocate of removing finals from GPs. .. far from it ... I love them. The GP scoring was perfect last year. And it is so definitely NOT this year. EVERY POINT COUNTS IN EVERY RACE was a massive plus point. Not just for PR but because it really followed through on to the track and to the racing, especially in that final block of races before the semis. And it has been tossed away... by tossers. I don't think it helps to talk about Gary Havelock as if he is part of the current problem. That is just diversionary. The names that should be tarred and feathered over this are Viegas, Castagna and Bellamy. The rest of the month is going to be dominated by this discussion at every GP when, if the action is as fantastic as last night, that is a travesty. And THEY are to blame. Let's stick to naming and shaming those people.

My pics from yesterdays first GP: https://www.baansportfansite.nl/nieuws/1994/artem-laguta-pakt-zijn-eerste-speedway-gp-overwinning-in-wroclaw.html

The change was innovated by a man who has absolutely no clue what speedway really is, by Jorge Viegas, the Portuguese president of the FIM, who told Arando Castagna to get this in order and in line with the scoring of all the other FIM Motorcycle world championship disciplines, because it does look odd to an outsider (him!) when a winner of a GP could end up with less poinst than another rider who placed behind him in the final. Well. the winner of each race gets the most points in speedway, too as we already score each race with 3-2-1-0 points. But a GP does not have just one race, there are 23 of them. The new scoring system only makes it over complicated for the fan to follow the point standings during a meeting, with two different sets of points. Totally unneccasary change.

Don't know if you have realised what is happening in the world at the moment,but that has impacted on how many people are allowed into stadiums at the moment.

Belle Vue has lower capacity than Ipswich which has been significantly upgraded by Spedeworth in recent years. Ipswich is in a low rate Covid area. Manchester is focal point for a significant regional lockdown, that's only now being slightly eased in some parts but increased in others in the general area. The meeting is in approx 4 weeks time. The decision has nothing to do with Speedway, tracks or favouritism etc. It's based on Covid 19 and common sense. It seems to me to be a rare bit of lateral thinking. The most suitable venue in the safest area at this moment in time. More important to get the meeting on, get Europsort some coverage and some domestic top class Speedway. Hopefully Belle Vue will be ready in 8 weeks time for SON.

Rnd 2 Traditional race sheet https://www.keepandshare.com/doc16/24922/gp-2020-2-pdf-849k?da=y

ONLY a hint ... don't understand the FIM argument to formalise all systems of scoring across the various disciplines. Speedway is different. Accept it and move on.

Excellent meeting... And good to have Nigel and Kelvin back too..... As good a double act commentating wise that any sport has...

good racing tonight regardless of the changes.

I get what you're saying but I just don't think it comes close to banking championship points in every race. For the riders. Or for the spectator.

I had reservations about the new scoring, but I thought it worked fine. The Lindgren situation added to the drama rather than take anything away. It may not work so well in the later rounds with two riders fighting for the title, but on the basis of this one I had less problem with it than I thought I would. I didn't think it really needed changing from last year, but for this entire topic to just be people complaining about it seems a bit excessive. I enjoyed the meeting. Not sure if Laguta can keep this up for the entire series, but a great start for him.