WIE-JA

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the idiots who brought the case against the stadium.

:rofl:

Except those that qualify!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

The government do not recognise speedway or other motorsports as sport.

Because the NZ authorities who are stumping up some of the cash to get the event off the ground have insisted on someone more associated with NZ speedway. No money-no event.

The track was a bit patchy/inconsistant at the WC last year but quite good. The meeting was important and the racing was hard and the ocasional mistake was made. Tracks are generally a lot deeper in Sweden and Poland than in England and riders handle them OK. They are not a different breed of human now. If tracks were prepared as they were in the '60s then riders would just adapt to it. Oh and some tracks got that slick in the '60s several riders tried road tyres.

They were all raw novices once. One line tracks are usually down to poor preperation. Go to Peterborough when it's slick and you'll struggle to stay awake. Go when it's prepared well such as the World Cup event a couple of years ago and you wont want the meeting to end.

Hmm wonder what I was seeing at those 70 odd meetings I went to last season? It was during a conversation with an ex rider from the '60s n '70s that this came up. He was a heat leader for many years and was saying how much standards had improved from when he was riding particulaly the lower order team members. The standards of bikes had also improved, particulaly preperation. When he first rode in a second division team he'd only rode a speedway bike 6 times. Aparently this wasn't unusual in those days.

Have any of you actually thought that there might be more equel strength in the leagues now and that is why there are not so many dominant riders with exceptionally high averages?

Wheel spoilers are only compulsory in this country.

Obviously it would have made a difference to the GP being a success if the NZ authorities didn't put the money up because there wasn't what they considered a suitable representative.

Or look at it another way. Your doing a job for someone when you're racing in a profesional league so should be earning money from it. NL is classed as semi-profesional so should at least pay most of the riders costs.

Think yourself luck that junior doesn't want to do clay pigeon shooting.

The GP series would still have to be run to determine who is in the top 8. Might as well give the title to the bloke who finishes 1st. Ohh hang on, they do.

No you didn't make it plain. Bet Janowski and Sundstrom are in the qualifiers next year for the GPs. Batch has already lost his chance through injury in the Australian Championships (the incident has been mentioned a couple of times on other threads ). The Australian champs are used by their authorities to decide who goes into the GP qualifying rounds the same as the British Final is and most likely other countries. But because of the permanent wildcard system there is still a slim chance for riders in Batchelors situation. Wouldn't have had that chance in the old days.

Richard Hall might win a one off style world Championship if he got the chance. But we'll never know. At the end of the day there can only be one World Champion per season. How many World Champions has there been and how many thousands of speedway riders have there been over the years? Very slim odds of winning it.

Commercial has to come into it as at the end of the day it is a business. Under your plan there it only increases the chances of qualifying through the rounds by one rider. Your ideal plan is almost identical to what is in place now. 8 from the previous season, 3 from the qualifyer and then some random picks.

There has been some good young riders given/qualified for a chance in the GPs. Laguta was hardly ancient last year, Sayfutdinov was what? 18/19 when he made his debut, Ward was offered a chance despite failing in the QUALIFYING rounds, Hampel made his debut at a young age etc,etc. If a rider is good enough and comercial enough he will get a chance to go for the WC.

Which riders with the ability to win the World title have missed out in recent seasons?

As I HAVE said in previous posts, the system is not perfect-no system will be, but it is a proper World Championship. Maybe you should read posts instead of just wittering on.

The 'modern day Ivan' wouldn't have any chance in the GP system because at that stage of his career he was not good enough. Once he was good enough to challenge for World titles he didn't have too much problem constantly qualifying for the final. Gundersens record is bloody good, 10 years 8 World Finals.

Some good examples there Sidney. Fresh blood in the series is only any good if they are of the standard needed, hence elite few. Look at when the Russian arrived on the scene or Ward last season. These plus Hancock, Crump etc are elite, world class performers. I've never said that the current system is perfect-no system is. You've listed Crump. Hancock, Gollob and Hampel as the only riders in your opinion who could win. N.Pedersen, Jonsson, Holder or even Andersen could IMO push for the title. As for 3 of your picks being in the series for over a decade, does that not just prove how good they are? How many finals did Mauger, Nielsen, Gundersen each ride in?

There is only ever an elite few who have the ability to win the World Championship no matter how it is fought out, one day or multi round series.

You have to qualify to stay in the GPs as well. Either by scoring enough points to stay in the top 8 or going through national championships and then the the GP qualifying rounds. I agree with you about too many GPs. Personally any more than 12 would be too many. As for the UK leagues, well they're going to have to work out a way of dealing with it.