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G the Bee

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Everything posted by G the Bee

  1. What's happened to Lee Richardson? I think this was his last opportunity to get into the GP's for next year. I don't think he will (or should) get a wild card again and he is going to have to have some pretty good GP's to get into the top 8 this year. I just can't see it happening. I thought much of his interview in this weeks Speedway Star made interesting reading, and agreed with much of it, but, on the basis of today's result, I couldn't help but be reminded of the following quote: "The likes of Simon Stead and Chris Harris are not kids anymore......maybe they need to be getting to the level me and Scott are at." I thought when I first read it that this was a strange comment for Lee to make because he is having a dire season. Tonight just confirms I was right. Maybe this season, Lee needs to get to the level Chris and Simon are at. I hope he turns it 'round because the last thing Team GB needs is for Chris and Simon to make steady progress (which they are doing) whilst Lee goes the other way prematurely.
  2. Did the Oxford fans recognise the rider that was passing GP riders for fun in heats 3, 7, 9 and 14? Pleased as punch with the result. Only wish Scott could have progressed further. He said in the interview that he was happy with his bikes but he looked down on speed compared with some of the other riders out there.
  3. Big Arthur misses the point completely. There will often be some doubts about a track whether wet or not. How often do we watch a Sky match and hear a rider say 'The track's tricky / patchy / rutty / slick'. Using Arthur's recommendations, no team would ever complete their fixtures! If the track had been like Sheffield or Peterborough in the World Cup in 2002 I agree that it should have been off but we all know, as evidenced by Crumps ride in the previous heat, that the track wasn't that bad at all. The riders just needed to adapt to the conditions. The point is, there is no consistency from riders. The same riders who appear to grumble and moan about the state of a difficult track will often be the same ones who go out and race in far worse conditions come GP weekend. Speedway riders are in the entertainment business yet (at the risk of taring all the riders at the meeting with the same brush) I don't think, generally speaking, the riders had a second thought for the fans who had travelled so far to see them race. Not sure I heard one rider say "what about the people who are watching, and pay our wages, do we not have a responsibility to get the meeting on for them?" I don't think that in return for travelling hundreds of miles and paying money to get in the stadium, expecting riders, referees and promotions to put 110% into getting a meeting on is a selfish attitude to have at all.
  4. The irony here, of course, is that the GP boys seem to be picking up the blame for the meeting being called off, but had the meeting actually been a GP I believe it would have been run. I have seen GP's and World Cup meetings run in far worse conditions. I think Sky missed an opportunity to directly question a GP rider over this issue tonight. I think Steve's letter is spot on and perhaps it should be sent to the Speedway Star together with as many countersignatories as possible of people who actually attended this meeting. Even if the riders do not read the forum, we know they nearly all read Speedway Star. I certainly hope that Sky get the powers-that-be from the BSPA into their offices over the shambles we have seen this week. Perhaps a race-director, like Olsen in the GP's, needs to be appointed for Sky meetings. Whilst I am not saying the riders should not have a voice, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it has gone too far. To often (and not just on Sky) we see referees bowing down to rider power and meetings cancelled which could have been on with a little more patience and commitment, but how often does this happen in the GP's? I only recall one GP being cancelled in 11 years.
  5. From BSPA website: JOE Screen will be in Great Britain’s starting line-up for the launch of their World Cup campaign at Swindon on July 31. The Belle Vue rider joins Scott Nicholls, Lee Richardson, Mark Loram and David Norris. Coventry’s Chris Harris is on stand-by. British boss Neil Middleditch said: “Joe has impressed me this season, he likes the Swindon track and he wants to ride for his country.” So there you have it. Screen gets the final place. Bomber first reserve and no place for Simon Stead. I'm not knocking Screen but I must say that I am disappointed. I do not doubt that Neil Middleditch has got the best interests of Team GB at heart, but I can't help but think he bottled it and made the easy decision. Giving Bomber and Simon Stead the last and first reserve places would have rewarded their efforts this season and perhaps took a little justification (especially as Stead's form has dropped a little lately). However, Jacob Olsen was making similar decisions a few years ago though and look how powerful the Danes are now. We can't rely on the old guard forever. This was an opportunity missed in my opinion.
  6. After another excellent performance by Chris Harris tonight at Monmore Green, I for one, hope that he gets a call up for the SWC at the end of this month. He is hitting form at just the right time. Assuming Nicholls, Loram and Richardon are a given, and Norris will probably also get the call up if fit, I can't think of any other riders out there who could do a better job in the final position. In my opinion, it's the right time to begin dispensing with the old hands and bringing on the new boys.
  7. And why? Certainly in 1987 one of the reasons was because Kelvin was injured in his first ride of the first leg of the KO Cup, and missed the whole of the first and second legs.
  8. Would a sponsor regard e-mails as welcome feedback or harassment? I am sure that if I were a company sponsoring a rider I would welcome any feedback from the public, positive or negative, regarding how that rider was percieved by the general public. I would be thinking that the public opinion of the product endorsed by the rider would reflect the image with which that rider is viewed by the general public. That is generally why successful riders attract more sponsorship. Companies understand that by associating themselves with someone successful their product will be viewed in a similar light.
  9. The guestbook on www.uglyduckracing.com (H.A's website) makes interesting reading. Looks like Hans has some teenage girls defending him but that's about it!
  10. No matter what your opinions of Nicki Pedersen are, I don't think anyone can deny he deserved it after his performance tonight. I was so impressed with how he kept his cool during both an eliminator and finding himself at the back in his semi. To become World Champion is a tremendous achievement. Congratulations Nicki.
  11. Would that be the same Coventry Stuart Robson rides for
  12. Whatever happened to all 4 back? I know there is no such rule as 1st bend bunching, but if either of the three incidents (2 with Lee Richardson and one with AJ/Nicki P) occured in an Elite League meeting I think we would have seen all 4 back. You are going to see hard 1st bends in a GP. Add to this the added issue of unpredictable man made tracks and I think a certain amount of leniency has to be given for 1st bend accidents. If riders were seen to be taking advantage of this then the referee would have to act. I thought Lee was harshly treated second time round. He had been moved over himself and did not seem to touch Gollob. However, if that was the precedent the referee wished to set he should have also excluded Pedersen in the final.
  13. I too was bored. I thought the track was awful again, although it would appear that they'd had quite a bit of rain. The distance between the riders first and last past the flag in some of yesterdays heats was a joke, and I thought the track rutted up badly after the first few heats. To me, the GP's lately are all spin and no substance. Get them in the fancy, sponsor festooned stadiums, let off some fireworks and flares, play disco music, get Suzie Quattro along (or the chap who did yesterdays gig), accompany it by some flash PR (the 'Fans GP', whats all that about?) and there you have it - the SGP. Don't worry about the fact that the the tracks consistently fall way below standard or that despite having the top riders in the world you can count the amount of decent races on one hand. All I could think of was that I could have watched Cov. V. Peterborough tonight.
  14. I agree Star Lady, and made a similar point in the Elite League section on the GP rescheduling thread. It was interesting to see Mark Loram interviewed by Jonathan Green and Chris Louis on Sky this evening. When he was asked whether he would be at the GP on Saturday he said words to the effect of "Yes, I havent heard anything or seen any press releases to say otherwise." This, despite him knowing that he already has a commitment to ride for Eastbourne against Poole on Saturday. I was hoping he would say words to the effect of "Well we will have to wait and see because as far as I was concerned I was riding for Eastbourne against Poole on Saturday". I get the impression that the riders would much rather risk the wrath of their clubs than BSI. Perhaps I am wrong! I'm not having a pop at Mark by the way. He is a rider I admire enormously, but I think his interview gave a good example of the mindset of a GP rider.
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