pandorum

Well another boring meeting to add to all the other boring GPs Bloody Hell that was amazing......great racing from the off, super TV coverage, decent commentary, nice Sky programme with 3 good guests...well done to everyone especially the track staff.....awesome! Lets hope this is the first of many!

Tai is not remotely 'technically representing Britain'. The guy IS British. Was born in Britain and has British parents. Hopefully Emil will stay Russian as I enjoy watching those guys and they have a chance of WC glory with him in the team.

I would think that the more worrying aspect of the 2010 GP series is not what to call all the Polish GPs but the fact that it seems to have lost it's 'major' sponsors. A look at the sponsor section on the GP site shows that the betting guys have dissapeared and all thats left are the tie ins with tourist agencies, a newspaper nobody reads and a few minor sponsors still around from last year. The GPs are mostly sponsorless although doubtless a few will pick up a name sponsor before the event but considering the coverage and even taking in to account the economic situation it must be worrying for the organisers. We can hardly expect the moneybags sponsors football gets but with the massive coverage the GPs get one would expect some reasonably major company to show some interest.

You are all forgetting that Speedway GP is run as a business. Those running it do it to make money and are not likely to allow a lot of riders who don't enhance the product to earn qualification through some series of qualifying rounds like we had in the old days. Earning a place in the GP has nothing at all to do with it. If they believe X Y or Z will bring in some new audience or sponsor then X Y or Z will be given a pick. Anyone who believes that the organisers want riders like Zorro in there is a bit naive. Guys like Woofy and Holder and Darcy and Emil will always be given a leg up if they fail to reach the top 8. Thats why they have a reign on the number who can qualify via racing. The top 8 usually will be be TV/sponsor/audience friendly and they will add a handful of the most glamourous candidates to that and allow the rest to crawl in and fill up the minor placings. If a top guy decides to do the qualifiers and get in then one more pick for the guys in charge if not then a pick will do. Its about enhancing the whole product nowadays and if I was running the show I would do exactly the same but have even less qualifiers than there are now if even any at all

Pretty obvious really. The football/rugby/cricket world cups are important sporting events that wherever they are held will attract an overall crowd in hundreds of thousands and a TV audience nowadays in 100s of millions if not billions. The speedway equivalent attracts a TV audience of maybe a few hundred thousand across europe and the world and a crowd of maybe (if you are really lucky with weather etc) 25,000 for the whole thing. Sponsorship with the football etc world cups measured in millions sponsorship in speedway WC measured in thousands (if you are lucky). Interest in the other world cups measured in terms of continents of people speedway maybe a few hundred thousand worldwide with small enclaves dotted around the globe here and there. Newspaper coverage of the other WC measured in acres of front and back page interest whilst speedway WC lucky to be measured in feet overall and consigned to that page nobody ever looks at next to the used car adverts.. Countries fight over the world cups in sports like that whilst the experiment speedway had with holding a WC in one country was an utter and abject failure with less interest to most events that an pre season challenge match. I like the WC and enjoy it a lot but is never going to hold the interest that even pub games like world cup snooker or darts will hold so holding it in places that at least have a reasonable interest and can muster a decent crowd for the TV audience is sensible.

Was a regular saturday night visitor to The Shay during the Carter era as I liked watching The Dukes. KC was a damn good rider who gave a damn good account of himself every race. But he never seemed to have that little extra that rivals like Penhall had and for me underachieved as a rider. His sad demise was a shock and for me a book about it seems a little disrespectful. His private life was just that. But sadly sensation sells and there will always be plenty of people to make money out of it. Kenny the rider stirred up enough controversy for any book. The magic night when Bruce won the 1981 world final a perfect example of KC at his best. I liked Kenny even though he never was one of my favourite riders and always thought he could have acheived more if only he could have channeled his aggression a bit more into his racing. Still one of Britains great speedway riders and on his night a sight to see round The Shay.

First saw Peter Collins as a not even programmed match day afterthought in the Rochdale line up. Three rides, zero points, three stone dead lasts looking like a total novice. Which of course he was. Saw him many times after that. What an incredibly exciting speedway rider worth travelling hundreds of miles to see. One of Britains best ever riders.

Wuffy by all means. look forward to seeing him in GP he won't let himself down especially if his dad makes it to see him in a GP. but harris? what a joke. plenty more entertaining than him. lindback would have been good. zagar might have been interesting but seeing chris finish 14th to 16th every round aint my idea of fun. and where does this wuffy is not a brit nonsense come from? it seems that brit speedway fans and certain commentators who should know better have never heard of rob woffinden and scunthorpe. young wuffy will do the country proud i have no doubt.

Why does he have to be banned is all I am saying as that is stupid beyond belief and anyone who thinks robbing the paying public of a talent like Gollob is bonkers. Not the worst excess on a track I have seen and the fuss being made is a bit OTT. Yeah it was utterly stupid so take some of his sponsors money and tell him off.

Agree to quote Wuffy '110%' Crump deserves the title on any level you care to discuss. I always liked watching his dad but the kid done well. A worthy World Champion who has been before and will be in 2010 a credit to his chosen sport. As pointed out above though Emil was indeed Rider Of The GP Series. An awesome performance from the young lad. Tomas Gollob sadly never stood on the top rostrum and that was/is a tragedy. But Emil is the best rider I have seen since I saw the late great legendary Tommy Jansson score an 18 point max for Young Sweden on a track he had never even heard of let alone seen and I am sure that he will not suffer like Gollob and will be Champ before long.

Zagar, Lindback, Woffinden and prolly Andersen. I don't think any of the bottom 8 in the GP really deserve a pick but Andersen is likely gonna get one. Darcy Ward is an outside choice and if not picked the organisers should wangle a wild card for him because the Aussies miss out on that as do the Yanks if they had anyone worth a pick. UK has a good pool of decent prospects coming up but as yet Wuffy is it really as none of the rest are worth putting in. UK should NOT get 2 picks as we don't deserve 2. Slovenia has Zagar who has been awesome here this year and deserve a chance to see one of thiers in the mix. Lindback showed what he could do in 2 GPs and deserves a chance. Wuffy is pure class and has done enough this year to warrant a place and anyone who thinks it's tooearly for him is bonkers. Pavlic would have been in my four but he has been pretty much a disgrace to himself this year and needs to sort himself out bigstyle as he has a lot of talent.

Gollob was a bit daft true as Nicki did nothing that was not being done by riders desperate for a top 8 spot and was a complete innocent that time but it wasn emotional meeting for him so understandable. hell Nicki P is no angel either and has put himself about this year usually with him falling on his ass and blaming the other guy. To Ban Gollob would be insane even for a single race. There is little enough entertainment in this sport with poor track preperation, loonie tune rules and refs as stupid as Steele was on saturday. They have a chance to put four entertainers in for 2010 and prepare tracks worthy of racers so banning the most entertaining rider they have would be an act of utter stupidity. It's not he first time I have seen a bike deliberately left on a track and no one demanded bans then. Sure it's stupid. Sure it's petulant. But it's a high octane adrenalin fueled sport so daft things happen. Nobody died. Nobody got hurt thankfully. The race got stopped eventually and life went on. A GP series without Gollob is an inevitability but to go looking for that shows speedway fans are even dafter than Gollob was on saturday.

How would THAT make the GP more competitive though? The qualifiers throw up riders who in no way reflect any form of competitive additions to the series. A rider gets a few tracks he knows and can qualify simply because he has local track knowledge. Does not mean he is competitive. And what has merit got to do with it. And yes I did use that very word in my previous post. Merit depends on who you talk to. We all have our own faves so would argue the merit of having them in the GP. If I was running the GPs I would allow the top 8 to qualify and do away with qualifiers completely and pick the other 8 based on what would best suit the series in terms of sponsors, TV, geographics and crowd expectations. Let's face it if Emil had performed crap in the GP he would still get a 2010 pick because they want to eventually stage a Russian round so want to engage a Russian audience. They would also like a decent Yank in there to step in when Greg retires as they also want a US round. But sadly there are none at the moment but don't imagine when a half decent one turns up that he will get in on merit. The level of naivity on display here is mind boggling. The idea that the GP series should be left to a series of silly qualifiers so to allow riders who would bring nothing to it the chance to qualify is silly in the extreme. It's a business designed to sell a product. By your method a top draw name could have a bad couple of meetings and miss out whilst a complete twonk could get through because he happened to ride regularly at the track. Or NOT in the case of Chris Harris. The GP challenge is simply a sop designed to placate fans who cannot or refuse to see the bigger picture. Do you honestly believe the organisers want guys like Walasek, Ulamek and Zetterstrom in the GP?

I thought it was an entertaining meeting and well worth two hours of my time. One thing I noticed though which does not seem to have been mentioned is what happened to the sponsors???? It seemed that the mickey mouse betting site sponsors have dissapeared as they were blanked out on the race jackets and did not appear on the interview boarding. Does not bode well if the series ends with just a few tourist organisations providing backing for the sport. Been a while since the GP had a decent sponsor. Which is why it needs the youngbloods now more than ever.

The level of naiviety in this thread is truly amusing to witness. The world speedway championships are a business and as such need to be attractive especially to TV and sponsors. The countries that provide the most income need to be represented so the series needs at least a Pole a Brit a Swede and a Dane to be viable with a yank and an Aussie for worldwide appeal. The fact that the Brits are poor is totally irrelevant as having one is essential and the silly idea that having one in the Cardiff GP and not in the overall series is sensible shows just how naive speedway fans are in the UK. The other factor in choosing a Brit is appeal to the TV audience and sponsors. Lee Richardson appeals to no one whilst young Woffinden has bags of appeal all across the board and tics all the boxes required for attracting an audience. Nicholls and Harris trailing in last every time has become stale and boring and regardless that the two finally show some effort at the end of the series neither is worth a light when it comes to overall GP audience appeal. Young Darcy and Pavlic have it as well as Zagar and Lindback whilst Leigh Adams (regardless of how good he is domestically and what he has brought to the sport)and most all of the bottom eight in the series bring nothing to the series anymore so will fall by the wayside. If Nicki fails to get into the top 8 the organisers would be insane not to give him a pick as his appeal is worldwide but the rest are nothing special anymore. The three who qualified are regardless of how good they are there on merit (as they went thru the qualifying system) but the four picks will reflect their attractiveness to the series overall not their UK averages or what they do in Poland. Wuffy does well in that anyways but will be picked for his level of 'cool' not his ability on a bike. My bet is Zagar and Linback will get a pick as well for the same reasons. The bizarre idea that the top 16 riders in the world have ever competed in a world final is laughable as it was always designed to give poor East Europeans and Germans who could not compete at PL level a third of the line up and on many occasions poor standard Brit Swede Danes got in by virtue of home track knowledge in a qualifier. Of course there were exceptions as there always are but essentially the world final was designed to appeal to a wider audience not pit the worlds top 16 against each other. So having a poor Brit in the series is no different. The Brit audience expects a Brit in each round regardless how crap he is but at least with someone like Woffinden we will have a rider who aspires to do better each round and who will learn from each experience. Plenty other young Brits are coming through the ranks and with a bit of encouragement maybe will make a name as well. Seeing Wuffy in a GP series will give Brit speedway a shot in the arm. Seeing Chris and Scotty crawl in around 14th 15th or 16th just bores people. Of course Wuffy will have bad days but the lad will learn from them and my bet is he will do enough even if he fails to get a top 8 place to deserve a pick for 2011 unlike Scott and Chris who expect a pick because they are all there is. Two Brits in the 2010 series would be unlikely as there are more 'deserving' (ie attractive to the series) riders in the mix but Wuffy would for me be a perfect pick to revitalise a stale product.