iris123

It is difficult to compare,as I said.Joonas never had the mainly Scandinavian or home English track route.Maybe f-s-p will expand,but looks like he wasn't that often nominated for the GP qualifiers anyway Something tends to remind me that there were clashes with the Longtrack????Seem to have the idea it gave Smolinski trouble as well

Forgot about that.I was looking at his path to the 1980 world final.And it does show up the problems with the old system,because no way would you say Kai was better than Ole Olsen or Ivan Mauger or Peter Collins or Michael Lee,but on that night at that track he finished above them.What are we supposed to get from that stat? As I mentioned elsewhere in a series of one off individual meetings a rider like Lubos Tomicek was a finger tip away from qualifying for the GP series and a 2nd tier rider like Kyle Legault made it all the way to the Challenge!!!

Trouble is when you look back Kai got into the world finals generally by a fairly easy route and hardly had to ride outside Scandinavia to do it.The one time he did,i think he had to ride at White City of all places!!!! Saying that he did do well once or twice and a couple of times only finished above riders he would have been expected to. Difficult to compare because of the years between them and the change in world qualifying systems and change in league size and strength.I take your points and also the point about the strength of the longtrack now compared to back then.I do think there is little to choose between them

Just seen that Luca Bauer is going to be riding with an Italian licence this season!!! Trouble with the German federation.Just like his father then? Seems the trouble stems from last year when he wasn't nominated for the EM after being the only german rider to compete the year before. The german nominations for the word championship quails are Ylitornio Niedermaier,Busch and Pletschacher Örnsköldsvik G.Bauer and Hans Weber

Mikka Loppi was tipped to be a star.What ever happened to him?

If we compare them at least in the British League,as for the earlier riders we don't have Polish comparisons(not sure if they rode in Sweden?) We have Teromaa 1975..Leicester..34..132..154..41..5.91 1976..Leicester..34..144..266..17..7.86..1F 1977..Leicester..29..135..281..20..8.92 1978..Leicester..37..159..324..22..8.70..4F..1P 1979..Leicester..20..79..115..9..6.28 1979..Cradley..2..8..11..2..6.50 1980..Cradley..33..130..142..31..5.32..1P world finalist 1978 Niemi 1976..White City..29..99..94..26..4.85 1977..White City..39..164..234..47..6.85 1978..White City..34..137..227.5..18..7.17 1979..Eastbourne..34..164..348..11..8.76..4F..1P 1980..Eastbourne..23..113..228..8..8.35..2F 1981..Eastbourne..1..5..6..1..5.60 1981..Birmingham..48..222..367..46..7.44..1P 1982..Wimbledon..42..185..329..43..8.04..2F..2P 1983..Wimbledon..44..181..320..27..7.67..1F..1P 1984..Ipswich..50..201..371..30..7.98..3F..1P 1985..Ipswich..39..161..201..46..6.14 1986..Swindon..23..98..203..4..8.45..1F 1986..Ipswich..16..67..130..4..8.00 1987..Ipswich..45..186..328..26..7.61 1988..Ipswich..38..180..278..31..6.87 1989..Coventry..30..105..104..19..4.69 1991..Long Eaton..12..48..73..7..6.67 world finalist 80,82,84,85 Kylmäkorpi 2001..Eastbourne..38..158..185..28..5.39..1P 2002..Ipswich..30..122..131..20..4.95 2003..Arena Essex..35..178..403..28..9.69..1F..2P 2003..Eastbourne..40..182..303..32..7.36..2F 2004..Eastbourne..30..127..187..36..7.02..1P 2005..Coventry..14..70..111..15..7.20..1F 2005..Peterborough..12..56..86..15..7.21 2006..Arena Essex..32..158..299..20..8.08..1P 2007..Lakeside..21..100..153..30..7.32 2008..Lakeside..27..123..181..42..7.25 2009..Lakeside..29..125..189..23..6.78..1P 2010..Eastbourne..34..165..286..26..7.56..1P 2011..Eastbourne..34..158..288..25..7.92..1F..2P 2012..Eastbourne..14..65..117..13..8.00 2013..Peterborough..12..52..91..8..7.62..1P 2014..Eastbourne..30..130..201..14..6.62..1P 2015..Coventry..24..101..171..17..7.45..1F 2016..Wolves..15..66..108..12..7.27 GP wildcard 4 times? http://wwosbackup.proboards.com/thread/1566/joonas-kylmakorpi I would say Joonas is better without doubt than Teromaa and comparable if not better than Niemi given he rode in a tougher environment as I have shown a few times when you compare say the number of over 10+ averages in 1964 to the number in a larger league in 1965.The larger the league the easier it is to get a higher average.So Joonas has done very well,especially seeing as he often had an injury.So as far as I am concerned there is no way Niemi is head and shoulders above the rest and no way Teromaa is easily the next best.Not on these stats.I'd also say there is not much chance that Kai would have made 4 GP series I was actually a bit surprised,because I thought Niemi would be a good bit better than Joonas at speedway,but to me it doesn't pan out like that

Not while you have a hole in yer ass

Isn't that the point being made.One of the good things in speedway was the SWC according to most here.Now they have dropped that for some experiment and seem to have made the situation worse by including an U 21 rider...... We had all of this more than a decade ago when people on here were complaining about the way speedway in the UK was going and we had others saying be positive and it is the promoters money,they know best.A decade later the conditions have got worse,some would say,much worse.....maybe those fans that are complaining are in the right?

Mitch isn't from Christchurch,which is the point.Not sure,but think he started in Australia anyway,rather than New Zealand

I think if we take long track achievements into account,then there really is only 1 rider who stands out and that is Joonas.Mikko might have been the most talented,but his reluctance to leave Finland must hinder his reputation imo

Who is the plonker who nominated Timo Lahti??? :-p

For some reason I think of Mud when I think of speedway music Roy Wood and Wizzard also spring to mind as well as Alvin Stardust.That sort of thing Weirdest experience was hearing brass band music being played during the track prep breaks at Scheeßel longtrack meeting!!!! I also remember hearing this once at Holsted!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDseFEOwAo

If you are going to have a compulsory U21 rider,then we are back to square one,as Poland have a bunch and most other countries don't even have one to match........great!!!

Talked to him once in Vojens and came to the same conclusion.Very nice guy

Think his record talks for itself.4 times Norwegian champ,Nordic champ I think twice and even Polish champ twice,plus as I said a couple of GP wins.Ok you might say he changed nationality,but how do you judge Kylmäkorpi?He was Swedish U21 champ and world longtrack champ a number of time,but never Finnish champ as far as I know.Which shows up the trouble of saying rider x was the best Norwegian because he won the most national titles etc..Kylmäkorpi was far better than Timo Lahti of Kauko Nieminen,but they have senior national titles to their name

Think it a bit of an exaggeration to say most eastern Europeans would have struggled to qualify for a GP series in that era.If we just look at the reality of the situation,most meetings would have been on the tracks they knew and the tracks our guys didn't,so I would expect a few surprises.I mean even in recent times we almost had Lubos Tomicek in the GP series!!! And someone as mediocre as Kyle Legault wasn't too far away either.So some far better riders than those were around in the 80s and on the right track on the right day could have taken a quali spot

Think there is no doubt Rune Holta is the best Norwegian of modern times.Even though by then he was a Pole,winning two GPs is something no other Norwegian could have achieved imo after Harrfeldt

I seem to recall things like pre-season fitness weekend and training days,plus some test meetings

You can ask her https://www.speedwaybikes.com/rw/uBobbi_Hunter.htm

We don't need to complicate the topic on here too much.The main thing is it has been necessary even in speedway lately to have citizenship of a country to represent them in a team.That is why Rune Holta could ride for Poland and that is why Matej Ferjan could eventually,after a hiccup or two, ride for Hungary.I hope this situation carries on and we don't end up with Team Adria or Team Slovaczech etc It was by sheer coincidence that I was yesterday reading an online topic about changing the words of the Irish national anthem and the rugby players were getting a lot of support for singing,whilst the football players were getting a bit of a slagging for not singing along.....

Of course,but as early as 1922 the Free State Government stated anyone born in the island of Ireland or had parents that were born there was entitled to citizenship.Of course,at the time it didn't mean much and had no official international recognition,but that has been their stance ever since,i think

Isn't it the case that when the Republic was formed, the aim was(still is I think though maybe they dropped the official bit for the Good Friday agreement)a United Ireland.The saw the whole island as one country and so anyone who is born in the 6 counties is entitled to citizenship of the Republic.Not sure that is the case if someone is born in Slovenia that they are entitled to citizenship of Croatia or someone born in Czech Republic is entitled to citizenship of Slovakia Ireland and the UK is a somewhat special case because of the history.Basically England or Scotland shouldn't really be represented in sport as they aren't sovereign countries,but because of the fact they were competing right at the start of many sports they have managed to keep their places,sometimes against others wishes.Scotland and Wales etc can compete in Rugby or even the Commonwealth Games,but Scotland aren't even allowed to compete in speedway any more,ignoring the fact they probably couldn't get a team together over the past few decades.There is also the special case of Northern Irish boxers competing for the Republic,rather than GB and Northern Ireland.Wayne McCullough from the protestant Shankill Rd(I think) won an Olympic medal for the Republic As for Lebanon in Rugby.no idea.But maybe it is similar to Turkey or one or two ex-Soviet countries,who hand out citizenship almost on the spot for African athletes,to help with their Olympic medal totals.Or the Arab country that hosted the world handball finals and almost made it to the final with a whole host of ex-Yugoslavian countries players and hardly a home born player at all.........

Have to say,just looking at the great England v US test series at the time,Shawn + Sigalos were top riders.Kelly didn't fare nearly as well and they were a decent measure of a rider I think.Maybe not the b all ....but a very good measure

So you are actually agreeing and saying there could be a situation where Czechoslovakia or some other name could enter if the FIM are in a tight spot? That is all that was being asked.I thank you

Well I wonder what Federation applied under the Team Adria name when a mix of Croats and Slovenians rode in the 2009 world U21 team comp? I am thinking in a few years time,when the applications for this comp drop off and we have a decent stadium with a promoter who has a bit of money to throw about in Gorican,but no team,do we see the resurrection of Team Adria?