iris123

Maybe that would cause confusion with newbies who know that Division 1 + 2 in football are really the 3rd and 4th leagues......

So basically you are saying there is no use in trying?No matter what happens someone will always try to be better than the next person.Someone will be better than the next person,and that "next person" will believe if he spends more money on something else he will then be better and so the circle goes round.....But hopefully if it is less expensive at the bottom,it will enable more people to try and gain a foothold in the sport.Leaving the costs to spiral won't

Looks like an old site for this guy http://www.glasgowtigers.co/rider/niike-lunna/ More known for his crazy hair than his riding at the moment

Spot on Sid.Also look at Bjorn Knutson,who is a bit of a mystery man for me.Never really read much about him,but looking at BL65's list he was right up near the top for a few years.Then when you look at his stats,he only started(if i have this right)in 1957 and by 1961 was second in the world and gave the sport up in 1966.So only a 10 year career and what a record..... Individual world title and 2 silvers,plus 4 WTC gold medals,2 silvers and a bronze!!!

It shows what a trcky topic it is.Do you go with the longevity/amount of honours won or do we go with talent shown?If you give points for every title and position in the league averages then generally the rider who rode at the top longest whilst avoiding injury is going to amass more points than someone like Penhall or Farndon who for ne reason or another had a short period at the top....

I would say this is often the speedway fan view.As i posted on the Superprestigio thread,Flat track was tried out alongside speedway/Longtrack and a lot f fans cried out that they didn't want to be spending money watching it,rather if there was going to be more races,then please,more speedway.Guess it is the same with the Speedway Star,that fans don't want cycle speedway or flat track or now grasstrack taking up any space.Must say when i got the Star i didn't begrudge the Grasstrack section,i just thought it was poorly presented when compared to the speedway sections

Attached thumbnails premier league!!! Is it something to do with Conkers maybe or Tiddlywinks?

I would agree with gustix on this.Wasn't the scene at the time so disconnected and hard to tell who really was top as they weren't riding against each other on a regular basis.Hard even to know just who was the best dirt track rider in America.Jim Davis and Ralph Hepburn rode in Australia in 1924 and Eddie Brinck and maybe one or two others rode in 1926 for instance.Then in the early 30s Miny waln seemed to be the best or at least as good as Elder.... Significantly i haven't heard of any Australians doing the opposite trip and racing in the US.Sure i read somewhere that these trips were a promotional thing by the US manufacturers.Might be wrong on that though

I was wondering the same,especially as gustix has stated it is not just a British based form thing Possibly the difficulty in getting good results to compare

I fear it is all getting a bit confusing......

Got to give them a little credit(only a little).....at least they didn't just do a copy of the NBA logo as the German Bundesliga did.They even just used the red,white and blue of the US which has nothing to do with Germany!!!!!! .

Oh dear!! Will Norbold start a new thread for another two forum members? No,just joking.It is all opinions,apart from when a mistake is made and a rider has hardly ridden in a certain period.I asked BL65 about Charlie Monk in 1965 and he gave a good explanation.Still sort of think Monk should be in the top 10 for that year,but at least convinced Plechanov deserves to be above him.No big deal and no theatrics about it

As has been posted before on another thread Miller was highly rated,especially for a second division rider http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=80674&page=2 Talking of Miller brings back wonderful memories for me of that day in November when young Josie scored on his debut as the Celts steamrollered Dundee on their way to the Centenary year title

Guess it is very weighted towards the world final?I mean Charlie was on 10.28 from 40 meetings in the league and won all his quali meetings up to the British Final when he was controversially excluded and also won the Internationale at Wimbledon.How many meetings have you then used to judge someone like Plechanov,who never won a quali meeting in the run up to the world final and got beat by Monk in the WTC.Just asking rather than arguing mind

Is an excellent piece of work.I do wonder why Charlie Monk,who had a super season in 1965 doesn't make the top 10.But the end result is pretty conclusive.Good to see Nordin in instead of Lammy as i suggested

That woud make sense.I myself once overheard two riders who were in a run-off for a low key championship deciding to share the prize money and go out and give an "exhibition" race in that run-off.They went around popping wheelies and riding side by side.One set of fans thought it the greatest thing they had ever seen.Another set thought it was a disgrace and they had been robbed of seeing the meeting decided by a real race.....

Much harder i would say.If someone is enough points ahead of his nearest opponent then there is no need to pay anyone to lose etc.In such a short meeting of 20 heats there is more opportunity/need,i would say.So much so,that this year the Champ didn't even need to complete the final meeting.A disgrace of another sort imo and robbing the fans of a proper finale.Could almost equate that with paying riders off..... The only time i have heard of any deals was in the Gelsenkirchen big money final,when the 4 finalists supposedly agreed to share the prize money before the race.But that wasn't a deal to win a title.Whereas there are quite a number of stories from the 1930s through to the 80s at least of payments being made in one-off world finals

Well i would say the GP series is far better at showing just who is one of the greatest riders of the era,apart from the obvious when someone decides not to participate

I have to be realistic Sid.I used to enjoy the whole NL qualifying rounds through to the various Continental rounds etc.Went to a few rounds,British semi-finals at Plough Lane for instance,but i was in the minority.And although there is nothing to match the excitement of a world final,i would rather see the best rider win the title rather than some lucky guy who was seeded through.It annoys me a bit with the GP Challenge that someone who already got knocked out in a previous round can get a wild card through.......grrrrr

Think they should have more Flat track of this kind.No fannying around at the start http://flattrackstats.com/teams/results/europe

On the same level of professionalism as Long Track,when James Shanes can qualify for the GPS and someone like Kylmäkorpi can ride only about 5 or 6 meetings a season and still become World Champion in front of those riders who ride Long Track ever weekend.....

I doubt there is any probably about it.They are hardy going to compensate someone for paying way over the odds on the black market now,are they?

As i mentioned yesterday on the Tom Farndon thread and has been mentioned many times before,the one off World Final was very exciting,but was open to manipulation

They did start having Flat track meetings or at least races alongside speedway/longtrack in Germany.In general the speedway fans were fairly voiciferous against it.Not wanting to spend money on an "alien" sport and wanting more opportunities for young speedway riders rather than Flat track or short track as i think it was called.The flat trackers themselves really didn't bring many more fans to the meeting,o after a few years it all seemed to disappear.I quite liked the quads myself