iris123

Yes.I just wanted to point out to anyone who doesn't know,that the meeting in Berlin isn't reliant on cold weather to build a track. And yes,one of the basic problems with Ice Speedway in continental Europe is that there isn't a single track that can be used often(generally more than one weekend per season)as the artificial tracks are mainly for speed skating and are only given over to Ice Speedway when their season has finished.Which means just about the time when the dirt track speedway season is starting.It means the season in Europe is pretty short and not condusive to building up a great audience and not helpful in bringing on a decent group of youngsters.The Russians don't have this problem and that is why they have a major advantage,unfortunately.It would be great to have one or two tracks in Europe where riders could go and train on a regular basis.This just ain't going to happen though Any news on more racing/tracks in Switzerland as was announced last season,along with a revitalised Golden Spike series?

Your points are all flawed as i have pointed out previous. You were the one who came out with this stuff about a rider is doing it all for my entertainment.I don't belive that theory,but if we go by your theory, then like i say.....a lot have failed As for Phil explaining the situation.Well no he hasn't as R&R has pointed out and as the german fedration pointed out.The German Federation even went so far as to accuse the FIM person in charge of not knowing the rules he is supposed to be using.There are various things here that just don't add up backed by the German accusation.It must have been pretty serious for them to come out and accuse Castagna of being out of his depth in the job.What we don't know is how they go about requesting a replacement.If they ask the first federation to get in touch with their rider and it takes a day or more to get an answer and then they ask the next federation etc. well time will surely run out and maybe one could think that might have been the point of the exercise.We must wonder why Buczkowski didn't take up his place if he was informed.But it seems certain that only two federations were contacted and then they gave up before contacting the Germans.All pretty sloppy and leaves a bad taste The rest of it isn't worth taking the time to answer

Just to point out to anyone interested in the trip.Berlin doesn't really require a "good cold winter" as it is an artificial track.Always a trip worth making as the track and of course the city are top notch

You fail to convince me on any of your points.In fact most miss and you have to revert to the old old one of "He is risking his life for our entertainment.....".Face facts.Harris went out not to entertain,but to make the top 8 or better during his time in the GPs.Mostly he didn't make it,which not only in my opinion,but surely his,meant he failed to live up to his expectations.This makes him a failure and because he failed on a number of occasions means he is a serial failure whether you like it or not. Quite often i have not been entertained when going to meetings or watching them on tv/livestream which by your criteria means quite a lot of riders are failures.They do it to make money and don't think of me in the slightest. The scores i quoted which are fact are only irrelevant because you don't like them and don't fit what you are saying.As it was,the German Fedration came out and stated that the rules were broken by including Harris without first informing them that there was a vacancy and for them to supply quite rightly a rider for that vacancy.Now i don't know what you call not following or breaking a rule,but to me that is not lawful,i.e illegal.Ok this is speedway and we get used to rules being broken,but what word would you use to describe that then?As a German rider should have been in,instead of Harris those are the grounds,regardless of whether Smoli qualified.I think if we go back to the early rounds in which Harris got his entertaining 4 points at least one German other than Smolinski scored more and did qualify for the next round.Maybe he would have scored more again if he was in the Poole meeting?

Nut is right,but i don't think her name is Shell lol

Any idea of who is riding for each team?And will there be a few international riders in the league apart from i guess maybe Bunyan

Of course it is unfair that Harris is the first reserve.More deserving candidates are out there and Harris is a serial failure who shouldn't have been anywhere near the meeting. Quite possibly the spot should have gone to a German rider who should have been in the meeting instead of him.As a late replacement he cozuld have completed in the meeting basically illegaly,but his points shouldn't have counted.Sure i remember rider competing in meetings,but not being in the actual competition...... As it is if we look at the GP qualis we have Harris (2 meetings) 4+10 which gives an average of 7 Batchelor (3 meetings) 12+3,9+2,9=10 Liglad (3) 12+3,11+3,7=10 Jonasson (3) 9,9,6=8 So all have a better average than Harris and all failed just the once.The thing is only Harris gets another chance after failing

To paraphrase Meatloaf.....I took the words right out of his mouth

Ach,yer just showing off now.......what with yer quotes and smilies pfffft

Having fallen into the same trap,i suspect you are right.Just taking the p out of those who couldn't work around it lol

Come on guys,spit it out.....don't be shy!!!! Personally i don't think the amount of tracks operating is sustainable with the amount of outgoings + the crowd sizes.It is kept by the benevolence of a few promoters/sponsors digging deep and a lot of volunteers giving up their time.

Didn't Phil think he might get picked because he would add loads of people on the gate at places like Finland?If you think about it,he could have done all the Gps apart from Cardiff and added more people than Lindgren.He might have stood a good chance of getting in the top 8 without the need to do Cardiff and if he dropped out of that one at the last minute......well what do you know,Chris harris is just down the road with his bikes at the ready.Job done.Everyones happy

Might be mistaken,but i thought there was one introduced fairly recently.I did see mention a few days ago that Russian born Loktaev who has turned Ukranian is now thinking of changing back to being a Russian,so maybe there isn't such a rule.Or maybe he is just going back to riding on a Russian licence......

I would say it was strangely quiet amongst the Swedish friends of mine on facebook yesterday + today.Not one single comment,which maybe tells a tale in itself.

You probably have better connections in the sport around the continent than me,but from what i have seen from Denmark/Germany and a certain Dutch guy most are disappointed/shocked/apalled at the inclusion of both Swedes.Almost every comment i have seen has echoed the Brits here and said, one would have sufficed.Apart from one Czech comment from a guy who is known as a Lindbäck fan,so i won't use him as an example,i haven't seen what anyone in Italy or Hungary or belgium have said on the situation

I'd have to agree with Tsunami really.Going after people who left the sport when they were in their 20s or 30s is different to trying to get back fans who are in their 40s or 50s or even older.I stopped following the sport when the Dons closed in 1991 just before i was 30.If i stopped going now when just in my 50s there is probably not much chance i would make a big comeback.Now you are older and from some of your posts over the past few years have also lost a lot of enthusiasm with the sport.If you stopped now it is probably unlikely that in 5 or 10 years time you would come back and be such an active supporter

Pity.Could have gone with a bit of a controversial "new" rider instead of the "same old same old" Jonsson + Lindgren.......

Same at every track in the country i would think.Sure Ford said he lost 1,000s every time he opened the gates.If not him then most other promoters have said something similar

They actually say they are carrying on as if nothing has happened,which is why they have announced wildcards.But of course both sides are readying for battle.Bellamy might say he has no input,but with the money his company are spending who is going to believe that?And One Sport aren't just going to go away after the deals they have put in place.Then again with the internal struggle within the FIM maybe it would please a certain faction if FIM Europe were taken to court?Ultimately though i think One Sport seem to have right on their side and there can be no stopping rival competitions,given the nature of the sport and how the riders sign multiple contracts

Surely events over the past year put paid to any thoughts in the short term?

In fairness i think it would be hard in most of the US sports to actually find a league table wouldn't it?I might be wrong but aren't they usually split up into different regional conferences and then the top teams from each play-off.A bit different imo,although i am no expert on American sport

So does the GP series.Fact is,you pull someone up for using team sports and then to further your argument you yourself use a team sport example.One that is far from perfect and especially at the moment having chosen a team as host that have never qualified............So i'd say the GP series and its wildcard picks are superior to one or two of the seeds that FIFA have chosen or who EUFA might be planning on choosing

Yes,maybe it is just a poor idea.It is though an idea.And it shows that football isn't above poor ideas either.You used football and the world cup as an example and then talk about how corrupt FIFA is..........

I'm not really sure you are right on the first point.Tbh i can't recall many top riders not trying apart from Brits like Scott who was probably sure of getting picked even if he failed to make the cut in the GPs As for the second point i thought i read a proposal from Platini to hand pick some non European countries to play in the European Championship?!?! Those well known European countries like Brazil and japan were mentioned and i doubt they would be competing in the qualifiers or was that the idea?

There is a qualifying system.There is a series of meetings to qualify both the GP series itself and qualifying meetingd.There are though a few riders picked generally on merit.It is hard to pick more than one,maybe two riders who are picked who shouldn't be in the series.Hardly a big scandal....In fact mostly it is the riders who have qualified through those relatively open qualifiers who are the worst. There isn't a lot wrong with the line-ups each year.The main problem for me is the tracks picked and the poor race surfaces