iris123

German U21 Final,Güstrow result taken from inspeed.de 1. Tobias Busch (15) 2. Richard Speiser (13) 3. Max Dilger (11) 4. Frank Facher (13) 5. Eric Pudel (11) 6. Robert Baumann (9) 7. Kristian Drossmann (8) 8. Denis Wienke (7) 9. Sebastian Mack (6) 10.Christoph Demmel 11.Marcel Helfer (5) 12.Malte Zyweck (5) 13.Ricardo Herrmann (4) 14.Stefan Kurz (3) 15.Kevin Wölbert (2) - Fell in his second heat and didn't take any further part angetreten 16.Roman Stanek (1) 17.Marcel Dachs (0) 18.Franz Winklhofer (0)

How much leverage in decision making do you have though as a major sponsor?Think in some sports and you can even see that in speedway with Sky,people putting money in can have a say in how the sport is run.I remember Lewisham Council getting a seat on the board when they sponsored Millwall And there we agree.If i won €100,000,000 on the lottery today that is the only area i would put my spare cash into.Decent all weather stadium with proper training and probably a scheme so that youngsters could get started with no initial outlay.Trouble is i don't play the lottery anymore

I don't think Christian got dropped because he was poor.Just that his average was right.Same goes for Henning.Victim of circumstances,more than poor performance

Yes.I remember someone in the know telling us Postlethwaite had big things planned for british speedway as well.I hope that wasn't the Bulldogs adventure

The rise in the Polish league coincided with the demise of the Longtrack scene.I think that is where all the riders moved from.Look back and see all the top riders that used to ride in Germany at the weekend.Even Crump was fairly regular on the Longtrack scene at one stage.Now there are practically no top speedway riders that race Longtrack.Kylmäkorpi and that is it

Your forgetting Ireland surely

If i could choose Nicki P J.Crump H.Andersen T.Gollob L.Adams S.Nicholls C.Harris R.Holta A.Jonsson N.K.Iversen K.Bjerre E.Sajfutdinov R.Sullivan C.Holder That is it.Would keep 2 wildcards for every GP so that more riders get a chance to get in.One local rider and one that happens to be in good form.

Just who are these "big sponsors"? Meridian Lifts,maybe? There are practically no "big sponsors".

Yes,but there are 2 Jesper Kristiansens currently riding in Denmark But he did well the other night.Maybe the tracks over there suit him

Actually i thought Olsen was behind sowing the seeds of the GP idea back in the 70s after he got knocked out of the qualis whilst reigning champ.Didn't the Daily Mirror(?) Grand Prix follow quickly after?Not sure on this,but i do remember all the talk in the Star after Ole was eliminated. And like i said there were definite flaws in the qualis.But there does on the surface seem to be a number of tracks that regularly host qualifying rounds for various competitions.Miskolc,Daugavpils,Terenzano,Stralsund all spring to mind as regularly hosting qualis.Some of these tracks a few every season.So if the qualification rounds were more attractive i.e not just continental riders in one group and Nordic riders in another and maybe the fee that the FIM asks for staging the rounds is looked at.

I would go for the one off final as well.I have no problem with the fact that there is a possibility of a surprise(unfancied)rider becoming World Champ.It didn't happen often.Just like Millwall don't often get into the FA Cup final.Just the fact that that sort of thing can happen adds rather than detracts from the competition imo.If Lewis Bridger or Emil Sajfutdinov have a fantastic season next year the most they can hope for is a wildcard for a GP.In past years it was possible for an 18 year old to take the world by storm. Personally with the GPs,you know full well before the season starts that there are only 3 or so riders that have the skill and sponsorship back-up to win.After about 3 or 4 GPs it is usually down to 2 riders.There were definite flaws in the old qualifying system but they could easily be ironed out.

He'll have no chance. Finish behind not only Hougaard,but Wortmann and Kristiansen as well.Hope they have spelt Jesper's race-jacket right though

No,seems Josh Auty was the reserve

Seems like Christian Hefenbrock has the wc.A couple of different sources at Abensberg over the past 2 days have heard this.One from someone speaking to Smoli,who confirmed Hefe has got it.Official announcement tomorrow though,so i believe edit:The reason being Christian is thought by the promoter to be a better draw-card as he comes from the main speedway area in Germany.The old East Germany

See what i mean.He can get into a run-off with Bjarne last weekend but come last in a far easier heat today.But it is still early.Good start from the Brits though

Well i am not against a GP in the States.Only yesterday seeing what appears to me to be the decline of Hancock i was saying it is sad to see no new Americans on the horizon that will be competing at the top.It looks like a 30+ year era of American riders bringing something special to the the speedway world is ending.It is a pity,but the world moves on and if there isn't enough interest after all these years of having top riders ,i can't see why there will be much interest in the future without a top local rider.

You said a lot already ride,when they don't If they said they were going to hold GPs every weekend throughout the season riders wouldn't refuse.But they wouldn't be able to keep a high standard of performance up.Other things would be dropped from the calendar.More club meetings would be missed.And where do the riders earn their money?In the various leagues.And it is the fans who suffer as well as the riders.If IMG are so great as you say,then pay the riders a proper wage so they don't have to bother with league racing.Fact is they can't.And do you doubt that sportsmen need time to rest and recuperate.Time for ops and time for rehab?

And you just carry on with your nonsense.If riders didn't want to sit around what is stopping them all travelling over to Oz,NZ or Argentina?All you can come up with is a massive 3 riders that did that and 2 were back home for the winter

That is what Bjarne was saying in the Danish press before the Grand Challenge last week.

Is that a fact?Just like your fact that "a lot" already ride in Australia!It remains to be seen just what IMG can do at the mo

But didn't Hampel & Jagus enter only to be knocked out?And Lindbäck who was struggling from the off,just didn't bother entering?

You know that?Based on the fact that 3 riders done Oz and 2 of them are Australian A lot of riders carry injuries through the season and put off ops until the close season,so they have time to recover.Start filling up the close season with GPs and when do riders recover?

Exactly! That is hardly "a lot" of GP riders.20% of them from my calculations

Ok then.How many GP riders done that last year?

A lot depends on which Lubos turns up and which Wölbert is there today.Both have the ability to go through the meeting pretty well unbeaten,but also can end up with just a handfull of points.I hope Kevin gets it together over the winter and rethinks his idea of concentrating on Poland where he is getting very few heats.At this stage of his career,that isn't doing him much good