PHILIPRISING

BECAUSE neither stadium in Copenhagen or Stockholm especially is in the centre of town ... bit like Wembley to London really

THERE is always the danger in any Grand Prix style series that the title will be won before the final event ... will certainly be the case with F1 this year. What do you suggest ... cancel the series once a winner is known?

WISH I was

WHY do you (HH) query everything? I actually sat in on the depositions (very boring) in Los Angeles on a few occasions. The FIM needed the German vote (Gunter Sorber) at the CCP to ensure awarding the WF to Oxley went through. Certain other voting nations towed the German line. It was as simple as that. Gorzow ... if the town (speedway mad) wants a GP and the City are prepared to throw in a few bob to help put them on the map what's wrong with that? Why should the PZM make money out of SGPs unless (as it Warsaw) they are promoting them? There is actually only one reason why New Zealand aren't still staging a GP (nothing to do with Buckley losing money, he can afford it and writes it off against tax) but I'm sadly not at liberty to say what it is. Finland could have been a success ... nice town, good stadium, but they got the track shape very wrong and it all went pear-shaped from there.

THE Etihad stadium IN the early fifties the Wembley Supporters Club had a membership in excess of 80,000

THERE may have been reasons for doing that, I don't know, but believe me it was a BSI event. Speedway Star has a fairly simple way of knowing ... who pays for the programme production. Previous events at Vojens have been Speed Sport (Ole Olsen) ... this one was BSI.

AGREE about Norden, that was a massive come down after the LA Coliseum let alone Wembley. To keep a very complex story as short as possible, the FIM were in a jam after being sued by Harry Oxley after they wouldn't sanction some international meetings at Costa Mesa and elsewhere in Southern California. The FIM tried to argue through the Californian Supreme Court that they were immune from such action but it was ruled that their agents the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) were subject to the court's authority and therefore so were the FIM and a deal had to be concluded. Part one was that Oxley and his partners (Jack Milne, Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger) could promote the 1982 World Final at the LA Coliseum and to ease that through Track Racing Commission at the time Germany were awarded the Final for the following year and could only come up with Norden. However, having such a track stage a one-off World Final isn't quite the same as a single round of the World Championship, albeit a Speedway Grand Prix.

IN whose reins would it happen?

WHY do you assume that would make "all of us happy?" Do you speak for everyone? ACTUALLY they were ...

EXCELLENT post ...

BECAUSE if you live in Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne isn't halfway across the world. Had a long chat with one of the Etihad execs yesterday and they are delighted with ticket sales to date with a high percentage coming from New Zealand. It is, after all, supposed to be a World Championship...

NOT quite as simple as you make out of course. No doubt everyone would love to see a SGP at Bydgoszcz, one of the all-time great speedway tracks, but the town has changed dramatically in recent years. Speedway is no longer the attraction there that it once was, just witness the plight of the club and the fact that the stadium, certainly by Polish standards is very second rate. Ole Olsen actually doesn't want a SGP at Vojens. It is a costly exercise and after so many years battling the elements (it always rains there!) he is happy to let someone else take the risk. The success of the SGP at Horsens this year - better stadium and public facilities than at Vojens - left Ole far more relaxed than he has been at Vojens, especially for the SWC this year. Gorzow have actually made a bid to continue hosting SGP events. They made a profit this year, have one of their own in the series in 2016 along with probably at least two more Polish riders, and have a track that is very nearly on a par with Bydgoszcz while the town remains very much a speedway hotbed. People who are ridiculing Teterow might be pleasantly surprised. I have it on good authority that the track is excellent, it is situated in a part of Germany where speedway is popular and they can do wonders with temporary grandstands, etc. The SGP series will always be a mix of grandiose stadiums like Warsaw, Cardiff, Stockholm,Melbourne and, to a lesser degree, Horsens, along with more traditional speedway venues such as Malilla, Torun and, hopefully, Gorzow. Of course it is about money. That's not being cynical, it is about realism. But that is not necessarily to the detriment of the series. Of course there have been failures. Finland for example. But finding new, viable venues isn't easy.

BSI do a wide range of deals ... they could simply rent the facility or engage in a joint operation

AND drainage ...

GOING there next week for a look see with Peter Collins ... looking forward to it

BEING denied and not confirming are two different things. Pretty sure Teterow will be on the calendar but dates are far from agreed for a number of the venues.

NOT supposed to be, they are. WAS talking specifically about Meridian Lifts

AND you believe that?

WHICH is how they are applied in the SGP but as the meeting progresses and the grooves appear referees will become more lenient as to 10cm from the tapes

BOTH lack of quantity and quality right now I'm afraid. Sweden are pretty much where Britain was before the emergence of Woffinden. And it's much more of a problem at Stockholm than Malilla where the costs are massively lower and a smaller crowd is viable. Tony Rickardsson at the Friends Arena ... how he would have pulled in the fans! Haven't heard from Mr Meridian in a long while but I'm sure he wouldn't try to influence wild cards.

THAT may well be the case but can only reiterate that at SGP rider briefings referees will invariably confirm that riders must remain stationary until the tapes go up and not when the green light comes on ...

STOCKHOLM is a BSI event as was Copenhagen

NOT sure any sponsors have anything to do with it but two SGPs in Sweden, including one in Stockholm, is a factor. Plus Swedish TV of course