waiheke1

Pretty sure you are right and it is itv footage.

Tmc - slightly off topic but on the Kenny Carter DVD was footage of the 84 overseas final at Hyde rd. That's the only footage - bar one heat on YouTube - I've seen of that meeting. Is the whole meeting recorded somewhere? Would love to rewatch it. I remember it as a really good Hyde rd meeting on a sunny manchester afternoon.

Can someone confirm that these are two separate riders, and not the same one. Looking back on records over the 80s they never seem to appear in the same meeting, so just wanted to check that they were indeed two different riders?

Greg is still the best gater IMHO, with Nicki P not far behind (but Nicki definitely the better racer of the two, though greg did pull off some passes in Malilla) Tai, Emil and Darcy the best racers, but of those Tai by far the better gater (and as per the OP, the best bend 1 and 2 rider at present), and would add that Tai seems to have the quickest bikes in the world right now - whenever you see Tai start to pull level on the straights, he invariably wins the race to the next corner, and once in the lead is almost uncatchable. As an overall package, Tai first with Nicki, Emil and Darcy not far behind, followed by Greg and Puk.

Thanks phil

A sold out belle vue gp would have a bigger crowd than a lot of other GPS. I don't see that it should be unduly expensive, given a track already in place - just the temp seating, which some years timing could be allowed with swc. Don't see that it would detract from cardiff attendance at all.

But there are less "seeds", or riders in the series due to nationality now than there were historically. To clarify - did you complain when pc was seeded through to the 77 ic final? What about when penhall was seeded to the 82 overseas final? Are you pleased that the current system is a lot fairer than the old one?

at what time in the day were covers lifted? Just UK meetings often seem to be called due to rain before the meeting, rather than at the time. are these "basic sheets" a viable option for EL fixtures, assuming that rain stops an hour or so before start time, or are they too labour intensive (I know posters on here have reported the ones used in the UK take a couple of hours and a large number of staff to put on and then remove).

TWK - all sports have a tendency to want a certain number of competitors/nations from different parts of the world, even if it means some weaker competitors at the expense of stronger ones - Olympics, football world cup etc. In speedway, this historically this was far more of an issue - host nations being given four seeded riders, 5 no hopers from the continental final (or 4 plus Muller) etc. Can I ask you - did you complain when Peter Collins was seeded to the 77 inter-continental final? The current system is arguably the best their has been in terms of a) ensuring the strongest possible field fairness (i.e. relative easyness/toughness to qualify, irrespective of nationality). at most i would say 1/2 riders each year may reach the series based on nationality. Yes I did, sorry typo on my part. Hampel IMHO is a certainty for a WC, unless three Poles are alreayd qualified (and even in that case I would give him one).

You'd hope not, BUT there seems to be a tendency to want two swedes in the series. If Lindback makes it through the GP challenge, then I would certainly rather see Killer/Zmarzlik in than a token extra swede - even if it means having four Poles. Back in the day I'm sure the GP series (had it existed) would have accomodated four Danes (hans, eirik, Jan O, Tommy) or four Brits (Collins, Lee, Simmons, Louis) or Yanks (Ermolenko,King, Morans) though in fairness I'd argue talent was spread across fewer nations in the 70s/80s.

Barrow boy - which of the FTR riders tops your ranking system ? Be interesting to see how that aligns with the "official" rankings. Also - where do Nicholls, Cook and Lambert currently sit in your rankings. cheers

If the series were to finish with standings as they currently are, I think the 4 wildcards would go to Hampel, Emil, Ward and Lindback. Next in line I suggest would be one of MJJ/Kildermand/Jonsson or possibly Zmarzlick/Pawlicki. The following may change that: Emil - if he doesn't want a place Hampel- if two poles qualify from the GP challenge Ward - can't see anything based on current top 8. Realstically will only miss out if Bathc somehow made top8, holder missed out on top8 due to injury, or there was a spate of injuries to top riders causing them to fall out of top 8 *e.g.Tai/Nicki/Greg/Puk) Lindback - if two different swedes qualified (from challenge or jonsson making top 8) If one of the above didn't require/want a wildcard, then I suspect Jonsson would be next in line (assuming two swedes not already in). Next I suspect either MJJ/Kildermand. A young Pole wildcard is possible, but probably unlikely as i can't see Janowski failing to make top8, or the GP challenge failing to ahve a pole within the top. Ideal would be" current top8 finnish as they are, Lindback, Pawlicki and another from the GP Challenge (Harris would be nice), plus wildcards to Ward, EMil, Lindback and Kildermand. that would leave only Vaculik, G Laguta and Zmarzlik of riders with a genuine claim to be currently top 15 in the world out of the series - and much as I'd like to see Laguta in it, he frankly doesn't re to participate deserve one given his failure to participate in qualifying for a number of years, and late withdrwal from SWC.

Would be interested to know how many track staff were needed to deal with the track covers, as they certainly did their job. Would it be viable to be replicated for league meetings in the UK, or did it take a level of resource only justified by a major event?

The logic is that racing or not racing in the qualifiers has no impact on a riders eligibility for a wildcard. As Henry says, if fims intent was to ban him from the 16 series they would have explicitly stated this. When s Moran was banned for failing an alcohol test he received a ban from fim events only for a defined period of time, so fim could have chosen to take a similar approach with ward if that was the intent.

Can't believe anyone is complaining about the track. Racing was excellent, so to produce a surface like that given the build up deserves full credit. That said the only person complaining also suggested the riders should have had pre meeting practice - when it was pelting with rain?!?

Tai's bikes look miles quicker than anybody else's How the ref didn't exclude kildermand for his first bend fall I don't know. Don't understand people having a go at Harris, he again performed as you'd expect. Excellent meeting I thought given the rain. Barring injury hard to see past a tai-nicki 1-2 come end of year, with Greg/puk joining them in the podium. Current top 8 look like being top 8 come end of year I would say

But the rules say he should be a 3

Except that crystal meth is hideously addictive and soon "choice" doesn't come into play. I can't think of a more destructive drug.(though clearly more widely used drugs like alcohol result in more overall impact to society).

Kudos to the track team.not a classic but decent amount of passing which is surely an achievement given the rain beforehand

The wildcard s by definition are for riders who did not qualify for the series via either of the other methods. I fail to see your logic in asserting that a rider who failed to take part in qualifiers should be ineligible.I presume u also feel that Emil, lagutas, Lambert etc. Should be ineligible?

No

Link?

Yes that's why crump is but not loram

Yep, hopefully Lindback and Pawlicki jnr both make it through the GP challenge. would be nice if Kildermand could make top 8. If a Brit is going to be given a wildcard, i reckon it would be Lambert rather than Harris, though in reality would probably be a season or two too early. I'd be happy enough to see Harris make top 3 in the Challenge though well, this thread seems to have somehow got off topic, and people are talking about Darcy someone. Have pulled out my old 80s rankings, and by my reckoning, only 5 NL riders were in 1982 were in the world's top 100 riders (Joe Owen the highest ranked at 55th), then Wigg, Lawson, Hunter and Dixon). I thought initially that this would reinforce the view that the NL was of a generally mediocre standard. But then I looked at the latest 2015 Dolgin rankings, and saw that he has assessed 1600 riders who have ridden competitive meetings somewhere in the world in the last two years. Assuming in 1982 that even 75% of this number rode, that gives 1200 riders, of whom you could argue that those ranked say 400-800th in the world might be mediocre. Most NL riders (the main body of the team at least) would rank higher than that - so I've changed my mind, they may have been mediocre by British standards, but by world standards they were pretty good!

Fair enough I stand corrected. Though tbh still not sure how relevant Peter Cravens win in 1955 is to the aces ability to bring through young riders in 2015.