waiheke1

anyone have a link to averages including bp (can only find excluding bp). thanks

Just hope we get all those riders in the series next year. A line up of those plus the Nicki,Greg holder, puk,zagar,killer,lindback,doyle, hampel and one other would be a brilliant line up. Just hope the "right" riders get through the challenge and best riders picked for wildcards (and Emil realises that being world champ is what the sport is about)

Im certain you don't. Illegal use of guest? Or was he racing somewhere else?

Just the latter would be great, many thanks norbold.

Would anyone have the results for this series of meetings and final in 1980? thanks

Surely that time shows some issue with the track? It's not like Leicester have anything to gain tbh, they have no chance of making the playoffs. Difference vs cov meeting is ref doing an inspection BEFORE heat ten and agreeing track unsafe?

Would it be stronger than two seasons ago when both were in it?

When you say he's "been easily led", who would you say he has been led by?

I would have thought there would be very few who would flag cardiff, the majoriry would surely do this in addition? As well as attracting those who cannot afford cardiff, or even "lapsed" northern fans, who may then be tempted to do cardiff as well?

If a swc final is financially viable I don't see why a gp shouldn't be? What extra costs are there? Tbh I can only think of the bsi fee, which is moot if they promote it themselves. And u could charge higher ticket prices - surely sell out 12k with say an average ticket price of 40 quid?With incidental spend you've got to be looking at half a million revenue before sponsorship. I presume monster provide some entertainment. The track is already laid, and the aces "own" the stadium lease so no additional cost there (presumably aces would charge bsi a modest fee if bsi promote, or aces could promote and profit share with bsi) Malilla proved rain is not insurmountable. I really have yet to see a compelling argument against it.

Thanks all

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.