waiheke1

Who was officially fifth in the gp challenge - covatti, thj or pawlicki? Is it possible ward will be given a wildcard, and then if banned his spot go to next on the list? Would be very disappointed if smolinski got a wild card.

Not so convinced that Batchelor has a particularly strong claim. Yes he finished 9th, but that would have been eleventh but for nki and wards premature end to the season. If u assume that emil is unavailable, then I agree with the consensus that nki kildermand and thj are very likely. Ward if not suspended to get the other spot. Otherwise, on merit the likes of vaculik zmarzlick and pawlicki surely have stronger claim s than batch. With holder and Doyle in the series already, there will be at least three aussies in the Australian gp anyway. Bsi may historically have been against having four riders from one country, but surely commercially as well as for speedway reasons an extra pole makes more sense than batch?

I don't think bsi need to count on anything - my understanding is that the local promoter will be the one bearing all the risk...

Is that Ericsson stadium phil? Soulless stadium, hard to get to via public transport would be a real downgrade on western springs .that said would love to see it back here, wherever in nz it be.

The aus gp was always going to have to be the first or last gp of the season. I assume the stadium unavailable early in the season due to other sports? If its anything like this season most riders will have something to race for, and if not an expenses paid end of season trip to aussie is hardly a hardship! Shame this couldn't have happened a year early to reduce the nz gp shipping costs, though wonder if as many aussies would have made the trip to unzud if they had their "own" gp. Brother moved to Melbourne a few months back so he will be stoked, hopefully br able to make it across the ditch to visit him and see the world champ be crowned.

Converting gsa shouldn't be too tough though. 0.75 multiplier for2nd strings and .5 for ftr. Like your concept arnieg BUTmain issue would be class ification of riders on the borderline of grades.

The issue you'll have then is that even if someone sent you their psid version, it wont work on your computer, as all payment got u was the computer specific code which allowed usage beyond the trial period.

He admitted drinking the night before, which is not an offence itself. He admitted having too many, which was prompted by fsiling the test - if the test itself was faulty or improply administered that surely "voids" his confession. Can't think of any instances where a sports governing body have been successfully sued for an incorrect or improperly administered suspension. Plenty of footballers have been suspended due to incorrect decisions for example, without the fa being sued. after being reported don't they get to keep playing while the analytics team do their work? Could be wrong but pretty sure likes of murali and kane williamson weren't suspended?

Ward Miedzinski Hampel Kk Bonus: hancock not champ

If you try just entering through without entering a code does it let you or do you get a message ssying your trial period has expired? I remember sometimes when I chsnged computers I could go weeks before needing to contact them to get a new code.

Glen hornby got the "local junior" slot in 87, but was never likely to make it big. Scarisbrick started the 85 season for the aces (recalled from loan at newcastle, whom he represented at the 84 blrc after a string of injuries to other riders) and was actually pretty solid at reserve, but was ultimately replaced by carl blackbird (I think eddie ingels replaced mark crang, who was comfortably the worst rider I saw in aces colours -but its possible I have the replacements the wrong way). Barry ayres was another who looked good for the colts and had a reserve slot for the 86 season - better than hornby imho, but again would have averaged under three I think.

ok Phil - what do you think the chances are that BSI would offer a wildcard slot to a young Pole (Zmarzllck/Pawlicki) if there are already three qualified Poles (KK Hampel and Magic)? If Wars is ruled out, and EMil/Laguta/Vaculik are not interested, that leaves: NKI as nailed on. a swede quite likely. Kildemand/MJJ very probable. Another Pole would likely be a stronger option than another swede, there would surely be no way they would give three Danish wildcards, and surely the poles make more sense (both on form, potential and commercial reality) than someone like Batchelor. Can't think of any other viable options?

What about Vaculik? I recall last season him saying he wanted a few seasons away from the GPS, and he didn't enter the qualifiers, but his form this season has been excellent. Would he take a wildcard if offered, and what are the chances of that?

Hyde Road is where I fell in love with speedway. My parents first started taking me midway through the 81 season, as a kiwi Larry Ross, Aces number 1, immediately became my favourite rider, closely followed by the mighty Mort. I ecall Larry Kosta and Mile Lohmann as being rubbish, though I was at the time unaware of the horrific injuries sudfferred by Lohmann the previous season, while Kosta was one of the few Americans who didn't excel around Hyde Rd. My first test match was that season as well, a comprehensive victory for England over the USA, and my first bir individual meeting saw KC blitz the field in the BLRC. 82 is probably my favourite season, PC returning to ghive the Aces an awesome heatleader trio, and forming a superb heat 13 partnership with Mort. BL champions. Stand out visisotrs were Carter, Gundersen, Shaun Moran and Penhall, while I also recall an immaculate 15 point maximum from Ole Olsen. KC again was untouchable in the BLRC. 83 started with one of my fgavourite meetings of all time - the Premiership against what was to become arguably the greatest BL team of all time Cradley, yet we returned to Hyde Rd for the second leg with a 6 point advantage. Cradley fought back hard though, and Aces headed into the final heat - despite Mort having competed 15 point maximum from the number four slot which was to be his position for the start of that season - 2 points down on aggregate. But a 5-1 from Ross and PC secured the silverware for the Aces - the only they would win that season. Highlight was the emergence of Andy Smith as a wild but truly exciting talent, I remember him passing Mike Lee - who was brilliant that season - around the boards in one heat 11 to join Mort for a 5-1. The 83 overseas final was the first time it had been staged at Hyde Rd, and Phil Collins was a shock winner, while Mitch Shirra was also a surprise medalist. Biggest surprise though was the elimination of PC and Shaun Moran, who along with Mort, Ross, Lee and Carter would have been expected to be battling for the title on a track both (normally) rode so well - though the wet conditions didn't help either of them. 84 the aces had an amazing team around Hyde Rd, the 64-14 victory over Eastborne will always be remembered. Lance King won the Overseas title - on a scorchin day i think -with a 15 point maximum, though a super duel with Shaum Moran was ended when Shaun suffered an engine failure. Larru cruised through to the next round, but the absence of Mort and PC - eliminated on the infamous Brandon British Final - was a reakl shame, as both were in fantsastic form. Mort won the BLRC after a three way run off (in which Erik was excluded for tape touching!), superbly passing Hans. 85 I was gutted that Larry Ross was sold to Halifax (though living in Huddersfield I still got to go to watch him ride on a number of occasions), and it was by far the weakest Aces team of my era - Andy Campbell was a dreadful signing (signed as a HL, turned out to be a decent resevce), Eddie Ingels (worst American around Hyde Rd since Larry Kosta a few years earlier !) - but this meant lots of close meetings, and I recall last heat deciders against Sheffield and Oxford on nights where the racing was brilliant through out. PC and Mort both finished in the medals in the BLRC. 86 was an even worse season for the Aces, Andy Smith missed most of the season with injury, PC got injured and when he came back dropped two points off his average. Highlight was Declan Eccles, who was wild but one of the better compulsory juniors in the league, the form of Carl Blackbird ("and the Blackbidr is flying") and ever reliable Mort. My family moved back to Nz a handful of meetings into the 87 season, though fittingly I got to see the PC farweell meeting (also Bruce Pennhall's last races on UK soil?). The Aces had a really exciting team, with PAul Thorp signed at reserve, ANdy Smith back fit (though clearly struggling early season),and Peter Ravn retruning as a number 1 on a bargain average. I was convinced the Aces would win the title, but sadly they finished mid table in what, even more sadly, was the last season a t Hyde Rd. So favourite Aces in the era Were Larry, Mort, PC, Andy Smith, to round out seven I'd add Paul Thorp, Declaun Eccles and probably "the racing Carr" Peter Carr. Visitors, Kenny Carter was the best in my mind, followed probably by gundersen, Hans (purely because by mid 80s he rode ANY track brilliantly), Shaun Moran (though he'd normally have one bad rider per meeting), Bruce Penhall. I remember looking down iinto the pits (we always sat on the third bend, apart form one meeting where we tried the first bend but hated the sheer volume of shale we got hit with!). Baked potatoes from the stand, buying the odd souvenir froom Taffy's shop. Bammy's fireworks, Dick Barry on the mike. Simply my favourite speedway memories.

For someone who used to be a journalist, if your comment was not intended to be a dig, then your control of the English language is remarkably poor. Can you explain the logic of asking if Speedway Friends servers had been down for three days if you were purely concerned with your inability to access BSF? It's a little bit like when you seem unable to understand the use of pronouns and in the middle of a thread about a particular rider interject with "who is "he"", when a 5 year old could tell who is being referred to. You could add a lot of value to the forum with your knowledge of stars of yesteryear, but instead seem to prefer to make moronic comments, or derogatory comments about the BSF (those two categories are not mutually exclusive), and then play the martyr card.

Top 15 in the world would be ideal, but it will never happen because a) I think most agree that there needs to be some qualification system which would allow a "surprise packet" to make the series via a string of excellent performances and there needs to be at least some geographical spread of riders . If I could choose a line up of 15 it would look something like: Tai, Hancock, Pedersen, NKI, Kildermand, Hampel, KK, Piotr Pawlicki, Emil, G Laguta, Vaculik, Zagar, Ward, Holder, AJ/THJ - but we won't see a lin up as stong as that. There are various ranking systems that could be used to determine the top 15. I have a method, and so does a bloke "Dolgin" who analyses every meeting raced over a two year period. Neither system is perfect, but we agree on 11 out of the top 15 - Greg, Tai, Emil, Ward, NKI, KK Pedersen, Zmarzlik, Doyle, Vaculik and Kolodziej. I have Holder, Kildermand, Zagar and Hampel as the others in my top 15, whereas he has G Laguta, Piotr Pawlicki, AJ and Protasewicz. Freddie is 28th on my list and 33rd on Dolgin's, so nowhere near the top 15 in either system - agree no way should he get a wildcard for next year. Based on the current system, I think the ideal scenario is that Holder, Hampel and AJ make the top 8, and wildcards go to Emil, Ward, NKi and Kildermand. With two of THJ, Zmarzlik, Piotr Pawlicki and Vaculik to take the places of Ward and Emil if they are unavailable for the series (I've assumed G Laguta is still not interested).

updated to the end of September 1 Greg Hancock 12.82 2 Tai Woffinden 10.93 3 Darcy Ward 10.75 4 Emil Sajfutdinov 10.72 5 Krzysztof Kasprzak 10.70 6 Niels-Kristian Iversen 10.37 7 Nicki Pedersen 10.22 8 Peter Kildemand 9.99 9 Chris Holder 9.84 10 Bartosz Zmarzlik 9.64 11 Jason Doyle 9.57 12 Martin Vaculik 9.57 13 Matej Zagar 9.46 14 Jaroslaw Hampel 9.37 15 Janusz Kolodziej 9.02 16 Piotr Protasiewicz 9.01 17 Thomas Hjelm Jonasson 8.88 18 Grigoriy Laguta 8.58 19 Andreas Jonsson 8.45 20 Piotr Pawlicki 8.43 And as a comparison link to the latest Dolgin rankings https://docs.google....T3c&hl=ru#gid=0 Table seems to be a reasonable reflection on what I’d expect, though both G Laguta and Piotr Pawlicki perhaps a little low. KK would be second in my list if not for his aborted efforts in the GP qualifiers. Chris Harris would be 38th in the list if you excluded his “performances” in the GPs (actually ranked 72nd, which is clearly lower than he should be and an anomaly of my system). Comparing with Dolgin’s rankings, only two differences in riders included in top 20: I have Holder and Kildermand (23 and24th in his rankings), while he has A Laguta and Janowski (26th and 21st in my rankings) Main other variances are that he has Tai only 10th, while G Laguta as high as 3rd and Piotr Pawlicki 8th. He has Harris at 35th in the rankings.

[quote name="norbold" post="2526504" But it's all a matter of opinion of course and I could name at least a dozen riders who have a claim to greatest of all time: Vic Huxley, Tom Farndon, Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Parker, Vic Duggan, Jack Young, Ronnie Moore, Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger, Hans Neilsen, Tony Rickardsson...... Personally I'd say it has to be one of those latter five, though which one is tough - you could make strong arguments for each of them. Personally I think the world individual title is the ulrimate barometer so would lean towards ivan. can't disagree with any of that Sid. I rated Nielsen above Penhall for the way he dominated the decade from 83 onwards, but at his peak would rate Penhall higher. You'd tip Nielsen to top the BL averages, and probably to win a GP series, but I'd back Bruce to win a world final. Put them in a one off match race and I'd lean towards Lee. Lee at vhis best was unstoppable, but he never had a truly dominant season - 79 was probably his best, followed by 83 then 80? Wheras Penhall was head and shoulders above his rivals in 81, Hans was phenomenal in 86 and Erik of course did the "grand slam (inc longtrack) in 84.

Are u an utter tool, or is it just a persona you adopt for posting on here?

If we were to add the 80s to the discussion: I'll go: 1 nielsen 2 penhall 3 gundersen 4 lee 5 carter 6 s moran Though maybe jan o should make the six.

On form this year the four wild cards would be: Nki Emil Ward Kildermand Followed by vaculik and a young pole if ward/emil dropped out? Suspect a swede will get a wild card though. G laguta would be an excellent addition to the series, but unlikely to get one (does he actually want to ride gps?)

Oversight, slot him into 4 behind the other two kiwis.Would top my list for the 50s Exactly, everyone would have had hans penhall and eric on their list if it was 70s and 80s I suspect.

Plenty of good riders outside the gps in my view. Kildermand, mjj, lagutas, thj, vaculik, zmarzlik, pawlickis etc. None likely to be top 3 but could challenge for the top 8. Add emil to that list who clearly could be a title contender.

60s: 1 fundin 2 briggs 3 mauger 4 craven 5 knuttson 6 plechanov 70s: 1mauger 2 olsen 3 pc 4 michanek 5 lee 6 simmons 2000on: 1 crump 2 t rick 3 pedersen 4 Hancock 5 gollob 6 tai

Top seven in the world this season greg tai darcy kk emil nki pedersen. I'd say of those all have had good equipment, exception tai in the el. Nicki seemed to have some issues early in the season. Emil seems to be flying of late. Would seem to prove the point that machinery is important?