waiheke1

Hampel has finished on podium three of last five seasons. Been arguably best domestic performer in the world over that period. Dont see how you can argue that batch is more deserving of a wildcard.

Will never get a wikdcard. Iversen will get one making it unlikely another dane would. Mjj and kikdermand surely both ahead of bjerre if a second one was given to a dane.

Hampel surely a certainty unless two poles go through from the challenge? Iversen ditto, unless I would say three other danes in addition to pedersen qualify. Emil and darcy the other two if available. Next up would be a second swede (if not already in).

"#no # alcohol# no # drugs# speedway" I cant for the life of me figure out what that quote has to do with drugs either...

Surely the only British world final that meets this criteria was odsal in 85 (just tatum)? All the others from memory had at least 3 brits.Not sure the crowd was "massive", seem to recall john berry lost a load of money buying tickets to resell, but then carter's injury dropped thousands off the gate.

Any "veterans" on here see James Bond ride? Did he have a smooth style and enjoy a post meeting martini?

fair enough twk, its just that the post you replied too was talking about the 80s... tbf, the 70s was the one period (after establishment of the various world championship events) where England truly dominated, though still only managed one individual crown in that era. likely very similar, my time as an Aces regular ended in early 87, when my folks moved us back to NZ, where sadly speedway coverage was non existent. I think you may be doing Eric a dis-service on the personality front, he was pretty much universally admired, though not as high profile as the ones you mentioned. certainly a better ambassador for the sport than Lee and Carter.

Darcy admitted he had drunk the night before. The only reason he thought he had drunk too much is because he failed a test. If the test was flawed, then his "confession" of drinking too much is surely invalid?

Where do you get that training sessions on event days isnt included in the seven hours for that week? It says there may be training on event days "within these parameters", which most would interpret to include the seven hours restriction as well as the time slot restriction?

Kk Hampel Bech Bjerre 200 points: tai nicki and greg to miss semis

The 80s is my favourite era in Speedway. Childhood memories of going to Hyde Rd every Saturday, watching superb racing. The great Belle Vue sides of that era, in particular the 82 title winning team, and the arguably stronger 84 side which regularly racked up 50+, and even 60+, point scores. The much weaker side of 85 which saw last heat deciders a regular occurrence. The incomparable Mort and PC blazing around the boards or nusring more junior riders home, the even more exciting teenage Andy Smith, and of course my favourite rider of all time, fellow kiwi Larry Ross. The visiting track specialists, Kenny Carter, Erigk Gundersen, Shaun Moran, and those who were good enough to ride any track well, Mike Lee, Bruce Penhall, Hans Nielsen , others such as latter career Mauger and Olsen, the entertaining Americans such as King, Ermolenko, Sigalos and Jellyman etc. Trips to see the Aces race away at The Shay Odsal or Brandon. The test matches against the yanks and the danes, the cut throat world final qualifying rounds. The sound, smell, looking down at the riders in the pits, truly my favouite time in the sport. But, its fair to say that there are rose tinted glasses on. The world final lineups consisted of at least 25% “no hopers” who qualified by virtue of nationality, and the racing with a couple of exceptions in those finals (81 wembley, 85 bradford) was generally poor. In qualifying there was the infamous Penhall throwing of a race in 81, but truth is that was a fairly common occurrence, that was just the most blatant example. You had issues with Drugs/alcohol- the battles of Lee and Kelly Moran are well documented. But then you also had Shaun Moran’s ban in 89 for failing a drug test, Bobby Schwartz being fined for possession at Heathrow, Gary Gugliemi’s conviction for smuggling cannabis (cannibals as I heard it at the time!), allegations that the American side were riding on drugs etc. You had the tragic deaths on track of numerous riders, and off track the tragic suicide of Billy Sanders and the horrific murder/suicide involving Kenny Carter. Then there were the suspensions for race fixing handed to Simon Wigg and Malcolm Simmons. A number of legendary speedway venues were lost forever to speedway – Wembley, The Shay, White City, Hyde Road etc. England, from having performed the grand lam winning all thrr=ee world titles in 1980 were to win over three more titles over the rest of the decade, including one i8n 9 which was overshadowed by the career ending injuries suffered by Erik Gundersen. The BL had two consecutive seasons without the world champ racing here, and over the decade the sport prematurely lost a number of top class riders =- Penhall, Sigalos, Carter, Lee, Sanders, Gundersen etc. Meetings were sometimes run in terrible and/or dangerous conditions – British Final 84, inter-continental final 81, the meeting at Cradley in 80 that effectively ended PC’s career as a truly world class racer, a debacle of a test match between England and the USA at Hyde Rd in 85, are ones which stand out in my memory. The British League contracted from 16vteams at the start of the decade to around 10 at the end. Crowds were down, and speedway star/programmes bemoaned factors that may still resonate today – recession, poorly prepared tracks, the weather, spiraling costs, too many mediocre foreigners who regularly go AWOL. Don’t get me wrong, British speedway was far healthier than it is today, but to say that it was a great era and make the claim that that is not “rose tinted” is debatable.

Sky are showing it in nz this season. Must be bought off eurosport as we still get sam.

Revised list taking into account August meetings, and adding in The World U21 champs, national champs for Britain/Denmark/Poland, and the Polish Ekstraliga champ meeting. 1 Greg Hancock 12.71 2 Tai Woffinden 11.57 3 Darcy Ward 10.75 4 Nicki Pedersen 10.58 5 Krzysztof Kasprzak 10.51 6 Emil Sajfutdinov 10.41 7 Niels-Kristian Iversen 10.37 8 Martin Vaculik 9.85 9 Peter Kildemand 9.63 10 Chris Holder 9.56 11 Matej Zagar 9.54 12 Piotr Protasiewicz 9.39 13 Jason Doyle 9.34 14 Bartosz Zmarzlik 9.30 15 Janusz Kolodziej 9.24 16 Michael Jepsen Jensen 9.04 17 Jaroslaw Hampel 8.95 18 Thomas Hjelm Jonasson 8.82 19 Hans Andersen 8.49 20 Piotr Pawlicki 8.49

93 sam would have been a real shout, other seasons I think he would have picked up some medals without really pushing close to the title.

From memory it would nearly double the capacity.

Would Havvy have even been in the 92 series? Would have likely been reliant in a wildcard, though as British champ maybe he would have got the nod.Can't see anyone from that latter category challenging, with the exception of s moran who would have been a real in contender in 84/85. He would have had a decent shout in 89/90 as well, but presumably his fim ban in 89 and failed drug test in 90 would have precluded this.

Of the modern era, perhaps the closest is jessup in 1980, who would have been very likely to have won under a gp system that year. Not a certainty, but by some distance the best rider in the world that year. I fully agree, would have sanders below all those, and I would add jessup to the list as well. If I use my rsnkings system, sanders comes below all those riders in the 80s, regardless of if you take best 3 or 5 seasons, or cumulative over the decade. the only exception would be if you took single season peak, in which case the 83 sanders was better than anything mort managed and equal to 82 sigslis.

Although greg actually has a better gp winning ratio (about 1 in 10 vs. 1 in 11 ). World final s were also unforgiving in terms of making errors, so maybe they wouldnt have suited nicki as one fall or exclusion and you were stuffed.

You could well be right GC. But would be a real shame if the series to be missing ward and emil next year.

Presumably if fim give only a six month ban, they wouldn't object to him being given a wildcard? Or they could give a longer ban for fim events only? Hard to see bsi not wanting him back in the series as soon as they can?

I'm fine seeing ward back in next year, along with emil one of the two best riders in the workd to watch, and the ban this year has cost him a good chance of beung world champion.I'd be happy to see prem pawkicki in, perhaps at the expense of doyle in my above list.

But fim will set the ban, bsi choose the wildcards, and they will want him (if available).Personally I'm fine with sic month ban, an additional 12 month suspended sentence, and mandatory testing at each meeting. His bsn will hsve served no purpose? He will have missed out presumably on healthy five digits lost earnings. And had he not missed the last two gp he would likely be sitting around about the same points as tai, 14 off the world championship lead with three roundsto go and an injured leader. I reckon missing out on a great chance to be world champion IS a punishment.

Excellent post arnie g. Would suggest piotr pawlicki perhaps ranks alongside zmarzlick as a chance of a wild card, though dependent on a) )hampel making top 8 2) no pole quslifying through challenge and possibly 3) two swedes qualifying or one swede quslifying and emil turning down a slot. Ideally I'd like to see: Top 8: tai Hancock kk Pedersen zagar holder lindgren hampel Gp challenge: kilderman thj doyle Wildcards: ward emil puk piotr pawlicki/zmarzlik Mjj and vaculik the two most deserving riders to miss out, but hard to see a wild card going to mjj if already three danes. Maybe could get it if emil then vaculik both turn down a place, or if ward banned.

Various discussion on wild cards above: surely likely to be ward, puk, hampel and thh? Assuming they fail to qualify and ward not banned and assumes emil remaining unavailable. Would love to see pawlicki or zmarzlick in it though, so hopefully hampel and puk make top eight and thj gets in via challenge. Emil pawlicki ward and mjj would make a handy line up of wildcards, though cant see it happening.

Larry ross, mighty mort, pc, andy smith, the moran brothers, emil safuydinov (the good guys) darcy ward, nicki Pedersen, kenny carter (the villains). If I was purely going on the "good guys" i'd add declan eccles, bruce penhall and Antonio lindback.