waiheke1

Tbf, in 80 he also had two rides off gate 3, which rrturned a total of 19 points all night (4 from jessup). on world final night, the smallest advantages/disadvantages could make the critical difference.

racecards only get big letters if they are truly innovative

Disagree sid he was clearly good enough. A rider who had one 2nd place finish, and but for ef would have potentially added a title and another second to thst, is clearly good enough. Perhaps not professional enough? An accusation which could be labelled against others, the moran s for example. Jessup in 80 was comfortably the best ridrr in the world, so while he may have been nowhere near the calibre as a racer of your collins lees penhalls etc, he was still a rider cspable of winning a world title. Perhaps hampel is his modern equivalent? Though hampel has achieved dominance in domestic speedway that dj never did.

Had thr track been perfect at the weekend, would that have meant even less passing, given that almost all the overtaking resulted from mistakes by riders hitting ruts etc? The 2nd nz gp had the fastest race times, which would indicate the best surface, but had easily the worst racing of the three gps.

Was that 75? Pc had won a couple of heat s then supporters flooded the track just before his third ride? I blame the lack of climate controlled storage facility. Edit: see phil r beat me to it re the year

Good point. One flaw is that you cant create new heat formats (e.g. for el 2014) though they do have all used from 65-02ish. Also the ai has an issue with nominatrd heats, unless there is a bug fix I dont have. Still an excellent game.

There were plenty of world finals decided on poor tracks which didnt allow for passing. Norden 83 was very poor. The swedish world finaks in 80 and 84 psssing was at an absolute premium. Doesn't make it desirable, but its inevitable that some meetings will be poor, and at least now the title isnt decided in one meeting on a follow-the-leader track.

How many qualify? That is a strong field.

Not sure but the first of his two ef in the 81 final was I believe a 20p clip of some sort which came adrift

Simulation game. Very basic graphics but has comprehensive database from 65-late 90s. Really good game if u like that kind if thing.

Tbh im not sure thats true, for the casual fan I think the whole entertainment package is at least as important as quality of racing. In nz we had 15k to the first gp, which had good racing. But only 8.5k for the next wherr racing was poor. But then increased by around 1k for the most recent gp. Racing is obviously a factor, but I dont think its the main one, especially outside of the mai speedway nations.

But u only get a couple of riders like that in s generation - if we are using critetia of spectacular to watch and good enough to win a title. No guarantee for sny country that they will produce a rider like thst every ten orceven twenty years. Gollob was maybe yhe first pole ever to fill that criteria. Before rikkarddon you hsd jonsson but beforr that woukd be knutsson? Aussie didnt have anyone on my lifetime til ward (perhaps j crump). Portugal went for 40 years from Eusebio to Ronaldo. That doesnt mean that the sport wss weak for that period. Anyway all opinions - even seen Rickardsson on here labelled as rubbish from the back!

Those figures suggest cook has the highest average of the three then Barker a fraction ahead of kennett, which doesnt seem to match your comments?

Kks will be the quickest to 1000 user names

Works fine on my laptop with windows 7.I contacted them in feb when I chsnged laptops and got a very quick response. Roogames@googlemail.com

Rikkardson and gollob were riders you get one or two of per generation. Emil and darcy are just as, or more, excting imho. Holder and tai could well emulate hancocks success and hopefully longevity, both I terview well and imho are more exciting racers. Its too early to say which of the following generation will emulate the excitement levels surely, given tbe riders I have just mentioned are only early 20s. I find your posts on this a little odd tbh phil, a bit like sidney and other s bemoaning the lack of young talent a couple of years ago.

Not true. Track totally relaid for speedway gp as the surface used for cars is totally unsuitable. That was one of the major costs contributing to bill b s big losses. They got the surface right for two of the three gps in nz.

To be pedantic, jessups wembley ef in 78 was his first ride not his last, which is vastly different in context. Jessup is though under rated in discussions of great btitish riders imho, though not in the ssme bracket ss oc x2 and Lee, certainly belongs in that next chunk of riders.

Tai holder nicki greg have all been there and could again. Kk still top after missing a meeting. Ward the most tslented rider in the series. Hampel has finished on the podium three times and a year with no standout rider could be made for him. Those are the seven rider s I think have a genuine chance of winning it. If I was to narrow it down id say nicki and greg may not retain form ovrr the year. Darcy was my pick if he stayed injury free, but sadly he hasn't, and hard to see him foing it riding injured for the whole series. I reckon holder or tai, or kk to pull off the biggest upset since wsy back in 2013.

Still cheaper than at the nz gp after they started running low on beer and so put the price up - over 6 euros with nothing back on the can. As most have said, the racing very poor and crowd well down on what we had been led to believr in the buikd up - phil did u really say with a straight face 75% full? I actually still enjoyed it though. Tai walking away from his first heat crash and going on to almost win the gp, zagar winning, good battle for the semi final spots, harris looking much more competitive - just me or did both he and tai look a lot quicker this gp? Let down after two excellent gps so far but shaping to be an intriguing series.

Hampel 50 more Harris 70 more Hancock 30 more Zagar 30 more Woffinden 20 more

The three you name are world class, but never going to be world champ. Think most on here wanted one of the lagutas rather than a second swede as wildcard. And would rather have had say dudek and mjj rather than harris and batch. Its still a much stronger line up than you would have got pretty much any year in the old world finals.

What sort of crowd are they hoping for - 15k?That sounds like pretty good pre sales.

With ward possibly out, and holders form hot and cold, maybe gb have a very slim chance, if tai can get his form sorted. Tai harris cook and king would seem the logical team, or do you try r worrall or lambert going for the future on their home track (last year's for worrall obviously).

But bsi didnt have the option of bringing in a young pole once gollob pulled out. The rules stated it had to go to harris. Not sure if fim or bsi set those rules. Plenty argued that at the time, but in fairness it would have been a huge call not to pick gollob. Can imagine the outcry in poland. Plenty argued that at the time, but in fairness it would have been a huge call not to pick gollob. Can imagine the outcry in poland.