waiheke1

If any rider was deserving of the tag"smooth and stylish" surely it's shaun Moran - by far the most stylish rider in my time watching speedway.

i think the only person who has claimed that is TWK, and to be fair he has been totally consistent in maintaining his position that no places in the gps should be "selected". possibly parsloes may have expressed that view also, but he doesn't seem to grace the gps threads these days.

Pedersen woffinden iversen gollob Sweden

the issue with that is that there are no British riders of a reasonable standard not riding in the el. so if darcy ward got injured you'd be replacing him with a rider who might get at best a couple of points .

so the GPs started just before he turned twenty five. In his twenties he was world champ, finished on the podium in another season, won four world team/pair titles, and three individual GPs. not really doing it? In his 30s he didn't win a world title, finished top three twice, and won seven gps over 10 years. in his 40s, he's been world champ, finished third, and won 4 gps. to be honest, i think his 30s was actually his worst decade !?!

Tickets for nz gps on sale tomorrow. Same prices as last year. looks like a 6pm start time which is good news fir those who prefer speedway under lights and for those viewing from the UK. Just hoping it is not the last one.

have a look here. i think you ill find the number of fatalities has dramatically decreased since the introudction of air fences (note: this does include car speedway, ice speedway and grass track - so you'd need to manually sort the list your self). http://speedwayinmemoriam.yolasite.com/ but thinking back to the 80s , you had pyeatt, alderton and Kudrna involved in fatal crashes in 1982 alone. Joe Owen and Per Jonsson were both paralysed after crashing (i'm prety sure) into old style safety fences - could be wrong, but cant think of anyone ho has sustained the same from an airfence. on a side note, can anyone confirm if any research has been done into the benefits of air fences vs concrete stair wells?

yeah, of the great Americans of the 80s, i always ranked shawn as the best of the rest (after penhall,), then siggy then Sam. but, Sam arguably didn't peak until the early 90s, and the fact that heeded claim a world title means he probably would rank higher on any list of " best American" riders. Re carter - he was clearly one of the two outstanding riders (along with penhall) in the world in 82 (sigalos not far behind). his best chance though was arguably 85 when he was one of the outstanding riders (along with Hans shawn Eric and possibly tommy) - but for that cruel injury he would have been hot favourite at odsal and i would have fancied him to win it - although would have needed a decent draw given the huge advantage gate 1 offered before the interval.

If shaun had won, would the record books show no world champion in 1990? two great riders, shaun (along with kenny carter) one of the the two greatest riders of that era never to claim the title

Agreed ha - My point was really in regards to gps and world individual finals. The wc is a much tricker one balancing commercial viabillty with fairness and getting the best teams in the final. that said, seeding one weak host nation to the final is arguably less farcical than the system in late 70s and early 80s which saw TWO sub standard continental teams make the final, and one or more of the "big three" missing out.

What a joke sport that football is, seeding the history to the finals for commercial reasons. ditto rugby. and tennis with its wild cards at major tournaments.

Hancock 50 less gollob 50 more lindback 50 less vaculik 50 more Pedersen 50 more

Vaculik 131326 gollob 500k Pedersen 900k hampel 900k

Yet in absolute and real terms, the riders earn more today from the gps than they did from the old world champs. i think that suggests that it is fim that are the stooges . of course riders costs have gone up as well due to the increased professionalia required - more bikes, support team etc. Bsi pay a fee to fim, with agreement that fim set and pay prize money - so either fim are not putting a fair amount into the pot, or they under negotiated at contract time - either way it seems unfair to blame Bsi.

in Barry briggs bio he talks about the days when "the big five" had to go off handicapped starts. he said peter craven hated it, the dangers of having to risk your neck fighting through the field every race. briggs himself hated the additional wear and tear on machinery and i believe they demanded extra points money tks compensate.

i didn't realise he was one of the two pointers , yes he was comfortably better than the others.

The point though isn't that anyone could label him undeserving - clearly he isn't. Its just that there will always be that little question mark hanging over his victory. Mauger as a deserving World Champ in 1972 and 1977, but 72 there will always be those who think Briggo would ahve won it had it not been for Bermie Persson, the 77 final his victory was overshadowed by PC's courageous performance and certiany there are many who think PC oyuld have on if bnot injured. Penhall and Nielsen werre the best in the orld in 82 and 86 resprtively, but there victories will always be slightly tainted with controversy after their clashes with Carter and Knudsen resprtively. Even Holder's victory last year was some what overshadowed by his controversial non exclusion inf the semi. If Tai wins this year the record books will show it for ever, and clearly he will be a fully deserving champion -BUT those who remeber the series will always wonder "what if EMil hadn't crashed..." Anyway, fingers crossed that Emil makes a miraculous recovery and is out there on the weekend in a fit state to race. Two super racers, either of whom would make a fantastic world champion.

yes, but he didn't start as a mandatory English 2 pointer. Plenty have started out there careers as 2 or 3 point riders, the point was that they didn't do so due to a rule mandating they be given a chance, they were given a chance because they showed they were good enough

the fact is that its not just speedway where cluns are struggling for survival. Pretty much all the premier league football teams make a loss. In NZ, the stronghold of wolrd rugby, one of our major Rugby unions (Otago) had to be bailed out to save it from extinction . In the World's best Rugby League comp, the NRL , many teams are battling to stay afloat. It's the nature of sport that teams will spend money they don't have to get ahead of their rivals. Cricket has possibly shown the way to go, reinventing itself in the form of 20/20 to drive revenues up by making a version hich is tv firendly, adn friendly to casual vieers, much as purists may vie this as "horing itself." I'm a test fan myself, but 20/20 has in some ways ensured the survival of test cricket by driving up revenue streams. The thing is, clever marketing doesnt need to cost a fortune - social media is basically free. Why don't clubs spend a bit of money sprucing up their facilities, have a decent bar playing moden music, invest in a decent sound system and have a different up and coming local bands play a set (couple fo songs before the meeting, couple of songs in the tractor grading and interval, a couple at the end), put together some clips (crashes, close races, set to some decent music) and put them on youtube/facebook. If you're going to have start girls, pay a bit of money to have ones ho can actually dance and look like they are enjoying themselves. Make sure meetings are regular, even if only once a fortnight. Invest in quality track covers , so it doesnt matter if its pelting with rain the day before or the morning of the meeting, unless its pelting when the meeting is running it can be run. Meetings to be all over in an hour and a half, so people can then head off to do whatever else they want to do ith their evening (and parents can bring their kids knowing the meeting wont still be going at ten o clock). Just thoughts anyway, but i think if the sport is to thrive, the emphasis needs to be on improving the quality of the whole speedway experience, not trying to find ways to save a few quid (though obviously i'm sure there are arears where savings can be made without reducing quality).

the profanity filter would block the correct words

Seriously, rather than falling for the bait just put her multiple identities on ignore

yeah i didn't think de ath was a two pointer. but the team was nielsen wigg cox grahame sorensen de ath and surnam Im 99% sure. and i thought they had to have two? also that season they brought in the minimum three ride rule which essentially meant u couldn't use tac subs to replace reserves (well u could, but then u had to bring them in for an extra ride later) clearly they need to do something and i agree with scbs proposal. Imho if they get rid of ward etc. it will be a huge blow to speedway in Britain. What probably needs to be done is more investment not less - if the sport is to.progress it needs to increase crowds to do that it needs a more attractive product. in fact, the only way prices are going to be able to be reduced to.more attractive levels is to get a marked increase in attendance. given that s significant proportion of costs are relatively fixed (track prep, stadium lease and other overheads, number of points to be paid per meeting etc) any cost savings by getting rid of top riders will be more than offset by decreased gates. and even if you can shave a quid or two off the price - doing do is unlikely to generate more revenue via extra sales than is lost by the price drop (if two quid is a 12%price decrease, are you going to get an extra 150 fans at a track with s crowd of 1500 - i doubt it).

My he was precocious wasn't he - was he at infant school or still a tinkle in his dad's eye when tactical riders were first intorduced? Can't say I hate them or dislike them even - they are just one of those quirks that every sport has. I prefer the old tac sub, I realise it gave more an advnatge to the trailing team, but it used to mean getting to see the oppositions top rider more often (when at home) and your own stars more often away . Bring back that I say, but make it 8 point arrears not the six it was.

Does Emil race on a Russian passprt, and if so, why do the Laguta brothers have issues but not Emil? Surely with sufficient organisation ((given that the GP draw is knon at start of season, they'd have many months to be sorted) VISA's should be obtainable for sports persons with presumably no major criminal convictions?

surely Mr bale is on double that at least? Surely can't work more than 50 hours a week? Andy Phillips at wolves went on to make a British final and possibly even an England cap. being biased but i thought declan eccles was the pick of the bunch, think he averaged about 4.5 that season, but also suffered major injuries - he was pretty wild- and don't think he rode speedway again. Barry ayres was the other aces rider, whittakrr and graves at Bedford, surname and de'ath? at oxford, fry and leaver at ch, cobby and Phillips at wolves, that's about all i can do off the top of my head. Your point is proved though, those good enough got their chances anyway outside of this system (likes of cross cox havrlock smith dugard thorp etc. either jumping straight into bl or doing nl first.