waiheke1

So Steve if it isn't cryptic, what is he meaning by the skull and cross bones?

He obviously found it though, seems the operation was successful!

Can't believe Stars fans are disapointed in Batch. Surely you knew what you were getting, which was a Mardy Aussie who will whinge if conditions are poor, but nonetheless was a genuine heat leader on a bargain average. He's one of the top performers in the league this season based on average vs starting average. His behaviour and odd bad display is no surprise. So what is there to complain about?

He's won the world title 2 out of the last 3 years. He would have a better claim for wildcard than any other rider I can think of.

Sid how many people attend an NL match. How many attend a Pl match. How many attend Cardiff. That shows its not just about the racing, people want to see top riders and preferably they want a decent stadium and entertainment beyond 15 minutes of racing.

Doyle has been the best rider in the world the last two seasons, fancy him to win it. A couple of GPS now he's been lucky to scrape into the semis (case in point being gifted a point due to ef that was the difference to making the semis or not) and then scoring decent points in semi and final. Whereas those breaks seem to be going against Tai - a couple of incidents have caused roughly a 15-20 point swing between those two over last couple of meetings. I think Dudek will be 2nd, he's due a genuinely big score. Magic has been excellent but I wonder if there is the odd low score ahead sometime soon.

And of course Schlein riding for Australia has not precluded him from riding in the British championship.

Ref seems to be holding the tapes an inordinately long time.Shame we are not seeing Lambert from reserve, bit super ride by Bates.

Yes. But scoring badly, regardless of reasons, is still the reason he was dropped.

Riders complain about riding in wet conditions, fans moan about them.Rider is annoyed about not getting to ride in wet conditions. Fans moan about them. Surely it's a good thing that our best young talent is disappointed when a meeting is called off?

There's a pretty strong argument that he already is

Remember when John Davis guested for himself? As u say anything is possible and I don't see why a banned rider can't be transferred though obviously the ban should continue to apply.

What is the rule which says a banned rider cannot be transferred? I would think they could be, though potentially no facility available until they have made an appearance for their new club?

Yep that's what I was proposing above. Except they could have the option of running a 2nd tier side rather than an NL side.

Thought orlov was taking the piss when he broke the news, Edward Kennett 😅😅😅😅😅😅 Edward Kennett 😅😅😅😅😅

If u are going that route then I think u need to have an 8 team elite league with 2 home 2 away matches. 3 Brits per team and in case of fixture clashes it has priority. All EL teams also run either a 2nd tier or NL side. The 2nd tier would likely not have any GP riders though id still see a place for the likes of cook Harris etc. 4 Brits per side including 2 under 23 reserves

Test of their team is fine when Kurtz is back. Like KL there issue has been a number 1 averaging 4 points lower than they should be which is probably an 8 point swing per meeting.

I disagree with your comments on racing under the draft. Because of the heat format generally u had riders of a comparable standard and the racing was good. The issue was that they didn't address the skewed averages resulting from the format. This could have been addressed by anyone with a rudimentary understanding of maths. While there are now instances of 2pt no riders coming up against GP riders, that's no more of a mismatch than was common in the 80s when I started following the sport. Barry Ayres v Eric Gundersen. Glen Hornby v hans Nielsen.

Does anyone have any stats which would indicate that crashes are actually more common now than in the past. If they are is it tied to the fact that there are less "meaningless" meetings than in the past? Would also note that fatalities and career ending injuries seem far less common. In recent times I can think only of Rico and Ward of top riders. Whereas in the 80s/90s you had the likes of Gundersen sigalos Jan o Joe Owen and per jonsson retire due to major injuries, while the likes of ermolenko and Knudsen returned from horrific injuries. More injuries now but less major ones? Or less major due to medical advances? One other point I would make is that riders seem to get criticism for not wanting to ride in wet conditions (when racing is often rubbish) but also for taking more risks due to airfences (which are the sort of moves which make for exviting racing). Perhaps riders have things the right way round?

I guess when you've only had two individual world champs it makes sense to claim your domestic league is your focus...

i disagree, as a fan i want to enjoy world class racing, and the GP series provides that. I'd hope also that all young brits aspire to performing at that level. I dont see why the GP series needs to be viewed as an issue, rather than an excellent advertisement for the sport. UK speedway could learn a lot ino from the professionalism of the GP presentation. the quality of racing in the uk is generally pretty good, though clearly some tracks are better than others. but even leicester produced a good televised meeting.

tbf, SS provided a balanced match report, what else did u want him to say?

Out if interest, which world finals do u think provided racing comparable to this years gp series. I can only go off finals 68ish onwards (ie what's available to watch on dvd/online) but can only think of 76, 81 and 90 that stand out for really good racing, and not sure any of those are better than what we've seen this season or last season in the gps. I used to love going to the old qualifying meetings, but how many of those produced genuinely great racing? Recall a couple of good ic finals watched online from the 70s, the 84 and 85 overseas finals were pretty good.but there were a lot of average meetings as well.

surely on form this year Perks is better than Morris?

I'd also add that I cant u nderstand people suggesting changing the qualifying system for GPS. Look at this year's GP line up and tell me the organisers don't have it spot on. Look at the racing and tell me the organisers dont have it spot on, and aren't preparing generally great circuits. I genuinely think the calibe of racing in the GPs is as good as the sport has ever had - certainly better than the old World Championship finals/qualifiers.