OveFundinFan

If you go into an task with a negative attitude, the likely thing is that you will fail. Have a positive attitude, and surround yourself with others who are positive then you have a better chance of succeeding. Smoli is doing it right, investing in new engines and fresh mechanics. Would be nice if he did what he did in the final of the NZ Gp few years ago..... that would lite up the forum.

MAYBE, he was hoping his wife would recover to such an extent he could confidently ride this year. MAYBE she not responded so well, such he taken the decision to stay home. I do hope his wife is doing well, but if not, there is a lot been said on here that should not have been said - like he thinking of himself, he is selfish etc

Easy, I said “I think the winner is in those three”. I didn’t say here is my top three. So Martin could be in the top 3, as could Freddie, in fact, I like that idea.

I reckon Martin Vaculick will be in top 3 for 2020. And if Freddie Lindgren starts off well then he could be in with a shout come the last GP. Of course, Woffinden, Zmarzlik and Madsen will be very much in the mix, I think the winner is in those three. The rest will be giving everyone a strong chase and well capable of stealing big points on occasions.

Laughed my socks off!

Hi Teaboy, the problem I can see with having an early season qualifier for a GP spot is getting sponsorship for a whole GP season at such a late stage. It takes months of planning to arrange/secure major sponsorships, plus a rider with serious intent will probably want to spend winter months for a gruelling GP season on top of riding in 2+or 3 countries every week. What is going to happen is the rider everyone is hoping would liven up a GP season is at a big disadvantage due to lack of funds etc and likely to be like a damp firework.

So you kickin against the current system, that’s ok. I was looking within the current system cause that’s what exists.

Logically I got to think Smolinski would be the next in line for a wild card, that’s why he is no 1 in the official 2020 GP substitute list drawn up by the same as pick the wild cards I presume.

Greg deserved a wild card. Whoever was to replace him was not of his doing.

A great tribute. That race at BV against Chris Harris was a real cracker.

Can’t agree with that. Ok, he was a fast hater, isn’t that what everyone wants to be - better chance of being successful in a race if you can gate, and he was rock steady - nowt wrong with that either. He. was/is a Legend, his feat will be hard to beat, still world class at 49, more world titles after he was 40 then after, he may well have been past his best but he could still show the younger ones the way. Will be interesting to see what he does in the future within speedway. Hope things work out right within his family.

Indoor speedway - Micky mouse type racing, only done to stimulate interest during winter months IMO. Seems to have died a death thankfully. Small amount I watched when televised it was woeful.

For the 3 disciplines identified in Steve’s original post I would put Simon Wigg no 1, with Kelvin Tatum 2, and Peter Collins 3. If Peter had won long track world championship he would have been more of a contender for the top two. Missing from the list is Chris Morton and Chris Harris. Neither top 3 material but worthy of a mention..

Soto Ian, Do you use Opera with VPN activated to watch SGP live? Opera VPN gets very poor reviews, but they testing it for all its properties not necessarily to watch SGP, which we will be interested in. If you do watch SGP on Opera VPN, can you give us a run down on how to connect and whether it is running at an adequate speed.... ie continuous viewing, no lag etc. The review I read about VPN gave it a rating of 2.5/5 (5 out of 10) which is not good, but that is because a VPN is supposed to hide who you are and other details, which it seems to fail miserably at. As someone earlier posted, NordVPN is consistently rated the best VPN.

I think it has taken almost 25 years for Snooker to get where it is in China. Let’s face it, picking up a snooker cue I a lot easier to do compared to crossing a leg over a speedway bike. Maybe I not a pioneer, but lessons from the past reflect what could happen. For example..... USA produced so many great riders, but speedway itself has never caught on in USA. So speedway in Patagonia......mmmm. It’s a NO from me.

Type VPN in a search engine and suppliers of the service pop up, not seen a free service yet, and some are more pricy then others......but there agin, some are easier to setup and more reliable in use, I believe.

VPN has various uses, in this particular case you can choose what country you are in for internet connection, logically you select a country that you can get live action of SGP, as it not available in the UK.

My error.... meant to say if Son is not a sell out it would bad news for British speedway. I was there both nights in 2016, Friday night was not a sell out but Saturday must have been close. Got to be at least same again.

If SON sells as many as 2016 event then that would be bad news for British speedway.

Could depend on what Dan does at the beginning of the season. He is the track record holder, but he would be up against the worlds best. He needs to sort his gating out for sure.

Did they actually buy them or was it a sale or return agreement?

So, the question is...... why are ticket sales slow this year. Can’t be the track..... unlike last years Togliatti track BV is assured to produce top class racing. What about the format? After 2018 when the real winners of the event (Team GB) finished second a lot of fans expressed verbally their disapproval of the format. Ok, 2019 the format was changed so 2018 fiasco should not occur again, but has the damage been done. I still prefer a 4+reserve competition, but that will only put 4 countries into the final, whereas with the current flavour it’s 7 countries.

There is school next door, in 2016 you could book tickets in advance, £5 per night I think. I would imagine they will use that again.

I don’t think 2016 was a sell out. If I recall, some fans standing near the first bend (?) were moved to bend 3/4 temporary seating - presumably for tv purposes.

Ooooohhhh, the anticipation