OveFundinFan

BUT, I said “seeing what we see “today”, meaning what is this years form compared to last years, and I see neither is performing this year compared to last year, IMO. Look at the two Pawlicki brothers, doing well in their leagues, stick em in the GPs and they flopped, what do I remember Piotr for in his two years - false starts and dropping his bike on receipt of slightest nudge.

Maybe if you met Phil Morris in your local pub he may express his thoughts to you, but in his official capacity I wouldn’t expect him to say much in front of 10’s of thousands. Tai didn’t even criticise the ref, “it is what it is” he said. I missed the top three being interviewed but did they criticise the ref.? for sure, WE are almost unanimous the ref got that wrong, just as WE think the ref at Cardiff got things wrong, but I reckon we not going to hear much from the higher ups in speedway/FIM, if anything. In time we might notice if Saturdays ref, and indeed Cardiff’s ref, officiate at a GP again. Only then will we know what the official verdict is.. hopefully some sort of official response will be made re starts in general, clarify and adhere to 1 the amount of time between races 2 the amount of time once all four at at the tapes before green lights, this is to cut down on gardening 3 that when the start marshal indicates a rider moves forward the rider does actually move forward 4 transponders 5 random computerised timing for tapes release 6 in case of false start, riders back to tapes without mechanics out on track

Last year on BSF the "in" riders for a wild card were Lebedevs and Milik. Had they got wild cards, seeing what we see "today", would those have been a good choice. I thiok not. There is a massive difference being a good rider in the Polish League, and being a GP rider where you got to be battling away every two weeks. And that's why I a bit iffy about Lambert. Sure he can mix it in top events as he is showing, but has he got it at his young age to mix it in the GPs on a regular basis. Remember Vaculik bounced on the scene a few years ago winning a GP, got a pick for the next year and struggled. He went out of GPs for 3 or 4 years by his own choice… I remember reading he said he wanted more experience and time to mature as a rider. He come back and been hit by injuries which I held him up, but it shows there is a difference between putting 6 or 7 good rides together for a meeting and delivering consistency over a GP season. Laguta is a gater, Emil is way off form (lack of rides cause he does'nt ride Swedish league), if Pedersen can keep some form, Zagar comes back doing well, I can see those getting WC pick, and possibly Holder he he has now hit rock bottom and on his way up again (last night was a v.good performance and he mixed it.

Terrible meeting, worse then others that have been held there. The track material looked peculiar, wonder if that added to a poor racing surface. The organisers need to take a good look at themselves for taking a GP to tracks such as Krsko. Its good to take the world championship to different countries but its all a balance, and tracks that can be raced MUST be one of the top priorities. Really pleased to see Holder back to being in the action, and on a difficult track.. On the other hand, sad to see Emil struggling, ok, when he gated he did what others did - clear off. Its going to be really tight when giving out wild cards. If thins stay the same with Holder and Emil, I can see Holder getting a WC and Emil not. As for the referee, started bad when he gave Doyle a tape warning when it didn't seem he moved. But then to exclude TW. Riders had been messing about all night at the tapes - doing gardening to an excess, yet he takes out Tai in that race under those circumstances. Via Phil Morris he could have given all 16 riders (+2 reserves) that delaying the start will have its consequences. Tai was no worse then many others, including other riders in THAT race, yet he was the one he made an example of.. Bad move by the referee, a Polish ref excluding the leader of the championship when 2 of his closest rivals were in the same race, and worse still those two were Polish. Fortunately Zmarzlik could not take full advantage of the situation and take more points, but some damage was done. IF Zmarzlik wins the championship by 1 or 2 points, everyone will remember the day of poor referring, much to Zmarzliks disadvantage. Like Cardiff, Cookie did not have the best of luck, he should have ended up with more points then he did. Lets hope the last two meetings bring the racing the riders and fans want.

I assume a beam will not detect a twitcher, but a transponder should.

Fastest in practice picks his gates - rubbish, at the best he picks his race number. Fastest in practice gets rewarded somehow - nah. Some riders chose not to do practice, as race days can be so different to practice day. I recall the 1976 world final in Katowice.... Peter Collins won. He said he did practice but didn't use the whole power of his bike, nor show his true pace.... he saved it all for race day, didn't want his opponents to see what he had till they were eating his dirt.

Well apart from deduction points after the race it sounds pretty much like what happens now. There can be a problem having a rider in a race knowing that he is effectively excluded at the end. He could hold up riders to get his team mate in front, cause stoppages by deliberately falling, again team mate may get an advantage in a rerun. Probably other scenarios too. Its got to be something like transponders. Technology is better then the human eye, more accurate. Just fit them to international meetings for a season and see how they go at top level.

Agree, that race has to be one of the all time best. and yes, Mr Muscles is one of TW mechanics. You also hear Jacko mentioned, hes one of TW mechanics but he is a stretched out version of Mr Muscles. Looks about 6ft 13inches and thin as a rake.

Cant see what that has to do with it. There is no rule in speedway, that I know of, that says you can move at the tapes and not receive a penalty. Move and you get a warning, touch the tapes and you excluded. What is needed is help of some form for the riders that doesn't discriminate against a perfect start (as Dudek did)

Keep the tapes then for the spectacle, but use transponders/beams to detect movement. As previously stated, other sports don't use tapes, they detect movement. Its only cause riders have got used to trying to beat the system and got away with it that it goes on today. Doesn't meant its right though, its not.

When I go on google maps (doesn't have to be google maps) and look down on Leicester speedway track, and look down on Leicester Cycle Speedway at Slater Street, they look the same shape, although one is only 75 yards per lap. Many years ago (1965) I raced on the Slater Street cycle speedway track, and it was absolutely fine for that sport, but the speedway track truly is a poor race track. Going back to David Hemsley, if he has been 3 times World cycle speedway champion and 5 time British champion, then he must really have been a brilliant rider.

Don't miss this amazing final from 2016 Gorzow, its a scrap from all four riders for the whole 4 laps. Be nice if Holder could regain this type of form. http://www.speedwaygp.com/news/article/6897/on-this-day-|-doyle

But not all countries are available to enter SEC, so something would have to change

With Lambert you also have to name Dabik and Smektala, but of course with the number of Poles already in can another two, or even one be considered seriously. If the top 8 stays as it is (no certainty of that) then Doyle, Vaculik will be wild cards and possibly NP too. But that only leaves one space and I would say Robert would be a good choice.

Who is David Hemsley? Is he the guy who was a cycle speedway champion??? I can can see the shape of a typical cycle speedway track when I look at Leicester speedway. Might be good shape for cycle speedway but not for the motorised speedway.

The Poole track has been there for a long time.... Leicester is new(ish) and the stadium had space, yet the track is so poorly designed, and its been altered since it was built. Shudder to think what it was like before. Did you ever go to Hyde Road (the old BV track).???? Once you been there you know what speedway racing was really about. The NSS BV track is the same.

I look at the Leicester track and surrounding area and think what could have been developed there. Nice to see a good crowd there. Shame about the track.

Letting riders move as much as they want, except touch the tapes, leaves rider on gate 2 and 3 very vulnerable to riders on 1 and 4 twitching hoping to get rider 2 and 3 moving and touching the tapes. That's a form of cheating. Riders in MotoGP, British Superbikes etc and Formula 1 etc all start from rest and don't have a tape, transponders. No good going back to you can do anything you want at the tapes, there was enough of that in the 70's/80's and Ivan was the master at it, but not only him. Would Ivan had won so many world championships if he had to stay still at the start? We don't know, and it doesn't matter, its whats done now. Especially in the world championship where a lot of money is at stake (for being world champ), extra appearance money, sponsors money, etc. And I want to see a winner who deserved to win. Technology is there, speedway needs a kick to the 21st century.

but its not quiet right, Dudek last Saturday, Cookie the time before (and he needs all the help he can get). We are in the 21st century, the age of computers and electronics...…. is even the GP series so far behind the times and cant/wont progress forward?

I suspect because of H&S the gates cant open until a certain number of attendants are in place, and if the attendants are speedway supporters they may well be part of those travelling from BV on a bank holiday Monday and potentially get stuck in traffic with others. All maybe of course.

Generally speaking, you maybe right. But seeing someone close to you injured can and does have an effect more on some people then others. Remember Chris Holder went off the boil after the Darcy Ward smash. There was a very bad smash at the British MotoGP at Silverstone on Saturday practice in the pouring rain. These MotoGP riders are tough, and one of the real tough ones on Sunday said "we maybe MotoGP riders, but we are human" (or words to that effect). Speedway riders are tough guys, but they are human too. Recently a former Polish speedway champion committed suicide, riders who knew him were affected, one pulled out of a match because of it, some others were down on their previous performance levels. We are humans with feelings.

Apart from a measly 2000 euro fine for Janowski, which probably equates to 2 points in the Polish league, his side kick (father or not) needs a 1 meeting pit ban - even if part of an essential team. This has got to stop, where everyone and his dog can throw punches about. That's 2 meetings running now that NP has been targeted after supposed incidents on the track which most on here agree were ok moves. If allowed to, I can see this going back on the track in the form of lets do the dirty on NP (or Freddie), culminating in someone getting seriously injured......and I mean seriously. Bartoz Zmarzlik is not the little innocent neither. Referees are going to have to toughen up on whats going on, be firm, fair, and most of all consistent. And whilst mentioning firm, fair and consistent….. the starts need to be sorted. Not for the first time in the GPs this year has a rider been penalized for a perfect start. Dudek did a perfect start, yet lost out big time. that's not fair. Left to human judgement that situation is likely to continue. Transponders, electric beam, green light starts, or a combination of or something else.... something needs doing ready for next season.

I'm up for "second half" races to give juniors a chance of regular track time. And these juniors may well be "local" to the track, thus EXPENSES need not be high. No points money, just expenses to keep costs down. Saw many juniors coming through the ranks at BV, even before Dent Oliver did the Rochdale team.in the early 70's.

I live about 25 miles west of Manchester. Weather here at 10am is cloudy, wind blowing toward BV at 15mph, at 1pm low chance of "precipitation" which lessens even more at 2pm for the rest of this day. Forecast taken from BBC Weather. Make of that what you will.

Laguta is a gater, Zagar is a racer that will fight for a position.