HenryW

Rory has British ancestry, is married to a Brit and lives in Britain. If, and it is a very big IF, he chose to apply for British citizenship, I would have no problem with him being considered for a place in the British SWC side if he declared that he was interested in racing in the SWC for Britain. As Cj69 has mentioned, there are a few leaps being taken here as a few of those things have so far not happened and so it's all fairly irrelevant... Of course, maybe Rory is just getting himself prepared to race as a Scot once independence is declared

It's an interesting scenario. Obviously the financial problems have been caused by his Polish club's disgraceful attitude towards the sad events of last year and their attempts to save some money out of them. I do worry about those advising Emil at the moment whilst he allegedly looks to stabilise the financial position he has been put into by Polish speedway. From all that we know about his past, it is hard to imagine that his Father would have advised him to take the path that he is apparently taking this season and I hope that Emil doesn't live to regret following the advice that he is now receiving. I could now be flippant and mention that it isn't the first time in recent years that a major SGP contender has decided to step back from the series due to their Polish club, but I am not sure that anyone else has the same regard for PePe as I have

It will be interesting to see if the FIM enforce that. Quite often, actually...It's just that it isn't anywhere near the amount that they are owed in Poland as they get promised far more over there Edited to fix the mess I made of quoting earlier

Do you know whether they are actively petitioning the FIM to retract or suspend this ruling?

It's a reasonable bet that he probably hasn't been doing too much physical training considering the way he laughed off the suggestion that he might follow Tai's lead last year I just hope that Emil races this year and Bomber doesn't disgrace himself yet again

I realise that I am very late to respond to this, but I only just saw this thread again due to the recent replies.... I would be very interested to see it if someone could provide this high quality clip that proves that it was Bruce's fault...The way that I have always seen it was that after Kenny elbowed Bruce away down the home straight, Bruce cut back under Kenny around the 1st/2nd bend and Kenny then tried to lean on Bruce in the same way that Bruce had leant on him entering the straight before but Kenny was already too far behind to make that work. I always saw it that the brief "flick" of Bruce's back wheel was actually caused by Kenny leaning into Bruce's bike and causing an imbalance for him, rather than it being a deliberate move by Bruce to push him off. I'd be interested to see something that showed that it was a deliberate move from Bruce that was instigated before any contact.... Going back to the original question of this topic, I very recently watched a youtube video of BV v Halifax from 1982...I'm not sure whether it was before or after Bruce bailed on speedway but I am guessing that it was before, and considering the regular claims of Hyde Road being a great venue for racing, you really have to wonder about just how rose tinted those specs were back then.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SztbfCPHE6o#t=0 Watch that and tell me that it's better than anything shown on Sky last year...I might be biased but I am pretty sure that racing wise it is far worse than anything I saw on TV last season, and I surely can't blame the masses from walking away from that "entertainment" if that was the best that was on offer back then...

From what I have been reading, I wonder whether BSI/IMG will start legal action against the FIM for this decision.... I can only assume that they will, given the fact that this decision has a massive bearing on the competitors willing to race in the series that they have paid the FIM for...If they just sit back and accept this ruling without a challenge one can only assume that they were somewhat complicit in the making of it and any suggestion otherwise is pure PR bull****.

It's always the same over here. The rules should be set for the following season before the current one has finished...

I really am bemused as to how this has caused so much discussion. It seems to me that the numbers the riders wear are fairly irrelevant. If riders want something unique, surely it's reasonable to give them that option as it changes little for the fans...

The wording isn't much different from tier 2 visas which they would normally use: "The Tier 2 (Sportsperson) category is for elite sportspeople and coaches who are internationally established at the highest level, and will make a significant contribution to the development of their sport. Your application will need to be endorsed by your sport's governing body." The BSPA probably aren't doing their job properly in approving only those who genuinely meet the required criteria...

I'm not sure that you realise what you are providing links to. Those pages are the rules governing who qualifies for a visa, not a list of people who don't need a visa. Speedway riders from outside the EU receive the "Tier 2 Skilled Workers (sportsperson)" visas that you linked to above.

What would Jan Staechmann or Phil Morris bring that Norrie Allen wouldn't?

Testimonial rules in speedway seen to be ridiculous but presumably somewhat encouraged by the stupid team building rules.... Teams will often not really want to part with a rider and the rider doesn't want to leave the team, but they are almost forced into it due to points limits and team declaration rules...This has seen a relaxation of the "10 years continuous service" that a testimonial was supposed to reward, whilst leading to strange situations where riders receive testimonials when they have only occasionally raced for the team that owns them....

Don't forget the fact that a few of the NASCAR boys do a bit of dirt track racing when they have spare time as well, where they may or may not use their Sprint Cup number...Tony Stewart is probably the most famous one that does this regularly (and famously bust his leg last year ruining his chance to win the NASCAR title again) You are quite right to bring up football as well. When leagues changed over to squad numbers there were a lot of moans from fans about losing the original meaning of the numbers, but that is now long forgotten and players are naturally known by their "own" numbers these days....

Really? I always thought Tony was a great racer, however he was also a great gater so didn't actually need to put that skill to the test as often as the likes of Collins, Loram and Ward.

I agree with those comments. He was a credit to our sport on QOS. I disliked Jason early in his career due to his typically Aussie attitude to competition. However, I mellowed on him over his career, probably because he mellowed as well and it's certainly fair to say that latterly he was a fantastic ambassador for the sport. As you said, he was eloquent and knowledgeable about his own and other sports... As an aside, I also have some vague memory of Bruce Penhall appearing on Superstars or something like it... Was it being filmed in the Oxford area in 1982? Was Dave Lanning unable to directly name the event because it was a BBC show? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQu_QI745w0

Pffft...If they want a bribe, they'll get it looking like this from me... http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknoteapp/CLYDE_50.html

I am wondering why the mods are allowing such a deviation from the topic that this thread was set up for....Especially when gustix is involved in so many of these "off topic" comments...Or has he mellowed about such things in the last couple of weeks? I came to this thread to learn about the latest news for those that are having visa trouble. Instead I found myself reading a mass of posts discussing Scottish bank notes and large bank notes....Unbelievable

What is this "league fact" that you speak of? Is it anything like a league title? Joking aside, the qualifiers for the play off last year weren't an equal contest. I have had sympathy in past years for a team that loses out in the play-offs after winning the league when everyone has raced everyone else an equal number of times during the league season... The uneven numbers of meetings between teams last year made it clear that it was just a qualifying competition for the real title, which was the play-offs.

Jarek does seem to be the under-estimated rider on this thread...possibly because he doesn't race over here. I also like to play around with stats and Jarek came out on top for 2013 the way that I used to rate riders (an adaptation of the Bradley-Terry model if anyone cares...happy to explain the details to anyone who does) I actually got a little lazy and haven't quite finished loading all of the 2013 results in, but have 1,289 meetings and 20,578 races from 2013 included, which took us up to the 11th of October. The top 5 were: Jarek Hampel (1974.199) Tai Woffinden (1815.454) Niels K Iversen (1792.304) Emil Sayfutdinov (1546.134) Chris Holder (1542.819) Head to head, Jarek beat Tai 14-10, Niels 14-13 and Chris 10-5. Emil actually had the upper hand on Jarek head to head, 8-9. Just for those interested in Darcy, he was 6th in the list and was beaten 16-11 when racing Jarek.

Really? You decided to take the discussion there? Fair enough...As you did, let's be clear. Bulgaria or Romania, yes he would get in no problem. We have a reciprocal arrangement for free labour movement with both of those countries. Pakistan or India, no he would face exactly the same issue. Having said all this, I am pretty sure you knew it already and so I am slightly confused as to why you felt the need to make the statement that you did...

For decades riders raced in individual World Championship meetings with a number that defined what races they appeared in and what gate positions they received in these races. When the GP came along they decided that riders should retain the same number for the entire season rather than using the previous numbering format at each of the individual rounds. Presumably this was done to provide some consistency and avoid the confusion for viewers when a rider appears with one number in one meeting and a different one in the next. To me it makes perfect sense that you follow this to its logical conclusion where riders retain the same number between seasons. The system used until now in the GP series didn't really offer anything. The closest thing it did was that it sort of told you where the rider finished the year before but didn't really, so if another system provides any benefit at all then it makes sense to go with it. The new system where riders can select their own numbers aids recognition for the occasional viewer between seasons and allows riders to provide numbered merchandise that doesn't become totally redundant at the end of the season.

I'm not sure whether you are being sarcastic or serious...There is certainly a lot of sense in allowing riders to select their own number. Really? Surely it makes no difference if you are new, all the numbers are new. As someone who doesn't attend regularly it is surely far better... Consider Tomasz Gollob...Since 1999 he has been number 3, 2, 7, 3, 7, 6, 6, 7, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 and 4. Then consider Valentino Rossi. Since 1996 he has been number 46. Or maybe Jeff Gordon. Since 1993 he has been number 24. Which one of those do you think is more confusing for an occasional fan?

An article linked earlier in the thread stated that Jason Doyle got a new visa last winter, hence my comment.

Depends on how you want to define things. Tai started his career as a full time member of the GP series in 2010. He won the title in 2013. Nicki Pedersen started in 2001 and won it in 2003...That seems quicker to me, but you have already decided that it's important that it was Tai's 2nd season of competing, despite there being 2 years between his 2 seasons.