HenryW

I don't understand this argument at all. Of course the same faces win again and again....They are the best! The best don't just change from year to year. It's the same in every sport....does it make any other sport bad just because the title contenders only change occasionally? The fact that the same people are winning isn't a problem as long as the events are delivering good entertaining racing....and that's why the track prep is so important. So many of the old one off World Finals delivered rubbish racing, but provided entertainment by the very fact that it was a one off match for the title, and that's what I think so many people want back. They want the excitement of unpredictability rather the excitement of great speedway....Surely it's better to work on the great speedway rather than just relying on the excitement of the "one off"....

http://www.livespeedway.pl/race_detail.php?id=731

I'm glad that someone finally stepped in and pointed this out. If Scott doesn't want to race in the league here, that is his choice and it doesn't make him any less British, so why should he not be considered for the SWC team... On the subject of his gating....I don't think it was any worse than Emil's, probably Scott's was even better, but little Emil was just more aware of what he wanted to do in the first turn, and also got lucky a couple of times (maybe saying he got lucky is harsh...maybe he just read the intentions of his opponents well!) I love bashing Ole for his slick tracks as much as the next man, but I can't say that I have ever seen anything else at Prague, so I am not sure that it is fair to blame him entirely. Prague is a fantastic City and a great place to visit, but their speedway track is generally a waste of time if you are looking for good racing....Which makes it a bit surprising that the kid that couldn't make a gate tonight actually won the GP Nice one Emil!

lol. Fair point. The trophy should surely be engraved in Cyrillic for him

There are differing theories in transliterating Russian Cyrillic into Latin text. It's very common to use a j or an i for the letter й. However, if Emil has decided that the Latin version of his name is Sayfutdinov then you Poles shouldn't be allowed to mess with his choice Just in case anyone doesn't know, the "proper" spelling of Emil's name is Эмиль Сайфутдинов. Edit - Almost forgot to say....It really doesn't matter how you spell his name, it just matters that he is a ridiculously talented speedway rider. The fact that he won on that track despite his dire gating says a lot about the lad!

A rather strange statement considering Humphrey gave you a perfectly detailed explanation of the reasons for the current set-up!

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Darcy yet, but you certainly can't ignore his results, so am looking forward to getting to see him. I saw Arthur last year and he was very impressive for his age....I thought he was planning to go for the roads, though? Has he decided to stick with speedway?

Not quite right. In the race that they met, Emil was in red and Chris was in blue. If Chris had been in yellow it could have been a very different race. Gate two was definitely the worst option that day. Emil probably did make his best gate of the day in that race but, if my memory serves me right, Chris probably still had the edge out the gate over him. Chris tried to drop across Emil on the run to the first turn and Emil just refused to give any ground and charged Chris out the way as they entered the turn...That cost Chris a lot of ground. He seemed to cope with the clash badly and Emil just romped way from that point on. With all due respect to Chris, I don't think there was any question that Emil was the best rider in Pardubice that day. In 2007 I thought it was unfortunate that Chris and Emil met in their first race as they were the class of the field and I wondered if it would have been different if they had met at the end of the match when Chris was more settled on the track, as he did seem to improve as the match went on...In 2008 they got to meet in their last ride and the result was no better for Chris... I don't mean to diss Chris at all, he is amazing considering his age....If it had been any other time Chris would probably have two gold medals under his belt for the Under 21s, but the simple fact is that Emil is an extra-ordinary talent of the sort that you see very, very rarely. I'm actually not sure the last time I saw a kid his age showing what he has shown on the track....if I ever have!

Emil is a very special talent, and one that has been recognised outside of the sport of speedway...I just hope for our sake that he sticks with speedway. This season is sure to have a big learning curve for him. He has all the talent required, a wonderful back-up crew and hopefully he will have all the kit required despite the failure of some sponsors to deliver due to the current global financial problems. As far as I can see, the only thing standing in the way of Emil having a sensational first GP year is Ole Olsen's track prep. The little lad doesn't seem to have the sharpest gating skills at the moment and, on the tracks that Ole provides, he could find himself struggling to fight his way through the field. In saying that, I have seem him work through the pack on tracks that everyone else has failed to make a pass on, so maybe I am just worrying about nothing. Maybe he will make light of Ole's bald tracks....Or, with guys that are assisting him, maybe this year will be the year when he finally starts making some electric gates as well

To be honest, I kinda feel sorry for him. When you sign a 2 year contract with a club, you don't expect them to renege on the deal halfway through it!

You gotta laugh at your interpretation of the story! The quote from Nicki said "I would not say that it will cost the World title." (emphasis added by me) but you somehow take this as him moaning that it could cost him the world title!

As you asked...208. At the time of the match, the ages were: Mike Faria - 51 Bobby Schwartz - 51 Shawn McConnell - 49 Buck Blair - 30 Jimmy Fishback - 27

Is that any worse than Speedway, where the same rider could win every GP and still not be World Champion?

According to www.russpeedway.ru: Sergei = 18/5/1991 Vladimir Teigal = 25/2/1992

It's good to hear that they DO have this in their plans. I kind of assumed that they would be planning this way for the time being, but I hadn't seen anything to confirm that. I guess that they are probably going to be looking to some Russians and lower league Poles for the first season's foreign imports...and that's a very sensible way to go. As I suggested, it would be a shame if one club was able to sign some "big names" and ruin the future of the league.

While it would be wonderful to just throw a World U21 round into Argentina, the economics don't stack up at the present time. Do you realise how much cash it would take to get 16 riders with all their equipment and support crew from Europe to Argentina? Who is going to provide that kind of money just now? It's surely much better for the time being to encourage riders to go over and do the full Argentinian season, rather than just diving in with a sure-fire loss maker of a World Championship round.

Nothing about the Czech League? Surely they will be running again in 2009!

The final rules haven't been set yet...in fact the list of clubs is still not definite, so everything can still change. There does seem to be a real appetite to make this work and expand it in future years, so hopefully things will work out well. From the little bits that I have seen, it seems that the Ukrainian League will be allowing foreign riders to compete in the league, which is probably only realistic given the widely differing standard of Ukrainian riders, but hopefully none of the clubs will get silly early and cause the same problems that the Russian League has encountered over the last 4 or 5 years.

It has been known for a long time that the maximum number of teams likely to compete in 2009 was going to be 4. Ukrainian team Chervonograd will be competing in the newly formed Ukrainian League this year rather than in the Russian League as they did last year. It actually seems more likely that the Russian League will consist of just 3 teams, with Salavat also likely to be lost due to sponsor problems. The foreign rider ban decided on early last week was more of a surprise, but isn't likely to hit many riders too hard, as most only did 1 or 2 matches last season anyway. The newly formed Ukrainian League will be allowing foreign riders to compete, but I wouldn't expect to see any big names in that league just yet.

I think the suggestion of moving the U21 to a Grand Prix style is potentially a good move, but I'm not sure that the current proposal is worthy. If the full SGP series can't be made to work financially outside of Europe, how the hell can the U21 series do it? The guys competing in the U21 championship are much less likely to have the infrastructure and backing to enable them to make long treks across the Globe, so who is going to pay for this round in Argentina?

Interesting business plan....Have low prices when demand is high. Will you raise prices when demand is low to compensate for the lost revenue opportunity?

I'm not sure it's all to do with track preparation. I have seen a good few matches from Poland where the track was uber-slick, but the racing was still good. I think the biggest factor is the shape of the tracks. Most of the Polish tracks are big and wide, and are in stadiums where they are the primary tenant, so the tracks take up whatever space they need, rather than being squeezed into the inside of a dog track or into a small area outside of a football pitch. Not sure I would say "free", but it's included with the XL TV package that Virgin Media provide.

I presume by that you mean do the pre-qualifying rounds. If so, no we don't. The 6 teams that competed in Denmark are seeded to the Final Tournament.

People who have watched it Despite it still being four bikes going around and around, they have this strange tendency to change the order that they are in as they go around!

Are you serious? I can understand that you have your preferences, and would rather see a one off world final, but I can't believe that anyone that truly enjoys speedway would fail to watch the GPs on TV if they had the chance. It might not be the same as the old World Final, but it's still the best riders in the World going handlebar to handlebar....I wouldn't miss one on TV if I couldn't be there in person!