Jeff.

Jesus give them time, you can't go through small claims, there is no dispute, IMG have already said you will be reinbursed to the tune of 200%. Similarly I doubt your credit card company getting involved yet. I can imagine how you feel but a mess like this will take a little while to sort out, you will need to give them a "reasonable amount of time"

Well there have been more than 100 GPs so the figure is less than 2% On the other hand there were 49 world finals so without digging to deep, just the 1975 fiasco puts that figure higher than 2%. Obviously the GP comes out on top again

Why do you boycott world finals after 1975, did Oxford fans boycott Oxford after they had a rain off on one of the hottest days of the year once over. Dspite one or two luddites who are revelling in this,the GP will continue to go from strength to strength

I am not defending it Trees, as I said it was an appalling cock up, a full enquiry must be held to assertain exactly why it happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again. The point is you will always get people like Parsloes ( and yourself maybe) who will try to make more of this than there really is, although with his ridiculous claims that this should spell the end of the GP he has lost all credibility, if indeed he had any to lose!!!!

Why what happened, did Olsen murder someone?. Have the organisers been using the series to launder drug money?. If something on those lines is true then I think you are right. The only thing I am aware of this weekend though is a complete cock up in 1 of over 100, otherwise mega successful events. Sure it is an appalling state of affairs and if I was in Germany I would be gutted, no doubt some fans will base attendance at future GPs on this, and that is their perogative. Why the anti Olsen hysteria, he must resign, be sacked etc. It is nonsense, what must happen is that lessons are learned and it doesn't happen again. Now of course league racing is exempt from cock ups and when they do occur everyone is happy to blame someone other than the promotion, it is always someone elses fault.

Really, you posted you were not certain of a mileage, I informed you of the correct mileage and that makes me sad.

Its about 140, nowhere near 198

Or even simpler don't take anyones opinion, simply look at the statistics, look at his speedway record. That,s what I would do. Maybe Ivan and Briggos opininion was more that if he had applied himself to speedway Egon certainly had the talent but he preferred long track racing to speedway and thats where his priorities lay

No more absurd than the systen where the World Champion cant defend his title thanks to bad luck in a "one off qualifier" Well we got a World Champion in 1983 under similar circumstances. I really hope there is no return to anything approaching the old, extremely flawed, system of one off qualifiers for anything more than a handful of places. The current system is perfect if the sport wants any credibility. Much easier than explaining that although Olsen and Michanek are among the best riders in the world they are not in the meeting as in 1976 Or that the world champion is little more than second division standard as in 1973 Or even that the world champion actually won the title on a mini longtrack but is actually not very good at the sport in which he won his title as in 1983. Do you want more flaws, well how about the National Championship you all want to return to its former glory. Mike Lee was a deserved winner in 1977, must have rode well to defeat Collins ?, well no actually we decided to let Collins miss all the qualifiers up to the ICF.

In truth speedway is, and always has been, an individual sport, the team element is largely contrived and team results are purely an accumulation of individual scores, no one team members performance is directly affected by the ability or otherwise of those making up his team.

Incidentally the original formula was not strictly qualifying rounds to a one off final, with qualifying points counting on final night meaning that the winner of the final was not necessarily the champion (Bluey Wilkinson actually won the World Final in 1936 but Van Praag was World Champion.

Egon never devoted enough time to speedway to considered one of the greats, he was a great long and grass track racer who played at speedway

No I did of course mean the British Elite League.

Quite right not as good as it could have been, but 100 times better than anything you are likely to see in a league match. Incidentally for someone so anti GP you seem to watch them all, I can honestly say I have only bothered watching one televised Elite League match this season and no live meetings at all, as they don't interest me at all, yet you are there every fortnight watching the GP, a closet fan perhaps

Amazingly people cite nominations as a farce and urge qualification, then these same numptys are saying it is a shambles that these riders qualify and they make a mockery of the GP, make your mind up. To my mind this GP challenge only adds weight to the arguement in favour of nominations, we could end up back with the farce of the old world finals with two thirds of the field just making up numbers and world class riders sitting in the stands watching them

If Saturdays GP was a one off World Final Hancock would be world champion, a worthy winner on the night but better than Pedersen!! If the Gothenburg GP was a one off final Rune Holta would be world champion, would he have been a worthy title holder, Replace those names with Szackiel, Muller, Havelock, was Szackiel a worthy champion, sure he was the best on that day, and in his case that day only. By no stretch of the imagination was Muller the best speedway rider in the world in 1983, neither was Havvy in 92. How many world finals had the best 16 riders in them, hardly any. Collins wasn't there in 1977 when he was the best in the world, Olsen and Michanek in 1976 were among the top five in the world. Qualification for a World Final was totally random and left a hell of a lot to chance and luck. Excepting Hans Andersen in 2006 can anyone say the GP series to date did not contain the best 15 riders in the world. A world champion is a competitor who has proved himself over an entire season, not just one (maybe lucky) day

Already been done in issue 26

Purely because its on an old time speedway website, put the same survey on the SGP website and the result would be the exact opposite. Take off the rose coloured specs and remember things as they rerally were, not how history makes you think they were. Tricky one asunder the old system every rider in the world had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion, Take that quote fro Martin Mauger, In 1978 Britain could easily have supplied 6 or 8 riders who would grace a world final but no matter how good the brits were or how many top international Brits there were, only 4 could reach Wembley. At the same time the usual 5 Continental no hopers were guaranteed their place. Peter Collins, quite capable of winning that final was sat in the stands thanks to failure in an earlier qualification round. PC himself was champion in a final that didnt contain 2 of the top 4 in the word at that time thanks to bad luck in qualifying. The GP system of part qualification/part selection in the main ensures the best riders contest the world championship, exactly as it should be

Quite true, in much the same way thet world finals have been won by riders winning only 2 of their 5 races, being beaten by riders lower in the finishing order. Was Szackiel a deserved winner or just lucky, was Muller a deserved winner or did he benefit from a speedway final being held on a mini longtrack in his own backyard, was Havelock the best rider in the world in 1992 or just the best on a rainy afternnon in Wroclaw. Whichever way you ;ook at it, and I was a big fan of the old world final the GP produces a guaranteed worthy winner. I just never expected Trees to be singing the praises of the GP system!!!!!

I knew you would agree in the end. You are spot on the GP does indeed provide a more genuine champion, a rider who is consistently at the top over an entire season, exactly as a world champion should be. You are also right, the GP does away with the fluke winners. I knew you would endorse the GP eventually

Quite, also these people who scream how unfair it all is and how much better the old system was convieniently forget the seedings in the past. Peter Craven was seeded straight into the World Final in 1956 Peter Collins to the ICF in 1977 4 Brits were guaranteed a place at Wembley in 1978 (they were all deserving, and in fact at least 4 more Brits could have justified inclusion) 5 Continentals (largely no hopers) were guaranteed a place in each years final

Had quite a fondness for the County Ground did Jamie, think he will be one of the few who would have been delighted to see it pulled down!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pre 1936 numerous competitions were held under the guise of "World Championship". Didn't Jack Parker win the Paris one. The annual Star Riders Final was probably the nearest thing to a World Final at the time

No. Tokyo Melody would signal the start of the meeting and the track staff marched out to blazeway