SPEEDY69

Ahh, but that's why I didn't say it was an answer! There is no answer to your question because as we have the GPs, there are only three or so riders actually capable of winning over a lengthy series. Disagree. Many have been there via either 1) wildcards or 2) being in the top 8 from current year e.g. Bjerre, Jonsson, Lindgren (as just 3 examples)

Surely White Knight is entitled to his opinion without people expressing frustration at him? Actually, I agree with him about qualification for the World Championship. I too find the current GP series dull simply because there is little riding on each meeting due to the number of rounds. Therefore it doesn't really matter if a rider scores a zero in a GP as there's plenty of points available to still be World Champ at the end. Therefore, it's the pressure of the meeting and unpredictability which I also look forward to. If we simply have the same alleged top riders in the series then why not simply make the World Champion the rider with the highest combined average or race score from the league meetings - ok, this will never happen of course but if you look at the World Cup, it draws interest because it's not simply the best rated nations seeded to the final - they have to qualify. And in response to Blazeaway's question - I'd certainly be able to name loads who have been in the GPs with no realistic chance of being World Champion

Sent a message to the Speedway Star about this - will they cover it? We'll have to wait and see!

This is potentially a good idea and there are already some these types of events occurring - in the last two seasons STR have held team matches against Scunthorpe and Stoke, home and away. However, many amateur riders will ride at more than one clubs' meetings - there is no ownership or contract and they pay to ride, so selecting riders for a team becomes difficult. Also, due to the number of clubs/tracks hosting amateur meetings/practices, sometimes it can be a struggle to attract riders to particular meetings, introducing a competitive aspect to ensure the financial viability of that club. Some clubs/tracks, such as Scunthorpe, race primarily at one venue whereas others, such as STR or Dragons, hire tracks to hold meetings. The latter are not affiliated/related to one track - look at the STR calender for this season and you will see that they held most of their meetings at King's Lynn but also at Sittingbourne and the Isle of Wight - therefore associating Dragons to King's Lynn is incorrect. I will pass on your views as appropriate because I know clubs are always looking to hold meetings which appeal to both riders and spectators alike (although there is no charge for spectators at most of the amateur events) and do look to build team based meetings into their calendars.

I don't really have a top 8. If we simply go by averages across leagues then that will give you a top 8. I just think seeing the same old faces riding against each other year after year in a n individual event to be boring - I like speedway which has a level of unpredictability to it. The track wild cards do at least give a little bit of this - such as with Zmarlik last season.

I wasn't saying he'd scored more points - just that he had better GPs which is related to his ability to beat the so called best - what you'd expect from a top rider. Please don't confuse me with a blinkered Harris fan I was just puting their relative merits in perspective.:-)

That's fine but that was a world final not a GP, which is what we're talking about here. Whether or not people liked the old world finals is for another debate but they were unpredictable because everyone had to qualify. As for GPs, it's the same as any other meeting in that there have been many many dull ones on poor tracks, as well as exciting ones but next season's line up I find uninspiring because it's the same old same old as too many riders are the same as last year so it's not fresh.

Harris did have better results in the GP this year than Andersen though - I think 2 semi-finals including 1 final whereas Andersen just made the one semi-final.

The STR club held its first presentation night last Saturday, which was very successful and a great time was had by all. The evening kicked off with the introduction of the guest of honour - David Howe, who went on to present the awards and trophies. This was followed by a raffle, which had some real quality items such as complete sets of luggage as well as speedway related items and more traditional things like booze! The excellent buffet and disco provided the backdrop as we held an auction of Speedway gear such as a professional tool chest, helmet, Lee Richardson print and pit shirts and body warmers - many thanks to thsoe who bid/won these. There will hopefully be some pictures and possibly video footage on the STR website (www.southerntrackriders.co.uk) in due course. Well done to all those who organised the event and attended - I'm hoping it will become an annual event. Any enquires about club membership and meetings for 2013, please either see the website or contact Linda on 07875140019.

Maybe. I also think the pressure in each meeting is less nowadays

In my opinion it's not the best ever line up. I preferred the days when qualification was more important. Having Nielsen & Rickardsson etc. was a strong era.

So now you can win a GP and still have less points than someone who finishes last in a semi-final. Doesn't seem right to me but as I'm not that bothered, I'm not that bothered!

I have been to Cardiff almost every year since it started but only to see the British riders. If there weren't any in it (or I had no affinity with them) then I would save my money and not go.

Godd luck to Tai for next season, I think he will spring a few surprises. The GPS are about having the money and the committment - it's never been about the best 16 riders in the world. I'll be watching the league racing next year as always - never been a big fan of individual meetings. So whomever he rides for in the UK next year, I hope he gives them 100%.

I'd agree given the line-up for previous years but I went last year and it was a really good meeting (a credit to Swindon and big Ron), plenty of passing and incidents - including the last bend victory for Schlein.

Is it really a watered down field. All three riders you mention were in it last season and they were all beaten to the title, quite easily in fact.

I agree with this - clearly they had also built in a higher level of sponsorship than they achieved. Had they got this, then the break-even crowd would be smaller. However they haven't been slow to fork out when needed - Ryan Sullivan wouldn't have come cheap, nor THJ (although he hasn't done that many meetings). Surely they're also disappointed with MJJ - World Cup winner and won the Vojens GP but only scored 1 point at Poole in August and is only 4th in the Boro averages. Unless of course the EL is much harder than a lot of people like to make out!

There hasn't been any conscious decision not to, and in fact several of the meetings have been advertised in advance on this forum. It just relies on someone using their free time to do it - don't forget some of the amateur clubs such as STR rely totally on volunteers.A good many of the riders do not access the internet at all so get their information via direct contact to Linda (07875140019) or another rider. If anyone is aware of a meeting that's not posted on here them I'm sure the club would be glad if that person posted it Thanks to Bryn for posting the dates of a couple of upcoming meetings.

Simply because the three riders who finish outside the 'automatic' qualification places are usually considered for wild card picks, along with other candidates - no other reason really. The wild card picks are still a bit of a mystery to me but there are obviously commercial considerations as well.

In answer to the question posed on this thread: Has he qualified? Is he the National Champion? Is he a Champion at another event e.g. World U21? Is he in the current GP's top 11? As the answer is no to the above then in my opionion it has to be no overall.

I think the GP series is tired and it's time to change qualifying so that riders can get in in the same year. Also cut it down to five or six rounds max. However I've always preferred team racing so those who love individuals may think diferently.

So, 6 GP riders plus Darcy Ward and Iversen etc. and you say it was an average line-up? Now I think you're being a little unfair. And to answer your question my answer is I don't know but he would have had the same riders to beat so no reason why not. It hasn't always been at Wolves of course and he really should have won 8 times as only an EF in 2004 gave the title to Joe Screen.

I don't think Sweden would hold any fears for us in a test match - they were shown up badly in the World Cup final a few weeks ago.

I don't think so. The best riders can do it all tracks - as an example, the highest placed Brit at the ELRC last year at Swindon was also Mr Nicholls. Although Wolves always seems to provide good racing, I do think it should be spread around the tracks.

Absolutely right. People seem to keep going on about the youngsters etc. but they're not yet good enough as last night proved - in any case at only 34 Scott is a youngster to me!I I thought the racing was pretty good out there, quite a bit of passing as well - it's not all about the fastest bike at Wolves which I quite like. Hope Nicholls does well at Cardiff - another 12pts and final like in 2008 would be good (although with a different result!!). Our young Brits seem to like the easy life in the Premier league too much - how many years in that league did the finalists spend? Look at previous British Champions and see how long they rode in the second division - I'll guess that most did only one or two years at most and then didn't 'double up'. That's the only way to improve in my view.