barrow boy

I call it Chip Alley as well. Its' real name is Caroline Street and you are correct to warn of its' unsavoury side after the speedway. Before then though it is OK

How about starting the meeting with something like the old second half rider of the night series of races involving 3 heats and a final consisting of the 3 winners and the fastest second. This would also serve as a pre match practice and then we might have some closer matches

In my original post I was commenting on how it is currently and not generally or based on past achievements. We'll just have to accept whatever happens now and enjoy.

And I thought it was The Wombles he preferred.

Good morning Posh Panther. I'm sorry that I seem to have shamed all Peterborough fans by trying to express my extreme sadness that the current champion and former Panther is struggling and for some reason is being outridden by others who have previously been considered to be his inferiors. I agree that he is one of the greatest riders the world has ever seen and his league form is fine but for some reason he is at present unable to even make the podium. Prior to the Eskilstuna round he assured us all that everything had been put right and he was back on song but this was his worst result for quite some time. I'm sorry to go on but Jason really is my favourite rider and no one is sadder than I at the way it has gone thus far. Not sure what relevance your Flyin' Ryan hat remark is all about although Crump 99 seems to have found it amusing. Perhaps you would care to elaborate please.

It took 98 posts before anyone finally mentioned the demise of the reigning world champion. Says it all really I suppose. He relies too much on raw speed IMO and not enough track craft and without the advantage of speed this time he is only achieving average results. He looks to be going flat out though, a bit like an athlete on the outside of the main pack who has to travel much further than anyone else. Better technical riders are quite simply picking him off up the inside.

I thought it was a strange comment to.

He's not finished in the top 3 for quite a while now

It would be simple enough to let them race off or is this being too simple

I to thought that he was lacking speed but when my wife returned from Poland with the race times I found that his first race in heat 4 was up until then the fastest time of the night, easily bettering the time of Niki P. I think he is not riding as well as last year. There are other riders who look better this time and Niki P's control and balance and ability to make the bike do just what HE wants and not vice versa is the difference at the moment and he is most certainly gating much better. Last year if you recall JC was not so dominent in heats 1 to 20 and invariably made a bigger effort in heats 21 & 22 and on at least 2 occasions he benefitted from others misfortune in finals. So perhaps its the new scoring system that has effected his mindset.

But every race would count anyway because every rider should do their best and keep trying to hopefully make the last 8. Look what happened last night. Several riders were in with a shout at the end even having only scored 6 points. Whatever happened to the good old trusted and completely fair run off deciders?

Exactly

I am missing the importance of getting to the final already. In fact I'm starting to yearn for the old elimination system with perhaps some method of providing more than 2 rides for those eliminated early on and more points for the losing semi finalists. I feel this year it will just drag on and soon become a non event

Congratulations. You just about covered it. Just one point though, didn't JC make the first final?

And don't forget a rider can win every GP this time and someone else can still become world champion. Unlikely I know but it is possible.

I think many of the riders can deny JC the title by beating him along the way thereby denying him points that others will gain but I think there is only one other good enough who has the same do or die mentality who can win overall. Niki Pedersen

How about having a forecast competition with members selecting 4 riders and if one of them wins gains 5 points, 3 for having the second, 2 for having the third and 1 for having the fourth. If enough enter into the spirit it can be a full series competition. I'll start it off with Nikki P, Jason, Bjarne & Scott. Good luck BB

At the risk of again being told that I must get out more or get a girlfriend or something similar, I think it was FlyanRyan who suggested this, I would just like to remind you all that last season just for my own self interest, I kept a league table based on. 4 points for a win by 10+ 3 points for a win by less than 10 2 points for a draw 1 point for losing by less than 10 0 points for losing by 10+ The result was. 1 Reading 99 2 Peterborough 98 3 Swindon 92 4 Belle Vue 90 5 Coventry 86 6 Wolverhampton 84 7 Eastbourne 78 8 Poole 77 9 Ipswich 75 10 Oxford 51 11 Arena Essex 49 The end result might not have been different but Belle Vue would have been in the playoffs instead of Coventry as a reward for being involved in closer matches.

Just read on Speedway World that one of the Polish teams is tracking Hancock, Lindback, Ulamek, Drabik,Richardson, Kennett & Szczepaniak. Not a bad team is it ? I make it a 50/51 pts team.

I would allow any rider to be replaced once only by any other rider once only when a team is so many points behind. I would allow the losing team to have the choice of starting positions from heat 2. I would award 4 points for a win by 10 points or more with 0 points going to the losing team. 3 points for a win by less than 10 points with one point going to the losers. 2 points each for a draw. Aggregate point still up for grabs over the 2 legs. Can't see why each team can't have seperate pre match practice sessions of say 10 mins each. Might see some closer matches then

Hi there my good friend. Please confirm something for me. A rider not winning the BIG FINAL can still score more points than the winner.

He still finished higher than someone that was reinivited ahead of him

Don't forget that Nikki Pedersen beat them both one year and the popular opinion is he may be better equipped now to be considered as having every chance this time to take his second crown.

I hope that most are proved wrong and that Chris Harris does not finish last but if he does not do too well but proves to be an entertaining future prospect I sincerely hope that he will get another chance to become established on the world scene.

Subedei I think I almost agree with this observation but I feel Hans did no different to Jason really. When he had secured his second title he also became ordinary. In fact I think he did extremely poorly in the latter rounds. He was honest though when saying afterwards that he had taken his foot off the gas. Perhaps it was the same for Hans who had proved his point and had already qualified. Starting from fresh all riders will surely be up for it for just as long as they need to be. Even your least favourite SN.