Grachan

If we get anything, I can't see it being more than a few open/challenge matches around August/September time. Teams could easily be made up with guests as they will be purely for entertainment purposes. I can't see there being any league. Matches like that would normally be very sparsely attended, but if they were the only speedway this year they'd probably attract pretty decent crowds. Poland is way ahead of the UK with Corona Virus and even they aren't starting until June - and even then without crowds, which the UK have said they won't do. So Poland will also be having crowds before they are viable in the UK. We'll be lucky to get anything at all. Jason has gone to Poland with Swindon's blessing, according to the website, as they couldn't guarantee him a start this year. Any rider who can get a place in Poland and is happy to stay there for 6 months will be a fool not to take it if they want a ride this year.

Why would the winner not be a true champion?

Sounds good to me. Although I suspect that if you have £10 entry most teams will go bust by the end of the year. But who cares? I got my scoreboard.

As you say, stronger numbers ones then, and a bit more solid at reserve. The middle orders are pretty much the same.

It's quite interesting when you really look and analyse the two teams that there isn't so much difference in strength considering all the weakening of the league that has gone on since. (Although, of course, we have to remember that the 2007 side were not Champions). The main difference, when you look at the teams in the league from now and then, is that most teams had a World Class number one then. Apart from that, there isn't too much difference. Swindon, of course, had a World class no 1 in 2019, which made a lot of difference for them. Comparing the two sides: Adams v Doyle - I'd say Adams was the better rider, but Doyle has the winning mentality. I'd go for Leigh though at league level. Chrzanowski v Ellis - Ellis, and he's still improving Gjedde v Musielak - pretty even. On top form I'd go for Musielak Ulamek v Jensen - Jensen due to his passing ability Richardson v Batchelor - Richardson Korneliusen v Vissing - Kornieliesen. And this is a big, key difference I think. Moore v Perks - Moore. So, I make it 4-3 to 2007, which is pretty close. Adams v Doyle you could go even, as both could beat everyone else in the league. So not such a difference. I'd still go for 2007, though, based on reserve strength. Having Korneliusen/Chrzanowski at reserve would make a major difference in the weaker races.

The one thing 2020 has, possibly, is more of a winning mentality. Just on rider standard alone, 2007 is stronger for me. The 2020 side performed better but the league was stronger in 2007.

2007 was a lot stronger. That was before the sport went on a campaign of weakening and downgrading the teams over consecutive years.

Looks like that's the end of that discussion then.

I don't want to bang on about the scoreboard thing, as I'll just be repeating myself, but I'll just say that, as you say, the scoreboard itself is not the attraction, it's the match score that is the attraction. Speedway is not just about people riding motorbikes. Numbers and statistics are a big part of the appeal in many cases and, for me, they should do all they can to exploit this. Too many people think it's just about blokes on bikes without brakes, but, to some, it is about more than that.

It is about giving the sport more of a team sport atmosphere. It enhances the product. Not everyone wants to fill in a programme or have to listen intently to announcements. I actually think it might give a casual attendee more of an impression that he has been to see a match between two teams rather than just people on bikes, making them more likely to get into what they are watching. The old "The Why do you think they have the score displayed on screen on BT and Sky? It's so people know what is going on. For me, a having a scoreboard in a sport with such complicated scoring is just common sense.

If you think people don't have an interest in the score then you are making a big mistake. Why do you think the teams at the top of the league get better crowds than the teams at the bottom. People like to see good racing, but there will always be a big decline in crowd levels once a team starts losing. Use of music, keeping track of score etc are all part of the product. It's not just about the racing. I agree that better standard of rider also means larger crowds, but you can have the best riders in the World but no added score or atmosphere and the evening will soon go flat.

I think it needs to present itself as much as a team sport as it can. To many people it just looks like random people riding round a track.

How did you know the score?

Perfect. They have an electronic one at Swindon. For a while it showed the match score, then it changed and they stopped showing the match score and went for riders in the heats instead. My guess is programme sales dropped. Then they stopped using it completely.

It doesn't even need to be expensive. Just numbers on a board would do it. It frustrates me a bit that they don't do this.

I think it is, yes. I think it should be on display at all times. I don't always know the score if I'm watching a match and have to look at someone's programme. Having to listen out for announcements should not be necessary but an enhancement.

It's a team sport with a fairly complicated scoring process. Every match should have the score on display in some form or other. I cannot understand why they don't, although I suspect it is so they can flog more programmes.

As a way of keeping score I think it is a decent idea, although people can always go to the Updates site if they want to know the score without a programme. A much better idea. A decent scoreboard. This should be a must at every track like it is with Ice Hockey & Basketball. Just a simple place to look and see the score. End of a race, update the scoreboard. Simple. An app for music will never work. Who would even listen to it? If people want to hear music on headphones they will play their own. And if people did, for some reason, do it then it would kill any atmosphere stone dead.

The issue isn't the music that's available. It's the choice of whoever is selecting what to play. The best thing is to play a variety from all eras - from 60s to current - and mix it about. The idea of having meeting music broadcast through an app and through a pair of headphones is, in my opinion, a terrible idea.

Gundersen would have been more likely to winGPs when they had the knock out and elimination heats. I think I've said this before, but under that system I can imagine Nielsen winning every heat while Gundersen ended up in eliminators and scraped through to the final only to then win it.

I think so too. But this is the thing. Does that mean it is harder or easier to win a one-off World Final? A one-off World Final was harder to win for Nielsen but, at the same time, probably easier to win for Gundersen, who was more of a 'rise to the occasion' rider. You can't say one was easier or harder than the other. At the end of the day/series there is still only one winner,

Thanks for clarifying. It did read that way, but I wasn't sure if that was what you meant.

Aren't averages always worked out that way? Or are you saying that TS rides were not included in the number of rides but the points are still included in the total, thus giving a falsely high average?

Were they really two of the greatest races ever seen? Would the similar races in a league match be seen the same way? It was the very fact that they were World Final races in a packed Wembley stadium that made those races stand out through time. For me, possibly the best race I've ever seen was the heat 13 at Belle Vue, when Max Fricke went from last to first while the other 3 riders kept changing positions. The races between Penhall and Olsen/Knudsen never came close to that. But they are the ones that will go down in history. And that is because they were at a Wembley world final. You talk about poor racing at Cardiff, but Harris beating Hancock to win a Grand Prix final was on a par with the Penhall races from Wembley.

I do think it is something of a grey area. People who died with AIDS are always listed as AIDS deaths. People with COVID-19 are listed as COVID-19 deaths. Yet the two contradict each other. AIDS was invariably the underlying health condition rather then the technical cause of death. So, what kills you? The virus or the health condition?