lucifer sam

So winning a semi-final of the World Championship is not a big deal? Let's have a look at some of the riders to have qualified to the World Final via the Continental route: 1964 - Igor Plechanov (2nd in World Final) 1965 - Igor Plechanov (2nd) 1966 - Antoni Woryna (3rd) 1968 - Edward Jancarz (3rd) 1970 - Pawel Waloszek (2nd), Antoni Woryna (3rd) 1973 - Jerzy Szczakiel (WORLD CHAMPION), Zenon Plech (3rd) 1979 - Zenon Plech (2nd) 1983 - Egon Muller (WORLD CHAMPION) Add in the likes of Viktor Kuznetsov, Jerzy Rembas, Grigori Khliniovski, Vladimir Gordeev and Boris Samorodov, who also all performed very well in World Finals. And then add quality such as Jiri Stancl, Andrzej Wyglenda, Karl Maier, Gerd Riss, Armando Castagna, Zoltan Adorjan, etc. I think winning the Continental Final on no fewer than four ocassions is a very big deal. Egon Muller is a far better rider than the majority of British fans give him credit for. And remember how well he performed on unfamiliar tracks and unfamiliar machinery in his very short spell for Hull, his only British club. He is a far better rider than Gary Havelock, who was, with all respect, a one-season wonder. All the best Rob

Egon Muller: World Champion 1983 7 x World Finalist in the years spanning 1976-1985 (Havelock's final appearances spanned only 1992-1996) Four times Continental Champion (a semi-final of the World Championship - often derided, but remember it supplied two World Champions and a whole lost of riders who finished on the World Final rostrum) (Havelock never won a World semi-final) National champion on at least five ocassions (Havelock only won the British Final twice) Plus all his Longtrack exploits (Havelock never achieved anything in this sphere) All-in-all, a much more impressive list than that of Gary Havelock. All the best Rob

Why it's "staggering"? Havelock had one very good year in 1992 - and that was it. In contrast, Egon Muller was a quality performer for many years and a multi-discipline World Champion. It shows the typical chauvinistic view of British supporters, disregarding the talents of any rider who has limited British experience. All the best Rob

Henry - you should look beyond performances in Britain. Muller was a lot better than Havelock. All the best Rob

HenryW, I have to say it would have been bloody boring had there been a GP series from 1983 onwards. Yes, Hans Nielsen would have won a lot more individual titles (maybe even into double figures), but I got great pleasure from attending the majority of the World Finals between 1981 and 1991 and wouldn't swap that for another few titles for Hans. Most of the World Champions under the one-off system were highly deserving - they weren't many "fluke" winners. And Jerzy Szczakiel & Egon Muller are much better riders than they are often given credit for - and actually they were probably better riders than Freddie Williams (only a World Champion because the meeting was held on his own track) and Gary Havelock (probably the worst ever rider to become World Champion). I'm really starting to miss the old one-off final, the GP series has started to get a bit boring in the last few years. Unfortunately I think we're stuck with it. All the best Rob

I realise it's largely wishful thinking on my behalf. I'd like to see the GP series scaled back a bit, though. Now that it's 11 rounds, it's too become a tad too predictable and makes it less likely to have a close finish overall. I think a return to 6 rounds and only one GP per country would help. It would make the meetings more unique and special - at the moment there are ten-a-penny. And two-bob venues such as bloody awful Vojens should be avoided. All the best Rob

But Humphrey Appleby has already provided a link that showed that BSI wasn't exactly flourishing. And this was before Gelsenkirhcen and the financial impact that will have, while the weak pound will deter British fans travelling outside their country for the next few years. And the probable collapse of the Russian League, plus problems for the Polish and Swedish Leagues, added to the desertion of the top stars from Britain, will mean the GP stars will be wanting much more for their GP appearances. It's a worrying time for the GP series, along with speedway at all levels. EDIT: Please don't think I share ALL the views of Parsloes, though. All the best Rob

Give it a few years and the World Final will be back. The world recession will kill off the GP series. All the best Rob

So ANY news of ANY action to be taken against Ole Olsen following Gelsenkirchen. All the best Rob

Full Throttle & Conkers, Thanks, I think I'll go-ahead and book myself and the old man on the Eurorider trip. I normally travel with Travel Plus for the GPs, but we've been to Assen plenty of times before, so a quick in-and-out for this trip will suit us and allow me to save up the pennies to go to Sweden with Travel Plus later in the year. All the best Rob

What's the Eurorider trip to Assen like? Can anyone recommend it? All the best Rob

Seb, I agree, I need to know how many points I thrashed Jacques by. All the best Rob

It seems, like Gorican (which I thought was great), Torun is a GP venue in waiting. All the best Rob

I've decided - one way or another, I'm going back to Assen next season. All the best Rob

But Gollob won two OTHER GPs. All the best Rob

Surely the only lesson learnt is a simple one: Don't employ Ole Olsen All the best Rob

One cock up? ONE? How about the 2003 Scandinavian GP? How about the dangerous tracks for this year's Swedish and British GPs? How about the fact that good tracks such as Bydgoszcz and Krsko are stripped of their shale and the tracks are ruined. Olsen is a menace and he should go. As for the 1939 World Final, well maybe Adolf Hitler should be sacked as well, I suggest you find a spirit guide and contact him to tell him. All the best Rob

What has the 1975 World Final got to do with the price of eggs - it was bloody ages ago. We are talking about Gelsenkirchen this year - not some World Final in the year dot. And, in any case, I don't believe a single World Final from 1936 to 1994 was called off for ANY reason. Someone has to be held responsible for what happened in Gelsenkirchen. And where does the buck stop? In terms of track prep, it's the GP Race Director. That is Ole Olsen. And that's who should be given the boot. All the best Rob

With all respect, we know you're pretty well off and indeed well done for investing money back into speedway. But surely it is the ordinary supporters who were hit by the Gelsenkirchen fiasco. £400-£500 is a LOT of money to most people. There needs to be some sort of action taken against what happened in Gelsenkirchen. The buck has to stop somewhere. I would suggest it's with the GP Race Director and therefore Olsen must lose his job. All the best Rob

Technology snob. All the best Rob

That was bloody clever how it also updated printed magazines. All the best Rob

OK, here's a few more: * What does he make of the GP series? * Did he knock off Ove Fundin in the run-off for the 1957 World Championship? * Would did he think about representing Great Britain in the World Team Cup - would he preferred to be riding for New Zealand? * Would he carried out his threat to quit British racing had handicap racing not been abolished in mid-1964? * Did he think fellow New Zealander Ronnie Moore was too much of a gentleman on the track? * Does Briggo think he was robbed of the 1964 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year award? * His comeback in New Zealand in 1984 at the age of 49 onboard a "revolutionary" bike created a fair splash of publicity. Why does he think speedway gets so few column inches in the press these days? All the best Rob

But nobody was "given" a place (bar the odd home representative) - they had to qualify. And anyone who qualified was good enough to win it - as the plenty of examples I've given already have proven. All the best Rob

There were 49 World Finals, so surely that should be 48-1 not 1,000,000-1 In fact, if you take into account the highly surprising (at the time) wins for Freddie Williams in 1950 and Peter Craven in 1955, it actually works out to odds of around 15-1 that a rank outsider could win a World Final. On the other hand, in the GP series, that has only been one even mildly surprising winner (Mark Loram in 2000) and even that one wasn't a shock for those who studied Loram's performances as an almost permanent wildcard in 1999 (fifth overall despite missing the first round). It's almost impossible for an outsider to win the World Final. If anyone bar Pedersen or Crump wins in 2009, I'll buy a hat and then eat it. All the best Rob

I see you're even coming up with examples yourself now. Yes, who would have ever thought that Gert Handberg would have finished third in the 1992 World Final. It's yet further proof that any of the 16 riders in a World Final could win ahd why these meetings were so entertaining. And, of course, Kai Niemi came pretty close in 1985 as well - he was joint leader after four rides apiece. All the best Rob