lucifer sam

OK, we need a few more people's opinions on 1936. Would it have been Eric Langton or Bluey Wilkinson? My argument for Langton is that, with the bonus points system, there was a kind of GP series already taking place, albeit one with a large bias to the final round at Wembley. Langton went into Wembley with 13 bonus points, Wilkinson had 10 - which means Langton would have outscored Wilkinson heavily in the qualifiers. So had there been a full-blown 11-round GP series in 1936, I think Langton would have been the rider with the consistency to take it. And we have gone along with the top bonus point scorer being the champion in 1937, 1938 & 1939. Norbold, what's the argument for Wilkinson? We'll then see what other people think. All the best Rob

Ok, so we have: 1936 - Eric Langton 1937 - Jack Milne 1938 - Bluey Wilkinson 1939 - Cordy Milne 1946 - Jack Parker 1947 - Vic Duggan 1948 - Vic Duggan 1949 - Jack Parker 1950 - Graham Warren Anyone disagree with the above? We now enter the Jack Young era - how many GP titles would have he won? Jim Stenner has him down as the best rider in the world in 1951, 1952 & 1953, would he have held on in 1954 & 1955, or would the new young brigade, headed by Ronnie Moore have caught him up at the some point? All the best Rob

Well 1947 and 1948 are definitely Vic Duggan. What about 1946 though? Jack Parker? And what about 1939 - surely any GP series would have been eight elevenths through before the interruption of Mr. A. Hitler and therefore a result could have been called? All the best Rob

Yes, I would go along with Jack Parker, who had a fabulous season in 1949. Stenner's World Rankings were: 1. Jack Parker 2. Aub Lawson 3. Tommy Price 4. Vic Duggan 5. Wilbur Lamoreux 6. Graham Warren A word for Vic Duggan would won have definitely won a GP series in 1947 or 1948. Duggan crashed out halfway through the 1949 season, then his brother was killed during the 1949-1950 winter and he was never the same again. 1950 = Graham Warren. Agree or diasgree? All the best Rob

So the burning issue is: will Adrian Rymel ride or not? All the best Rob

Norbold, how long was Bluey Wilkinson out injured in 1937? He missed the World Final that year through injury. Surely he would've struggled to finish second in the GP series had he had to miss more than one round? I agree with Jack Milne being 1937 GP champion though - it was definitely "his" year. Top bonus point scorer, 15-point max at Wembley, top of the averages - who could have stopped him? All the best Rob

A very wobbly rider in need of a pair of stabilisers? All the best Rob (Actually I like Fisher, but I can't resist winding up SB!!!)

Who's gonna decide 1937 then?? All the best Rob

So who would have won an 11-round GP series each year from 1936 to 1994? Let's start in 1936. Would it have been Bluey Wilkinson? After all, he was regarded as the best rider in the world. But maybe he wouldn't have won. He was injured at one stage of the season, which is why his bonus points contribution to the World Final was only 10. Eric Langton was the most consistent rider in the qualifiers. Over a GP series without the bias to the Wembley round (Van Praag's home track), it's likely Langton would have triumphed. So that's 1936 dusted. Anybody want to do 1937? All the best Rob

Here Rune Holta's thoughts (in Polish, unfortunately ): http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2009/08/...zestaje-juz-na/ All the best Rob

Norbold, but a GP system was used in 1936, 1937 & 1938, albeit one with a bias towards the final round at Wembley. All the best Rob

I don't see what people are moaning about. The meeting is cheaper than it was in Zielona Gora in 2008 - which I saw the day after the Polish GP. A poor track at Zielona Gora came close to ruining the meeting, but with only three GP places up for grabs, it still came to a pretty exciting climax. I think the meeting at Brandon will be a cracker. I will certainly be there. The only regret I have is that means I can't attend the Mark Lemon testimonial, but Lemo can blame the organisers of his meeting for shifting the date forward two days as I had the original Sept 20 date down in my diary. All the best Rob

Ermolenko's league form that year was excellent, but could he have beaten Nielsen over a 11-round GP series? - I very much doubt it. Nielsen was a fairly easy winner of the first GP series in 1995, despite being past his prime of 1983-1991. The GP series is all about consistency and Nielsen is the probably most consistent rider of all-time. Ivan Mauger is of the opinion that had a GP series been introduced in 1990 rather than in 1995, then Nielsen would have won at least 7 World titles. I can't disagree with that. All the best Rob

It tends to be kept quiet, but it's quite low. I think the winner of each round receives around USD 10,000, which may not sound that bad, but actually is less than the average rider spends on each round in getting their crew and bikes over there, etc. All the riders lose out on the GP series in terms of prize money vs expenses, although of course the top boys make up for it in terms of sponsorship, which is why a have / have not culture has grown into the GPs. Apart from the top 5 in the world, the rest are left out of pocket by the GP series. I'm sure Humphrey or someone else will have more accurate figures on the prize money for GPs. All the best Rob

No, why bother when there's Cardiff? All the best Rob

Well, next season we'll see if it was Olsen responsible for the ultra-slick tracks for GP rounds. Meanwhile, I can see riders opting out of the GP series if it is expanded to 15 rounds but they are still paid a pittance to compete in the competition. If the GP series is such a roaring success, then the riders should get a fair slice of the cake. Instead we currently have riders trying to make up for their GP shortfall, by demanding high money from their Polish, Swedish and British clubs. Money that the clubs can no longer afford to pay out. The GP needs to stand on its own feet, instead of sponging off domestic clubs. All the best Rob

It was far harder to win a one-off World title. One slip, just one dropped point could mean that was it for another 12 months. In contrast, over a GP series, a rider can drop a lot of points and still be World Champ. I miss the sheer drama of the one-off World Final. All the best Rob

Snyper, it's obviously Ryan Fisher. All the best Rob

Parsloes, blimey I think that's a triple period. Whilst not really wanting to be drawn into the argument, as a spectator at the 2005 & 2009 pairs: 1. The 2005 CL Pairs was a poor meeting - one of the very worst I've ever been to. It took 4 hours and 15 minutes to run just 19 races. As for my programme, there is a mountain of tippex on the six-heat second half page, due to the teams in each race being completely altered. I realise that the blame for this rested with the CL co-ordinator rather than yourself, but it was a huge, huge mess. There was also the lack of an individual scorechart for the second half, which led to me drawing crude boxes in the space for the run-off for first place. And I then had no-where to write the result for the run-off for first place. 2. The 2009 NL Pairs was a fairly good meeting, with all 21 races completed in just under two-and-a-half hours. There was a couple of mistakes in the programme regarding the gates in Heats 9 & 10, but this was clearly announced before the meeting and I changed them about two seconds flat. No tippex on this programme at all. Now, the above is not having a pop at Wimbledon Speedway, IOW Speedway, yourself, Bryn or the programme printers. It is simply stating things, as I came across them at both meetings. Now any chance we can get back to being civil... All the best Rob

Steven, that's honest of you - I did notice how the ref called it wrong but with the three of you passing and repassing on each bend, it was difficult to keep track. The most important thing is that you're all OK - they did announce on Saturday evening before the end of the NL meeting that all three riders plus Adam Portwood's mum were all going to be OK. All the best Rob

Entertaining meeting - despite the slow start to proceedings. Real shame the three lads involved in the incident in Heat 1 were hurt - there were really going for it and ducking and diving past each other on each bend. Glad they are OK. Not quite sure why Adam Portwood's mum was sat upon a 500cc speedway bike without any protection. Glad to hear she was discharged from hospital later in the day. All the best Rob

Could someone please clarfiy how Saturday works in regards to admission. I would like to see both the Under-15 round and the NL match - what is the combined admission price for the two meetings? Also will the stadium remain open during the gap between the two meetings - i.e. will I be able to get a burger, etc. Thanks. All the best Rob

There's where you went wrong then. From buying Jeff's excellent book, you could have made the quick hop to the bar, where I could have bought you that outstanding pint. All the best Rob

No, my sense of direction was working well and I was in the right place. But one problem - no Parsoles. Incidentally Parsloes, did you get the chance to buy Jeff Scott's excellent "Quantum of Shale" on Tuesday? All the best Rob

Actually I was at the bar when I texted Bob C to see where you'd got to. All the best Rob