Personally speaking I'd welcome a shake up of the qualifying system and a return to the old Grand Prix Challenge would be a good idea. I dont see any reason why, in the current situation, the bottom seven riders can't ride for their GP futures against the top nine from the qualifiers. However, the bottom line is, if they're not good enough, young or not, then they're not good enough.
Speedway's problem is that it's split between being an individual sport and a team sport. Therefore, whereas MotoGP, Formula One, World Superbikes etc, etc, do 'hand pick' their drivers/riders, there is an accepted route of progression if you're good enough. Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa both raced in the 250cc World Championships before riding in MotoGP, as did Toni Elias. The WSB series tends to pick their riders from their national championships, and Lewis Hamilton, although to a certain extent was nurtured by Ron Dennis, won the GP1 series before sitting in a McLaren. Also manufacturers, such as Honda keep tabs on their young riders/drivers in other formulae and nurture them to ride at the top level. This was the case with Kiyonari who won the British Superbike Championship on a factory-supported Honda and he is now racing at world level for the Ten Kate Honda team - that used to be James Toseland's team who is now riding in MotoGP for Yamaha.
In comparison, speedway doesn't have the same route of progression as other GP series' do, so we have the qualifying systems instead. Nothing wrong with that, but as the Grand Prix wants to be like other GPs, its lack of stability means that they can't market it along the same lines - not that they do much of that anyway. For example, Scott Nicholls cannot budget or get sponsors for next year on the basis of being in the Grand Prix because he doesn't know for sure if he will or not. The organisers need a certain number of Poles, Swedes, Danes, etc to help sell the TV rights. And with no 'teams' in the GP like there are in MotoGP or F1, there is no certainty for sponsors either.
Speedway's day-to-day existence is league racing and that's not likely to change for many years to come. And until the GPs can run on its own basis - which isn't going to be any time soon - this is always going to be a difficult situation for all concerned.
