wjm

There isn’t really any pressure on Barrett to perform, mainly due to the performances of David and Robin who have both been riding well above their averages as of late. Hopefully he turns out to be a Jorgensen or a Toft sort of standard.

If you are going to fish you need to make sure your bait is decent, you are half troll, half arse hole, you are, an arsetroll.

The “conveyor belt” part is the problem though. If that rule was to be enforced you would almost wipe out about 20 riders currently in the PL, a few of the riders not meeting their average like Aspegren, Mellgren and Eklof are more than welcome additions to the PL. If in turn you decided that these guys couldn’t gain a team building average and were then replaced by people like McKinna, Warwick and Cockle, this would do serious short, and long term damage to the PL (no disrespect to the guys, but the options are limited as we have no “conveyor belt”.) At a time when a lot of tracks are struggling as it is, the last thing that is needed is to water down the product, and create a “pay and demand” culture for the limited number of talented Brits that are out there. It seems pretty obvious looking at the progressing Young Brits in the PL what has to happen, we need more tracks/facilities like Scunthorpe where riders can gain the track time to be ready for PL racing (Auty, Haines, Howarth, The Worrals, Birks, Woffinden). Sad as it is, simply being British doesn’t mean you either deserve a PL place, nor will having a PL place automatically develop and enhance a riders talent ,there are numerous examples of riders over the years that almost every PL promoter had wanted to give the chances to, and have given chances to that show that. Before any rule is implemented that says “you must have a Brit” more has to be done to ensure that there is a steadier stream of Brits coming through to meet the demand, as things stand, any “must sign a Brit” rule, would render the points limit redundant as you would falsify the strength of some sides in comparison to others (yes that currently happens, but smart team building and using the wider range of options available allows teams to counter that). I wont argue for a second that we don’t need more British talent, but it needs to change at a grass roots level, CL next and then think about the PL, the transition from CL/PL/EL needs to be worked on, that doesn’t mean you need to devalue the products as it wouldn’t do the riders any good either if they reached the international stage (not every riders will). We just need to find more training track time rather than solely competitive track time, we need more faculties to allow riders to develop at a younger age, not knee jerk changes to league structure.

That would just about kill off speedway in this country, defiantly wouldn't get Brits coming through then.

I would be shocked if Silver used him as a guest again after his showing on Saturday. I would have been telling him not to even bother turning up at Newcastle, he would have been p*sh there as well, bad enough with the weight of the Armadale track on his bikes never mind Berwicks as well.

The reasons don’t rest with two individuals, both of whom have done well with their talents thus far in their career, both performed well enough at the World Cup, it isn’t Harris and Woffinden that are letting British Speedway down, they are doing more than most for it.

So, now that its all done and dusted are people maybe starting to realise that Woffinden not racing didn’t really make any difference to anything? A few on the BSF seem to have a habit of manufacturing personalities and characters for riders, none more so than Harris and Woffinden. Woffinden, the seemingly kicking on 30 year old veteran who is never going to make it, and wants to race for Australia (despite choosing Team GB) and concentrate on the sport rather than chucking money at other hobbies.

Could make Rye stronger on their tour to be fair, would assume they will get a guest for Frampton as they already have R/R for Bowen?

You have taken my response out of context, I wasn’t calling any Plymouth fans “forum fannies” I have sympathy for them, I know what it is like to see my club ran by someone with a questionable plan. When I said “forum fannies” I was referring to posters like alljack, who live in a world where speedway is ran like a fantasy game where you pick riders based on who you like and not signed to suit any structure or for thought of the clubs long term future. People that run the league, possibly, but that shouldn’t take away the blame from Bowden, I appreciate the weather hasn’t been ideal this summer, it has been the same for every club in the country, however, the club isn’t the only one having to go without, riders are as well (full credit to them for making a sacrifice for the benefit of the club).

You are really going to leap to the defence of someone that has to change pay structure based on……the weather?

This to me is what would happen/happens if a club was ran by “forum fannies” chopping and changing riders every week, signing riders that a club should never be signing and just having a complete lack of reality as to where the club is.

That’s very much the minority though you must admit? The majority of riders in the WC have learned, or mastered their craft while racing in the UK/EL, they have become better riders for racing in Britain. So while, some may not “need it” it has been of a benefit to others who have very much used it to their advantage, only time will tell if guys like Vaculick, Smarzik etc really get to where they are going without the UK, or maybe, like other highly rated, young Eastern European riders they will fade away in their mid 20s. The majority of riders that master the sport, race in the UK for a extended period of time.

Out of interest, and because I have read a few times that “the top riders no longer need the EL and don’t come over here” How many riders is it looking like will be in the final that haven’t raced here? I have only made it about two throughout the whole thing (Lagutas) might be wrong though.

This might be nonsense, but IMO, a big issue with the Brits is the mechanical setup, they seem to be sadly lacking, especially when the track changes. Seemed to happen in both the Lynn meeting and last night, once the track shifted from what they had been performing well on they seemed to start going backwards. I know this is a small thing, and perhaps it was some sort of reverse psychology going on, but Harris said something like “I thought I had the right setup, but I didn’t, but it is working anyway so I won’t change it”, while he was going well, it seemed a strange thing to say.

If ever a post ever justified either. A: Just what an attention seeking troll you are. Or B: How out of touch with reality you are, then this is it.

As a Harris fan it will be a slight relief if he has to sit out a season of GP racing IMO, as much as I am a fan of Chris, his racing style and attitude he does seem to have hit a brick wall. I would hope that a season out of the GP would have the same affect on him as it did Loram and to a lesser extent Hans a few season ago, Chris is still young enough, and still has enough ability to compete as a top level GP rider IMO. He just needs to find the consistency over a season that seems to be lacking, maybe a year out might given him the, I wouldn’t know if it was motivation , but the kick start that it has given other riders.

I don’t know where this idea comes from that the Ipswich team is “cheap”. On paper they have built excellent sides the last two seasons IMO. They have signed riders that would have been in demand and most PL sides would have took in a heartbeat like Bjerre, Poole, Heeps, Tungate and to a lesser extent Doolan, Lanham and North. They have built sides that have had, again, on paper, and on reputation, strength from 1-7. A lot of teams need to sacrifice top end strength for reserve power, or vice versa, the last two years Ipswich have had the lot. I don’t have the access to riders wages and demands in the same way others seem to, but going by rider reputation alone, a lot of work has went into their team building I don’t see it as being a lazy or half assed effort. They have been very unfortunate with injuries since they dropped to the PL. I appreciate that fans have the right to ask and expect more from their teams now and then, but sometimes the points people make are nothing more than illogical bollocks and they seem to just skip over points when it suits them.

Been any attendance figures published for the other qualifiers that ran on the continent? (Only ask as they have more of a tendency to publish figures in Europe). My understanding was that the event perhaps doesn’t get the enthusiasm that it deserves across Europe? A crowd of 2,000 must have had those involved with the FIM thinking about the pounds and pence signs, which could only be a good thing.

Nicki did jump off and you could blame the referee, he should have stopped the SF going down the back straight and excluded Nicki.

Why are people so obsessive about “revamps” and “rule changes” and the “quality of the field”. The main thing when it comes to speedway, IMO, is the same thing it always has been, track prep. Saturdays night GP was superb IMO, I really enjoyed it. I don’t see the need for massive change. I don’t agree with the idea that there is a lack of strength in the field either. People point to the GP when it had guys like Rickardson, Adams, Gollob, Nilsen, Nielsen and Ermelenko, Hammil in it and say how great it was because “look at how good they riders were” they chose to ignore the fact that you are looking back on riders that went onto achieve a lot over a 10/15/20 year period and ignore how they rode at that time. At the time Rickardson and Nielsen were in it, Adams in particular struggled for years, a bit like Lindgren or a lower order rider does now. When Rickardson dominated for the majority of the time guys like Adams, Sullivan, Hammil and Pedersen were more often than not only making their way in the sport or quite inconsistent. If in 20 years time people were to list this seasons GP riders there is every chance that you could be listing multiple world champions like Gollob, Hancock, Nicki, Crump and who is to say what people like Emil, Holder, Hampel, AJ, Lindgren might win. It is very rare, in fact it has never happened, that all 16 riders have been even and balanced, throughout GP history, like most sports, there have more often than not been 2 or 3 dominant figures with the rest a bit of a mixed bag, its like that now as well. In 20 years time, on paper, this year’s GP could look great.

The line up for the meeting is superb IMO, some of the names are completely different, not the kind of people that you would normally see at a track like Berwick. While this is an individual it doesn’t have the same “open meeting” feel to it when you always run the risk of riders turning up and losing interest half way through. Every race will have something resting on it. Been fortunate to get some real racers and entertainers, always quite liked Hansen, and Buczkowski is as mad as a box of frogs. A race with Fisher, Hansen, Buczkowski and Master could be pretty mental.

Possibly in the league it might give him a confidence kick, he doesn’t seem to have been his dominant self in the EL this season, but in the GP? I cant see it. Very few riders have turned around their entire GP career on the back of one win, most riders take time to establish themselves. Lindgren is still in that process, he wont be the first rider that took several seasons to become a top line GP rider, and he wont be the last.

Bridger irritates me, not as a person (doesn’t bother me much about his attitude) but as a rider, should be doing a lot more. Maybe comes to easy for him and he seems to ride races sometimes like he is trying to amuse himself. I worry about the talent coming through, being brutal and harsh. After Woffinden there is nothing coming through that will be a threat on the SWC/GP stage IMO.

Kennet baffles me more than Stead, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but Kennet started with Rye and Eastbourne, as a younger rider I always remember him being neat, tidy, always looked in control. Maybe he felt he needed to add more aggression to his racing style, it certainly has worked to an extent, love watching him. But he seems to have lost that junior/school boy style that the likes of Hancock and to a lesser extent Howe have carried forward (I know Howe isn’t a top level rider but his style is how you should ride a bike IMO). Same case with Hancock, Hancock is just a rider that does the basics but really quickly, not the most glamorous, rarely you see him with his head nearly touching the ground, or looking up to the sky mid corner, but he always carries forward motion. Stead is a tall guy for a speedway rider so maybe that affects him, once you have a leggy style is all about how you “tuck your legs in” as such, you can still look tall and leggy but carry a very effective style (Zagar being a prime example IMO, kind of rider you could watch go around on his own). Weird one, easy to say standing on this side of the fence, and having never raced a bike what the hell would fans know, but from where I stand/sit, it definitely looks to me like Stead and Kennet in particular are guilty of killing their speed and I would have thought someone would have advised them on it, maybe just becomes in built habit that you don’t know how to correct.

Kennet and Stead get away with their exciting, but erratic, race style in the EL, but at the top level they are found to be lacking, their seemingly constant need to turn corners that don’t exist scrubs their top level speed off IMO. Ideal world side would be Harris, Richardson, Woffinden and Barker taking someone like Auty for the experience with the squad (although I fear he will go the same way as Kennet and Stead). Being great to watch and continually involved in races in the EL doesn’t then mean you will make the step up to the top level. Continually being involved in races means you are lacking at the gate and struggling for track position thereafter.