Nominations

[Subedei]

The way I see it, Adams, Gollob and Rickardsson still have around 5 years of GP racing in their tanks. I think Gollob will ride on forever in Poland. I doubt he can imagine doing anything else. So, if we're waiting for the current stars to retire, we could have a long wait.

[Paragon]

I think what we ought to have is instead of the practice going on for hours on the Friday, how about a mini qualification meeting with the bottom 2 or 4 from the last GP & 4 wild cards.

 

This would make the GP far more competitive, because no one would give up any point in the GP if they might have to qualify for the next one & you could have the likes of Karlsson, Loram, Pepe & Max (if fit) who are left out in the cold having a shot if they better than the riders that are in.

 

They could charge a nominal fee to watch, to cover the costs, & incorporate the practice session into the meeting, thus giving the travelling fans 2 days of racing as opposed to one without infringing on other league racing.

[Boardrider]

Loram is past it - Richardson is probably not good enough to stay in...Nicholls should be ok - of the rest Steady and Harris are too in-experienced , Norris, Screen and ??? are past it..

 

Admit it on current status if GB have one representative in the GP its all they deserve...

[SCB]

All this just shows the nonsense of having seven of the riders decided by nomination and not by a proper competition.

Yes, wilcards suck, qualifiers rule!

 

Nicki Pedersne DID NOT qualify for the GP's the year he was World Champion, he was a nomination. Yet Chrzanowski is naff this season and in the past various other qualifies have been naff by GP standards. Nominations, if done fairly are much better. Sadly, it looks liike Bjerre and Iversen will lose out simply because of their nationality!

 

Admit it on current status if GB have one representative in the GP its all they deserve...

I won't "admit" it as it's not true.

 

Do you honestly, really believe that Lee Richardson is not one of the top 15 rider in the World? Ok he may not be one of the top 8 but he IS one of the top 15 riders. Prehaps we should only have riders in the GP who have a genuine chance of being World Champion, that wuodl be fun, TR vs Crumpy vs Naughty Nicki every other week for 25 heats!!

Edited August 29, 2005 by SCB

[jimmy smith]

Agreed excluding Bjerre based on the fact he is Danish would be harsh, but is he currently in the top 15 of world riders? Probably not quite. However i would not have put Lindback in that bracket either before this seasons GP. Back to the nationality thing would you boot out Hans Andersen in favour of him? Given Hans backers i think he would just edge it.

 

Zagar will probably get a spot given his sponsors and the fact Slovenia keep staging a GP round that makes little or no money. He is well liked by BSI and has the flare that adds the GP circus.

 

Kasprzak is much touted to be next in line for Poland and could hot swap Chrzanowski, but his WC performance was not great and is prone to be a tad of a gater.

 

Holta has shot himself in the foot under changing nationality and i fear Wild card places are his only hope, especially with a lack of Norway GP.

 

Lindgren is not ready yet same as Iversen.

 

Peter Karlsson i would still say is in top 20 of worlds riders but age and nationality will do him no favours

 

Protsiewicz has the backing but again nationality and previous results will go against him.

 

Richardson as SCB rightly states is a top 15 world rider and has the backing and age on his side. BSI are very pleased with him off track so can see him back next year.

 

 

Sullivan i feel can still do a job but not sure if he really has the setup or desire he once had again probably a top 20 rider but maybe he will be the odd man out. Also already 2 Aussies in the series and very few Aussie fans travel the GP and they do not host a round so it could be curtains for him. However being previous GP round winner may still be in the minds of BSI.

 

 

 

Next years line up i think will probably be:

 

1 Rickardson

2 Crump

3 Nikki P

4 Adams

5 Hancock

6 Bjarne P

7 Gollob

8 Jonsson

9 Hampel

10 Nicholls

11 Lindback

12 Richardson

13 Andersen / Bjerre

14 Sullivan / Zagar

15 Protsiewicz / Kasprzak

[SPEEDY69]

Well, we'll never know unless they get the chance. And they aren't going to get a chance if we continue to reward the serial failure of Scott Nicholls. Richardson showed some promise last night, but Nicholls just can't do it. Always fluffs the first bends of the semis.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just what is it you've got against Richardson & Nicholls?? Nicholls is the British Champion and captains the National side. Are you saying we shouldn't have a representative in the GP series? I don't consider being in 9th/10th place to be serial failure. We should be supporting the British riders rather than taking every oportunity to slag them off.

[Guest Shale Eater]

How about this. The top 10 of the GP qualify for next year, for example, Rickardsson, Crump, Adams, N & B Pedersen, Hancock, Gollob, Jonsson, Hampel, Nicholls.

 

The others (Lindback, Richardson, Andersen, Chrzanowski, Sullivan) go to a last chance qualifying meeting that has 16 riders - the 5 mentioned above and 11 nominations. For arguements sake I'll say the 11 riders are Bjerre, Zagar, Kasprzak, Iversen, Protasiewicz, Holta, Povazhny, Loram, Norris, Lindgren, P Karlsson. Hold the meeting at somewhere like Vojens, the top 5 qualify with the riders finishing 6th-10th being reserves for next year.

Edited August 30, 2005 by Shale Eater

[DartfordHammer]

Loram is past it

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

He is in no way, shape or form past it. So he's not had a particularly good year by his standards. Did you see the injury he's had to deal with? He's just not himself. Maybe he will never be the same again, but there is no way in hell that he is 'past it'.

[Joester]

I reckon next years line-up will be:

 

1 Rickardson

2 Crump

3 N Pedersen

4 Adams

5 Hancock

6 Gollob

7 B Pedersen

8 Hampel

9 Jonsson

10 Nicholls

11 Lindback

12 Andersen

13 Richardson

14 Zagar - they wouldn't have given him the Italian Wild Card if they didn't plan to use him next year

15 Stead (after the SWC I think he has a good chance) / Norris / P Karlsson / Iversen

[Silver Bee]

Zagar I think is deffinate now he is the 2nd wildcard.

Iversen would be a good call as would Bjerre but it depends wether they want to kick out Andersen.

Holta is a possibility but it would mean another Pole in the GP

 

 

I would say that Richardson and Nicholls are safe, regardless.

[Phil]

Next years line up i think will probably be:

 

1 Rickardson

2 Crump

3 Nikki P

4 Adams

5 Hancock

6 Bjarne P

7 Gollob

8 Jonsson

9 Hampel

10 Nicholls

11 Lindback

12 Richardson / Loram.

13 Andersen

14 Zagar

15 ?

 

They should speak to Mark Loram and ask him how interested his is and what support team / sponsors etc he has.

 

Then if he REALLY wants to be back in the GP give him the ride instead of Lee Richardson.

 

Would certainly make it more interesting.

[Guest Shale Eater]

How about

 

3 from Sweden (Lindback, Rickardsson, Jonsson)

3 from Denmark (N Pedersen, B Pedersen, Bjerre)

3 from Poland (Gollob, Hampel, Kasprzak

2 from Australia (Crump, Adams)

1 from Slovenia (Zagar)

1 from USA (Hancock)

 

That leaves 3 spaces left and 1 is saved for a wildcard. The two spaces left could go to 2 Brits (Richardson, Nicholls) or 1 Brit (Nicholls) and 1 from Czech Republic (one of the Dryml's)

I think to keep intrest alive in Czecho I would go for 1 Brit and 1 Czech as I'm sure the Czech Speedway authorities wouldn't be impressed if for a second year running they didn't have a rider. Then again to keep everyone sweet how about dropping wildcards and having the same 16 riders each week. It could look something like this

 

1 Rickardsson

2 Crump

3 N Pedersen

4 Adams

5 Hancock

6 B Pedersen

7 Gollob

8 Jonsson

9 Hampel

10 Nicholls

11 Lindback

12 Richardson

13 Kasprzak

14 Zagar

15 Bjerre

16 L Dryml

 

The track reserves, like this year, would be riders from the country the GP is being held at and they get at least 1 ride as the 2 lowest scorers after 4 rides drop out from their last ride to give the reserves a go.

[Jools]

How about this. The top 10 of the GP qualify for next year, for example, Rickardsson, Crump, Adams, N & B Pedersen, Hancock, Gollob, Jonsson, Hampel, Nicholls.

 

The others (Lindback, Richardson, Andersen, Chrzanowski, Sullivan) go to a last chance qualifying meeting that has 16 riders - the 5 mentioned above and 11 nominations. For arguements sake I'll say the 11 riders are Bjerre, Zagar, Kasprzak, Iversen, Protasiewicz, Holta, Povazhny, Loram, Norris, Lindgren, P Karlsson. Hold the meeting at somewhere like Vojens, the top 5 qualify with the riders finishing 6th-10th being reserves for next year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's not rocket science! I'm sure I've seen this before, but we need Andy Smith to ride in this meeting

 

Seriously though, with there being no qualification route for the world title, BSI is making a mockery of the sport.

Audience demographic should NOT be the deciding factor whether Rider A or Rider B is permitted to challenge for the world title.

A rider's ability MUST always come first, and if that means 5 Danes, 4 Swedes, 2 Aussies and 5 Poles then so be it.

It is wrong to say that there MUST be X number of Brits, Czechs or a.n.other, just because those countries host a round or have large paying tv audiences.

 

Having said that, I would agree that Nicholls & Richardson probably are in the top 15 at the moment. If there is no qualification route, then I would prefer to see BSI etc look at a rider's overall average in Poland, Sweden, UK & any other leagues they compete in and use this info together with past GP performance to come up with the list of competitors for the series.

 

I fear that sponsors and good PR will have the final say. BTW if Rune Holta is included, he must ride for Poland in GP since he represented them in WTC. To be Norwegian again now would be farcical.

Edited August 31, 2005 by Jools

[Hazzman]

There are always going to have two riders from each major Speedway nation plus they will never be cruel enough to drop someone who just missed out.

 

Chranowski is a sure-fire goner, no major backing plus he isnt even in the top 30 Polish riders. He will be replaced with Zagar, as he is Slovenian, a new market and he has a certain flair about him.

 

Andersen and Sullivan are the other probable drop-outs. Both have two other countrymen in the series. Neither as impressed, so it pot luck who they pick could be a young rider of Polish, Swedish or Danish nationality. Probable Czech has the its GP was poorly attended yet no Czech rider has been exciting this year.

 

Expect the Italian Gp to be taken off the calendar and hopefully replaced by a German/Latvian/Croatian GP.

[andy moore]

Couldnt we have Janusz k in one of the gps as a wildcard next year that would be great,Zagar has got to be a cert to be in from the start -maybe Walesek as another.

[Guest the bolton wonderer]

I would say that Richardson and Nicholls are safe, regardless.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

i agree with nicholls but i belive you may be wrong about richardson. apart from the last gp he has done nothing all season. i believe his days are numbered.

 

 

 

why not have qualifying rounds? the nomination system is rubbish

[Crazy Munchie]

I'd go for ...

 

1. Tony Rickardsson - Sweden

2. Jason Crump - Australia

3. Leigh Adams - Australia

4. Nicki Pedersen - Denmark

5. Greg Hancock - USA

6. Bjarne Pedersen - Denmark

7. Andreas Jonsson - Sweden

8. Tomasz Gollob - Poland

9. Antonio Lindback - Sweden

10. Jarek Hampel - Poland

11. Scott Nicholls - GB

12. Matej Zagar - Slovenia

13. Kenneth Bjerre - Denmark

14. Janusz Kolodziej / Greg Walasek - Poland

15. Rune Holta / Lukas Dryml - Norway(Poland) / Czech Republic

 

Richardson, Andersen and Sullivan have had there chances and have failed to impress, time for some new blood, and also some riders who have impressed in the European leagues this year to have a go.

 

Also think that the Under 21 World champion should be given a place in the GP next year.

[tommy]

IMO, BSI will nominate the following:

 

Hampel

 

Zagar

 

Nicholls

 

Richardson

 

Lindback

 

Andersen

 

Pepe/Walsek/Kolodziej

Edited September 13, 2005 by tommy

[Robbie B]

My idea on this forum a few months ago, and printed in Speedway Star magazine a few weeks ago, where the top five average non-GP riders in Britain, Poland and Sweden, along with the reiging World Under 21 Champion, would race against the bottom seven GP riders in one qualifying round would work, bercause it would give all riders a chance of qualifying for the GP series.

Edited September 13, 2005 by Robbie B

[SwissPosition]

Richardson will get another year due to lack of available replacements. Had either Loram or Norris had a decent (injury free) year, I suspect BSI might have have given one of them a go instead. For 2007, I would imagine Bomber and Steady will enter the frame.

 

Chrza.....Chraz....oh sod it, Mr Chorizo, looks like a gonner. Polish replacement looks likely, so Protasewicz or Kasprazak look good for that.

 

Sullivan also looks out of it which, given his current health problems, might be exactly what he needs. He's young enough to get back. No idea who they'll pick as a replacement though. PK would fill the place superbly in terms of sheer class, but the championship would start to look a little, well, Swedish.

 

If it was down to me, I'd actually turf Lindback out for a year or two. He's undoubtedly well on the way to being superb, but I'm not entirely sure he's up to coping with the GPs and two leagues at the moment. Burning him out at this stage of his career wouldn't be too clever for anyone.