Gp Qualifying Final

[Pinstripe]

I feel the GP should be made up of the best 16 riders in the world but I guess this will never happen without them looking at the rider statistics over the last year or so.

 

So, less of the "chuck Harris and Stead in because they are young and improving". If people insist on the top two brits, then it has to be Nicholls and Loram.

 

Why people want Iversen out I dont know. He has not been totally crap this year. He has picked up 4's, 5's, 6's and 7's and has not been well off the pace. We all knew he would struggle to bang in semi finals and finals every week but so did BSI. There is no point chucking him in for one year and taking him out. Next year he will improve upon these results guaranteed and I still feel he is a much better rider than both Harris and Stead, though they may have EL averages his Swedish/Polish/Danish form is good.

 

Its very confusing. But I feel Loram would be class in the GP's now. Nicholls has been good so definately needs a wild card.

[spin king]

Again I think people are missing the point, putting Mark Loram back into the Grand Prix is a backward step for us as a Speedway nation.

We need to be back the youngsters and giving them there chance, we need the youngsters to start riding against the best as soon as possible, otherwise as a nation we are going no where.

[Pinstripe]

If we want Brits coming in the top 8 of the GP's then shoving Harris and Stead in is not going to result in this.

 

Loram has to go back in. Along with Nicholls regardless if he comes in the top 8 or not. Scotty has raised his game this year hence lying in 6th place.

Loram would reap the benefits of the new system.

 

Sorry but Richardson has to go. Been absoloutely s**t for the last two years. Time to go Lee!

[salty]

So, less of the "chuck Harris and Stead in because they are young and improving". If people insist on the top two brits, then it has to be Nicholls and Loram.

 

Why people want Iversen out I dont know. He has not been totally crap this year. He has picked up 4's, 5's, 6's and 7's and has not been well off the pace. We all knew he would struggle to bang in semi finals and finals every week but so did BSI. There is no point chucking him in for one year and taking him out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Slightly conflicting arguments?

If it's all right for Iversen to do his growing up in the GP's then surely Bomber (or Steady) should be afforded the same.

[spin king]

Slightly conflicting arguments?

If it's all right for Iversen to do his growing up in the GP's then surely Bomber (or Steady) should be afforded the same.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have to agreewith you there Salty, seems to be to many people on this forum who expect instant success from the British boys, although I think I have to agree that Lee Richardson has had his time now, and I am sorry but British Speedway has nothing to gain with includding Mark Loram into the Grand Prix series.

[Pinstripe]

Iversen had already proved he can do well in a GP. Came in the semis in 2004 and narrowly missed out on a semi in 05. Bomber or Stead have never got close to this.

[sedge]

Iversen had already proved he can do well in a GP. Came in the semis in 2004 and narrowly missed out on a semi in 05. Bomber or Stead have never got close to this.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yes bomber never got close in 2002 when in the pl,and having is motors done by a local man cornwall.

[barrow boy]

I would personally like to see Mark Loram back in the GP's but to invite him back at this time would not be fair to those riders that went to the trouble of racing in the qualifying competition. Mark has said many times that he wouldn't mind another go now that the format has been changed but he can't be that bothered otherwise he would have had a go to qualify. Even if he had not qualified by showing his intent he may have earned himself a wild card in the way Chris Harris or Peter Karlsson may do as a result of their recent efforts.

Edited August 24, 2006 by barrow boy

[arnieg]

There is really no contest, just a quick look at the averages shown on this site shows Steady a full point clear of Bomber. In fact there are several other GB riders who would clam the spot ahead of Bomber on that basis.

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

But Harris' average is more than two points a match better than Stead...

 

in Sweden

 

Harris 7.82 (above Loram, Nicholls, Wiltshire, Zagar, Iversen, Lindback) vs Stead 5.42 (below Leigh Lanham and Andre Compton)

 

Incidentally top Brit in Swedish averages is...

 

Lee Richardson

 

While the points you make in Stead's favour are valid they don't make an overwhelming case.

 

I'd say it is quite finely balanced between the two

[Hazzman]

It will be a remarkable decision if Steady is not in the GP next season, unless we are to have only one British rider.

 

The only other sensible choice would be Bomber.

 

It could be argued that as Bomber finished ahead of Steady in the qualifier he should be given any wildcard. That tried and tested method was well and truly put to bed in the aftermath of the GB Final.

 

There is really no contest, just a quick look at the averages shown on this site shows Steady a full point clear of Bomber. In fact there are several other GB riders who would clam the spot ahead of Bomber on that basis.

 

Another way of comparing the two riders based on their average is to say to the Bomber ahead of Steady brigade is that Steady should be in the GP at the expense of say Hancock. Nuff said

 

The current flavour is ignore the best over several races/meetings and go for an all or nothing semi and final.

 

GP’s, most other individual meetings and even the EL are decided in this fashion.

 

PK looks to have been the best on show in the qualifier but he will be hoping for a wildcard. Bomber finished well ahead of Steady, 11 points v 5 but that counts for nothing.

 

Both riders achieved the same thing, they failed to qualify for the final.

 

Whichever way you cut it if there are to be two riders from GB in the GP next season one of them will be Steady……..unless Loramski fancies it??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You could reserve it and say look at Bomber's SWC displays and Polish and Swedish league averages. Bomber has done very well in the hardest league of Polish with a team out of their depth in the top division, Rybnik. Stead can not keep his place at Torun.

 

I personally feel both of them are not ready and this would cause more than good. We will see whether they could riders if they can recover from the disappointment of not getting in the GPs and use it as positive energy, spurrring them on.

[Subedei]

Iversen had already proved he can do well in a GP. Came in the semis in 2004 and narrowly missed out on a semi in 05. Bomber or Stead have never got close to this.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

By your arguement, hasn't Lee Richardson proved he can do well in GPs? - he finished runner-up in the Polish GP last season.

[spin king]

By your arguement, hasn't Lee Richardson proved he can do well in GPs? - he finished runner-up in the Polish GP last season.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

But how many times has he finished bottom of the pile, how many times does he fail to make the semi.

Edited August 24, 2006 by spin king

[Subedei]

But how many times has he finished bottom of the pile, how many times does he fail to make the semi.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This season, roughly the same number of times as Iversen.

I don't think Richardson is good enough, but I don't think either Stead, Harris or Loram are good enough. And if they aren't, they shouldn't be there solely on the grounds that they're British. If we want British riders in the GPs, let's go out and find some worthy British talent, not rely on the charity of BSI and the FIM.

[robpeasley]

Subedei,

 

Personally, I feel Loram would hold his own in the GP series - he is after all, a former World Champion. He now appears to be fully fit again, and also seems to be enjoying his Speedway at Ipswich.

 

Is he amongst the best 15 riders in the world? Maybe. The recent World Cup showed he's still competitive at the top level.

 

Yes, it would be better if we had British riders gaining thier place by right, rather then being seeded. But I guess politics rules at the end of the day. Even though it does mean that in a way that Speedway stopped having a true World Championship after the 2001 season - as the 2002 GP series was the first to feature seeded riders (discounting the honourable exception of 1996 World Champion Billy Hamill being seeded into the 1999 series, on the basis that he had miss the 1998 GP challenge through injury - if I remember rightly, they managed to get him in by reducing the number of wildcards at each meeting from three to two).

 

All the best

Rob

[stargirl91]

I don't think Richardson is good enough, but I don't think either Stead, Harris or Loram are good enough. And if they aren't, they shouldn't be there solely on the grounds that they're British. If we want British riders in the GPs, let's go out and find some worthy British talent, not rely on the charity of BSI and the FIM.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

totally agree with you. when i go to watch the gp's in cardiff, and the ones we go to in europe, i would rather support a european rider that deserves to be there rather than a brit, because he was seeded and they needed another brit for politics with SKY etc.

 

if a rider is injured, for example, lukas dryml a couple of seasons ago. he was first or second in the standings but got injured for the rest of the season, fine, he had a reason to be in it, but not riders than have rode in the series all the way through but couldnt gather enough points to automatically qualify.

[Biddows]

This season, roughly the same number of times as Iversen.

I don't think Richardson is good enough, but I don't think either Stead, Harris or Loram are good enough. And if they aren't, they shouldn't be there solely on the grounds that they're British. If we want British riders in the GPs, let's go out and find some worthy British talent, not rely on the charity of BSI and the FIM.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If it were as simple as that, then they wouldn't be in it at all. And you've described Scott Nicholls as a serial failure in the past too, so by that logic perhaps he shouldn't be in either. But the fact is, the British GP is the show piece event of the speedway calendar and if there were no British representatives, then how many people would actually turn up? That's a chance that BSI and the FIM don't want to take.

 

Unfortunately, the GP is not a pure contest between the top riders in the world. If a country didn't have representatives, then the authorities would lose a lot of money. There's a chance, for example, if Britain didn't have any representatives, that Sky would stop showing the GPs. Only if all the countries involved were able to put forward suitable candidates would this be a pure competition, but that is extremely unlikely. There will always be an imbalance of top riders, so the system can never be perfect.

[tigerblues]

oh well least i saved a few quid by not backing Howe!!!!

give him a wild card i say !!!!!  (NOT)  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He'd be more consistent than Richardson....at least he'd be the same all the way through unlike Lee who gets our hopes up in his first race and then just stops...