Swc Final

[RacerDon]

As it was, we only finished 3 points ahead of Norway, and "they" had 20 less rides than we did. 

 

 

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[stevehone]

Mauger Magic touched on a very good point about the 'we can win it in 5 years' comment.

well 5 years ago we were being told that there is a great crop of young English riders coming through and we'll be there winning the competition, riders like Stead, Harris, Allen, Kennett, Howe, and all these will fit nicely with Scott Nicholls.

 

so, correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't that crop of youngsters from 5 years ago there last night (apart from injured Howe ... maybe he would have been the difference, who knows?)

 

if you want to know the real reasons why England failed last night, get the Speedway Star and open it to pages 48, 49, and 50.

look for the bit that says FIM 80cc Youth Gold Trophy, then look at all the riders involved ... NOT ONE ENGLISH RIDER, disgusting.

look at all the nationalities that are there though ... and then think about who is winning the world cup.

 

Middlo (and i don't know the bloke so how can i dislike him Shazzybird) has had something like 7 years doing the job, maybe he came in with a 3 year plan or a 5 year plan or something, maybe even a 12 year plan, i don't know, but i'm sorry, i think we need changes.

we need fresh ideas as things seem to have gone very stale, and unfortunately last night proved it.

 

also Shazzybird, you say i've upset Barney in some of my comments about Edward Kennett (like you've never upset anyone with some of your comments on this forum)... well unfortunately sometimes you have to have a serious look at yourself and see where you're going wrong ... i always said Kennett is not a big track rider, and my feelings haven't changed.

he NEEDS to be getting experience at proper big tracks ... it's not good him riding Rye House in an U21 qualifier and being brilliant if the next round is in Poland and guess what, big fast track.

the same goes for all of the English riders ... the tracks here are no good for competing in world speedway.

a new track is built, and it's 280 meters ... what good is that for the national future?

 

now is the time to make changes, to make a start on getting things right, ok the riders pick themselves on the whole, but a new voice of motivation is needed.

no i don't know who it should be, Ian Thomas and Eric Boocock maybe , but it certainly needs a change.

 

*edit*

and another thing, last week at King's Lynn I apparently witnessed history being made. 6 heats of 250cc speedway racing.

 

why the hell has it taken this long??

Edited July 22, 2007 by stevehone

[Peter S.]

Were the machine examiners Polish by any chance??

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Dont think so : Jim MacMillan

[shady]

Sorry but not sure how anyone can lay the blame at Middlos door...what could the guy do that he didnt do??

 

With the exception of some decent speedway racing by Scott, Team GB were diabolical...

 

Why is it that we seem to be eons behind other nations regarding machinery and talent??

 

Cant blame the gating because I didnt think our boys gating was the problem...they lacked speed full stop.

 

Ok so on the whole we are not used to racing big wide tracks like that, but if other countries can do it, why cant we??

 

Simon and Edward were way out of their depth and as for Chris Harris I personally didnt expect him to do wonders as i am not naive enough to expect him to be in a whole new league on the back of one outstanding performance but didnt expect to see him struggling wite as he did.

 

will be interesting to hear/read the thoughts and opinions of the boys post meeting..."bad day at the office"...not good enough!!

Edited July 22, 2007 by shady

[PTDragons]

The Danes were robbed, the Poles were whingers, the Aussies were not themselves and GB were rubbish. Well Done Ex Diamonds Nicki Pedersen, Bjarne Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre (what a comeback that lad is making) and Hans Andersen and Nils K Iversen...they never had a stomach ache all night!

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So no Diamonds / Denmark bias in your post MM

If you look at the score, I think you'll find that the Poles won. Team Poland deserved to win as the score suggests, simple as that.

[Subedei]

So, Damian Balinski scored 4 and the Poles won by 3, but are we really suggesting that a fully fit Grzegorz Walasek couldn't have beaten Oliver Allen and Simon Stead? Those are two of the riders Balinski defeated. Is the suggestion really that a fully fit Grzegorz Walasek wouldn't have scored a single point on a track in Poland?

[speedyguy]

This says it all on how "important" the UK Press regard the match. From today's 'Mail on Sunday' -

- just three lines in the classified results under the SPEEDWAY heading. It read:

 

WORLD CUP FINAL (Leszno, Pol) - 1 Poland 55pts; 2 Denmark 52; 3 Australia 29; 4 Great Britain 15. (Poland are world champions).

 

 

A major sport?

[stevehone]

I assume I'm a member of the "look at me gang" am I as one of your members refered to me as fairy boy?

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Ah but if there is a picture of you lurking around with a Pink Cowboy hat on then I'm afraid the rumours may well be true 

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no pink cowboy hat, but seen the picture of him wearing fairy wings and holding his fairy wand.

 

if the cap (or shiny tiara) fits SB

[Starman2006]

I will not have it with those who are blaming and pulling Neil to pieces.

Yes i may be seen as a poole fan defending our Manager, but imo

its down to the riders to select the right set up for the track. Don't also

forget we had some very inxperienced riders out there last night at THAT level.

I also believe that NO other manager would do any better!.

I do not expect Neil to resign or be sacked, but if Neil wants to walk away

then thats his perogative!. I feel so sorry for Neil, he so wants a World Cup

winners medal. But we are still imo in the crossover period, and we need to

just have a bit of patience and a bit persiverence. We have some talented

youngsters, and they are going to need time. You can only work with

what you have at your disposal!. Chin up Neil.

Edited July 22, 2007 by Starman2006

[G the Bee]

Someone summed it up brilliantly when they said something along the lines of, Poland will do the business if the final is in Poland and will struggle if the final is elsewhere. Last year they didn't even get through the race-off at Reading.

 

Amused at Steve Shovlar distancing anyone in Team GB with a Poole connection from last nights performance. I would be the first to put my hand up and say I was extremely disappointed with the performance of the two Coventry Brits. Even though Scott showed glimpses of form, they could have, and should have, done better. Kennett was on a learning curve, true, but he was still beaten by riders who you would have thought he might beat (Watt and Holder).

 

It was clear to me from the first set of heats that our riders machines were not quick enough. Nothing to do with riders not being good enough. I doubt there were many riders in that field who have not been beaten by any of the Team GB riders over the course of this season.

 

Now, I'm not saying that we had a winning team on paper, far from it, but we all know each one of our riders should be capable of picking up more points against the likes of Iversen, Bjerre, Holder, Watt and Sullivan.

 

We looked like a team who had equipment which was unprepared for track conditions and riders who didn't know how to ride it. Surely the Team Manager has a degree of responsibility here. Otherwise, what's the point of him being there? Anyone with a little speedway knowledge can pick 6 riders and decide where to use a Joker!

[Ashie]

Interesting to see the speedwaytv website makes no mention of the controversy.

[cec838]

Just wondering if G Walasek was able to jump around with the rest of team Poland when they won this meeting ??? with his injuryed foot of course!!!!....

[JIROUT]

Yes our riders bikes were slow....but so was Leigh Adams....and he rides there week in week out.....i just dont get it

[topaz325]

Well done Poland on a great win, personally i cannot see what all the fuss is about the Poles using Balinski, its just like in Football when a a team brings on a sub.

 

Team GB were very poor, i did expect a bit more from Harris, Scottie and Richardson though.

 

Good to see Andersen moaning

[stevehone]

Yes our riders bikes were slow....but so was Leigh Adams....and he rides there week in week out.....i just dont get it

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or were they just made to look slow?

 

the lines you ride on track can add a lot more speed.

[Sandie]

I will not have it with those who are blaming and pulling Neil to pieces.

Yes i may be seen as a poole fan defending our Manager, but imo

its down to the riders to select the right set up for the track. Don't also

forget we had some very inxperienced riders out there last night at THAT level.

I also believe that NO other manager would do any better!.

I do not expect Neil to resign or be sacked, but if Neil wants to walk away

then thats his perogative!. I feel so sorry for Neil, he so wants a World Cup

winners medal. But we are still imo in the crossover period, and we need to

just have a bit of patience and a bit persiverence. We have some talented

youngsters, and they are going to need time. You can only work with

what you have at your disposal!. Chin up Neil.

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Starman, apologies for picking your post but I am using it as an example rather than you in particular.

 

If Middlo is without blame here can someone please tell me the point of having a Team Manager at all.

 

The riders were below par no-one is doubting that but how can Neil be so squeaky clean in all of this.

Can someone please explain to me what a Team Manager has to do during a meeting then.

And if he is so unimportant why are Poland praising theirs for being so wonderful last night. Surely he didn’t do anything.

 

Again I repeat, I have nothing against Middlo - he's a great bloke and a very funny guy (when slightly intoxicated!!) but I am still struggling to understand why he is completely exonerated of blame

[Silver Bee]

no pink cowboy hat, but seen the picture of him wearing fairy wings and holding his fairy wand.

 

if the cap (or shiny tiara) fits SB 

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It's funny really how the picture's actually better than any you've ever taken

[RacerDon]

Well done Poland on a great win, personally i cannot see what all the fuss is about the Poles using Balinski, its just like in Football when a a team brings on a sub.

 

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Except the rules of the competition for using a reserve/substitute are (supposed to be) rather different to those of football. D'oh

[tiger74]

No wonder Speedway is treated like a joke Rune Holta riding for Poland ,i don't think so, but wait Tomasz Gollob first letter of surname is G last letter B mmm maybe he's riding for the wrong country.

[Star Lady]

Starman, apologies for picking your post but I am using it as an example rather than you in particular.

 

If Middlo is without blame here can someone please tell me the point of having a Team Manager at all.

 

The riders were below par no-one is doubting that but how can Neil be so squeaky clean in all of this.

Can someone please explain to me what a Team Manager has to do during a meeting then.

And if he is so unimportant why are Poland praising theirs for being so wonderful last night. Surely he didn’t do anything.

 

 

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Likewise not picking on your post

 

Should the team manager not be instilling or should that be inspiring team spirit? I saw plenty of that last night from the Poles, from the Danes and from the Aussies. Prime example Nicki P bellowing in Bjarne's ear between their respective races.

Whenever there were pit shots, the Danes, Poles and Aussies were all together right from the start of the meeting, they were in groups, discussing, cajoling, encouraging even commiserating, mechanics etc included on several occasions. On the other hand every shot I saw of the Brits, there were two of them, no more.

Sure Middlo, or any other manager cannot ride the bikes for them BUT he can ensure they go out there wanting to WIN, not do their best but WIN.

If you want an example of team spirit that exists big time, take a trip to any match that includes King's Lynn, there you will find 7 riders all riding for each other, they care about each other and it shows. That is worth an extra 2 or 3 points per meeting IMHO.

Chris Holder, admittedly an exceptional talent, is a PL rider for heavens sake but he was head and shoulders above the Brits in the first half of last nights meeting, now he didn't manage that without help. That's where a team manager and team spirit come into play.

I'm not saying team spirit alone will win Britain a World Cup, it won't but it might just help.