Nameless Gp's Still!

[Ferndown Racer]

Has anyone seen or heard any ticket information for the GP at Torun yet?

[manchesterpaul]

Has anyone seen or heard any ticket information for the GP at Torun yet?

 

Hmmmm! might be on the edge of a breakthrough here......Errrm Ferndown....we know it isn't the European or Polish GP so.....which GP at Torun do you refer to (not allowed to Say Torun GP until BSI declare it so)?

 

I'm tempted to buy a ticket just to see what it has on it.

Edited February 12, 2010 by manchesterpaul

[Dexter]

I think the idea was to call Leszno GP - Polish GP, Torun GP - European GP and Bydgoszcz GP - GP Finale. If 4 GP are in Poland I suppose that one of them would be 'GP Opening' or something like that. Let's hope that speedway will not get itself into such poor condition where 4 out of 10 GP-s would be in Poland.

 

Of course the fact that Polish have 3 GP-s is not sufficient for many of them. If you look at Polish forums many participants think that Ole Olsen should not be GP director but it should be Polish who should make decisions. In their opinion Olsen is helping Pedersen and other Danish riders with his decisions (which sounds funny to me). Polish would not do it. They find themselves top professionals.

 

In my opinion there could be two GP-s in Britain but not two in Cardiff. You could have one in Cardiff and another one in London for example (instead of third Polish GP). The series would not loose too much from profit point of view. London is full of Poles, many of them are speedway fans and they would certainly come to see this.

 

I would rather see GP-s in places like Amsterdam, Budapest, maybe somewhere in Russia.

[HenryW]

I would rather see GP-s in places like Amsterdam, Budapest, maybe somewhere in Russia.

Be a bit more adventurous....New York, Rio, Tokyo, etc....

 

Sad fact is that Amsterdam and Budapest couldn't support a GP any more than New York could.

 

Russia is probably a different proposition, but the logistics of getting the series in there (or maybe more importantly getting everything back out) would be very hard.

 

[Dexter]

Actually, from what I know, both Amsterdam and Budapest have large stadium and there is speedway in both of these countries. Temporary track could possibly be set there... Why wouldn't they be able to support GP-s then?

[Humphrey Appleby]

Actually, from what I know, both Amsterdam and Budapest have large stadium and there is speedway in both of these countries. Temporary track could possibly be set there... Why wouldn't they be able to support GP-s then?

 

Amsterdam wouldn't get the crowds to justify the expense in holding it in the indoor Amsterdam Arena. The revamped (and smaller) Amsterdam Olympic Stadium might be an option, but it would no doubt require some local promoter willing to assume the risk.

 

Budapest is probably also limited by the fact speedway isn't a big sport there, and public authorities don't currently have the money to throw around on sponsorship.

 

[HenryW]

Actually, from what I know, both Amsterdam and Budapest have large stadium and there is speedway in both of these countries. Temporary track could possibly be set there... Why wouldn't they be able to support GP-s then?

Yes, they both have large stadiums and they both have speedway in the Country....

No different from New York, then

 

Germany has a MUCH bigger speedway fan-base and history of speedway than either of those Countries, and you saw what happened to them when they tried to run GPs....It takes a LOT more than just having the sport in the Country and a big stadium to make a speedway GP work.

 

[Bavarian]

Yes, they both have large stadiums and they both have speedway in the Country....

No different from New York, then

 

Germany has a MUCH bigger speedway fan-base and history of speedway than either of those Countries, and you saw what happened to them when they tried to run GPs....It takes a LOT more than just having the sport in the Country and a big stadium to make a speedway GP work.

 

The German Gp was held at a totally wrong location for speedway, Gelsenkirchen is not in an area of Germany were speedway is a well known sport. They could just as well have staged it in Rome or Madrid. The west of Germany is a no-go area for speedway. Munich (South), Berlin (East) or Hamburg (North) would all have had a much better chance to attract a big crowd for a German SGP.

 

Or use one of the permanet tracks like Landshut, which has already hosted a Gp in the 1990's. The German clubs/promoters are not prepared to take the risk, though, and pay BSI/IMG/FIM so much money just to get a GP.

[HenryW]

The German Gp was held at a totally wrong location for speedway, Gelsenkirchen is not in an area of Germany were speedway is a well known sport. They could just as well have staged it in Rome or Madrid. The west of Germany is a no-go area for speedway. Munich (South), Berlin (East) or Hamburg (North) would all have had a much better chance to attract a big crowd for a German SGP.

 

Or use one of the permanet tracks like Landshut, which has already hosted a Gp in the 1990's. The German clubs/promoters are not prepared to take the risk, though, and pay BSI/IMG/FIM so much money just to get a GP.

Yes, I completely agree with what you say here. I wasn't suggesting that a German GP couldn't be a success, just highlighting how even in a relatively strong speedway nation, a GP can fail badly. As you say, the location chosen for the recent attempt was not a good one, and you would almost certainly get similar results from hosting in Amsterdam or Budapest, which was my original point.

 

As for German GPs, I always thought it was a shame that they didn't give Berlin another try. They were very unlucky with the weather when they hosted the GP there, and it seemed like it deserved to get another shot. I would certainly have returned to Berlin for a GP, but wasn't overly interested in visiting Gelsenkirchen.

[Humphrey Appleby]

The west of Germany is a no-go area for speedway.

 

Isn't the north-west of Germany a reasonable hotbed of grasstrack/longtrack? Whilst I haven't looked for a while, there certainly used to be several speedway tracks in that region as well.

 

Edited February 21, 2010 by Humphrey Appleby

[Bavarian]

Isn't the north-west of Germany a reasonable hotbed of grasstrack/longtrack? Whilst I haven't looked for a while, there certainly used to be several speedway tracks in that region as well.

The north - yes, but the west - no !

 

There are some speedway tracks in the south-west (Herxheim, Berghaupten) and again in the north-west (Neuenknick, Dohren, Moorwinkelsdamm and Norden), and Diedenbergen (near Frankfurt) is located in the middle, but none of these tracks is exactly in the western part of Germany.

 

The last speedway track in the west region closed in the early 1960's, that was Oberhausen.

 

And there isn't any long-track or grass track activity left in the region either, the last one I know of was a grass-track at Holzwickede near Dortmund, until teh late 1980's. Again as with speedway there are long/grass venues further to the norhtwest (closest are Bielefeld, Osnabruck, Harsewinkel?) the southwest (closest are Zweibrucken, Herxheim and Altrip) and and in the central region (Hessen) of Germany, but none in the west (Rhine/Ruhr region).

[iris123]

The north - yes, but the west - no !

 

There are some speedway tracks in the south-west (Herxheim, Berghaupten) and again in the north-west (Neuenknick, Dohren, Moorwinkelsdamm and Norden), and Diedenbergen (near Frankfurt) is located in the middle, but none of these tracks is exactly in the western part of Germany.

 

The last speedway track in the west region closed in the early 1960's, that was Oberhausen.

 

And there isn't any long-track or grass track activity left in the region either, the last one I know of was a grass-track at Holzwickede near Dortmund, until teh late 1980's. Again as with speedway there are long/grass venues further to the norhtwest (closest are Bielefeld, Osnabruck, Harsewinkel?) the southwest (closest are Zweibrucken, Herxheim and Altrip) and and in the central region (Hessen) of Germany, but none in the west (Rhine/Ruhr region).

Yes.And Gelsenkirchen is also situated near countries without a real strong speedway tradition.Whereas other areas have a strong tradition as well as bordering other speedway countries.Gelsenkirchen was just about one of the worst places in Germany to host a big speedway meeting imo

[Ghostwalker]

Hmmmm! might be on the edge of a breakthrough here......Errrm Ferndown....we know it isn't the European or Polish GP so.....which GP at Torun do you refer to (not allowed to Say Torun GP until BSI declare it so)?

 

I'm tempted to buy a ticket just to see what it has on it.

 

on seedwaygp.com it says "POL" for both Torun and Bydgoszcz and the wikipedia article says Poland II for Torun.

[srbramble]

33 posts on the naming of a GP? beats the thread from a while back about favourite crisp flavours. And some say that speedway isn't a nerdy sport.

Edited March 16, 2010 by srbramble

[Mateusz]

Tickets for the GP Everyone-Here-Is-Jealous-Of will be on sale from April 19th on www.unibax.kupbilety.pl

[Sandie]

Tickets for the GP Everyone-Here-Is-Jealous-Of will be on sale from April 19th on www.unibax.kupbilety.pl

so you have one month to teach us how to navigate the site as its in your native tounge

[Mateusz]

 

Unless they create an English version of it closer to time, I will write here what to do. But I'm pretty sure there will be an English version of this website, as soon as they put there any GP tickets content.

 

This article says the normal tickets will cost 90 - 140 zl (depending on sectors) and that you'll be able to pay by a credit card for them.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Mateusz

[manchesterpaul]

Nope!

 

Current status of the three polish gp's are;

 

24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN

19.06.10 Torun~~~~~????????

09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~POLISH

 

Latest betting has out in front now a clear favourite of 'Too Naff To Be Named GP'.

 

Others in the betting 'Middle Polish GP' and the lengthy but accurate 'Second Of Three Polish GP's This Year Which Will Next Year Be The Third Of Four Polish GP's'

 

Got to admit, i am tempted now to email them and ask lol.

 

If one keeps ones faith in the Bible (Speedway Star) Revelation has today arrived as in their season preview issue it refers to the trio as............

 

24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN

19.06.10 Torun~~~~~TORUN

09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~POLISH

 

What a cop out!

 

'Second Of Three Polish GP's This Year Which Will Next Year Be The Third Of Four Polish GP's' was by far the most accurate description. I am very surprised indeed not to see that being the moniker.

 

UPDATE

 

Nooooooo! everything as clear as mud again. I just noticed on page 2 of the magazine it refers to 'Tickets for one of the most eagerly awaited Grand Prixs of the season will go on sale next month. The Grand Prix of Poland'

 

LOL! MANIACAL LOL!

Edited March 26, 2010 by manchesterpaul

[manchesterpaul]

22nd April and the official site still boldly emblazons varying titles on the GP's.

 

On the events page SGP Events Page the three polish GP's are labelled

 

24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN

19.06.10 Torun~~~~~TORUN (although of the three it is the only one without a GP name above the venue name)

09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~POLISH

 

On the same events page to the right hand side is the main inset that also appears on several pages. Each venue link has detailed info about venue, tickets, travel etc. This names them as

 

24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN GP

19.06.10 Torun~~~~~TORUN GP

09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~BYDGOSZCZ GP!!!

[pandorum]

I would think that the more worrying aspect of the 2010 GP series is not what to call all the Polish GPs but the fact that it seems to have lost it's 'major' sponsors.

A look at the sponsor section on the GP site shows that the betting guys have dissapeared and all thats left are the tie ins with tourist agencies, a newspaper nobody reads and a few minor sponsors still around from last year.

The GPs are mostly sponsorless although doubtless a few will pick up a name sponsor before the event but considering the coverage and even taking in to account the economic situation it must be worrying for the organisers.

We can hardly expect the moneybags sponsors football gets but with the massive coverage the GPs get one would expect some reasonably major company to show some interest.