Changing Of The Guard

[Ghostwalker]

Mark, Nicholls have been awarded WC's 6 times.

He was awarded WC for the following seasons: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2009

in 2004 and 2007 he managed top 8. In 2007 by knocking Harris over, in the re-run for 8th place

Edited June 11, 2010 by Ghostwalker

[T.N.T.]

Well after last nights brilliant GP in Torun, both Gollob and Hampel have made a big gap on third placed Kenneth Bjerre with Jason Crump 20 points behind Tomasz.

 

While we are only approaching the half way stage, I would say only injuries will stop there being at least one Pole on the final rostrum and every likelyhood there will be a new World Champion this year although Cardiff could see Crumpy pull some back if last year is anything to go by.

 

 

 

1st Tomasz Gollob 78

2nd Jaroslaw Hampel 75

3rd Kenneth Bjerre 59

4th Jason Crump 58

5th Rune Holta 48

6th Andreas Jonsson 46

7th Hans Andersen 46

8th Nicki Pedersen 44

9th Chris Holder 41

10th Magnus Zetterstrom 37

11th Chris Harris 36

12th Greg Hancock 34

13th Fredrik Lindgren 33

14th Emil Sayfutdinov 27

15th Tai Woffinden 22

[Mark]

Mark, Nicholls have been awarded WC's 6 times.

He was awarded WC for the following seasons: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2009

in 2004 and 2007 he managed top 8. In 2007 by knocking Harris over, in the re-run for 8th place

 

Thanks

[thehammer]

i think i read that he would be absent for at least two months.

 

IMO neither Freddie Lindgren or Chris Harris should be awarded a WC if they misses out on top 8 and the same goes for Harris

Both have had many chances to qualify for top 8 but have failed each time so if they're not top 8 or in via qualies

they shouldn't be in for 2011. They cant rely of a WC year after year like Nicholls did.

 

I understand your point and in a way agree, but if you then went as far as awarding the wild cards to the next ones in the Grand Prix Challenge you come to....... Freddie Lindgren & Chris Harris .... so they at least went the way of trying to qualify (as they have this season) and in a way deserve to be back in on that basis.

 

If a rider finishes outside top 8 they should not be awarded place back in. If they want to requalify they should have gone through qualifiers... only fair way.... and it shouldn't matter on nationality

[T.N.T.]

Fredrik Lindgren remember is only in his 2nd season of the GP Series having finised 9th last year. He was granted a Wild Card into the Series having missed out in the GP Qualifier in the race offs. Bomber by my recall has been nominated 5 times now and the closest he came was 9th when he lost out to Nicholls and Holta in a run-off.

 

As for the nominations at the end of this years Series, well Freddie may well need a nomination as he has failed to transmit league form into GP form but there will be some very good riders outside the top 8 and arguably it should be the top 10 bought back plus 3 qualifiers and then 2 wild cards.

 

Outside of those in the Series at present, there is possibly on Matej Zagar that could justify a call up while riders like Pavlic, Janowski, Ward etc are a little bit off that capability at present.

 

 

Can't see Sweden having just AJ in the Series any way and Freddie is much better than any other Swede, so he should be nailed on to return in 2011. If form doesn't improve it will be interesting to see if Greg decides to carry on or maybe he will come back into league racing and a farewell year in England ?

Edited June 20, 2010 by T.N.T.

[MARK246]

 

 

Can't see Sweden having just AJ in the Series any way and Freddie is much better than any other Swede, so he should be nailed on to return in 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

1st Tomasz Gollob 78

2nd Jaroslaw Hampel 75

3rd Kenneth Bjerre 59

4th Jason Crump 58

5th Rune Holta 48

6th Andreas Jonsson 46

7th Hans Andersen 46

8th Nicki Pedersen 44

9th Chris Holder 41

10th Magnus Zetterstrom 37

11th Chris Harris 36

12th Greg Hancock 34

13th Fredrik Lindgren 33

14th Emil Sayfutdinov 27

15th Tai Woffinden 22

 

So which country does Zetterström ride for now?

Edited June 21, 2010 by MARK246

[iris123]

Fredrik Lindgren remember is only in his 2nd season of the GP Series having finised 9th last year. He was granted a Wild Card into the Series having missed out in the GP Qualifier in the race offs.

No,i don't remember it like that.What i recall is that Lindgren finished in 10th place in 2008.So that is two years in a row and looking like 3 that he has failed to finish in the top 8.

[MattK]

Surely it's Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson's "turn" to receive wildcards in 2011 (assuming neither qualify by right)?

[MattK]

Hmm, just noticed that Nicholls isn't even in the GP qualifiers. Given that Tai, Harris, Richardson and (fanfare please) Simon Stead all qualified from their respective rounds, it kind of leaves a bit of a bad taste thinking that a rider who doesn't even want to try and qualify can get a wildcard.

[MattyHart]

Would not include Harris or Lindgren after the past couple of years, Woffinden seems to be getting better but still not sure he is good enough to be right up there just yet. I'd definitely give Holder or Pedersen a WC if either misses the top 8.

[ladyluck]

Fredrik Lindgren remember is only in his 2nd season of the GP Series having finised 9th last year. He was granted a Wild Card into the Series having missed out in the GP Qualifier in the race offs. Bomber by my recall has been nominated 5 times now and the closest he came was 9th when he lost out to Nicholls and Holta in a run-off.

 

Your recall is far from total. Harris entered the series in 2007 and we are only in 2010 now, so that can only be a total of 4 nominations. Lindgren, as has been said, entered the series in 2008 and I don't think he qualified then so he's only one nomination behind Harris. Moreover, Harris can point to a GP win.

[lucifer sam]

This should be Lindgren's last year in the GP, unless he can turn things around before the end of the season. Just how many chances does he expect to be given?

 

All the best

Rob

[ladyluck]

This should be Lindgren's last year in the GP, unless he can turn things around before the end of the season. Just how many chances does he expect to be given?

 

All the best

Rob

 

Nomination after failure rarely does a rider any good anyway. How often did Nicholls take advantage? Or Harris? Or, for that matter, Hampel. Hampel had a gifted nomination, if you remember. Hampel drifted around for a bit in the GPs and was finally left out at the end of 2007. Now he has had time away and returned on merit a much-improved rider. He is a genuine contender. Andersen returned a genuine contender after he was omitted from the 2006 line-up, although he seems to have returned to drifting and to nominations. Bjerre has never had a nomination, as any nominations heading Denmark's way also went to failures, such as Bjarne Pedersen. It would do Lindgren no harm at all to find himself omitted if he fails again this season.

Edited June 22, 2010 by ladyluck

[lucifer sam]

Nomination after failure rarely does a rider any good anyway. How often did Nicholls take advantage? Or Harris? Or, for that matter, Hampel. Hampel had a gifted nomination, if you remember. Hampel drifted around for a bit in the GPs and was finally left out at the end of 2007. Now he has had time away and returned on merit a much-improved rider. He is a genuine contender. Andersen returned a genuine contender after he was omitted from the 2006 line-up, although he seems to have returned to drifting and to nominations. Bjerre has never had a nomination, as any nominations heading Denmark's way also went to failures, such as Bjarne Pedersen. It would do Lindgren no harm at all to find himself omitted if he fails again this season.

 

If you recall, I said, during the 2008-2009 winter, that I felt that Hampel had to be in the series, because he was amongst the best 6-8 riders in the world. But I think not getting that 2009 nomination actually did him the world of good. He has come back such a better rider. Although I think he still has slightly too much respect for Gollob, he should have slammed the door shut on Gollob in Heat 10 in last weekend's GP. If he wants to compete against and beat Gollob, he's got to be tougher on him.

 

All the best

Rob

[JT]

Harris failed to qualify for 2007 and recieved a wild card nomination, he then failed again for 2008, failed again for 2009 AND low and behold failed to qualify again for 2010!

 

He should never have had a wild card for 2010 after years of failure, but this season must be his last opportunity to qualify. I used to like Harris but years of being gifted GP places and that fluke win in Cardiff seem to have gone to his head, a year out of the series may bring him back down to earth...

 

In my opinion if we are to keep Season Wild Card nominations then a rider only ever deserves one in their career, it's up to them to make the most of that nomination, something Harris and Lindgren never have done.

 

Incidently although Nicholls recieved a lot of stick during his GP career, at least he actually qualified to get in to the series in the first place (before he recieved all those wild wild cards)

 

 

JT.

Edited June 22, 2010 by JT

[thehammer]

Harris failed to qualify for 2007 and recieved a wild card nomination, he then failed again for 2008, failed again for 2009 AND low and behold failed to qualify again for 2010!

 

He should never have had a wild card for 2010 after years of failure, but this season must be his last opportunity to qualify. I used to like Harris but years of being gifted GP places and that fluke win in Cardiff seem to have gone to his head, a year out of the series may bring him back down to earth...

 

In my opinion if we are to keep Season Wild Card nominations then a rider only ever deserves one in their career, it's up to them to make the most of that nomination, something Harris and Lindgren never have done.

 

Incidently although Nicholls recieved a lot of stick during his GP career, at least he actually qualified to get in to the series in the first place (before he recieved all those wild wild cards)

 

 

JT.

 

I agree with you mate regarding the fact that riders should earn there place and not be given Wild Cards.... but as I posted previous Lindgren & Harris were the next 2 inline from the GP Qualifiers and so by the fact they at least made the effort to do the qualifiers then they deserve their places in this years line up.

 

Any other rider that finished outside the top 8 had the chance to go through the qualifiers, many just chose to ignore them!

 

Maybe if the FIM created a rule whereby say top 10 stay in each year, 4 from the qualifiers, the 1 National wild card per event, then there is 1 permanent Wild Card only (which can be used by the FIM for if a rider has missed out on top 10 due to serious injury), then we wouldn't have this problem!

 

If riders in the series want to be in it the next season then they need to do the qualifiers or else risk missing out (some just know they will get the easy way out at the moment)

[ladyluck]

Maybe if the FIM created a rule whereby say top 10 stay in each year, 4 from the qualifiers, the 1 National wild card per event, then there is 1 permanent Wild Card only (which can be used by the FIM for if a rider has missed out on top 10 due to serious injury), then we wouldn't have this problem!

 

Top ten is too many, for me. It was okay when the permanent field was twenty-two strong, but now with only fifteen that would be two-thirds. I would say that a cut would be better; say top five with seven qualifying and three nominations. Anyway, the FIM have little say in the matter. It all comes down to BSI and what they want, ultimately. And BSI would probably prefer more nominations. They don't want the likes of Zetterstrom, Walasek and Ulamek spoiling their party.

[JT]

I agree with you mate regarding the fact that riders should earn there place and not be given Wild Cards.... but as I posted previous Lindgren & Harris were the next 2 inline from the GP Qualifiers and so by the fact they at least made the effort to do the qualifiers then they deserve their places in this years line up.

 

I see where you're coming from but the qualification meeting was for the top 3 NOT the top 5 and Harris even failed on his home track! Hell Piotr Protasiewicz almost qualified if you use those rules and he has been woeful in the past two GP's.

 

A slight adjustment to my earlier nominations comment, if a rider does qualify by right after his wild card nomination (i.e in the top 8) then that gives him another chance to receive a wild card in the future. This would get around injuries to riders like Emil Sayfutdinov who would clearly have finished in the top 8 this season.

 

I just don't think riders should recieve nominations after nominations when they are repeatedly fail.

 

JT.

Edited June 23, 2010 by JT

[thehammer]

Top ten is too many, for me. It was okay when the permanent field was twenty-two strong, but now with only fifteen that would be two-thirds. I would say that a cut would be better; say top five with seven qualifying and three nominations. Anyway, the FIM have little say in the matter. It all comes down to BSI and what they want, ultimately. And BSI would probably prefer more nominations. They don't want the likes of Zetterstrom, Walasek and Ulamek spoiling their party.

 

Your way is perfectly fine with me.... I'm just trying to say make the emphasis on the riders not qualifying from the series having to qualify through the qualifiers if they want to be back in it rather than rely on handouts.

 

How about to really shake it up..... Only the Champion gets seeded through... everyone else has to prove they deserve to be in it

[MattyHart]

I'm not totally sure about only the top 5 qualifying for next years series, that would leave a fair amount of the field coming from the GP challenge. My problem with this, if a rider was to take part in the qualifiers and scrape the last qualifying position on each meeting, are they really a better candidate than a rider who finished 6th in the GPs but didn't take part in the qualifiers? Yes, they should have taken part in the qualifying meetings, fair enough, but they have shown they are the 6th best rider over a GP season.