Italian Gp Terenzano

[salty]

I think the media coverage for Cardiff (such as it is) does tend to centre on the British interest. The features I have seen in the national press tend to focus on the British riders. But surely that can be covered by the wild card for the particular meeting.

 

Regarding the British involvement in the series, for years it was implied that there had to be 2 Brits, so it was refreshing to see that change for the 2011 season. I personally don't like the nomination system as I feel it discriminates against certain riders at the expense of others. GB have benefited greatly in the past few years as it has been rare that a Brit has qualified by right.

I accept that the nominations have allowed riders who have suffered from injury a chance for the following year, but I don't agree when they are used to bolster national "quotas" and for blatant commercial reasons. Wasn't it Pepe who reportedly got a pick a few years ago purely because of the influence of his sponsors?

 

Currently few GP riders enter the qualifying process. One can understand they are wary of committing to extra meetings, but as only 8 of them can currently qualify as of right it means that many of them are then relying of a nomination. I would like a return to the old style GP challenge where the 7 non-qualifiers are maybe seeded through to meet 9 who have qualified.

[JCookie]

Why do you say certain riders can't qualify for GP series now? Premier League riders have just as much chance to qualify now as they did back then. The reason they don't is they aren't good enough. Hans Nielsen failed to qualify for the 1992 World Final, so not all the best riders had the chance to be world champion in Wroclaw.

 

Any half decent rider has a chance to qualify for GP series if they are good enough to get through.

 

Yes, exactly. I cannot understand the WK's point at all, every rider has a chance of going through the qualifiers if they're good enough. I think WK is just living well in the past and nothing will change his views.

[mickthemuppet]

Get back to the old system of a one off world final. How many times do you see a write up of a GP before an event or a report afterwards in any national newspaper.There is virtually nothing. With the old system the profits of a Wembley final went back into Speedway. With the GP system British Speedway gets nothing or may be a one of their star riders injured. The GP's have ruined British Speedway. The best night of the week for promoting Speedway is Friday or Saturday night. There is hardly any Speedway on a Saturday night now due to the GP's. I bet Belle Vue would like to go back to Saturday for their home night. It makes it easier to take children as there is no school the next day.

[PHILIPRISING]

Get back to the old system of a one off world final. How many times do you see a write up of a GP before an event or a report afterwards in any national newspaper.There is virtually nothing. With the old system the profits of a Wembley final went back into Speedway. With the GP system British Speedway gets nothing or may be a one of their star riders injured. The GP's have ruined British Speedway. The best night of the week for promoting Speedway is Friday or Saturday night. There is hardly any Speedway on a Saturday night now due to the GP's. I bet Belle Vue would like to go back to Saturday for their home night. It makes it easier to take children as there is no school the next day.

 

AND how often do you think there would be a World Final in Britain? Every four years, five, six?

 

There is massive national newspaper coverage of each GP ... in Denmark, Poland and, to a lesser extent, Sweden.

 

It is not the GP system that fails to appeal to British papers ... it is the lack of success by British riders that is the root of the apathy.

[george.m]

AND how often do you think there would be a World Final in Britain? Every four years, five, six?

 

There is massive national newspaper coverage of each GP ... in Denmark, Poland and, to a lesser extent, Sweden.

 

It is not the GP system that fails to appeal to British papers ... it is the lack of success by British riders that is the root of the apathy.

 

True. Like so many sports in this country, the general public are glory hunters and don't appreciate the sport for itself.

[The White Knight]

HenryW

 

Is your earlier shout about the death of the World Championship actually about nominating a Brit for commercial reasons when they possibly aren't in the top 15 or with the GP series as a whole?

 

Yes - exactly - if they are not qualified, they should not be there. Local Riders are only given Wild Cards to put 'Bums on seats'. Those places too should go to Riders who have 'Qualified'.

[mickthemuppet]

AND how often do you think there would be a World Final in Britain? Every four years, five, six?

 

There is massive national newspaper coverage of each GP ... in Denmark, Poland and, to a lesser extent, Sweden.

 

It is not the GP system that fails to appeal to British papers ... it is the lack of success by British riders that is the root of the apathy.

Philip

I think you will find that the old one off world final only came to Wembley every 3 years in later times, but then there were Inter-Continental and Commonweath etc finals in the intermediate years.

Surely you cannot be saying it would only come to England every six years most likely four. Could understand England,Sweden,Denmark and Poland. Anywhere else would be a financial disaster.

There was very little publicity in the national papers when Mark Loram won the world title.

Compare this with tennis which has a comparable TV viewing figures(except Wimbledon) and there has not been a singles British Grand Slam champion for 34 years yet there is plenty of publicity in newspapers for this sport without having a winner since 1977

[ImpartialOne]

Philip

I think you will find that the old one off world final only came to Wembley every 3 years in later times, but then there were Inter-Continental and Commonweath etc finals in the intermediate years.

Surely you cannot be saying it would only come to England every six years most likely four.

1981 Wembley

1985 Bradford

1990 Bradford

Earliest 1995 if World Finals had continued.

 

So they were already spreading out to 4, 5 and at least 5 years by the end.

Edited August 6, 2011 by ImpartialOne

[The Know]

AND how often do you think there would be a World Final in Britain? Every four years, five, six?

 

There is massive national newspaper coverage of each GP ... in Denmark, Poland and, to a lesser extent, Sweden.

 

It is not the GP system that fails to appeal to British papers ... it is the lack of success by British riders that is the root of the apathy.

 

yes good coverage in these places as its popular. but even in poland its on its way down as the country gets more modern with more to do. the danes are just boring

speedway is not popular in the uk and its nothing to do with riders. people have moved on, theres more to do and young kids are not interested. speedway will never be a large main stream sport in the uk ever again.

[davidncohen]

people have moved on, theres more to do and young kids are not interested. speedway will never be a large main stream sport in the uk ever again.

 

Although 'never say never' this is something I've thought about a few times, and in the end I've also came to the same conclusion, and have to agree with you. There are people in the UK who've never even heard of speedway, so where are the new fans coming from? Unless we get 'our own Mark Cavendish' - someone very successful and who is a massive beacon for the sport, I can't see speedway in the UK going anywhere. This is back to the "If only we had this, that or the other..." line of argument, or "If only we changed this rule". It's all tinkering, and it gets you nowhere - it's the wrong focus.

 

Going of on a further tangent -- Interesting that last years TV documentary 'Gears and tears' which featured stock car racing in 6-parts has done a lot for the sport - crowds were up, although I know one fan who thought it might water down what he described as an almost 'secret sport'. Stock car racing has never really tried to punch above it's weight that much, and although it has a much more domestic focus than speedway, I actually think it's much better value for money.

[Bavarian]

... but then there were Inter-Continental and Commonweath etc finals in the intermediate years.

...

I have often thought about why can't the BSPA or ACU or whoever organise a Commonwealth Championship each year?

 

Run it with qualifying rounds, starting at NL level, the best go forward to a PL round and then on to a championship round or final including the very best (EL level).

 

The culmination of that competition would be an annual Commonwealth championship final, preferably to be held in Britain. Perhaps in years to come this final could sometimes even be held in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa?

 

The qualifying rounds could all be held in Britian, or perhaps the other nations could first run their own qualifying final, and then send only their best riders over to do the UK rounds.

 

It would be easier to organise this around the schedules of the domestic UK leagues than any of the FIM and UEM events, since it would be run by the ACU /BSPA and only involve Commonwealth nations.

 

And please split the home nations into England, Scotland and Wales, just like at the Commonwealth Games. I can't stand the term "Team GB".

[manchesterpaul]

Unless we get 'our own Mark Cavendish' - someone very successful and who is a massive beacon for the sport, I can't see speedway in the UK going anywhere.

 

Absolutely 100% genuine question WHO? What sport?

[salty]

Absolutely 100% genuine question WHO? What sport?

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are 100% genuine.

Mark Cavendish cyclist - just won the green jersey in the Tour de France? I guess most cycling fans would ask the same about Chris Harris, but Cavendish's exploits did make the national news bulletins a couple of weeks ago.