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FOR THE BRITS-Thought Harris was 1st class even in the last race he went for it,Woffinden and Barker done ok,lewis was in the big arena for the first time so ill see what happens next time,BUT Kennett i cannot let off,wasny keen to mix it,kept shutting off (cant beleive how many times he did this)and just didnt look at ease at all but middlo kept him in his last ride for whatever reason,it would have been better to give Lewis another ride,rather then Kennett going out already beat.not looking forward always looking around.This is not Eddie Kennett the racer we know and someone should have a word with him about what he did on track tonight.

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I actually thought we did better then expected, considering we had Bridger in place of Nicholls. I would have been happy with 20 points tonight and we got 10 more then I thought we would get.

 

Pleased with BB, he rode his socks off tonight, I did think he would struggle going into it considering his lack of experience of Polish Tracks. Harris was excellent and Wuffy did okay in the end. Lewis Bridger and Edward Kennett were the biggest disapointments. Overall though I cant fault them for effort this World Cup, as others have said we are just nowhere near the top 4 nations and Russia have overtaken us now. We have to realistic in our expectations of Team GB in future World Cups.

 

Saturdays final should be a Cracker, still think the Poles will win.

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Well.............. Team GB without Steady is not so amazing !!!

 

Was Middlo backed into a corner because of riders available at the British Final?

 

From an outsiders point of view, let's compare the GB Team to football players....

 

1. Harris - Steven Gerrard (Every club wants him)

2. Barker - Shows promise. (Plays for Stockport but looking for a move to a top 4 club Premiership club)

3. Bridger - (Flatters to deceive !!!) Tottenham

4. Kennett - Good season but still not good enough (Blackpool)

5. Woffinden - Quality recognised, better expected. (Liverpool)

 

This post is a bit of fun. Gutted GB couldn't make it tonight !!!

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Oh you mean the one who was wearing an aussie shirt cheering on the aussies in the world cup and helping them aswel.

Was that the year we did not qualify for the final and someone asked him to spanner for them, to be pits crew surley you have to wear the team colours, there are so many analogys of opposing nations mechanics,managers and riders helping riders, all that matters is that when it comes to it Tai puts on the GB race jacket and gives his all and tonite for a few of them ,Tai inclued ,it was not a good showing .

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Did people expect anything else??

 

GBs team was made up of 1 established heatleader (Harris), 2 third heatleaders (Woffinden & Kennett) and two second strings (Barker and Bridger).

 

A very poor team.

 

Its bad to go out but people must be realistic. GB are not a top four side anymore, its as simple as that. Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Aussie are the top 4, by some distance, and have a never ending conveyor belt of world class talent coming through.

 

Batchelor superb and totally made a twirp out of steve brum who said Tai was "a straight ahead of him on the SWC stage" :lol: . Batchelor was outstanding tonight. Woffinden was not.

For a team that was on the back foot from the off they held it together well until the last 6 heats. After heat 19 they were two points off qualifying and it's fair to say they were riding on pure spirit. Unfortunately the two jokers worked for Sweden and Russia and that ended any hopes of second place.

 

Harris showed he can be world class on his day and Barker made a lot of people on here look foolish in saying he shouldn't be in the team.

Tai in a decent team would have gotten away with 7 points, not his best but did ok. Kennett just got it all wrong tonight and obviously wasn't paying attention to where the fastest lines were. To sit at the back on the inside for four laps when riders are passing you on the outside is just crazy. He had nothing to lose by trying the outside lines but just sat on the line.

Bridger just needs to learn how to ride a bike again, simple as that.

Most admirable performances were Barker, Batchelor and Jonsson who almost pulled out and then went on to score 16 points.

Edited by ImpartialOne
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Boys did alright considering how poor our lineup really is, but it's very concerning for years to come. Harris is obviously the key to our team for the next 7 or 8 years, but outside of that it's looking bleak. Barker did himself no harm at all and if he can up his game a little bit at Birmingham now he can be a fixture in this team for years to come.

 

Aside from that, bleak. Bridger, terrible, but the sad reality is we didn't have anybody else available who would've done a whole lot better. Kennett was poor and has been around long enough now that he should really be doing better on this sort of stage, the fact he isn't suggests he isn't really up to it. Woffinden is still young and is going to improve, but when you compare him to what the others have got in similar age groups, he's miles behind.

 

We don't have a Darcy Ward or an Emil Sayfutdinov coming through, and that's the concerning thing. Tonight was a respectable effort but in the next 3 or 4 years we're only going to fall further behind. I can only see the 5 that have finished in front of us continuing to pull away, and a couple of the nations behind us possibly beginning to catch up, which would be absolutely disastrous. Something has to be done but I'm not quite sure what the answer is, it's going to have to be a long-term upheaval rather than a short-term fix I think.

A fair summary but I don't see any evidence that the two nations behind us, Czecho and Germany, are catching up with GB.

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Most admiral performances were Barker, Batchelor and Jonsson who almost pulled out and then went on to score 16 points.

 

but asking BSI to consider him for a GP wildcard was a little bit laughable! Dont push it Troy!rolleyes.gif

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Disappointed.........no.........expected yes.

 

Plus point (singular), Barker, not so much for his performance, which was encouraging, but more for the 'experience' at mixing it at that level.

 

But why oh why, can't we ride in Poland, and or flat/fast tracks abroad. It happens year after year, and don't gove me the reason that it doesn't suit us, that just doesn't wash.

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Was that the year we did not qualify for the final and someone asked him to spanner for them, to be pits crew surley you have to wear the team colours, there are so many analogys of opposing nations mechanics,managers and riders helping riders, all that matters is that when it comes to it Tai puts on the GB race jacket and gives his all and tonite for a few of them ,Tai inclued ,it was not a good showing .

Doesnt he have a tattoo of the aussie flag or did i read it wrong and its the st georges flag ?

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......Impartialone.......

 

Maybe the commentators should have said, "Good crowd here this evening, it's 71.42% full, no question."

 

If it was Kelvin it would have been "There's no doubt about that." In view of the fact there wasn't much to get excited about tonight - pretty much knowing Team GB would finish 4th in the end - I decided to count how many times Kelvin said it and the total was 19, but I could have missed a few. :lol:

Edited by Gemini
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Disappointed.........no.........expected yes.

 

Plus point (singular), Barker, not so much for his performance, which was encouraging, but more for the 'experience' at mixing it at that level.

 

But why oh why, can't we ride in Poland, and or flat/fast tracks abroad. It happens year after year, and don't gove me the reason that it doesn't suit us, that just doesn't wash.

Sam made some good points tonight.

 

1, The Brits don't appear to be either willing or able financially to invest in the same tuners as the GP boys, with the possible exception of Harris. For a meeting like this it is essential to have super quick motors. Ashtech, Finn Jensen, etc, maybe Karger is what's needed but it comes at a price. Whatever happened to Zierk and Nischler? They used to be the ones to have at one time but then they all have their day.

 

2, Speedway GB need to be arranging test matches in Poland against the Poles, 3 tests every year. The only way to be the best is to ride against the best.

 

I also think they need an ex-rider with experience in the camp. Loram, Louis, Tatum, or someone similar, not even necessarily British, who can point out little things. Even the most capable riders can't always see where they're going wrong with everything else going on, it's much easier to see mistakes from outside of the fence than when you're in the middle of it. Maybe now would be the time to get on the phone to Gundersen and see if his offer still stands? Or Rickardsson I think would do it for the right money.

Edited by ImpartialOne
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Ben Barker did as I expected, the lad has ambition. When he moved from the PL to the EL he stepped up to the plate, he took it in his stride and did well. He did the same tonight. Ben gets dragged along by those around him. So pleased he proved 95% of people wrong!

 

I still can't believe people were saying Stead should have been in, even with hindsight I'd not have Stead in for Kennett or Bridger. Stead is not good enough. Nor is King. In fact, the sad thing is, we have nobody, not one other single rider who wanted to be there would have made a blind bit of difference tonight. Don't think Nicholls would have made much difference either, he's pants at the SWC and he's riding badly at the moment too.

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.....ImpartialOne.......

 

I also think they need an ex-rider with experience in the camp. Loram, Louis, Tatum, or someone similar, not even necessarily British, who can point out little things.

 

It won't make much difference if the riders aren't willing to listen and take notice though. I can remember Sam Ermolenko years ago saying Simon Stead's style was all wrong and he shouldn't be locking up so much but he still rides the same way today.

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Team GB did pretty much what I expected in fact maybe a little bit better. I was very impressed by Ben Barker seemed to show lots of passion and really prepared to mix it both his win and 2nd places were hard physical rides and not scared of the others.

Kennett was very poor just does not seem to travel well fine in UK but go abroad just don't happen

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Well I've done it myself so that's how I know.

 

controversial! :lol:

 

 

If he spent less time with his stupid leg kicking he'd do even better.

 

 

why is bridger still doing this ridiculous leg thing. it looks like hes trying to joust the opposition.

 

he looks fine going into the bends, but as soon as he takes his right foot off the peg, you can see the bike squirming about all over the place. so frustrating. has middlo got a nail gun over there? could just pin bridger's foot to his peg and he'll fly.

 

 

Spot on, you saw him lose so much ground every time he did it!

 

It really is one of the most ridiculous things ive seen in speedway...... I used to do similar things on my pushbike when I was a child.... imagining that I was a top class rider.......

 

Lewis absolutely needed to be there tonight because he is the next in line based on likely potential and form this season......... he had a rubbish night but I hope he takes off the rose tinted glasses and watches the meeting...... all the answers are in the footage...... especially if he compares himself to how Emil was smoothly riding the bike

 

I wonder what would happen to his career if he swapped all the flash stuff for being understated and businesslike...

 

 

British Speedway now effectively 6th in the World, what a sad day for the sport in this country.

 

Isnt it just

 

its been coming for years....... and now we are here finally.... the SWC finalists will be easy to predict for the next 3-5 years ..... while we join the Russians, Germans, Czechs and Finns in the fight to get to the race off

 

meanwhile the BSPA will no doubt continue being deaf dumb and blind to the need to do something about it ..... instead it's all about those 5 assessed assets

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its been coming for years....... and now we are here finally.... the SWC finalists will be easy to predict for the next 3-5 years ..... while we join the Russians, Germans, Czechs and Finns in the fight to get to the race off

I can't agree with that, Spooky.

The Russians have some really talented young guys....

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