Why Was Wembley Better Than Cardiff?.

[waiheke1]

TBF, as a relative youngster, I must admit, I'd love to go to a one of World Final. The idea that you don't know who is going to be World Champion until the last 4 heats of the night but at the start of the night technically any one of 16 can win it must have been brilliant.

 

But I do think the GPs give a fairer World Champion. We'll never have another Muller or Szczakiel.

q

I went to two as a youngster and loved them, despite the fact that they were at two of the less salubrious stadiums to host finals (norden in 83 and Bradford in 80). I also loved the earlier qualifying rounds - overseas, commonwealth and ic finals. But unquestionably the gp series is a better measure of best rider in the world

Egon was a class act, but would never have got near to top 3 over a gp season.

Edited to add: doesn't get much better than a 3 man run off to decide the world title, even if the rider you wanted to win (shooey) wasn't in it, and the final missing the local rider who would have been red hot favourite to win the meeting

[BritPete]

I liked the one-Off finals,and now I like the Gp series.Both good in their own ways.

[stratton]

Tai Woffinden.

What i meant Witcher was a rider who deserved to be in but was never ever going to win it so in a way the series needs freshening up.Woffinden it was great that he was aloud in it,was that because he was British? also alot on here did not agree with the decision as i remember.As it stands at the moment the series is fairer than the old system for a few, but the series does not have all the best riders in the world in it at this present time and if anything i prefer the Euro line ups more. Edited August 8, 2015 by sidney

[fullbore]

at this present time and if anything i prefer the Euro line ups more.

Without the best rider in Europe?

 

Niamh

[stratton]

Without the best rider in Europe?

 

Niamh

Gregorij?

[Shale Searcher]

Club championships in most sports are ran over a season, why should individual championships be different? The old one off world final was about putting 5 good races together on the day, I know you still had to get there, British qualifying, Inc semis and British final, commonwealth final, inter continental final, etc so you had to have some on going form.. I now prefer the GP'S, that's the "Modern Route"....

[sommelier]

Would either of them have won over a 6 round series staged in different countries?

 

That is the point.

 

They were world champions however and that can never be taken away, their victory was as worthy as any other world champions.

Muller was flying the year he was world champion

[customhouseregular]

I was not making an all-embracing comparison between old and new but directly comparing Wembley Finals against Cardiff GP's.

 

Younger fans can obviously not compare neither can older fans who saw World Finals, but not at Wembley. I would wager that fans from my era who saw many Wembley finals can recall the drama, the excitement and the thrill of seeing a world Champion crowned. How many fans who started attending post 1995 have actually seen a rider win a World Title?..

 

If we had a World Final every 4 years at Wembley or Olympic Park, would that be a bad thing. In the intervening years we would have the European Final, Inter-Continental Final or such, with probably a better field than the current British GP.

 

Yes, GP's are here to stay but I always left Wembley buzzing. I did not leave Cardiff buzzing and I forgot the meeting a week later, sad to say as I was really hyped up pre-meeting having not attended a meeting in 30 years.

 

OK, I know I'm a dinosaur reminiscing about the past but I still think Wembley was better than Cardiff.

[waiheke1]

Muller was flying the year he was world champion

Yet wouldn't have finished ahead of Nielsen gundersen sigalos Lee or Carter over a full season.

[Guest]

Muller was flying the year he was world champion

 

 

Yet wouldn't have finished ahead of Nielsen gundersen sigalos Lee or Carter over a full season.

 

British speedway fans WILL NEVER FORGIVE Jerzy Szaczakiel and Egon Muller for winning world championship finals.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Guest

[iris123]

 

 

 

British speedway fans WILL NEVER FORGIVE Jerzy Szaczakiel and Egon Muller for winning world championship finals.

While they were far from popular winners,both were actually tipped at the start of those seasons.Ok Jerzy was tipped as an outside chance in the season preview mag,but Egon was tipped by none other than Briggo,so it wasn't quite so out of the blue as people later would try to make us believe

 

On the thread question,i think obviously Wembley was better,but those days have gone and I am not sure what is to be gained from the comparison.Is of course a big big shame that it seems Cardiff is unlikely ever to host the final GP in any season which would boost the occasion by 5-10,000 if a British rider was in with a chance of the title,at a guess

[Terry]

Having been lucky enough to have attended the 75, 78 and 81 Wembley finals, I'd have to say as good as Cardiff is, it doesn't come close to the atmosphere and grandeur that Wembley provided.

 

I can still remember the excitement of walking up the steps and seeing the track for the first time. The actual racing was never really that great, and it's only Penhalls races with Olsen and Knudsen that stay in my memory, but it was such a great occasion it didn't seem to matter.

 

I've always felt it a shame that when they built the new Wembley they didn't build new twin towers instead of an arch.

[waiheke1]

 

 

 

British speedway fans WILL NEVER FORGIVE Jerzy Szaczakiel and Egon Muller for winning world championship finals.

I think everyone acknowledges they were deserving world champs, and that egon was a world class rider.

But that's different from saying they were the best rider in the world, I think it's quite clear neither was in their respective seasons (best on the night though).

[sommelier]

While they were far from popular winners,both were actually tipped at the start of those seasons.Ok Jerzy was tipped as an outside chance in the season preview mag,but Egon was tipped by none other than Briggo,so it wasn't quite so out of the blue as people later would try to make us believe

 

On the thread question,i think obviously Wembley was better,but those days have gone and I am not sure what is to be gained from the comparison.Is of course a big big shame that it seems Cardiff is unlikely ever to host the final GP in any season which would boost the occasion by 5-10,000 if a British rider was in with a chance of the title,at a guess

You are spot on about Briggo's comments regarding Egon.

[fullbore]

Gregorij?

So good he's only lying 9th in the SEC.

 

Imagine if the rider with a 13 point lead in the GPs was in the series

 

Niamh

[sommelier]

So good he's only lying 9th in the SEC.

 

Imagine if the rider with a 13 point lead in the GPs was in the series

 

Niamh

And just imagine if Ward was in it!

[phillipsr]

And just imagine if Ward was in it!

In the European championship? Gegography not a speciality?

[waiheke1]

In the European championship? Gegography not a speciality?

I assume you are aware that Ivan mauger is a four time winner? And know where new Zealand is?

[sommelier]

In the European championship? Gegography not a speciality?

I did say IMAGINE!

[Bavarian]

I assume you are aware that Ivan mauger is a four time winner? And know where new Zealand is?

But in those days (1960s) Mauger (and all of his fellow Antipodeans) had to ride with a British ACU license, representing Great Britain, wearing the Union Jack race jacket. He was therefore eligible to ride in the European final, which then was not a stand alone competition, but only one of several stages of the world championship qualifying rounds (which nearly all took place in Europe) on the road leading up to the world final.