Col Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 What a fantastic GP meeting that was, glad I attended fabulous weekend with the Sunday meeting at Bydgoszcz. Only had chance to watch the Zmarzlick exclusion, the Semi's & Final on the TV sine return. Thought exclusion at the time was wrong, cconvincedof it now, if anything Iversen (who has been my favourite GP rider for the last few years) actually kicked Zmarzlicks dirt deflector once Zmarzlick had passed him and if the deflector hit Iversens front wheel it was minimal and there was more than enough room for Iversen to go wide. Fantastic final heat, still surprised Doyle won. Woffinden blew him away in the semi riding the inside and Zmarzlick had looked nigh untouchable all night. I'll watch it all again, sometime this week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillipsr Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 If he won it he would be the worst rider to win the WC for years in probably the most average GP line up ever. That was Loram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 And really excited when they don't, I can't listen to him, does my head in. Sometimes less is more. Pearson is past his sell by date, got fallen rider mixed up, Tatum had to correct him on green light starters orders, it's ok to get excited but screaming a load of rubbish statements in not, very irritating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 (edited) Pearson is past his sell by date, got fallen rider mixed up, Tatum had to correct him on green light starters orders, it's ok to get excited but screaming a load of rubbish statements in not, very irritating. one mistake means past sell by date. very harsh, ridiculous statement Edited August 31, 2016 by marky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob tatum Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 Mark loram the worst rider to ever win the world championship!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I don't agree with that. Maybe the worst gater but the year he won he was fantastic & just look at the riders he beat that year. Had a chat with Jason crump in Prague a few years back & he felt Mark was the most talented rider he ever rode against 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillipsr Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 Mark loram the worst rider to ever win the world championship!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I don't agree with that. Maybe the worst gater but the year he won he was fantastic & just look at the riders he beat that year. Had a chat with Jason crump in Prague a few years back & he felt Mark was the most talented rider he ever rode against IMO yes he was the weakest world champion didnt win a round the year he won and never really challenged other than that year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 Tbf Loram and holder stand out as maybe the weakest world champs under the GP format, given neither have made the top 3 in any other year. It's not an insult, someone has to be the worst world champion and it's arguably better than being the best to never win it. Would note I would rank both the above well ahead of some one time world champs in the previous gp era. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotonian Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 Mark loram the worst rider to ever win the world championship!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I don't agree with that. Maybe the worst gater but the year he won he was fantastic & just look at the riders he beat that year. Had a chat with Jason crump in Prague a few years back & he felt Mark was the most talented rider he ever rode against So fantastic that he didn't win a single round that year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 I find it strange that anybody can be a weak World Champ over a GP season,is that not what the system was introduced for to find the most consistent rider over the season,unlike The Pole who beat Ivan Mauger to win the Champoinship probably the only big meeting he ever won and Ivan had to fall to give him that win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 Loram was one of the very best riders I saw and one of the most exciting too. He beat all the others under the rules of that season. Less GP's in them days so less chance to win a GP. Even now we hear Tai and Hancock saying "get to the semi then think of the final" to accumulate points. It doesn't matter if they win a GP as its the final points total that counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted August 31, 2016 Report Share Posted August 31, 2016 I find it strange that anybody can be a weak World Champ over a GP season,is that not what the system was introduced for to find the most consistent rider over the season,unlike The Pole who beat Ivan Mauger to win the Champoinship probably the only big meeting he ever won and Ivan had to fall to give him that win.Tbh I don't think you can be a weak world champion per second under the gp system. But I guess you can be weak compared to other gp winners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 Tbh I don't think you can be a weak world champion per second under the gp system. But I guess you can be weak compared to other gp winners.[/quoteI would call him a smart World Champ by riding sensibly to get points just like someone else says that's what Woffy and Greg are always on about when interviewed they are not to bothered if they don't win on the night as long as they are scoring good points.To me Mark Loram and Peter Collins were 2 of the most talented riders in their day but only won 1 World Champ each.They were pure entertainment though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 Pc some way ahead of Loram though, when you look at their achievements there is no comparison. In the 70s PC would rate only behind olden and Mauger, Loram not close to being in the top 3 riders in any decade. Both hugely talented and entertaining for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCB Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 TBF Loram was a top 3 rider the year before but because the year before that he'd be ill and had a bad year he missed out on the GPs. Take his average points per GP in '99 and he'd have easily been 3rd. And don't forget that ever GP he had to start from the qualifier heats where as the other top guys started later in the meeting based on their result in the previous GP. So while he may not have medals to say he was ever top 3 at any other time, he was in reality in '99 and he surely went into 2000 as one of the favourites for the title. 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 5th and 6th is a seasons record most riders would kill for! In 2013 Woffy had twice any many GPs to compete in but only won a single GP, same with Ha0ncock in '14 and Nicki in '08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 I find it strange that anybody can be a weak World Champ over a GP season,is that not what the system was introduced for to find the most consistent rider over the season,unlike The Pole who beat Ivan Mauger to win the Champoinship probably the only big meeting he ever won and Ivan had to fall to give him that win. SZCZAKIEL scored 15 points and won the World Pairs in 1971 with Andrzej Wyglenda against opposition that included Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and Anders Michanek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 SZCZAKIEL scored 15 points and won the World Pairs in 1971 with Andrzej Wyglenda against opposition that included Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and Anders MichanekWas that meeting held in Poland by any chance,certainly wasnt Wembley where I saw him he was dire . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMcCaffery Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 (edited) Was that meeting held in Poland by any chance,certainly wasnt Wembley where I saw him he was dire . The 1973 WTC Final where Dave Lanning issued the ultimate piece of scorn "From champ to chump". If I remember rightly, Ivan Mauger's approach to the previous Polish World Final in 1970 was that he was up against the whole Polish sporting system, not just their riders, hence the delight at getting the win to complete the hat-trick. I'd always had the impression that '73 was set up for Zenon Plech but the wrong Pole won it on the day - and it wasn't just in the West that Szczakiel's win was cruelly viewed as a disaster. Watching the present-day Polish TV coverage of speedway you often see stars of the past such as Zenon but never Jerzy. It can't have been easy being the World Champion that nobody wanted. Edited September 2, 2016 by rmc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 SZCZAKIEL scored 15 points and won the World Pairs in 1971 with Andrzej Wyglenda against opposition that included Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and Anders MichanekHe also scored 0pts in the World Final that year which was held in Sweden against many of the same riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OveFundinFan Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 Re Jerzy Szczakiel - the track could well be set up to suit a certain rider/s but the rider still has to perform. He may have rode the best he has ever ridden in that world final but he did perform very well. i read in one of the books about Mauger how good he rates Szczakiel, and it was good. Yes he didnt perform well at Wembley shortly after becoming world champ but a) Wembley was not an easy track for communist country riders to get to grip with, especially on their first visit. I understand he was carrying an injury. I was their at Wembley and was one of those who booed him (much younger then, wouldnt do it now), but hey, he has got one over me - he is a world champion of a fantastic sport that I never even had a go at, and if I had would probably have not succeeded even getting into a team, so hats off to Jerzy Szczakiel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 Watching the present-day Polish TV coverage of speedway you often see stars of the past such as Zenon but never Jerzy. Doesn't he even turn up to the meeting in his honour???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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