customhouseregular Posted September 6, 2016 Report Share Posted September 6, 2016 Emil and Grigorij on top form would be a massive boost to the GP series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanT Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Potential dilemma on the cards here with the wildcard picks. My understanding of the selections is they are for quality riders who, for whatever reason, have missed out on a top 8 placing. Injury is the obvious one so Hampel, having won GPs and finished on the rostrum more than once is a definite candidate. Emil fits the bill too. Outside of those 2 it's difficult to see any other outstanding candidates, which brings us to the current crop, and potential problems. Say for example Pawlicki finishes 9th and misses out by an odd point. Is he going to be overlooked and a place given to a rider finishing 12th or 13th? based purely on nationality? That cannot be right. Personally I think NP will just about scrape into the top 8, Lindgren is already there so will be interesting to see how he goes for the remaining GPs, he has been pretty competitive so far though. Lindback needs to pick up, but with a GP win under his belt his wildcard selection is possible, I fear for NKI and Kildemand, with PK a slightly ahead due to his opening GP win. Zagar needs to improve rapidly with some seriously big scores to be considered, and I think we can say farewell to AJ and the GP stalwart that is Chris Harris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 If you were to go on form across all comps this season, the 4 best riders outside the current qualifying spots would arguably be emil g laguta kk and nki. That would make for a good line up next year, but in reality kk is very unlikely to get one, and Tbf nicki deserves one wildcard at least. If pawlicki drops out of top 8, I still see him bring picked for next year ahead of kk or hampel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Potential dilemma on the cards here with the wildcard picks. My understanding of the selections is they are for quality riders who, for whatever reason, have missed out on a top 8 placing. Injury is the obvious one so Hampel, having won GPs and finished on the rostrum more than once is a definite candidate. Emil fits the bill too. Outside of those 2 it's difficult to see any other outstanding candidates, which brings us to the current crop, and potential problems. Say for example Pawlicki finishes 9th and misses out by an odd point. Is he going to be overlooked and a place given to a rider finishing 12th or 13th? based purely on nationality? That cannot be right. Personally I think NP will just about scrape into the top 8, Lindgren is already there so will be interesting to see how he goes for the remaining GPs, he has been pretty competitive so far though. Lindback needs to pick up, but with a GP win under his belt his wildcard selection is possible, I fear for NKI and Kildemand, with PK a slightly ahead due to his opening GP win. Zagar needs to improve rapidly with some seriously big scores to be considered, and I think we can say farewell to AJ and the GP stalwart that is Chris Harris. Your understanding is wrong. It is to pick riders who will help sell tickets based on where there will be gp rounds next season. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undercover Elephant Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Speaking of Wild Cards. Brady Kurtz has been announced as the Wild Card for Melbourne with Masters and Fricke at reserves 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Andreas Jonsson to join the list of WC applicants for 2017. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwalker Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Andreas Jonsson to join the list of WC applicants for 2017. I think not. He have had too many already. He have not really shown that he deserves one either. If Lindbäck is inside top 8, there will be two Swedes anyway. If Lindbäck is outside top 8, then give him the wild card if there have to be two Swedes. Anyway AJ sits out 2017 gp series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 I think not. He have had too many already. He have not really shown that he deserves one either. If Lindbäck is inside top 8, there will be two Swedes anyway. If Lindbäck is outside top 8, then give him the wild card if there have to be two Swedes. Anyway AJ sits out 2017 gp series. If I was AJ, I'dd apply. Simple's. You do have a point though. I think not. He have had too many already. He have not really shown that he deserves one either. If Lindbäck is inside top 8, there will be two Swedes anyway. If Lindbäck is outside top 8, then give him the wild card if there have to be two Swedes. Anyway AJ sits out 2017 gp series. If I was AJ, I'dd apply. Simple's. You do have a point though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike.Butler Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 Your understanding is wrong. It is to pick riders who will help sell tickets based on where there will be gp rounds next season.In which case why only have 1 wildcard per meeting? Not sure this is the primary criteria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted September 7, 2016 Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 In which case why only have 1 wildcard per meeting? Not sure this is the primary criteriaThere are of course 4 permanent wildcards.Ensuring a spread of nationalities, in particular ensuring sufficient representation from "major" speedway nations us clearly as important a factor as covering riders who were injured or for other reasons failed to qualify (finishing 9th or 10th in gp series has historically been pretty much a gyarantee( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screm Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 Having picked up broken ribs & wrist plus a concussion in the Golden Helmet meeting, if he misses GP meetings and the top eight, surely Nicki Pedersen will be a shoe in for a wild card pick. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 Having picked up broken ribs & wrist plus a concussion in the Golden Helmet meeting, if he misses GP meetings and the top eight, surely Nicki Pedersen will be a shoe in for a wild card pick. I hope so. He won the Euro's last night and looked on form with fast bikes. Has to be a certainty to get a wild card. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 (edited) Think Nicki has backed up my comment about him a few days ago on another thread.Almost like i could see the future Could you compare him to Gollob? Gollob had a few years in the doldrums(for him at least) when i thought he should really pack it in.He finished 6th,7th,8th and even when he finished 4th he had a couple of really bad GPS and was way off the leaders anyway and with a few youngsters coming on the scene like Emil,i thought there was no way he was going to take a title,but he did at the age of 38-9.Wouldn't put it past Nicki to at least finish on the podium again if he gets some fast bikes Edited September 18, 2016 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugwash Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 Bjerre deserves one surely. As does Jepson Jensen, Linus Sundstrom, Thomas H Johansson, Patrick Hougard and Liam Gallagher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 AGREE that NP would be a shoe-in for a wild card. Probably NKI too. Think the consensus is a hope that Lindback holds onto his top eight place and Lindgren doesn't make the top eight. No great desire to see Bjerre back. Some rumours, unconfirmed of course, that Emil and more importantly his 'team' are seriously considering a return. How great would that be. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 AGREE that NP would be a shoe-in for a wild card. Probably NKI too. Think the consensus is a hope that Lindback holds onto his top eight place and Lindgren doesn't make the top eight. No great desire to see Bjerre back. Some rumours, unconfirmed of course, that Emil and more importantly his 'team' are seriously considering a return. How great would that be. I would like to see Emil back in the GP's but does he deserve a wild card ? It was his choice to drop out so maybe he should earn his spot by, for one season, doing the GP challenge. Win or lose come back 2018. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screm Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 AGREE that NP would be a shoe-in for a wild card. Probably NKI too. Think the consensus is a hope that Lindback holds onto his top eight place and Lindgren doesn't make the top eight. No great desire to see Bjerre back. Some rumours, unconfirmed of course, that Emil and more importantly his 'team' are seriously considering a return. How great would that be. It would be great to see Emil back in the GP`s, but it was his decision to leave so I hardly think its fair for him to get his place back through a wild card pick. I think he should do the qualifiers to qualify for the 2018 series. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPNY Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 I understand people having gripes with Emil as he chose to drop out, however he'd had a run of horrendous injuries, lost his father and (probably most importantly) had a manger who was discouraging him to do the series. To my knowledge he's never been a diva or trouble maker he chose to sit it out till body, mind & finances were in the right place. I think it would be silly to have another series without Emil just for the sake of it 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 WELCOME him back with open arms ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shovlar Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 I think he should do the qualifiers next year and come back through the gp challenge. Not sure he is still as brilliant as many think. Certainly a very good rider but he didnt really challenge in the sec. I know I am in the minority here with that view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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