One Off World Finalists Who Wouldn't Have Qualified For Gp Ssystem

[fatface]

But they all fought their way through God knows how many qualifying rounds to get to the Final.

Three for most of them. But let's be honest, the so-called fair system was fairer for some than others.

 

Olli Tyrvainen's route for example was...

 

Finnish Final (in Finland), Nordic Final (in Finland) - Intercontinental Final (Bradford, former home track). In the latter he scored 5 points to qualify for the World Final.

 

Zoltan Adorjan's route..

 

Hungary Final (if indeed they had one), Continental Semi Final (weak field), Continental Final (home track, Hungary)

 

Whereas Ronnie Correy had to finish in the top 4 in the US Final to progress and leave world-class riders eliminated at the very first stage.

 

Point is, had it been a GP system that year then the line-up that year would have looked very different and possibly have included Sam Ermolenko, Shawn Moran, Jan O Pedersen, Jimmy Nilsen, Per Jonsson, Tommy Knudsen, Lance King, Kelly Moran from the get-go rather than the semi-world class line up we ended up with. The old World Championship definitely had its moments, but let's not pretend it was perfect.

Edited December 7, 2017 by falcace

[iris123]

Think it a bit of an exaggeration to say most eastern Europeans would have struggled to qualify for a GP series in that era.If we just look at the reality of the situation,most meetings would have been on the tracks they knew and the tracks our guys didn't,so I would expect a few surprises.I mean even in recent times we almost had Lubos Tomicek in the GP series!!! And someone as mediocre as Kyle Legault wasn't too far away either.So some far better riders than those were around in the 80s and on the right track on the right day could have taken a quali spot

[Grachan]

What about Martin Ashby? Made just one World Final and one as reserve.

 

Certainly a good enough rider to have been in a GP, but would he have ever made it I wonder.

[steve roberts]

What about Martin Ashby? Made just one World Final and one as reserve.

 

Certainly a good enough rider to have been in a GP, but would he have ever made it I wonder.

The British Final was always a difficult stepping stone back then...especially when the Anzacs took part.

 

Terry Betts was another who only made the one appearance.

[steve roberts]

Think it a bit of an exaggeration to say most eastern Europeans would have struggled to qualify for a GP series in that era.If we just look at the reality of the situation,most meetings would have been on the tracks they knew and the tracks our guys didn't,so I would expect a few surprises.I mean even in recent times we almost had Lubos Tomicek in the GP series!!! And someone as mediocre as Kyle Legault wasn't too far away either.So some far better riders than those were around in the 80s and on the right track on the right day could have taken a quali spot

Ivan Mauger was quoted as saying that any one of the Poles could have won the 1970 World Final in which he claimed his triple crown. They were certainly a different proposition on the East European circuits...often regarded a grave yard for the Brits back then.

Edited December 7, 2017 by steve roberts

[BOBBATH]

The British Final was always a difficult stepping stone back then...especially when the Anzacs took part.

 

Terry Betts was another who only made the one appearance.

These were two of the guys(Ashby, Betts) I thought could have qualified under the GP system-remember I'm not talking about who would have won the GP series just who would have been included, I would also add the name of Trevor Hedge-reckon these 3 guys could have done it. As regards the foreign riders I reckon Woryna, Pogorzelski and Wyglenda on the basis of a couple of seasons results could also have got into the GP series-although I recognise some of these guys were in more than one World FInal. I'm beginning to forget who was in just one WF!!