World Championship Pairs

[eric i]

I think it is a good move bringing in the pairs but I am concerned with the the Wroclaw track, I haven't seen evidence of any alterations.

[uk_martin]

On 10/02/2018 at 10:43 AM, Panthers89 said:

Ha bugger! Who else then lol

Ukraine? Andrei Karpov +1 ?

[arnieg]

22 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

Ukraine? Andrei Karpov +1 ?

Depends on what nationality Loktaev is that week.

[Grand Central]

8 hours ago, Col said:

How many Poles turn up for event 3.  Because I've been to virtually empty stadiums to watch the race-off in Poland.

I appreciate that.

But it would have been preferable to remove the third meeting of the SWC ( or come up with another work-around) to deal with that problem. Rather than this.
Although the race off has produced brilliant TV; if it has not been viable to run then it would have been reasonably straightforward to have found three qualifiers going to the SWC Final against the hosts., without a race-off, somehow. Either an extra qualifier (somewhere other than Poland) or highest scoring second team. Perhaps a little innovative thinking could have been used.

Similarly, the two-day final of this hodge-potch is unnecessary if there really is any doubt about the viabilty of the first day. Two rounds and a final. Wham bham.

Why didn't they just try to tinker with the brilliant SWC a little just to get it to work a little better.
Instead of putting it on hold whilst creating a tournament that may have some of the very same issues inherent from the start and (as I believe) introduce other issues that they don't seem to have given much thought to as yet.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Grand Central

[PHILIPRISING]

9 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Which is what?

WHETHER it is deemed a success by all the participating countries who, via the governing body,  are part of the process. 

There are speedway nations who felt no real affinity to the SWC because off a lack of riders (4) but who do think this offers them an opportunity to compete at the highest level. They have a voice.

 

Edited February 15, 2018 by PHILIPRISING

[stevehone]

been looking at options for getting to Teterow, bit out the way isn't it! Hamburg or Berlin look nearest airports.

get back Sunday then a drive up north by the sound of it

[Humphrey Appleby]

1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said:

There are speedway nations who felt no real affinity to the SWC because off a lack of riders (4) but who do think this offers them an opportunity to compete at the highest level. They have a voice.

A team competition implies a certain strength-of-depth, otherwise why not just have 1-rider teams to allow more countries to be competitive?

There's really only 9 test playing countries, but no-one suggests turning that sport's premier competition into single wicket cricket to make things more competitive.

This best pairs competition just shows a complete lack of imagination and devalues one of the better events in the calendar. There's nothing new or unique about it whatsoever, and whilst it might be tolerable if it alternated with the SWC (as originally indicated), now it seems that it's actually intended to replace the SWC. 

[deex]

6 hours ago, uk_martin said:

Ukraine? Andrei Karpov +1 ?

Stanislav Melnichuk

Edited February 15, 2018 by deex
To write his full name

[iris123]

Part of the trouble with football is that the small countries have far too much power within FIFA.That is why we are where we are and have so much trouble and corruption in that sport at world level.

 

Now we have it from Phil that a similar situation is occurring in speedway.Well it is no surprise.We have a similar situation.We have someone from a small speedway country running the sport and seemingly bowing to similar countries.Italy have no chance of getting far in the SWC and lets be fair this competition hasn't changed their prospects much if at all.Look at the other countries of a similar level and it is the same.But what they have done is out of some selfishness and delusion,spoilt one of the best competitions the sport still had.

[New Science]

6 hours ago, stevehone said:

been looking at options for getting to Teterow, bit out the way isn't it! Hamburg or Berlin look nearest airports.

get back Sunday then a drive up north by the sound of it

Teterow must have some money knocking around to get these events. As someone who travels abroad watching speedway the logistics of getting there are important to me. Teterow looks like a track in a field in a small town with no hotels or transport infrastructure unless your idea of a good time is driving half way across Germany, which mine isn't . I suppose money will always talk

[iris123]

Teterow I think have some help from the town council as it is a very important part of the town.It is really the hilly grass track that is a major part of the history of the town and although crowds for that are nowhere near the 100,000 it used to attract over a weekend,it is still a major attraction in that part of the world

 

I think that weekend finances the club and the rest of the season t a large part

Edited February 15, 2018 by iris123

[uk_martin]

7 hours ago, stevehone said:

been looking at options for getting to Teterow, bit out the way isn't it! Hamburg or Berlin look nearest airports.

get back Sunday then a drive up north by the sound of it

Yeah, too bad that there are no flights to (Hamburg) Lubeck any more.

Options basically are to fly to Berlin and hire a car at German prices, or to fly to Szczecin and hire a car at Polish prices and approach from the other direction. Either way, it's about a 2 hour drive, but very nice when you get there. Will be in Teterow (& Gustrow) for the Pfingstpokal :-)

[PHILIPRISING]

LAST time I went was via Hamburg. Not too bad a drive. Have always found cars cheaper to hire in Germany than Sweden or Denmark for example and generally superior models.

Edited February 15, 2018 by PHILIPRISING

[topsoil]

21 hours ago, HenryW said:

For me, that's one of the massive negatives of the pairs format compared to the SWC fours format. 

When I'm watching team speedway, I'm supporting a team. In the SWC I watch my team race in every heat. In the pairs they will appear 6 times in the 21 races. So I have 15 races where there isn't direct interest or someone for me to support. 

Different strokes for different folks, some will like it, some won't

[topsoil]

10 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

A team competition implies a certain strength-of-depth, otherwise why not just have 1-rider teams to allow more countries to be competitive?

There's really only 9 test playing countries, but no-one suggests turning that sport's premier competition into single wicket cricket to make things more competitive.

This best pairs competition just shows a complete lack of imagination and devalues one of the better events in the calendar. There's nothing new or unique about it whatsoever, and whilst it might be tolerable if it alternated with the SWC (as originally indicated), now it seems that it's actually intended to replace the SWC. 

But there are a lot more countries who compete in the Cricket World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup. Look at the IRB Rugby Sevens circuit as well. It's a good way for developing nations to get experience playing international competition.

[Humphrey Appleby]

20 minutes ago, topsoil said:

But there are a lot more countries who compete in the Cricket World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup. Look at the IRB Rugby Sevens circuit as well. It's a good way for developing nations to get experience playing international competition.

The Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup are still 11-a-side competitions.

The IRB Sevens is an addition to, not a replacement for the Rugby World Cup.

Run the Pairs as a second tier competition if you like, but too much of the tail wagging the dog here.  

[stevehone]

19 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

LAST time I went was via Hamburg. Not too bad a drive. Have always found cars cheaper to hire in Germany than Sweden or Denmark for example and generally superior models.

yeah looked at car prices from Hamburg and pretty reasonable, just might all depend on the draw now although i'm still thinking of going whatever

[stevehone]

something that needs to be thought about from the top is how seeding/grading will work, not just this year but also the future.

if the competition becomes alternate years with the SWC then the pairs seeding/results from one year compared to a full 4 man team could be incredibly different 

[RPNY]

Love the SWC but MAYBE  (probably blind hope!) this is a good thing. Making the World Cup every other year at the very least gives the competition some prestige &  keeps it fresh. As much as it has always created great racing, it was just starting to be shunned by some of the top riders and used as a mid season break. And of course we cant deny it looked like any 4/5  man team competition would be won by the Pols for the foreseeable future. (Although ironically Worrell, Cook, Woffy+1 at Belle Vue probably had a cracking shot at winning.)

If however they have ditched it all together for this pairs event then that's insanity. Saddened that Armando is the main protagonist of it all. I know he's coming from the point of view of a smaller Speedway nation but the SWC should not be shunned just so others get a chance to ride on world stage.

[topsoil]

23 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

The Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup are still 11-a-side competitions.

The IRB Sevens is an addition to, not a replacement for the Rugby World Cup.

Run the Pairs as a second tier competition if you like, but too much of the tail wagging the dog here.  

Wouldn't mind seeing both competitions run during the season