Danish GP round 3 Horsens Saturday June 30th

[waiheke1]

4 hours ago, ytsejam said:

16 wins from the inside gate and people wonder why speedway is on its knees!!....Utter rubbish entertainment AGAIN (as per the previous two rounds) This years GP series has so far, been the worst for a long long time.

Hoping it will get better but i doubt it will as it is already looking like theres only one winner of the series this year! (naturally as well, as this is the first time for 3 years that I didnt put a wad of cash on Woffendon winning, before the series started!!!!!).

Really? The first two Gps were decent imo. Horsens was poor, but a few excellent races - which is about all you used to get in world finals.

Woffy is looking absolutely superb. Wheras last year you always felt a bad ride could come at any time, this season there is confidence every time. His ht20 3rd to 1st was superb. If he keeps this form up, then come end of season I'd say there is no debate as to who is the greatest brit of all time.

[Col]

As far as the GP's go in terms of entertainment this year, Prague was OK from about heat 10, Torun was pretty good for all 23 heats.  Only saw Horsens from heat 13 on wards, not great.

As far as potential winners go Woffinden looks on a different planet to the others this year.

[Trees]

14 hours ago, mikebv said:

When Woofy rides like that he makes it look effortless...

The pass on Doyle was sublime...

When you are that good you almost instinctively know where your opponent is putting his bike so you can put your bike in a position to pass him. He looks 'seconds' in front of the other riders in thought..

The best British rider I have seen since PC at making a hugely difficult skill in passing a rider look so effortless. (And there is no higher praise than that for me)..

Just a shame (and almost criminal), that, without any doubt potentially one of the greatest overall Speedway riders of all time, (and possibly this year the best British rider ever when it comes to WC titles), isn't being used by British Speedway to promote their domestic Leagues..

Building the Sport over here around him wouldn't be a bad idea I would suggest..

He ticks a lot of demographic boxes to encourage a younger audience given his age and image..

It's not the British promoter's decision for him not racing here, it's totally his own, he's washed his hands of the UK! 

[Terry]

13 hours ago, mickthemuppet said:

Never has the SGP have ever had the worlds  best 15 riders in it and never has the Worlds Individual championships had the best riders in it

I'd say the 96 sgp had the top 16 in the world.

[RPNY]

14 hours ago, ytsejam said:

16 wins from the inside gate and people wonder why speedway is on its knees!!....Utter rubbish entertainment AGAIN (as per the previous two rounds) This years GP series has so far, been the worst for a long long time.

Hoping it will get better but i doubt it will as it is already looking like theres only one winner of the series this year! (naturally as well, as this is the first time for 3 years that I didnt put a wad of cash on Woffendon winning, before the series started!!!!!).

Absolute Fiction.

[New Science]

22 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Not just riders the GP has a good british following even overseas, in Torun especially you see plenty of Brits and even ex British riders who don’t follow british speedway anymore, the one off world final along with 13 heats is I’m afraid rose tinted glasses view, it wasn’t better than the GP or 15 heats it was just the way it was 

The GP will never match the old one off world final for tension.

[crumpiefan]

On 7/1/2018 at 8:35 AM, PHILIPRISING said:

BIT harsh really. Temporary tracks in Australia, New Zealand, Warsaw (bar the first), The Friends Arena, Cardiff and, until last night, Horsens have been good. Perhaps the weather played its part yesterday, not an excuse but a reason. Temporary tracks with no natural drainage are notoriously difficult to water under the conditions they experienced yesterday. Often the water will run to it's lowest point (the inside) which can result in gate 1 having a distinct advantage as it obviously did in Horsens. 

I may be wrong here so feel free to correct me but when Olsen had more control over the GPs  (ie before Tony Olsson took over) the tracks were far worse....in 07/08 when Nicki won his last 2 titles the majority of tracks were slick and were gate and go jobs, hence Nicki took full advantage. Then Olsson's reign seemed to coincide with better racing and far better viewing. I know that Ole Olsen liked close racing as viewing, not necessarily lots of overtaking but the proverbial follow the leader ( or throw a blanket over the four of them ) spectacle, you rarely saw tracks with dirt on them ( I appreciate potential bad weather dictates to a degree) and I got the impression Ole preferred bone dry slick tracks. So does he not get free reign as much now or is the improvement in the tracks and therefore the racing mere coincidence?

 

Edited July 2, 2018 by crumpiefan

[HenryW]

8 hours ago, Terry said:

I'd say the 96 sgp had the top 16 in the world.

I think that depends if you are referring to qualified permanent members of the series or just 16 of the riders who actually raced during the year, including wild cards and injury replacements. 

96 had 17 permanent riders but those didn't include Tomasz Gollob, who scored double figures in each of the rounds he got to race in!

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, New Science said:

The GP will never match the old one off world final for tension.

I don’t buy that, tension is created by the riders involved a Brit in Britain, a Dane in Denmark and so on, tou can feel the tension flop in a GP when the home riders gets knocked out in the semi final or whenever, the tension is the same ,there was just a much a dreary world final as a GP, the world final has had its day and they were good days but the GPs are much better 

[PHILIPRISING]

9 minutes ago, crumpiefan said:

I may be wrong here so feel free to correct me but when Olsen had more control over the GPs  (ie before Tony Olsson took over) the tracks were far worse....in 07/08 when Nicki won his last 2 titles the majority of tracks were slick and were gate and go jobs, hence Nicki took full advantage. Then Olsson's reign seemed to coincide with better racing and far better viewing. I know that Ole Olsen liked close racing as viewing, not necessarily lots of overtaking but the proverbial follow the leader spectacle, you rarely saw tracks with dirt on them ( I appreciate potential bad weather dictates to a degree) and I got the impression Ole preferred bone dry slick tracks. So does he not get free reign as much now or is the improvement in the tracks and therefore the racing mere coincidence?

 

OLE is currently only actively involved with temporary tracks ... the installation, etc. But then he hands over to the Race Director who makes decisions like grading, watering, etc as he does at permanent tracks.

It is true that when RD Ole did prefer slick tracks because he felt they were easier to deal with in the event of bad weather and the necessity to get the meeting completed because of all the  inherent costs, including TV, satellite times, etc. Tony Olsson, who in any opinion was the best RD, had a different and more relaxed attitude.

Many lessons have been learned about temporary tracks - the material, how essential is the moisture level when laid - but from what I have been told today two months of hot, dry weather and plenty of wind made track preparation on Saturday very difficult.

Edited July 2, 2018 by PHILIPRISING

[New Science]

13 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I don’t buy that, tension is created by the riders involved a Brit in Britain, a Dane in Denmark and so on, tou can feel the tension flop in a GP when the home riders gets knocked out in the semi final or whenever, the tension is the same ,there was just a much a dreary world final as a GP, the world final has had its day and they were good days but the GPs are much better 

All about opinions. I'm lucky enough to have seen both one off World Finals live and plenty of GP's live.  Just feel the anticipation , tension, nerves of a one off final are greater than a 10 round GP . Every ride in that final did matter, in the GP now running a last or having a bad GP can be quickly forgotten and move on to the next venue in a fortnight . The only tangible experience I have had from the GP is Mark Loram becoming World Champion in Bydgoszsz , what  a night that was. One of the weakness of the GP is it rarely comes down to the last round, the Holder / Pedersen tussle being the only one I can remember since it went to 10 + rounds  

[Col]

14 hours ago, Col said:

Only saw Horsens from heat 13 on wards, not great

Watched first 5 heats on the replay. If heat 6 is rubbish I'll start watching the Brazil v Japan & Wimbledon highlights.

[Fromafar]

On 2 July 2018 at 8:28 AM, Col said:

As far as the GP's go in terms of entertainment this year, Prague was OK from about heat 10, Torun was pretty good for all 23 heats.  Only saw Horsens from heat 13 on wards, not great.

As far as potential winners go Woffinden looks on a different planet to the others this year.

Cook can make all the excuses he wants,but he is out of his depth.

[sparks123]

Just watching the GP.

Think this is the first GP since round 6 in 2016 that Tai has had 2 gate 4's in the qualifiers. Not bad considering you have a 25% chance in every GP (pretty bored with the meeting so far).