Leon Madsen

[iris123]

8 minutes ago, iainb said:

No I've not... Just trying to come up with ideas of why it can happen rather than shutting people down all the time on why it can't. Was Krsko suitable for a GP? Terenzano? Etc. Etc.

God forbid that Speedway should be fun. These are the best riders in the world, it's a world championship, they should be able to ride all tracks.

Where was the monster energy thing run the other year?

There are standard sizes and widths as well.Think there are only a handful of UK tracks that have been inspected and meet them.It is the same with long track,although they at least changed the rules so they could race in Poland on a large speedway track.Plus if I remember Costa Mesa has a bloody big hill at one bend for freestyle jumps,which obscured the racing from fans and referee

[IainB]

1 minute ago, iris123 said:

There are standard sizes and widths as well.Think there are only a handful of UK tracks that have been inspected and meet them.It is the same with long track,although they at least changed the rules so they could race in Poland on a large speedway track.Plus if I remember Costa Mesa has a bloody big hill at one bend for freestyle jumps,which obscured the racing from fans and referee

I think Leicester is an FIM standard track... Who'd want to watch a GP there 

[PHILIPRISING]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

No I've not... Just trying to come up with ideas of why it can happen rather than shutting people down all the time on why it can't. Was Krsko suitable for a GP? Terenzano? Etc. Etc.

God forbid that Speedway should be fun. These are the best riders in the world, it's a world championship, they should be able to ride all tracks.

Where was the monster energy thing run the other year?

I'M not disagreeing with you but Costa Mesa, which I once described as 'speedway skittles,' would be a farce. 

[PHILIPRISING]

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

.Plus if I remember Costa Mesa has a bloody big hill at one bend for freestyle jumps,which obscured the racing from fans and referee

NOT when I've been there. It's just a 180-yard oval, no hills.

[IainB]

Anyway... Doesn't have to be Costa Mesa speedway track, they can lay a track anywhere, maybe an atheletcs track that has grandstand a or something in the Costa Mesa area, it's just that speedway at Costa Mesa has been proven to work.

My point is more that I think it would be better to hold a GP at proven venues/areas in non speedway countries where you know you'll draw a core crowd in and then heavily promote it to bring in floaters. The mistake in Australia particularly was hiring out huge stadiums

Edited September 24, 2018 by iainb

[IainB]

Have a look on Google earth there's an American football/atheletcs stadium a couple of hundred yards up the road

[PHILIPRISING]

16 minutes ago, iainb said:

Have a look on Google earth there's an American football/atheletcs stadium a couple of hundred yards up the road

THE thing to remember is that those who go to Costa Mesa are not speedway fans as we know it. It is a night out, to whoop and shout, have a few beers, chat up the girls, smoke pot and most of the time not really know what is taking place on the track. It is a unique experience, great fun, entertaining in its own way. But would those same people attend a SGP nearby by? Probably not. They have no knowledge of speedway outside their own bubble, couldn't name a non-American rider and, frankly, have no real interest in what goes on outside of their own back yard.

[IainB]

1 minute ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THE thing to remember is that those who go to Costa Mesa are not speedway fans as we know it. It is a night out, to whoop and shout, have a few beers, chat up the girls, smoke pot and most of the time not really know what is taking place on the track. It is a unique experience, great fun, entertaining in its own way. But would those same people attend a SGP nearby by? Probably not. They have no knowledge of speedway outside their own bubble, couldn't name a non-American rider and, frankly, have no real interest in what goes on outside of their own back yard.

You're right, let's forget all about it and have them all in Poland

[PHILIPRISING]

Just now, iainb said:

You're right, let's forget all about it and have them all in Poland

NOW you are being silly. I fully agree that the SGP needs to find new venues but there simply isn't one in the US, even Orange County in Southern California,  that would be viable and that will only get worse when their one world class rider hangs up his leathers.

[OveFundinFan]

Some You Tube video from Costa Messa - not the best racing I seen from there, but it shows the track off well.  If a GP went there Greg would win it hands down - its a gaters track. Laguta probably 2nd, and put Leon Madsen in the GPs and he would be third.   Why do you think they didn't use Costa Messa for the world championship in early eighties? They went to a stadium where they could put in a real speedway track.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Costa+Mesa+Speedway+Motorcycle+Racing&&view=detail&mid=4191A6E311D1F64C25984191A6E311D1F64C2598&&FORM=VRDGAR

[Fromafar]

2 in GB should be on the cards B.V has to be viable when you see some of the venues,although don't know who pays and how much to hold a Gp

[IainB]

22 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

NOW you are being silly. I fully agree that the SGP needs to find new venues but there simply isn't one in the US, even Orange County in Southern California,  that would be viable and that will only get worse when their one world class rider hangs up his leathers.

How do you know this? a world championship event hasn't been tried in the US since the 80's has it? The WTC's at long beach? If you're not even prepared to try, at a less costly venue, you're never going to break into the market. It's been proved the only countries that can sustain large stadium venues are Poland, UK and Denmark. Sweden, Germany, Australia all had large stadium events that ultimately failed before moving back to more modest stadia in the Swedish and German cases.

The risk should have been taken years ago in the States to cash in on Hancock's "star" appeal and capture the imagination of the next generation of US riders, it maybe too late now, a missed opportunity while the organisers were messing around in Finland, Italy, Germany and Latvia

Edited September 24, 2018 by iainb

[PHILIPRISING]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

How do you know this? a world championship event hasn't been tried in the US since the 80's has it? The WTC's at long beach? If you're not even prepared to try, at a less costly venue, you're never going to break into the market. It's been proved the only countries that can sustain large stadium venues are Poland, UK and Denmark. Sweden, Germany, Australia all had large stadium events that ultimately failed before moving back to more modest stadia in the Swedish and German cases.

The risk should have been taken years ago in the States to cash in on Hancock's "star" appeal and capture the imagination of the next generation of US riders, it maybe too late now, a missed opportunity while the organisers were messing around in Finland, Italy, Germany and Latvia

BECAUSE I know Harry Oxley and if there was a sniff that a SGP could work there he would have been all over it. 

[MARK246]

3 hours ago, iris123 said:

There are standard sizes and widths as well.Think there are only a handful of UK tracks that have been inspected and meet them.It is the same with long track,although they at least changed the rules so they could race in Poland on a large speedway track.Plus if I remember Costa Mesa has a bloody big hill at one bend for freestyle jumps,which obscured the racing from fans and referee

Lakeside at 252 meters is below the 260 meters that the FIM states as minimum track length required for speedway. Yet it was approved as an FIM track to run an U21 qualification round.

The FIM/BSI will run anywhere if the money is right. The Argentinian track for the U21 W/C proved that, if an American promoter showed BSI  the money it would run at Costa Messa

[PHILIPRISING]

1 hour ago, MARK246 said:

Lakeside at 252 meters is below the 260 meters that the FIM states as minimum track length required for speedway. Yet it was approved as an FIM track to run an U21 qualification round.

The FIM/BSI will run anywhere if the money is right. The Argentinian track for the U21 W/C proved that, if an American promoter showed BSI  the money it would run at Costa Messa

NO it wouldn't.  

[IainB]

7 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

NO it wouldn't.  

You don't know that as nobody has tried.

You do tend to show a bit of a defeatist attitude, as shown with your posts on the SoN thread. It's a good job everybody doesn't take the same attitude of not even trying to do things or we'd all still be living in the dark ages.

Edited September 24, 2018 by iainb

[iris123]

2 hours ago, MARK246 said:

Lakeside at 252 meters is below the 260 meters that the FIM states as minimum track length required for speedway. Yet it was approved as an FIM track to run an U21 qualification round.

The FIM/BSI will run anywhere if the money is right. The Argentinian track for the U21 W/C proved that, if an American promoter showed BSI  the money it would run at Costa Messa

I do agree to a large extent.Flash some big wedge and you suddenly open doors.

It isn’t always a level playing field with the FIM.We know that from Berlin pulling out of the ice speedway world championship a few years back ,complaining that they were having to meet standards other tracks didn’t

I sorta thought the Argentina project was more something of a personal ambition of Castagnas rather than money though

Edited September 24, 2018 by iris123

[OldRacer]

17 hours ago, iainb said:

How do you know this? a world championship event hasn't been tried in the US since the 80's has it? The WTC's at long beach? If you're not even prepared to try, at a less costly venue, you're never going to break into the market. It's been proved the only countries that can sustain large stadium venues are Poland, UK and Denmark. Sweden, Germany, Australia all had large stadium events that ultimately failed before moving back to more modest stadia in the Swedish and German cases.

Flying the whole troupe 5000 miles with equipment will always be a hugely costly venture.  There is no low cost alternative.

Existing speedway tracks in California are almost unrecognizable for European fans.

[Ghostwalker]

16 hours ago, MARK246 said:

Lakeside at 252 meters is below the 260 meters that the FIM states as minimum track length required for speedway. Yet it was approved
as an FIM track to run an U21 qualification round.

While I agree on  the principle, a 252 track is still quite different then a 162m track which is about the same size as an 85cc tracks.

[Danny Connor]

Deserved call up in my opinion. Maybe Drabik for zagar although I’m a fan of zagar. But the right names pretty much have been called up as wild cards.

id have Pedersen, Drabik, lambert, j holder and Smektala as the backup riders. 

Im glad madsen is in though. Grand Prix is about best riders in the world