Championship League Riders Championship

[BluPanther]

16 minutes ago, cinderfella said:

That is statement of the century. Only folk that disagree are the BSPA and SCB. The only way British speedway is ever going to move forward is once a totally independent ruling administration is put in place.

It's never going to move forward, because there will be no one to watch it. Most people under 40 have zero interest in speedway...

[cinderfella]

17 minutes ago, BluPanther said:

It's never going to move forward, because there will be no one to watch it. Most people under 40 have zero interest in speedway...

Can't say that about Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Certainly when you look at what you get for your money now it is poor value. A few years back I took my two sons to the stock car racing at Cowdenbeath and it cost about half the price of going to the speedway cost but there were 20 races generally over twenty laps with car shapes the boys could relate to. You can guess where they wanted to go rather than speedway after that.

And never the likely hood of a rain off due to the tarmac track. They just brushed the water away.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by cinderfella

[keepturningleft]

 

In every one off world final and the majority of GP's throughout history, there have always been riders who have qualified on merit but who realistically had little chance of ever winning.

Craig Cooke is probably a current example of this but it's grossly unfair to keep knocking the man - it looks as if he will be out next year anyway but even so, he has already achieved what most riders never will.

The only difference for people like Cookie and Bomber is that unlike struggling riders in GP's and world finals in the past, the 'ordeal' goes on for 10 or so meetings where as it was over and done with on one night previously.

 

 

 

[cinderfella]

1 hour ago, Steve55 said:

In his first two heats Barker looked like he was riding the Redcar track spare bike

Haha Do any tracks actually have 'track spares' these days? The last time I recall seeing one was at Coatbridge in the mid 70s. Mitch Shirra had to use it but being knee high to a grasshopper he somewhat struggled on a bike that had been obviously set up for taller riders. He had mastered the art of leg trailing by the end of the race though.

[Bagpuss]

4 hours ago, iainb said:

Remind us... Where did Lambert come in the GP qualifiers?

One point behind Cook. But if people really want to compare the two then league averages would be the only way to do it and that shows a fair old gap across the three main leagues.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Bagpuss

[cinderfella]

1 minute ago, Bagpuss said:

One point behind Cook. But if people really want to compare the two then league averages would be the only way to do it and that shows a fair old gap across the three main leagues.

Is there any point in comparing two riders who started the sport at different ages or considering the age gap? Both have a tremendous talent on a bike but the one thing they definitely share, although Cookie's is declining, is arrogance. 
Lambert will eventually earn his place in the GP series but let's also remember he was close to turning his back on British Speedway.

[cinderfella]

52 minutes ago, keepturningleft said:

 

In every one off world final and the majority of GP's throughout history, there have always been riders who have qualified on merit but who realistically had little chance of ever winning.

Craig Cooke is probably a current example of this but it's grossly unfair to keep knocking the man - it looks as if he will be out next year anyway but even so, he has already achieved what most riders never will.

The only difference for people like Cookie and Bomber is that unlike struggling riders in GP's and world finals in the past, the 'ordeal' goes on for 10 or so meetings where as it was over and done with on one night previously.

 

 

 

Yeah seem to remember a rider relatively unknown apart from in his own country winning "the Big One" in 1973 in the one off final. Take a bow Jerzy Szczakiel  even though he did get an absolute flyer of a start. Still amazed the ref didn't stop the race after Ivan went down.
 

 

[4thbender]

3 hours ago, Steve55 said:

 

Aarnio did well yesterday and had a cracking meeting for the Diamonds at Owlerton a few weeks ago. As for you mentioning Barker how the ref made the decision to exclude Proctor from the re-run of heat 15 was unbelievable, Barker came straight across him coming into the third bend and just took him out! In his first two heats Barker looked like he was riding the Redcar track spare bike, but then in his next three he looked rocket powered, but he was struggling to control the bike and was all over the place! Exiting, but dangerous!

Each time Barker comes to Sheffield some poor soul ends up making a visit to the medical room. Last time it was Connor Mountain and the time before that it was major fisticuffs with Kyle Howarth after BB reportedly threated to put him on a spinal board. Don't know why the management don't ban him from the stadium.

[cinderfella]

2 minutes ago, 4thbender said:

 Don't know why the management don't ban him from the stadium.

I suppose that would be one way of Sheffield securing a home victory if you banned visiting riders .

 

[Cue Ball]

on this occasion I don’t think you can blame Barker. From where I was stood he was no where near Ty and didn’t do anything wrong. Ty was on the outside chasing the dirt, went in too hot and slid off, nobody else’s fault.

[Cue Ball]

Just thinking on the whole ‘is Cook a GP rider or not?’ - how did Woffinden do at his first attempt in the GPs?

[cinderfella]

10 minutes ago, Cue Ball said:

Just thinking on the whole ‘is Cook a GP rider or not?’ - how did Woffinden do at his first attempt in the GPs?

At the moment he is a GP rider having qualified last year. Sadly I think the debate here is over whether he is of the 'standard' expected of GP riders.
I'd bet that a lot of the folk on here slating him were on their feet at Cardiff cheering him on.

Here is Woofy's record to 2016

 

Speedway Grand Prix results[edit]

Year	Position	Points	Best Finish	Notes
2010	14th	49	7th	Debut in SGP season.
2011	25th	2	16th	Track wildcard at Cardiff GP.
2013	1st	151	1st	Six podium finishes including his first SGP win at the Czech Republic Grand Prix. He eventually finished the season as World Champion with 151 points.
2014	4th	121	1st	Four podium finishes including wins at both the Czech Republic and Swedish GP. He had to participate in a bronze medal race off with Nicki Pedersenbut lost resulting in him finishing fourth in the overall standings for the world championship.
2015	1st	163	1st	Won Czech Republic and Scandinavian GP. Woffinden becomes the first two time British World Champion since Peter Craven won in 1955 and 1962.
2016	2nd	130	1st	Won Polish Grand Prix.

Edited September 3, 2018 by cinderfella

[Cue Ball]

Thanks - my point was that Tai was shocking in his first GP series attempt too (although I know he had other things going on such as his father’s death to contend with)

[Baldyman]

Going from the scores I looks like covatti wasn't at his best...was he as bad as score suggests? 

[phillipsr]

1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

Going from the scores I looks like covatti wasn't at his best...was he as bad as score suggests? 

He was awful and was comfortably the worst rider on show... only scored a point as Auty binned it... 

 

Barker didnt touch Proctor.. he just ran out of room 

[diamonds7]

Cracking day at sheffield yesterday from the carvery to the final . The air fence near misses on bend 2 were breath taking credit to all riders yesterday for giving it a shot , well done cookie on your win and your gesture to ricky ashworth and also  the help to dan bewley . 

[Pinny]

Stonehewer was riding for Workington in 1999 when he qualified and resigned for them the following season. 

Comparing Cook with Stoney is a hard one, Cook is one of the best PL riders I have seen but then so are Stoney and Wilson. Would he of been more dominant in them back in their day? Probably not in my view. But we will never know.

i am no huge fan of his at all, but at his age the most sensible thing to do would be make a mint riding in the two British leagues for as long as he is allowed to. Lets be realistic, he will never conquer Poland , Sweden and definately not the GPs

[cinderfella]

2 hours ago, Pinny said:

Stonehewer was riding for Workington in 1999 when he qualified and resigned for them the following season. 

Comparing Cook with Stoney is a hard one, Cook is one of the best PL riders I have seen but then so are Stoney and Wilson. Would he of been more dominant in them back in their day? Probably not in my view. But we will never know.

i am no huge fan of his at all, but at his age the most sensible thing to do would be make a mint riding in the two British leagues for as long as he is allowed to. Lets be realistic, he will never conquer Poland , Sweden and definately not the GPs

Pinny I think you've hit the nail firmly on the head when you mention age. Sadly I think Cookie came to late to speedway to make his mark on the International scene.
When you look at the ages of the Poles in the GP series you can see they have achieved that level as a result of starting at a young age.
British hopes have got to lie with the likes of Lambert, Ellis, a fully recovered Bewley and the amazing talent that is Drew Kemp. We have to make sure they get the opperchancities  but at the same time don't lead them down the path where it leads to exhaustion as Robert claimed he was heading a few weeks back.

[Steve55]

20 hours ago, Cue Ball said:

on this occasion I don’t think you can blame Barker. From where I was stood he was no where near Ty and didn’t do anything wrong. Ty was on the outside chasing the dirt, went in too hot and slid off, nobody else’s fault.

Proctor was in the middle of the track going into the 3rd bend, Barker came from the inside (too hot!) and took Proctor and the line he was riding!

[szkocjasid]

On 9/3/2018 at 4:25 PM, Cue Ball said:

Just thinking on the whole ‘is Cook a GP rider or not?’ - how did Woffinden do at his first attempt in the GPs?

Craig Cook actually qualified so he's clearly a "GP rider" Woffinden NEVER qualified, got 2 x wild cards, then has stayed in top 8 since!