Speedway GP Qualifiers.

[Grand Central]

1 hour ago, HenryW said:

Oh well, there's always next year for Holder to try again. 

Big plus.

He'll never be get back in the GPs again.

[Col]

1 hour ago, andout said:

Just for the record, count back, race wins or anything else in the qualifiers do not count......it is only run-offs, unlike the actual GP's.

Two sets of rules in the GP's.....nice one FIM!

 

Eh... A run-off to make a Semi-final would be silly. All things considered.

Glad three Brits qualified today (& Holder didn't). Was worried for Lambert considering Smektala & Holder were inside him from the gate in the decisive heat 20. Vaculik & Iversen may make top 8, so all to play for down to 5th potentially in the final.

Having seen Wroclaw at Lublin Friday, I'd make Fricke favourite, sadly.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Col

[Bald Bloke]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

Cook, Iversen, Lambert, Aspergren from Glasgow.   Holder 3rd in Ht20 behind Cook and Lambert.   The Aussie is out with 11.

That's 2 and a half from Lynn then. I count NKI as half because of his loyalty for the Stars 

Aspergren was a shock. Never mind Holder, try again next year 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Bald Bloke

[Trees]

Shame not to see Holder get through imo ....

[SharpenRake]

8 hours ago, Bald Bloke said:

Aspergren was a shock. Never mind Holder, try again next year 

Even more so since he wasn't riding but well done to Pontus Aspgren, fast tidy style and not intimidated by Lambert when he tried forceful overtakes. Holder was ok but seemed down on power unlike Cookie who was fast controlled and totally committed. Well done to everyone at Glasgow for putting on the show and isn’t it great to see loads of kids at the speedway

 

[r8gdp]

Would nt be surprised if holder is in the challenge . What happens if someone gets injured and has to pull out whose 1 inline as replacement?

[racers and royals]

9 minutes ago, r8gdp said:

Would nt be surprised if holder is in the challenge . What happens if someone gets injured and has to pull out whose 1 inline as replacement?

It probably will be from Abensberg tomorrow because if Pavlic doesn’t qualify by right then it’s only the top 3 who go to the challenge.

[Mark]

38 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

It probably will be from Abensberg tomorrow because if Pavlic doesn’t qualify by right then it’s only the top 3 who go to the challenge.

Pathetic that he gets a wild card.

[The Cheese]

Congrats to Cook, Lambert and Harris on getting through, hopefully at least 1 will qualify from the challenge.

[f-s-p]

12 hours ago, andout said:

Just for the record, count back, race wins or anything else in the qualifiers do not count......it is only run-offs, unlike the actual GP's.

Two sets of rules in the GP's.....nice one FIM!

 

No.

It's runoffs for top3 placings and for the last spots to qualify. Countback on everything else. So if you have a quali that will see top6 advance and riders are tied for second and sixth, you need to have runoffs for both. With a 2 rider runoff for second, fourth and fifth finishers can be tied and decided through count back.

[moomin man 76]

As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track.

It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio.

My impression of the riders;

Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One.

Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said.

Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw.

Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front.

Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart?

Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats.

Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers.

Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen.

Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen.

Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress.

Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify.

Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three.

Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio.

Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN?

Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing.

Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen.

Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

[SharpenRake]

16 minutes ago, moomin man 76 said:

As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track.

It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio.

My impression of the riders;

Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One.

Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said.

Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw.

Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front.

Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart?

Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats.

Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers.

Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen.

Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen.

Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress.

Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify.

Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three.

Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio.

Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN?

Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing.

Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen.

Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

Glad you enjoyed it and can't disagree with anything you said other than to add that young Bickley didn't look out of place. 

[False dawn]

11 minutes ago, moomin man 76 said:

Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

Thank you moomin man 76. A thoroughly illuminating report on a meeting of great interest to many fans. I wish I'd cancelled my other commitments and gone now. 

The nerdy analysis shows that there was no significant advantage to any of the gates and the race times were quite comparable to the track record. Despite the obvious speed of races generally, your report and others show that there was a goodly amount of overtaking.

It sounds like Glasgow deserve a huge pat on the back. The importance of this meeting cannot be overstated in world championship terms. Riders career aspirations can hinge on track preparation alone. I'm sure the FIM won't have missed the quality of this presentation and will hopefully assign future meetings to the same promotion.

[screm]

As things stand we are yet to get a qualifier from Poland for the GP Challenge, Pawel Prezdpelski is still to ride in Germany tomorrow but its been slim pickings so far.

[Triple.H.]

25 minutes ago, screm said:

As things stand we are yet to get a qualifier from Poland for the GP Challenge, Pawel Prezdpelski is still to ride in Germany tomorrow but its been slim pickings so far.

The bubble may have burst

more likely just a glitch

[HenryW]

49 minutes ago, Triple.H. said:

The bubble may have burst

more likely just a glitch

It all goes back to the cancellation of their national qualifying meeting that had been due to be held in Piła.

The authorities made some strange selections, seemingly based on the semi final results, but that meant that the current GP riders who were due to race in the final weren't included as they were seeded through, and others who maybe just took it easy to get safe qualification to the final missed out. 

The selections were Hampel, Buczkowski, Smektała, Wozniak, Przedpelski and Niedzwiedz.

Others that had been due to race in the final but weren't picked included Dudek, Janowski, Kołodziej, Pawlicki, Kasprzak, Drabik and Kubera.

[Fromafar]

Decent meeting some of the lesser light put in a lot of effort every race and some good scraps, thought Nicol was impressive as was Covatti. Smektala obviously had wrong set up and was really poor in 1st 2 races and probably found the track a bit technical compared to what he is generally used too.. Aspgren went really well and looked good.Holder was ok but never looked that fast. Well done to Cook.

I would give Nicol most entertainer on the night.Some tremendous outside lines he was riding.

[smiles]

So we have the following through so far

 

Current GP

Vaculik, Iversen , Zagar

Past GP

Cook, Ljung, Harris

New ones

Lambert, Aspgren,Thomson,Bellego, Mikklleson, Fricke.

German qualifyers

???

Bjerre , Smolinski(Past)

Millik,Sundstroem,Przedpelsi,Bech, wright (new ones)

Cant see anyone else doing anything.

 

What do people want next season?

3 current ones to qualifer

Any past GP riders

Or brand new faces

[phillipsr]

46 minutes ago, smiles said:

So we have the following through so far

 

Current GP

Vaculik, Iversen , Zagar

Past GP

Cook, Ljung, Harris

New ones

Lambert, Aspgren,Thomson,Bellego, Mikklleson, Fricke.

German qualifyers

???

Bjerre , Smolinski(Past)

Millik,Sundstroem,Przedpelsi,Bech, wright (new ones)

Cant see anyone else doing anything.

 

What do people want next season?

3 current ones to qualifer

Any past GP riders

Or brand new faces

Best case 

Lambert

Fricke

Another Newbie 

Worst Case - Any of

Ljung, 

Harris

Cook

Smoli

none would challenge top 10 and all failed at that level before 

[Catch Me If You Can]

9 hours ago, moomin man 76 said:

As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track.

It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio.

My impression of the riders;

Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One.

Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said.

Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw.

Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front.

Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart?

Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats.

Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers.

Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen.

Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen.

Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress.

Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify.

Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three.

Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio.

Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN?

Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing.

Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen.

Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

Excellent well presented meeting   Ran almost 100% smoothly and a decent PA system unlike many