SGP wild cards 2024

[Welwyn]

6 hours ago, LagutaRacingFan said:

Is there any chance of Emil and Artem riding in the Speedway European Championships?

The organisers of that event could put together a great line up.

Sayufutdinov

Laguta

Janowski

Kolodziej

Thomsen

Fricke

It would be the only way the could try and force their hand. But isn't it done by FIM Europe??

Therefore, they won't let them in.

[OGT]

Zmarzlik won't be needing the 600 next year. 

[MARK246]

3 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

That's the problem of qualifying rounds. Carry an injury, engine failure and you can be out in the blink of an eye. Happened on the lead up to one off world finals many times. That reality shows having human beings selecting who goes in and who comes out is a reasonable way of getting a GP line up. Problem then is every man and his dog on a forum want there voice heard. The selection committee has heard the call for fresh faces and delivered. Not to everyone's liking...but you asked, you got, suck it.

Nothing wrong with the qualifying system, all riders should be in it. Too much dross back in again 

[OveFundinFan]

14 minutes ago, MARK246 said:

Nothing wrong with the qualifying system, all riders should be in it. Too much dross back in again 

But this year’s qualifying system has thrown up a wobbler or two, and has done in the past as well.

[chunky]

1 minute ago, OveFundinFan said:

But this year’s qualifying system has thrown up a wobbler or two, and has done in the past as well.

As it did in the old World Final days...

Perhaps the answer would be to have the SGP Challenge run as a series also?

[iris123]

23 minutes ago, chunky said:

As it did in the old World Final days...

Perhaps the answer would be to have the SGP Challenge run as a series also?

I do think that would be a better option than a one off. Maybe 3 meetings. Two at least. Just because one track can suit a rider more than another. The problem particular to speedway

That is in an ideal world though. It might well be they have enough problems finding one track a season........

Edited October 4, 2023 by iris123

[LagutaRacingFan]

Pretty damning comments from Krzysztof Cegielski in the Polish media.

He said the wild cards had nothing to do with speedway and they were all political/commercial decisions.

He is right and his viewpoint is shared by millions of speedway fans in Poland.

[chunky]

5 hours ago, iris123 said:

I do think that would be a better option than a one off. Maybe 3 meetings. Two at least. Just because one track can suit a rider more than another. The problem particular to speedway

That is in an ideal world though. It might well be they have enough problems finding one track a season........

Yeah, I see no reason they couldn't have two or three - even if they were in Poland. 24 riders, 2 meetings each; sounds okay to me...

[chunky]

3 hours ago, LagutaRacingFan said:

Pretty damning comments from Krzysztof Cegielski in the Polish media.

He said the wild cards had nothing to do with speedway and they were all political/commercial decisions.

He is right and his viewpoint is shared by millions of speedway fans in Poland.

He also had his say on the Zmarzlik deal in Vojens. And your point is?

Just because he was a rider doesn't mean he is right...

[szkocjasid]

7 hours ago, MARK246 said:

Nothing wrong with the qualifying system, all riders should be in it. Too much dross back in again 

 

6 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

But this year’s qualifying system has thrown up a wobbler or two, and has done in the past as well.

But that's because there are 5 wild cards, the top riders don't need to enter the qualifiers so there's more chance of a "lesser" rider qualifying for the GPs.

[chunky]

Just now, szkocjasid said:

 

But that's because there are 5 wild cards, the top riders don't need to enter the qualifiers so there's more chance of a "lesser" rider qualifying for the GPs.

Which also indicates that the "better" riders either finished Top 6, or received wildcards. And these "better" riders are the ones that people want to see kicked out to make way for "new blood" - like Kim Nilsson and Jan Kvech...

[szkocjasid]

On 10/3/2023 at 8:01 PM, Crazy robin said:

How did Kvech qualify?

 

On 10/3/2023 at 8:02 PM, racers and royals said:

From the challenge final- finished 5th

 

On 10/3/2023 at 8:16 PM, Crazy robin said:

Finishing 5th, his ridiculous!!!!

He "only" finished 5th because he was behind two top-6 GP riders. Not beating top-6 riders shouldn't be a slight on any rider.

Kvech also finished in front of riders like Lebedevs who got a wild card, Fricke who didn't make the final & Woffinden who didn't enter.

So he deserves his spot ahead of many in the GP imo

[chunky]

6 minutes ago, szkocjasid said:

 

 

He "only" finished 5th because he was behind two top-6 GP riders. Not beating top-6 riders shouldn't be a slight on any rider.

Kvech also finished in front of riders like Lebedevs who got a wild card, Fricke who didn't make the final & Woffinden who didn't enter.

So he deserves his spot ahead of many in the GP imo

You have to stop making sense on here. The posters don't understand...

[norbold]

It is an interesting conundrum and Zmarzlik's dominance raises an interesting question . Leaving aside Laguta and Sayfutdinov at the moment for obvious reasons, if we were to look objectively at the top 15 riders in the world, I think we would include the likes of Magic and Dudek. However, I think we also know that the chance of them ever beating Zmarzlik to the World Championship is almost zero. The only way he is going to lose over the next few years (Russians excepted) is for one or two of the younger riders, like Lambert, Bewley, Kvech, Kubera or Becker for example, to come good. But to do that they need to get experience at Grand Prix level.  So do you go for the top 15 in the world regardless, and I can understand those left out would feel very aggrieved, or do you try and inject a bit of youth in the hope that at least one of them will make good and make a fight of the World Championship?

[arnieg]

In theory supplementing qualification with wildcards should ensure the strongest possible field, but the problem is that there is no transparency - who makes the choice and what are the criteria?

 

For example in the last 5 GPs:

Lebedevs 5 GPs 0 semi finals

Fricke 5 GPs 5 semi finals.

 

Yet Fricke is out and Lebedevs is in

(I quite like Lebedevs and don't think he'll be out of his depth, but still...)

[Pinny]

I really don't have much issue with the GP challenge riders getting in. Its the wild cards that get me. The challenge has always had weaker riders getting in most years, its the way it is.

Huckenbeck and Lebedevs should be nowhere near the series. No where good enough.

If they want to nail the sport in Germany and Latvia, then maybe put on decent events with top class racing. Far more likely to bring in natives rather than them watching an off the pace Huckenbeck and out of control Lebedevs.

I agree with many who have stated that special spark of the GP series has faded now. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about the upcoming series.

Also, as much as I love the city of Cardiff and the stadium is superb, what is the point in holding the event there with 20000ish fans? Looks awful on tv. Should be moved to Belle Vue for sure.

[SPEEDY69]

1 hour ago, Pinny said:

I really don't have much issue with the GP challenge riders getting in. Its the wild cards that get me. The challenge has always had weaker riders getting in most years, its the way it is.

Huckenbeck and Lebedevs should be nowhere near the series. No where good enough.

If they want to nail the sport in Germany and Latvia, then maybe put on decent events with top class racing. Far more likely to bring in natives rather than them watching an off the pace Huckenbeck and out of control Lebedevs.

I agree with many who have stated that special spark of the GP series has faded now. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about the upcoming series.

Also, as much as I love the city of Cardiff and the stadium is superb, what is the point in holding the event there with 20000ish fans? Looks awful on tv. Should be moved to Belle Vue for sure.

Nope, could never agree with that. Nothing to do outside of the stadium, seating extremely limited (for the World Cup a few years the temporary stand were awful, people just peeing on the grass and food queues 2 miles long) and if it rains a totally wasted trip.  Fine if you only ever watch on TV.

[iris123]

1 hour ago, Pinny said:

I really don't have much issue with the GP challenge riders getting in. Its the wild cards that get me. The challenge has always had weaker riders getting in most years, its the way it is.

Huckenbeck and Lebedevs should be nowhere near the series. No where good enough.

If they want to nail the sport in Germany and Latvia, then maybe put on decent events with top class racing. Far more likely to bring in natives rather than them watching an off the pace Huckenbeck and out of control Lebedevs.

I agree with many who have stated that special spark of the GP series has faded now. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about the upcoming series.

Also, as much as I love the city of Cardiff and the stadium is superb, what is the point in holding the event there with 20000ish fans? Looks awful on tv. Should be moved to Belle Vue for sure.

I just guess it is the hope of getting a tv deal for Germany, and maybe some sponsorship and exposure, and i am sure they will say in the hope of building the sport.

Trouble is Teterow is a stinker of a track. So the home GP won't particularly attract much, unless Huckenbeck gets into the final. The other problem really is even if he was a GP standard rider, he isn't a very publicity friendly sort of person. Not the out going sort like Egon Müller of Smolinski

So although i can understand to a degree, what they are trying to do. I don't think it will have much success

[SPEEDY69]

3 hours ago, iris123 said:

I just guess it is the hope of getting a tv deal for Germany, and maybe some sponsorship and exposure, and i am sure they will say in the hope of building the sport.

Trouble is Teterow is a stinker of a track. So the home GP won't particularly attract much, unless Huckenbeck gets into the final. The other problem really is even if he was a GP standard rider, he isn't a very publicity friendly sort of person. Not the out going sort like Egon Müller of Smolinski

So although i can understand to a degree, what they are trying to do. I don't think it will have much success

But Germany will pay to host a round if he's in it

[chunky]

7 hours ago, arnieg said:

In theory supplementing qualification with wildcards should ensure the strongest possible field, but the problem is that there is no transparency - who makes the choice and what are the criteria?

 

For example in the last 5 GPs:

Lebedevs 5 GPs 0 semi finals

Fricke 5 GPs 5 semi finals.

 

Yet Fricke is out and Lebedevs is in

(I quite like Lebedevs and don't think he'll be out of his depth, but still...)

Oh, I agree. As I said earlier, while Fricke has been disappointing this year, I do think he has been hard done by.

I feel exactly the same as you with wildcards, but it amazes me some of the stuff I read on here. People want the "strongest" lineup available, yet they want Woffinden and Doyle out, because they are "past it". They want "new blood", via the qualifying system, then they complain about Kim Nilsson and Jan Kvech getting in!

I will admit, next year's lineup does look weak, but sometimes it happens. It used to happen in the World Final days too.

The problem is that there is a gulf between the top few, and the rest. On this year's form, Janowski shouldn't be anywhere the GP's, but to be honest - he is (or should be) far better than his results show. Dudek shows flashes of brilliance, but can't do it consistently.

Leaving Sayfutdinov and Laguta out of the discussion, let's look at the top 25 riders in the world. From places 13 to 25 (approx), there really is so little to choose between them, and it's hard to say who would "improve" the series, and who wouldn't.

Again, this has happened before, and I'm sure it's only temporary, but it just doesn't look great right now.