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jellyman

Should There Be A British Rider In The 2012 Grand Prix Series?

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Regardless of all of this, we know Bomber provides top entertainment when he's in good form - a true speedway racer in the sense that he never makes the start but his ability to carve through the pack (when he's on it) is nothing short of amazing.

 

We'd all love to see him back to his best just like when he won at cardiff a few years back. Regardless of whether he makes it on merit this year or otherwise, we should all be backing the man to return to what he does best, and that's entertaining us.

I'm fully backing bomber to make a return to form soon, when he's at full swing I struggle to find a rider I like to watch more. A true racer :)

 

SO - it's all about ENTERTAINMENT and NOT fairness and a level playing field for aLL..... THAT makes us no better than the WWE - but - at least they are honest about it. :angry:

 

Mattk says:

 

You could say that about any rider though.

 

I want to see the 15 best riders in the GP and frankly Bomber, regardless of his nationality, isn't one of them.

 

I too would like to see the top QUALIFIED Riders in the World Chamionship - at present we are NOT getting that. WE SHOULD BE!!!

 

Three questions :-

 

What BENEFIT does Speedway get from the GP Series, having sold it's soul to BSI/IMG??

 

Does Speedway make any money out of the GP Series OR do the profits all go to BSI/IMG??

 

Why should BSI/IMG have ANY say in who is riding in the GPs?? They are no more qualified than you or I to decide who rides. In fact we are probably MORE qualified as at least we are Supporters of the Sport and NOT just in it for the money. :angry:

We are a Sport, supposedly, we are NOT the WWE.

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SO - it's all about ENTERTAINMENT and NOT fairness and a level playing field for aLL..... THAT makes us no better than the WWE - but - at least they are honest about it.

 

We are a Sport, supposedly, we are NOT the WWE.[/i]

 

Speedway has never been classed as a sport, it's not in the Olympics. In the past, meetings in the UK paid entertainments tax.

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SO - it's all about ENTERTAINMENT and NOT fairness and a level playing field for aLL..... THAT makes us no better than the WWE - but - at least they are honest about it. :angry:

 

 

 

I too would like to see the top QUALIFIED Riders in the World Chamionship - at present we are NOT getting that. WE SHOULD BE!!!

 

Three questions :-

 

What BENEFIT does Speedway get from the GP Series, having sold it's soul to BSI/IMG??

 

Does Speedway make any money out of the GP Series OR do the profits all go to BSI/IMG??

 

Why should BSI/IMG have ANY say in who is riding in the GPs?? They are no more qualified than you or I to decide who rides. In fact we are probably MORE qualified as at least we are Supporters of the Sport and NOT just in it for the money. :angry:

We are a Sport, supposedly, we are NOT the WWE.

 

 

Ok then, who are the best 16 riders in the World and who has missed out this year?

 

Who is this "speedway" you keep going on about?

 

Your rant is ludicrous.

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I understand where you are coming from White Knight but the old world championship died a death many years ago and in its place is the Grand Prix system which has been sold off to IMG....... those are the facts whether we like them or not

 

If we cast our eyes around at other motor sports there is on the whole a complete lack of 'qualification' to become part of a championship...... and even those that do have some form of it such as Motocross and Supercross most certainly also hand out invitations

 

I've said it before and i'll say it again.... the last couple of GP seasons have seen the toughest 'world championship' lineups in my lifetime and I would wager since before the eastern bloc riders started taking part

 

It seems a bit odd that we continually have this discussion in threads that are actually nothing to do with it.... maybe you should start a thread where we can do it to death?

 

edit: and arent most sports becoming WWE exaggerated?

Edited by spook

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No Brit should be given a spot IMHO.

 

Reasons as follows

i) Not good enough

ii) Why waste all that money trying to chase the rest? Get some form and try to build yourself up.

iii) Getting hammering every time they enter the track is not going to help the development of the rider.

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It's stupid to bang on about it should be the top 16 QUALIFIED riders.

How do you decide this?

In the old system at least 5 riders qualified without coming into contact with the top riders in the world by virtue of the Eastern European rounds.

Throwing it open to everybody would be a nightmare.

There are hardly enough days to decide the EL and PL without there being a series of qualifiers for a GP series most riders would not be ready for anyhow.

The SGP is a business run to turn a profit and as such a decision is made who the wildcards go to on the strength of entertainment value.

They basically do a decent job of it and most of the line ups are quality riders.

Some silly qualifying system would likely exclude good riders and favour riders who are not even ready for the GP let alone good enough for it.

As well as disrupt the leaugue systems.

Living in the good old days is stupid and pointless.

Fairness never had anything to do with it before and does not now.

It was all about appeasing federations then and it is now replacing the 'federations' with 'TV companies'.

The useless East European riders have been replaced with useless UK riders and they should not be allowed a free ride like in the good old days.

Qualification is a lottery whereas desererving a place can at least be based on good common sense.

The system works quite well...leave it be.

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It's stupid to bang on about it should be the top 16 QUALIFIED riders.

How do you decide this?

In the old system at least 5 riders qualified without coming into contact with the top riders in the world by virtue of the Eastern European rounds.

Throwing it open to everybody would be a nightmare.

There are hardly enough days to decide the EL and PL without there being a series of qualifiers for a GP series most riders would not be ready for anyhow.

The SGP is a business run to turn a profit and as such a decision is made who the wildcards go to on the strength of entertainment value.

They basically do a decent job of it and most of the line ups are quality riders.

Some silly qualifying system would likely exclude good riders and favour riders who are not even ready for the GP let alone good enough for it.

As well as disrupt the leaugue systems.

Living in the good old days is stupid and pointless.

Fairness never had anything to do with it before and does not now.

It was all about appeasing federations then and it is now replacing the 'federations' with 'TV companies'.

The useless East European riders have been replaced with useless UK riders and they should not be allowed a free ride like in the good old days.

Qualification is a lottery whereas desererving a place can at least be based on good common sense.

 

The system works quite well...leave it be.

Well said.

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Yes, there definitely SHOULD be a British Rider in the GP series, providing he or she is there on merit.

 

I'd do away with the popularity contest that the wild card selection is, and base it on the preceding season's performance.

 

Perhaps a "seeding" approach would be best. the top 8 in the championship this year would be seeded 1-8. The Under 21 Champ would be seeded 9 (unless he is already in the top 8, then the 2nd placed in that championship would be seeded 9). Then the next 6 would be seeded based on their finishing international average for the season. The final wild card place for each GP should be doled as 1 appearance per country, and for countries that have multiple GPS (poland etc), then the appearance would be by the highest averaging rider for that country. This would give aussies & americans a chance. The host countr can decide which event their home rider will appear at.

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Bomber qualified for this series through his results from the 2010 series, so any past nominations should be forgotten about really.

 

 

This season he hasn't really troubled the big guns and should only get a nomination for 2012 if there is not a better rider from any country not included in the series. With riders like Pedersen and Lindgren looking possible non qualifiers, I would say they should get picked before him.

 

 

With Lindback, Bjarne and Pepe already assured of a place and it being odds on that Darcy Ward will be given a place, then I would say the top TEN will be back along with these four, leaving just ONE place available !!

 

 

1 #5 Greg Hancock 117

2 #2 Jaroslaw Hampel 100

3 #9 Andreas Jonsson 92

4 #1 Tomasz Gollob 88

5 #3 Jason Crump 79

6 #12 Emil Sayfutdinov 79

7 #8 Chris Holder 77

8 #7 Kenneth Bjerre 72

9 #10 Nicki Pedersen 65

10 #11 Fredrik Lindgren 60

11 #14 Antonio Lindback 60

12 #6 Chris Harris 43

13 #4 Rune Holta 41

14 #15 Janusz Kolodziej 39

 

 

With Bomber, Holta, Kolodiej and Laguta being so far behind, these are the four places I would think are up for grabs.

 

So the current top 11, Pepe replacing Kolodiej and Bjarne replacing Holta, Bombers place has to be at risk especially if Holta or Kolodiej get above him in the standings.

 

 

As much as I like Tai Woffinden and Scott Nicholls, I cant see either doing anymore that Bomber has been doing so the question is ...... Is there a better rider other than those listed better than Bomber ?

 

 

Zagar ? ...... Questionable

 

Andersen ? ...... Debatable due to injuries in recent times

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Interesting article in today's Sun newspaper, suggesting that Bomber's GP bikes may have been 'tampered with' sometime between official track practice and the actual Grand Prix in Torun.

 

Bomber is not confirming the suggestion other than saying "the bikes were very fast in practice, but when we came back they were very slow!!!"

 

I know there has been some 'goings on, with Bomber's back room team, but can we suspect sabotage????? :cry:

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Are there currently any British riders who deserve a wild card on merit alone?

 

If not, should a rider be included simply because he is British as Great Britain is considered to be one of the major speedway nations even if current form doesn't necessarily back that up?

 

Obviously I'm assuming that Bomber doesn't make the top 8.

 

I'm totally against 'wild cards'. Riders of any nationality should complete on merit alone. I interpret merit as having scored sufficient actual points.

 

This should be irrespective of nationality. Riders should be judged on their scores only. Letting them in by the back door only reduces the nature of the competition.

 

Incidentally, Jellyman, thank you for using the term Great Britain. To me it has greater depth than 'Brits' or UK.

 

Regards,

 

Rod.

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My apologies if this has already been suggested, but BSI should, in my opinion, reduce the number of picks from 4 to 3, and have the fourth spot as an extra wild card, so that an in form rider could take that position on a GP by GP basis. There would remain a local wild card as #16. Therefore from a British perspective, GB could have 2 representatives at Cardiff.

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Bomber qualified for this series through his results from the 2010 series, so any past nominations should be forgotten about really.

 

 

This season he hasn't really troubled the big guns and should only get a nomination for 2012 if there is not a better rider from any country not included in the series. With riders like Pedersen and Lindgren looking possible non qualifiers, I would say they should get picked before him.

 

 

With Lindback, Bjarne and Pepe already assured of a place and it being odds on that Darcy Ward will be given a place, then I would say the top TEN will be back along with these four, leaving just ONE place available !!

 

 

1 #5 Greg Hancock 117

2 #2 Jaroslaw Hampel 100

3 #9 Andreas Jonsson 92

4 #1 Tomasz Gollob 88

5 #3 Jason Crump 79

6 #12 Emil Sayfutdinov 79

7 #8 Chris Holder 77

8 #7 Kenneth Bjerre 72

9 #10 Nicki Pedersen 65

10 #11 Fredrik Lindgren 60

11 #14 Antonio Lindback 60

12 #6 Chris Harris 43

13 #4 Rune Holta 41

14 #15 Janusz Kolodziej 39

 

 

With Bomber, Holta, Kolodiej and Laguta being so far behind, these are the four places I would think are up for grabs.

 

So the current top 11, Pepe replacing Kolodiej and Bjarne replacing Holta, Bombers place has to be at risk especially if Holta or Kolodiej get above him in the standings.

 

 

As much as I like Tai Woffinden and Scott Nicholls, I cant see either doing anymore that Bomber has been doing so the question is ...... Is there a better rider other than those listed better than Bomber ?

 

 

Zagar ? ...... Questionable

 

Andersen ? ...... Debatable due to injuries in recent times

Grigori Laguta is the highest ranked non-GP rider in the Swedish Elitiserien averages and second highest (to Ryan Sullivan) in the Polish Extraleague.

 

The obvious picks for next year would appear to be (the riders currently 9th and 10th in the GP standings (currently Lindgren and Nikki Pedersen) plus Grigory Laguta and Darcy Ward (whose international performances, as well as his Swedish and British league averages justify selection)

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Maybe if people went to see Speedway rather than staying away for a decade it'd be in a better state.

 

Incidentally, last time I looked, Kyle Newman was a British rider who represented the Pirates, but we mustn't stand in the way of yet another gratuitous pop at Poole, eh?

 

 

Ditto - Richard Lawson who rides for the Panthers

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To answer tbe original question - n o, not if Bomber doesn't qualify. Although Scotty id British Chanpion there is nobosy truly worthy of the full season wild card at the moment. I take no pleasure in saying it, but that's just the way it is ansd we shouldn't shy from admitting it.

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