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racers and royals

Transponders and qualifying times introduced in GP’s in 2019

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6 hours ago, False dawn said:

And the downside for Kolodziej, Doyle, Fricke and Lindback will be that their bikes will be on track for the first time tomorrow night. I quote (from many live meetings, videos, DVDs and conversations with riders) "The track is nothing like it was in practice".

As the sport's leading bookie, are you telling me you're worried by anything you saw in practice?

[You and I have lived long enough to know better]

Yes- Doyle seemed a lot more ok than i thought he would be :)

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1 hour ago, Noodles said:

So the fastest man from practice is penalised for qualifying, yet the fastest man from qualifying is rewarded for the grand prix?

Well it is " speedway " after all ;) No one knew how it would pan out and could be different in Krsko- however certainly the track had obviously been well prepped after free practice and i suspect most track records go in heat 1 so a reasonable guess could have been made. As TV was covering it live- and we always have to lead up to an exciting finish logically this is why they did it the way they did :)

Edited by racers and royals

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9 hours ago, False dawn said:

I'm slightly confused (an increasing problem!). If I fathom the facts properly, Tai was "excluded" from this new qualifying procedure due to a Polish commitment (?). A bit disappointing, since this is the World Championship, after all. But he was elsewhere (for whatever reason) and he ends up in heat 4 as his first appearance. Therefore he's able to judge track conditions and the best lines etc. from heats 1-3 and gets gate 3 twice, which last year was one race worse than the best gate, gate 1. Given that "penalty" (???) I think I might take the £1000+ a point in a Polish league match. Or am I just a cynic?

If Woffinden has, as you say, a good draw then it is the fault of the others for not picking that number.

I enjoyed watching it. Zagar seemed to know what he was doing, taking a long straight for his first lap and then pretty much giving up, knowing he couldn't do that again.

Nice to see later riders having to think a bit about what number to take.

An interesting exercise, I thought. Would like to have seen riders questioned a bit more deeply on how they rode, what lines they chose and so on.

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Shouldn't the fastest in practice get first pick in the qualifying laps from first down to sixteen or whatever

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Given that the surface of a speedway track changes pretty quickly over a few laps there is a fair chance that those riders who go out after a track prep will gain more often than not some advantage. 

The purpose of the slowest from practice being first out was an an attempt to even things up but maybe this needs to be re thought so as to avoid deliberate slow laps laps. 

May also be worth considering grading after every four rides.

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maybe they should set a minimum qualifying time ,  don't reach the time ,your place in the meeting is taken by  a reserve , should make a few get their priorities right .

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I can see the merits, in introducing 'qualifying' on Friday, as it adds an extra element to the GP weekend with the benefit of extra television coverage. However, the concept becomes flawed, when riders are unavailable due to Polish League commitments.

If the FIM/CCP were that committed to the concept of 'qualifying,' they should have made attendance mandatory with no conflicting league fixtures arranged on that evening. The riders will always opt to ride for their league clubs, due to the terms of their contracts and the relative earnings that can be made at league and GP level.

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12 hours ago, False dawn said:

I'm slightly confused (an increasing problem!). If I fathom the facts properly, Tai was "excluded" from this new qualifying procedure due to a Polish commitment (?). A bit disappointing, since this is the World Championship, after all. But he was elsewhere (for whatever reason) and he ends up in heat 4 as his first appearance. Therefore he's able to judge track conditions and the best lines etc. from heats 1-3 and gets gate 3 twice, which last year was one race worse than the best gate, gate 1. Given that "penalty" (???) I think I might take the £1000+ a point in a Polish league match. Or am I just a cynic?

Nobody was "excluded" from qualifying. Tai, along with two others CHOSE to ride for their polish clubs in a league meeting as poland has decided to run 50% of their meetings on a friday now. Thanks, no doubt, to TV money. 

Tai was left with what he was given. No choice. Not his fault nobody picked No. 15. he is penalised to an extent that no. 15 has two rides in a row. Not ideal if you struggle, for whatever reason, in the first. Zmarzlik, who also missed qualifying, was drawn with No. 16 which also has two rides in a row. 

Make practise/qualifying compulsory? Now that would certainly put the sh*t in the pan. Polish league saying if you don't ride you are out, GP saying the same thing. Do you want to be world champion, or do you want to earn mega bucks (assuming you actually get paid) by riding in Poland.

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If FIM makes it mandatory then the Polish league has nothing to say. Easy.

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This is ridiculous that Polish league is riding on Friday nights on GP weekend.

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If I was a GP rider, really wanting to be a world champ, I wouldnt want to be racing on the Friday before a GP on Saturday. I a Polish club "forced me" and I rode Friday I think I would ride safe and instead of riding for a maximum I would go for a safe 6. At £1000 a point thats still £6k, have fufilled the contract to Polish team, and fir to race in the Saturday.

I seem to think there is a lack of respect from Polish league to FIM World Championship and that is not healthy. Maybe because Poland struggle to get an individual speedway world champ no matter how many under 21 world champs they get, or team championships.

As for the concept of rider qualifying position being rewarded with choice of rider number. Last night was a bit boring, some things were wrong, but I think it will get sorted to something better.  Cant see why fastest in practice, Kolodgie, goes last. Obvious track condition goes worse. Give fastest in practice the choice to go first, or first after the track grade. I think it will get interesting as the GPs move forward. Previous history of best gate at a track may well decide what rider number is picked, so getting into the riders mind by interviews may well be interesting. I was watching MotoGP qualifying today, bit like F1, fastest 10 in practice go straight to Q2, whilst the other 12 are in Q1 and only top 2 get into Q1. The track went from dry in practice to damp in Q2. SO tyre choice played a big part. Rossi chose a slick and it paid off, he was 1.5 seconds faster then the next man with 5 minutes to go. You could see the cogs of the minds of Rossi and his crew working out whether to go again or know there will be no challange. Also could see the scramble of the other pit crews changing tyres etc. Once on an outdoor speedway GP track the change in weather conditions could also play a big part. Will be interesting, some mods to be made though.  

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2 hours ago, DutchGrasstrack said:

If FIM makes it mandatory then the Polish league has nothing to say. Easy.

Not true. Polish league can say to riders " You ride for us or the GP. One or the other". Then probably most of the current GP riders will pick Poland for regular high earnings which will totally devalue the GP. Mind you it would probably give Craig Cook a better chance, lol. Also Polish Federation could order their riders to ride in Poland or be suspended then you wouldn't have any Polish guys in the GP. 

1 hour ago, Rob B said:

This is ridiculous that Polish league is riding on Friday nights on GP weekend.

Quite simply money talks. Every Polish Extra-league match is televised live this year. Two on Fridays, two on Sundays, so the Polish Federation are obviously getting mega zlots for this. They are hardly likely to choose to lose that money by saying no we are not riding on GP Fridays.

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13 hours ago, racers and royals said:

The free practice which happened before we joined the coverage(5pm to 6pm UK time) was also timed and the slowest rider Doyle went 1st and the fastest Kolodziej went last. 2nd slowest 2nd 2nd fastest 2nd from last etc etc

That's no bloody good, it needs to be done out of the hat imo ......

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2 hours ago, Rob B said:

This is ridiculous that Polish league is riding on Friday nights on GP weekend.

It'll always be a problem whilst BSI run the show, each GP should be run by it's own federation imo

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