GP riders, Poland 2020 and beyond

[racers and royals 8,717]

In 2019 we have had the following GP riders just riding in 1 league- Poland

Sayfutdinov

Vaculik

kolodziej

Madsen

Zagar

For 2020 we have already had Tai Woffinden confirm he is doing the same, with possibly Lindgren also. Madsen had  the SEC series as well but for the others we are talking about less than 30 meetings for the season !!

It is an interesting development  and probably reflects the money available in Poland these days.

Another question to be answered in the coming months is how is GP qualifying going to evolve. Will the FIM take the bull by the horns and make it compulsory and risk a battle with the Extraleague ? 

[Ghostwalker 1,858]

Lindgren have confirmed Poland/GP only.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

Poland's threat to cut their senior riders from five per team to four, while probably a bargaining chip, could have wide repercussions across other leagues. It would leave eight top quality riders facing life outside the Ekstraliga. One aspect could be to intimidate the remaining riders to drop other leagues and the risk of injury, just to focus on their Polish and international duties. 

Equally it could put 8 riders in the shop window for Sweden or even Britain.

It is highly noticeable how poorly certain Ekstraliga stars perform in Sweden, rather like many did in Britain, suggesting their best efforts and equipment were only for Polish or SGP use!

I love to watch the likes of Sayfutdinov race but I can't say I really missed them from Sweden this year. The likes of Vetlanda were weaker as a result which gave us a wonderfully competitive Elitserien season. Dackarna's tactic of filling the side with top Poles backfired appallingly. 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by RobMcCaffery

[therefused 818]

Interesting to see that the list above includes a lot of the riders in the higher standings in the GP series as well. 

[topsoil 2,498]

it's totally up to the riders themselves, but the speedway world outside Poland will continue without them. Coincidence or not, but the leagues in Sweden and Britain have been more competitive than Poland this season. Plus it opens the way up for teams in other countries to fill their places with home grown riders.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

39 minutes ago, topsoil said:

it's totally up to the riders themselves, but the speedway world outside Poland will continue without them. Coincidence or not, but the leagues in Sweden and Britain have been more competitive than Poland this season. Plus it opens the way up for teams in other countries to fill their places with home grown riders.

Sweden especially suffers from this with many sides tracking the minimum number of Swedes and as many Poles as they can afford, many of whom simply don't deliver. We've already become a practice league for many riders and Sweden is in danger of spending high to achieve the same bleak status. 

 

[RS50 359]

On 9/27/2019 at 1:54 PM, racers and royals said:

In 2019 we have had the following GP riders just riding in 1 league- Poland

Sayfutdinov

Vaculik

kolodziej

Madsen

Zagar

For 2020 we have already had Tai Woffinden confirm he is doing the same, with possibly Lindgren also. Madsen had  the SEC series as well but for the others we are talking about less than 30 meetings for the season !!

It is an interesting development  and probably reflects the money available in Poland these days.

Another question to be answered in the coming months is how is GP qualifying going to evolve. Will the FIM take the bull by the horns and make it compulsory and risk a battle with the Extraleague ? 

Is Woffy confirmed as a GP rider next year?

[Mark 1,497]

13 minutes ago, RS50 said:

Is Woffy confirmed as a GP rider next year?

He needs a wild card but would be 99.9% to get one

[racers and royals 8,717]

1 hour ago, RS50 said:

Is Woffy confirmed as a GP rider next year?

100% doesn`t need confirming.

[Col 850]

On 9/27/2019 at 1:54 PM, racers and royals said:

In 2019 we have had the following GP riders just riding in 1 league- Poland

Sayfutdinov

Vaculik

Madsen

Zagar

 

Do those riders not ride in their domestic leagues?  If their countries have domestic leagues!  I know Denmark do, I assume Russia do.

On 9/27/2019 at 2:26 PM, therefused said:

Interesting to see that the list above includes a lot of the riders in the higher standings in the GP series as well. 

Yet, I don't believe a rider has become World Champion while only riding in Poland.  Obviously I am assuming here that Zmarzlik will be crowned champion on Saturday.

[Ghostwalker 1,858]

3 hours ago, Col said:

Do those riders not ride in their domestic leagues?  If their countries have domestic leagues!  I know Denmark do, I assume Russia do.

Yet, I don't believe a rider has become World Champion while only riding in Poland.  Obviously I am assuming here that Zmarzlik will be crowned champion on Saturday.

Russia have a domestic league but I don't think Slovakia (Vaculik) and Slovenia (Zagar) do.

[arnieg 3,624]

10 minutes ago, Ghostwalker said:

Russia have a domestic league but I don't think Slovakia (Vaculik) and Slovenia (Zagar) do.

Although Emil has only ridden 9 matches in 7 years (four of them this year).

[smiles 7]

We were talking over the weekend about qualification, an idea i came up with was that there was 32 riders in the GP, with a Friday night qualification of 24 riders in the old knockout formula and the top 8 from that meet the top 8 from the last year(top 8 from the last Grand Prix on the second round). 

To start the season off you have the top 8 from the year before , 16 qualifiers from the year before, put the top 4 in from the under 21 series and then 4 wildcards every round, on the lesser nations you could have 2 home grown and 2 who are riding well at the time. If one of the wild cards does well he gets in the next round as a wild card but has to work through the qualifier on the Friday night.

[racers and royals 8,717]

8 minutes ago, smiles said:

We were talking over the weekend about qualification, an idea i came up with was that there was 32 riders in the GP, with a Friday night qualification of 24 riders in the old knockout formula and the top 8 from that meet the top 8 from the last year(top 8 from the last Grand Prix on the second round). 

To start the season off you have the top 8 from the year before , 16 qualifiers from the year before, put the top 4 in from the under 21 series and then 4 wildcards every round, on the lesser nations you could have 2 home grown and 2 who are riding well at the time. If one of the wild cards does well he gets in the next round as a wild card but has to work through the qualifier on the Friday night.

Had you by any chance had a few when you came up with it