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Grand Prix changes

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11 hours ago, iainb said:

Castanga says

“The main thinking for us is to harmonise our championship scoring system with other big sports events so that the winner always comes away with the most points

so they have to change the scoring for SoN too then

 

regarding qualifying, i definitely feel for Mikkelsen, with the extra wildcards it just gives more scope for riders in the World Championship to be chosen around a desk, depending on what country they are from.

i love the GPs, but we need unbiased qualifying. After the final GP of the season have the challenge how they started to do it years ago, bottom 8 from GP and 8 qualifiers, top 7 going through

Edited by stevehone
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On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 1:33 PM, James Carter said:

Can't say i'm really that ar$ed about changing the scoring system. 

The people in charge need to concentrate on the racing. Far too many tracks provide lousy racing this year. That's the bigger issue that needs to be resolved

Totally correct...…. :t:

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4 hours ago, racers and royals said:

They will still need as many points as possible for the best gate picks in the semi.

I agree if its tight but if a rider has 11 or 12 after 4 heats a dropped point or two wont matter. He'll still get 1st pick. It will happen or at least a suspicion.   

Particularly if the rider who is helped is gunning for the title.  Only top 6 qualify for 2021 so up to 9 riders may have little to race for.

Edited by Mark
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Of course it may end up that the 7th and 8th in SGP2020 get 2 of the extra wildcards.
So ultimately the switch to only the top six qualifying by right may make little difference to the personell in SGP2021.

But ... during the SGP year it has always been the top 8 placing that has seems to drive competition in the lower reaches of the points table and maintain interest in their scoring.
At least for the commentators who make great play of this.

Raising the bar to the top six will just make it look as if there are just more riders 'out of contention' and from even earlier in the SGP year. Have less to race for themselves.
And have less for us (and for NP/KT) to care about too.

Just not really sensible ?

Edited by Grand Central
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On 11/2/2019 at 1:43 PM, steve69 said:

What a joke!!!

In 2019 you could qualify for the Final with 18pts plus 3 pts for the win (ie Madsen in Torun) & someone could finish 2nd in the final having scrapped into the S/f with 7 pts then a 2nd in s/f & 2nd in the final giving them 11 pts. Yet in 2020 first gets 20 pts 2nd gets 18 pts. What a joke!!!

They should be concentrating on getting the SGP venues sorted rather than wasting time messing about with the pts!!! Still only 6 venues announced. What a bunch of ....... we have at the head of this sport I love!!!!

 

I agree. This is change for change sake.

I can't help but think that this is just the result of fresh blood within the SGP organisers who - like a lot in elite sport - want to be seen to be making their contribution. This is the result of that, not the greater good of the series. 

I am a fan of the SGP and the job that IMG/BSI have done. But the area of real stagnation is in venues. On the face of it, Togliatti is progress. But in recent years, we have lost Stockholm, Copenhagen, Australia and New Zealand. The trend is regression rather than progression on that front. A new scoring format can't smokescreen the SGP retreating to traditional audiences rather than expanding to new audiences. That's the major failure of the SGP organisers and one in which IMG's global reach really should have been able to unlock by now.

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Don't see the point in making these changes at all, there was nothing wrong as it was.

I assume if the European champion already qualifies through finishing in the top 6 of the GPs or via the challenge that 2nd in the Euros will get that place?

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3 hours ago, falcace said:

I a

I am a fan of the SGP and the job that IMG/BSI have done. But the area of real stagnation is in venues. On the face of it, Togliatti is progress. But in recent years, we have lost Stockholm, Copenhagen, Australia and New Zealand. The trend is regression rather than progression on that front. A new scoring format can't smokescreen the SGP retreating to traditional audiences rather than expanding to new audiences. That's the major failure of the SGP organisers and one in which IMG's global reach really should have been able to unlock by now.

Could not agree more. Most the glamour GP's have gone. Togliatti and Vojens are understandable as even tho they are remote places they are good stadiums that will be packed out. But some of the other smaller venues tho lead a lot to be desired and are not good for the series.

I'm not completely sure of exactly how the costs of staging a GP are spread out, but from a few people I've spoken to tell me its lumped pretty entirely on the local promoter. Seems very odd to me. How BSI didn't embrace Having an american World Champion to get a GP in the states or an Aussie world champion to stage another GP down under is very confusing to me.

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5 minutes ago, RPNY said:

Could not agree more. Most the glamour GP's have gone. Togliatti and Vojens are understandable as even tho they are remote places they are good stadiums that will be packed out. But some of the other smaller venues tho lead a lot to be desired and are not good for the series.

I'm not completely sure of exactly how the costs of staging a GP are spread out, but from a few people I've spoken to tell me its lumped pretty entirely on the local promoter. Seems very odd to me. How BSI didn't embrace Having an american World Champion to get a GP in the states or an Aussie world champion to stage another GP down under is very confusing to me.

Means very little. Hancock is pretty much an unknown in the States. And nowadays being a world champion in a fairly small sport means little to the outside world. Even a popular champion like Nicki certainly is in Denmark done little for the sport. There was an article the year after his last win where the DMU or the Danish League stayed there wasn’t a boost in attendances due to his title win

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Doesn't mean little if you have a good marketing and promotional strategy. 

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Does mean little, because that is fantasy land. If speedway had a good marketing and promotional strategy in the US or Australia or basically anywhere apart from Poland it wouldn’t be in the actual position it finds itself in

Edited by iris123
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There are plenty of sports (or businesses in general) that were stagnating but success of certain athletes plus good promotion gave them a massive boost. 

I'm not saying it would be easy, but to say its fantasy land is way off in my opinion. The use of a American world champion with the backing of Monster Energy and other media outlets, they could of easily got a crowd of over 25k and a deal to screen it on one of the sports networks over here. 

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Could have, would have

Basically all the wonderful ideas and enterprise BSI/IMG were supposed to have have ended up being unsustainable. They now seem to be on the backfoot and not too keen on expanding out of the comfort zone. Now ask why. Have they lost money or are promoters not willing to lose money for the sake of BSI ?

It was for years said from sources in Russia that BSI were asking too much for a GP in Togliatti. Phil said this wasn’t the case it was other matters. But ice speedway and the Euro series could hold meetings there. Now all of a sudden the GP is there. Is it because they are running out of options ?

We also has the FIM announce a new deal for a world team series or whatever it was called. The first date in Germany was called off at short notice. Then it was announced a great promotion company was taking over and going to host the meeting in Dubai or near. That was a few years ago and we haven’t heard anything since.....

Edited by iris123

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I cant help but feel on some levels we are arguing the same point here!

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In certain aspects speedway is on the backfoot anyway. The climate for Motorsport in a lot of countries is somewhat negative now, more than ever. In the traditional countries you tend to be fighting against other sports that have far better support nowadays anyway. Football is king. Even here in Germany there has been growing interest for other sports, quite strangely really as I am not sure there is a great marketing strategy. But darts and rugby seem to be growing 

You could say new countries should be open to the sport. Spain for instance. And the Middle East and Asia for sure. But nothing much has come out of any venture

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13 minutes ago, iris123 said:

You could say new countries should be open to the sport. Spain for instance. And the Middle East and Asia for sure. But nothing much has come out of any venture

I'd love to know what work has been done in these areas.

Of course, it's very easy for me and others to say "they should be doing this and that" and there may well be perfectly good reasons why the SGP hasn't broken new markets. I don't doubt some efforts have been made. But on the face of it, I would think a place like Qatar where they don't mind losing money on sports events and have a herd of white elephant stadiums-to-be hosting the 2022 World Cup would be an obvious port of call.

Ditto, somewhere like Majorca or Malaga; very reachable for all budget airlines and in a country where the locals like bike racing, decent football stadiums that might be convertable? Surely worth a go?Or Ireland? There's an established scene of bike racing and an international series like the SGP could be welcomed. Who wouldn't fancy a Dublin GP?

Or can we even piggy back on the Superbike or MotoGP calendar and offer a Saturday night SGP in the same city as the Sunday's road racing? Happy to shot down on all these of course, but it would be good to know that all avenues are being explored.

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