Wildcards 2022

[iris123 20,972]

9 minutes ago, chunky said:

A World Championship SHOULD feature the best competitors in the World. The US Open is just that - an "open event".

As with many other sports (like darts, the World Cup, and many others), the speedway World Championship is a much smaller field, supposedly featuring the elite. As long as there are opportunities to qualify for the World Championship, that's fine. If the same names keep qualifying (and qualify on merit) then the others have to work harder and up their game.

The World Championship is not - and should not be - a line-up chosen by the fans.

Maybe, maybe not

The ice speedway world championships has become more and more limited in that respect as the majority of the worlds best riders belong to one country, Russia. So limits are put on the number of Russians, to keep it a ‘world’ championship, in the sense that they want to keep as much of the world involved and interested and financially active

The Football world finals also limit the amount of countries from the strongest continent (s) to give the rest of the world the chance to participate

There are some merits in this 

[chunky 6,091]

14 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Maybe, maybe not

The ice speedway world championships has become more and more limited in that respect as the majority of the worlds best riders belong to one country, Russia. So limits are put on the number of Russians, to keep it a ‘world’ championship, in the sense that they want to keep as much of the world involved and interested and financially active

The Football world finals also limit the amount of countries from the strongest continent (s) to give the rest of the world the chance to participate

There are some merits in this 

These days, everyone wants to be more "inclusive", but when you cease to reward ability and achievement, then you have a problem.

Personally, I don't think that Kubera gatting a spot would have been a problem, but as I said, it's not like there are that many likely candidates in speedway.

[Triple.H. 1,985]

4 hours ago, False dawn said:

For me, that makes sense if the latter stages of the GP qualification system took place after the GP series had finished.

How about this. The primary qualification could take place alongside the GP series with no current GP riders involved. This could result in the top 9 going through to be joined by the bottom 7 from the current series after the last GP. These 16 would then compete in the GP Challenge (what a meeting!). The top 6 from this go through to be joined by 1 wildcard.

You can argue about the numbers but the philosophy of how riders would qualify, for me, would be very fair. The also rans from this year get a last chance and a significant number of new riders get an opportunity as well.

And as a real bonus you don't get any current GP riders, qualifying for next year half way through this year's series (with the possible exception of the SEC champion).

I've been saying more or less the same for years GP Challenge after the last GP, under the new points system where its all about qualifying for the Semi's you have riders in the mix who won't go for that gap as they don't need to as they've already qualified for the following season.

[OveFundinFan 4,141]

3 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

No she didn't but the point was she is not in the top 15 in the world and maybe not even the top 50-75.  Other posters want the speedway world title decided by limiting it to the top 15 in the world the previous year.  So, with other sports someone can breakthrough and capture the imagination of both the public and media but this is not possible with speedway because it's based on last year and little change in competitors. 

Potentially there could be 4 newcomers each year, 3 from GP Challenge and 1 as Euro Champ, that is more then 25% of the field.  I am happy with the current system which takes top 6 auto for next year and selectors pick 5, which potentially could be 5 newcomers through to 5 from the current year who are still of the right quality, and anything in between those extremes. Very flexible, I am ok with it.

Edited October 5, 2021 by OveFundinFan

[szkocjasid 3,020]

On 10/3/2021 at 10:26 PM, SPEEDY69 said:

I'd agree wirth Smolinski, he qualified for the series but couldn't take his place due to injury. Others have had multiple seasons in the 'also ran' category. 

Smolinski didn't actually qualify for the GPs, he was due to replace Hancock when he retired, but got injured & missed out!

Edited October 6, 2021 by szkocjasid

[iainb 4,999]

19 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

anyone remember Eddie the Eagle . 

Going by that theory you or I should have a place in the GP series 

22 hours ago, False dawn said:

You've got to feel for Dominik Kubera. 3 GPs, 3 semis, 2 finals and 2 podiums. At the same rate of scoring over 11 GPs he would have finished with 161 points placing him 3rd ahead of Emil in the overall standings.

I know statistics can be misleading but if it had been me, I'd have lost my birth certificate 

Both of his podiums came on his home track, yes for a wildcard in Poland, no for a wildcard for the whole series imo

[SPEEDY69 1,253]

17 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Smolinski didn't actually qualify for the GPs, he was due to replace Hancock when he retired, but got injured & missed out!

I thought the rules were that if anyone dropped out, for whatever reason, the next in line from the challenge takes their place?  That was the case and therefore, by definition he qualified to be in the series the following year. 

I've said what I think about the field and my view that there will continue to be little media attention and therefore growth.  I cannot change that so will continue to watch from afar and follow team speedway in the UK.  The GPs have never really grabbed my attention like the World Finals previously and whilst I have been to Cardiff a few times I was never really that interested in who won.

[OveFundinFan 4,141]

1 hour ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I thought the rules were that if anyone dropped out, for whatever reason, the next in line from the challenge takes their place?  That was the case and therefore, by definition he qualified to be in the series the following year. 

I've said what I think about the field and my view that there will continue to be little media attention and therefore growth.  I cannot change that so will continue to watch from afar and follow team speedway in the UK.  The GPs have never really grabbed my attention like the World Finals previously and whilst I have been to Cardiff a few times I was never really that interested in who won.

For a few years now they have had a reserved list of about six named riders. This covers for injury during the year, or as it was when Greg retired before the season start Smolinski got the ride as he was top of the series reserves.

[customhouseregular 1,651]

All the world’s top riders compete in Poland and/or Sweden. Scrap automatic qualifying, GP Challenge, wild cards etc. and take the top16 by  race points average from one season to make up the field for next season’s GP series. That way you get the world’s top 16 on current form. I never understood the host track wild card rule. Terenzano has a capacity of 4,000. Why include a no-hoper Italian in the hope to boosting attendance. If a venue can’t attract 4,000 they should not be staging a GP.

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,734]

Agree with round wildcards, stop letting the host pick one, FIM/discovery should be handing them out to riders who they view would either be best on that track to mix with the other 15, or who they think deserves a chance, with a view of a permanent wildcard the following year, fair enough with home track specialists in the Polish gps and stuff, but for example, the first gp next season is Gorican, do we really need to watch Jurica Pavlic? 

[arnieg 3,637]

2 minutes ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Agree with round wildcards, stop letting the host pick one, FIM/discovery should be handing them out to riders who they view would either be best on that track to mix with the other 15, or who they think deserves a chance, with a view of a permanent wildcard the following year, fair enough with home track specialists in the Polish gps and stuff, but for example, the first gp next season is Gorican, do we really need to watch Jurica Pavlic? 

Pavlic has retired, but that raises an interesting question, who will be the Gorican wildcard? 

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,734]

7 minutes ago, arnieg said:

Pavlic has retired, but that raises an interesting question, who will be the Gorican wildcard? 

I’m the discovery press release they stated local wildcards for the rounds, but I mean… who

[Grand Central 2,654]

It's difficult to argue against local wildcards when you get a star like Kubera turning up. But he is the real exception. And in the end, for all his efforts, it got him nowhere in regards of a permanent place. Because he is Polish.

Most of the time they don't add anything to the meeting, they definitely don't add anything to the championship. And they rarely add to the the crowd as Most GPs are held in countries who already have permanent representation. Just dead space in the year long programme.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Grand Central

[Rob B 1,256]

Reserves :

SR1. Jack Holder (Australia)

SR2. Dan Bewley (Great Britain)

SR3. Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia)

SR4. Jakub Miskowiak (Poland)

SR5. Mads Hansen (Denmark)

SR6. Luke Becker (USA)

SR7. David Bellego (France)

[racers and royals 8,723]

1 minute ago, Grand Central said:

It's difficult to argue against local wildcards when you get a star like Kubera turning up. But he is the real exception. And in the end, for all his efforts, it got him nowhere in regards of a permanent place. Because he is Polish.

Most of the time they don't add anything to the meeting, they definitely don't add anything to the championship and they rarely, add to the the crowd. Just dead space in the year long programme.

They do not rarely add to the crowd when GP’s have been held at venue’s where they don’t have a rider in the ‘15’- such as previously Gorican,NZ, Norway, Finland etc etc- then it makes a big difference