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All credit to Doyle for finding the setup as the night went on, but I still feel that the scoring system is....ermm....5hit. 12 race points, 1 race win during the night, but goes home with 18 GP series points.... I realise that the points system is known to all, but it just seems so inferior to recent seasons...I want to watch a meeting where every point counts and every rider is fighting for every point. Tonight we saw a perfect example of where that maybe isn't happening now...Zmarzlik v Woffinden in heat 19. In that race we saw 2 potential title contenders going head to head...Zmarzlik knew that the result was irrelevant to him. He made some effort to put pressure on Woffinden, but he certainly didn't take any risks. Would he have had the same attitude with the scoring system last year? Who knows...Maybe he would have taken more risks for that extra point or maybe he still would have raced safe for 2 points there. I don't know, but I know I watched that race with no excitement because I knew that it meant nothing to Zmarzlik or the World Championship, something that I couldn't have said last year....

Most of us agree about the points system, but we can't keep bleating about it every day. We knew what it was beforehand, so it shouldn't have been any surprise when it started throwing up these anomalies. I'm not sure whether speedway is actually unique in the way we allocate actual race points, and then carry them over to the next stage (semis and final) like we used to. The thing to remember is that the new system tends to fall in line with most other sports; the 20 heats are just used as a system to qualify riders for the semi-finals. The same as qualifying heats in athletic events, or qualifying groups for football events such as World Cup or Champions League. Once you have qualified for the next stage, what you did previously - in order to get there - doesn't matter. Oh wait, isn't that what used to happen in the good old days of the World Final? Everybody was okay with riders scraping through the qualifying rounds, and then having a couple of good races and ending up as World Champion! In fact, we apparently loved the "unpredictability" of the system, but not so much now...

As you say last years scoring system was fine as, every point counted towards your score. Can't get anything simpler. Speedway though always shoots's its self in the foot. The joker to name but one! Still thats what the rules are this year. Next year they will no doubt change it again!!!

I read somewhere, possibly here on the forum, that Lee blew Kenny Carter away in the Golden Helmet at Halifax when Carter was 'the boy' around the Shay....

THJ will probably know someone or something, but might get told off for posting stuff on here.

Which was EXACTLY the way it used to be in the days of the World Final qualification - particularly when you had 11 riders advancing from the Inter-Continental Final. Or 8 advancing from the British semis. Or... The fact is, all this negativity - and accusations of riders "not trying to win" is coming from people who I'm sure have never competed in anything. The vast majority of individuals will ALWAYS go out to win and do their best, certainly at the higher levels. It's called "pride". However, there will ALWAYS be situations where a little common sense and playing it safe will be a better option. That is nothing new, particularly in a dangerous sport like speedway...

It's people like you causing the problem with your scaremongering. Firstly, they haven't tested positive for Covid. They've tested positive for Coronavirus. Something almost every single one of us will have over the winter period. Secondly, the test isn't even accurate. Thirdly, the death rate is now shown to be the same as the flu (and continuing to fall). Finally, if you've ever visited your family at Christmas, you put them in many times more danger than attending an outdoor speedway meeting and I trust given your comments now you will NEVER visit family again either at Christmas or at any time in the winter when it will be far more dangerous, with or without Covid-19.

The more I see, the more at ease I am with the new points system. I wouldn’t say I’m for it or against it, it is what it is. I don’t think it has diminished the on track action one bit. It changes the dynamic a little perhaps but it is still in a rider’s best interest to finish as high up the score chart as possible to secure the best gates for the semi-finals. It also places more emphasis on winning the meeting, which there should be. There was some good racing last night, Doyley coming good was enjoyable to see after a rough start to the GP series too. I’m enjoying two GPs back to back as well.

Viktor Trofimov jr. (alias Wiktor Trofimow in Polish writing) has optained a Polish passport. He was one of the most promising Junior speedway riders at Rivne in the Ukraine, but was signed by one of the big Polish League clubs who organised for him to get a Polish passport, so that he could ride for them as a Polish junior. Similar story as what Sparta Wroclaw did this year with the Russian junior rider Gleb Chugunov. His grandfather Viktor Trofimov sr. rode as a Soviet Union (USSR) rider. His father Vladimir Trofimov also rode as a Soviet/USSR rider until 1991 and then after the break-up of the USSR as an Ukrainian. Viktor Trofimov jr. first rode as an Ukrainian until about two or three years ago, when he obtained a Polish passport and since then rides as Wiktor Trofimow jr. for Poland.

OK. Thanks to invaluable Christian Weber I have now the full results. As iris mentioned Continental Final was held in Oberhausen and yeah, that was the one with crash of Dirtl and Kamper There were also two semifnals: in Warsaw and in Crikvenica. But the system of qualification was really weird. From Warsaw advanced 7 riders (though, some of them were replaced by other riders in the Final) and according to Christian from Crikvenica qualified only a winner - one of the Sidlo brothers, although he didn't appear at Oberhausen oval. 8 riders, including Kjell Carlsson (nominated by SVEMO) were seeded directy to Continental Final. BTW. Ridiculous case of Pole Janusz Suchecki. He advanced from Warsaw, but soon had been suspended for smuggling ... fork, pencil and cigarette case and some parts of watch... and he wasn't able to participate in Oberhausen. The bizarre end of that story is that after retiring he started a career in notorious Polish police and he was a colonel when retired from the service...

Scardey cats. Just because you get it doesn't mean it's a death threat! What, maybe 1.5% of people might, but that's hardly any different' to flu which you expose yourself to everyday without this reaction.

Seeing the direction conversation is I'll tell you one thing. If I get tickets I'm certainly going to feel a hell of alot safer in a 12000 capacity open air stadium than I do in my local Tesco or Aldi, far less risk!

Between us in our household we have been to lots of places - The Crystal Maze Experience Warwick Castle Alton Towers Chessington Thorpe Park Legoland Sea Life Centre Music Lessons Have been working in the office and at school all through too Life is for living and we need to start getting on with it ASAP

The problem these days - and we know that it applies to everything, not just speedway - is that we have to "rebrand" everything. New titles, abbreviations, descriptions, rules, colours etc, just to make things appear "cool"...

But. one rider winning one race compared to another winning six races and only a two point difference at the end of the night is not flawed in your opinion? It's beed said the new scoring system was to bring into line with other motor sports but, FI has one race per GP, Moto GP has two, Superbikes has two. Speedway has 23 races per GP!! How is that in line with the other major motor sports?

Jonas Jeppeson over 6 this afternoon

Gdansk v Bydgoszcz teams confirmed.

Doyle proved he can still do it. That's the thing, while people still think it's all about Zmarzlik, on their day, there are a bunch of riders who are proving that they can ride at that level - and that's only over three meetings so far!

Vaculik has been very disappointing for me,considering how he started the season.

Bloody hell, I didn't know the coppers pinched you off-road.

Nicola Sturgeon (Nippy Sweetie, apparently, is a Scottish term for someone, usually female, who annoys people, just by talking).

I will thanks I'd rather die living than live dying

I get the sentiment but surely if they aren't legal then the results should be expunged? When does sentiment rule over legality in sport or life in general? I guess it makes tonight even more interesting to see how those two riders fare

I recall a Golden Helmet Challenge at Eastbourne against Gordon Kennett and Michael failed to put in an appearance and Gordon won by default. Massive talent as Lee was he was also his own worse enemy.

Nippy Sweetie and her cohorts rules