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sommelier

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Posts posted by sommelier

  4. Posted

    11 hours ago, John Scrutton said:

     Its grate to see Robert doing so well in Poland and winning against G/P riders But a lot  looks like his bikes are getting the power which has been a handicap for several times. who is doing his motors in Poland as it must be someone from either Poland or perhaps Germany. 

    Flemming Graversen

  11. Posted

    7 minutes ago, acef said:

    Bewley will be fine. He’s a level down from Robert and Tai. The point he scored yesterday, Craig would never have done that. He’d never have passed anyone once at the back.

    I was actually pretty positive about his speed yesterday. He just needs to grow a pair of bollox. 
     

    Rob there with a great example on Vaculik. Moved him over bend 2, Martin not happy but that’s speedway.

    I thought Dan did ok yesterday in his last 2 rides 

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    2 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

    Your right he had;).Wonder what the decision would have been if the Stadium had been packed with fans or a GP.Considering the rain had stopped it would have probably went ahead.Polish Promoters dont like riders who give them grief.

    Probably the same has the first GP in Warsaw, canceled, unfit track, just like last night -_- 

  15. Posted

    10 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

    Yes I have, I got one in my workshop and I’ve got a long stroke GM from 15 years ago and I’ve got a weslake and a 2 valve Jawa and have ridden them all, the modern engine in fine if the conditions are good but when they are not which in our sport is quite often, more adaptable engines could be used in the sport, everyone knows this even the modern superstars but nobody will do anything about it, calling of meetings is doing and has done the sport no favours at all, apart from expense absolutely nothing has been gained by the evolution of the engine we have today, racing is no better or worse than years ago but the balance of engine/rider has changed dramatically especially on bigger tracks and all that has done is push the cost up 

    Push the cost up ? A brand new GM is only £5500, how reasonable is that in Motor Racing terms.  

  16. Posted

    3 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

    Rider safety comes first is a contradiction in itself ,if it came first then the sport would make riders use a more adaptable engine, the engine used today is power and nothing else, safety doesn’t even come into it ,speedway is dangerous, if you don’t like it don’t ride 

    I take it you have ridden a modern engine that revs to 13500 RPM! GM & Jawa build, develop engines for the modern tracks, ie Sweden Poland big smooth wide open bends. under NORMAL conditions the engines work fine. These are not 2 valve Jawa's or even 1975 Weslakes!!!

  17. Posted

    9 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

    With everything that’s going on in the world and it’s been a while since I’ve seen any speedway I kind of forgot how much some modern riders are prima donnas where there is a bit of rain around 

    To be fair, these modern engines that rev to the heavens and if a track is unpredictable it could be very dangerous. lets be honest, riders safety comes first 

  21. Posted

    Shock Horror, I have never waited in anticipation for the Star to be delivered. I ripped it off the postman hands eagerly opening it that I thought  there will be at least a two page spread on Kenny Carter. To me dis-believe absolutely nothing. One word some's my feelings up UNBELIEVEABLE  

  22. Posted

    11 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

    So help a rider out to make his way in the sport or put it into a money pit of the club...though can see it might (?) make the difference between the club surviving or not if a large amount of sponsorship is paid.

    I agree with you putting money in to the club, but what did clubs do with the money Sky put in ?

  23. Posted

    29 minutes ago, mikebv said:

    These numbers do really suggest the time has to be right for 'one make' standardised engine leagues doesnt it?

    The generosity of the sponsors is incredible but wouldn't all this sponsorship going to the clubs rather than individual riders help the sport overall in the UK?

    Seven riders all bringing in an average £70k between them would get a good few standard machines and leave money for spare parts and a mechanic to collectively look after them. And maybe enough to rent a club van to take all machines to the race meets?

    Riders could then be salaried, with payments reflecting their position in the team, but with the obvious lack of money being needed to pay for their kit which must make up a significant part of their remuneration package now..

    All bikes to have their own passport showing photos, serial numbers etc. And any changes needing authorisation from the governing body, all logged, all with visual evidence and all signed off each meeting by the machine examiner that it all tallies with their records..

    Similar to the way F1 shoehorns an individual sport into a team framework. With drivers often paying for their ride by bringing in team sponsorship and then they get paid a 'wage' to drive, and any changes to engines etc must get authorisation..

    At the moment it does seem to be a race to no where given one rider will buy one top of the range piece of kit, so the others will also buy it to keep up, meaning nobody has actually moved forward,  but in fact are all actually back to square one.

    The only thing therefore moving forwards are the costs collectively across the board, with seemingly no extra punters coming through the door to pay for them..

    There must be hundreds of thousands of pounds given to individual riders in the UK by generous backers each year, so maybe it could deliver a better long term return for the sport, and obviously the riders, if it was used more collectively to pay the sports race meet costs and be used for marketing the sport nationally?

    But GM engine is basically standard, example Peter Johns only builds one type of engine & that's GP standard for around £5.500 & lets be honest in motor sports that's very cheap. 

    Maybe it could be bought even cheaper in Poland of say Ash-Tech or Ryszard Kowalski as based in Poland, labour & overheads much lower  

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    13 minutes ago, phillwhitewasmad said:

    Costs are high at any level. During the winter I built my son a brand new 250 bike every part unused and cost in excess of 7k. Gm engine was over 4K and proceed to destroy itself after 25 laps. Only way to reduce cost is to get lower prices from suppliers, that won’t happen though as the demand isn’t great 

    I honestly feel for you spending the amount you have & then having the engine let go

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    10 minutes ago, Richard Weston said:

    Thanks for that information. Any chance you can give some examples. I had no idea that costs were like this.

    if you go on to Joe Hughes web site, it will give you a idea just how expensive items are.

    I do a lot of Polish league meetings, the likes of Bartosz Smektala even at his age, the team & equipment he has is just mind blowing!!

    • Like 1
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