London Witch 57 Posted October 25, 2005 Am I the only one who wants to see the best 16 riders in a GP? Its not a case of I want this rider because I like him more than that rider even if he's not as good ! Or that rider allegedly cheated over 15 months ago and we have to ensure he spends the rest of his life paying for it! Jeez, grow up! This series needs to be sorted out big time. Why on earth do only 8 riders have to qualify? A maximum of 2 wild cards is enough...after this year Jarek Hampel imo is the only rider who justifiably gets a place for 2006. Bring back a different version of the GP challenge, run it mid to late September after the series has finished, include the 8 non qualifiers and choose 8 wild cards for this meeting on merit. Or is that too sensible! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Snackette 190 Posted October 25, 2005 I don't think for one second that anyone would suggest that Richardson deserves his place on merit, but it's just a commercial fact of life. Accepting that this is business, and one needs to take this into account the decision to axe Andersen was logical. There is a need to freshen up the series. To bring in Iversen or Bjerre is a positive move and it's what the Danes wanted. In real terms Zagar replaces Flying Ryan, Pepe replaces Tomasz Chrzanowski, and a young Dane replaces a slightly older one. Andersen has only one person to blame for his non inclusion and that's himself. Had he finished in the Top 8 he would have qualified as of right, but he didn't of course, and he finished 12th. So for him to say that he meets the criteria, is clearly wrong. The fact that he may on paper be regarded as a better rider than those nominated is irrelevant. As he finished outside the Top 8 he failed to qualify, and therefore his destiny was now in the hands of others. If they choose to freshen it up then good on 'em. As an aside it's interesting to note that Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson the no hope Brits who turned out for their clubs the Thursday before the Bydgoszcz GP, have been included. Perhaps loyalty in the end does earn it's reward!!! I'm glad that the debate is continuing on this Forum as over on the Witches Forum we have told to move on, as we ( and me in particular) appear "stuck into the groove". I certainly don't want to fall foul of the new "Trolley Bus" regs!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rabbit 1 Posted October 25, 2005 Am I the only one who wants to see the best 16 riders in a GP? Its not a case of I want this rider because I like him more than that rider even if he's not as good ! Or that rider allegedly cheated over 15 months ago and we have to ensure he spends the rest of his life paying for it! Jeez, grow up! This series needs to be sorted out big time. Why on earth do only 8 riders have to qualify? A maximum of 2 wild cards is enough...after this year Jarek Hampel imo is the only rider who justifiably gets a place for 2006. Bring back a different version of the GP challenge, run it mid to late September after the series has finished, include the 8 non qualifiers and choose 8 wild cards for this meeting on merit. Or is that too sensible! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Far too sensible LW. And I couldn't agree more. Think the GP is nowhere near a representation of the world's top 16 riders whilst the likes of Peter Karlsson, Holta and now Hans sit it out. Sporting politics and commercialism have taken over I'm afraid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Jasper 192 Posted October 25, 2005 Hey ho, intersting point about the GP challenge though, run it along the same lines as the gp, very good idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Snackette 190 Posted October 25, 2005 .............Think the GP is nowhere near a representation of the world's top 16 riders whilst the likes of Peter Karlsson, Holta and now Hans sit it out..............<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Whilst I would concede that the Pre GP World Championship, at least provided the opportunity for any rider to be crowned world champ, it was rarity, if ever, that the Final itself had the best 16 riders on show. Certainly the talk of reintroducing the GP Challenge should be encouraged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rabbit 1 Posted October 25, 2005 I'd agree Mr S but the great thing about the GPs was that it could, if done correctly have the top 16 on show by putting the top guys in and not basing the wildcards on commercial decisions and whose face fits. Once you start making selections that way, as we've seen, someone deserving misses out and those being ushered in raise question marks. If you had to name a line-up of the world's top 16 riders I wonder how different it would look to that named for the series next year. i can think of at least 3 or 4 changes to start with! And yes, the GP Challenge should be back. No question about it. And make the national championships something worth being in with qualification through that route as it used to be. Whilst I've no wish to go back to the old one-off world final, there were some good points about the qualification system as long as everyone starts from the lower rounds and we didn't end up with a situation that kept seeing Andy Smith back in year after year simply because he only needed to put together 3 decent rides in the challenge! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crump99 4,476 Posted October 25, 2005 but i must agree that he deserves to get the nod in front of all 3 of these last wild card selections. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd say Hans should be in above all the nominated apart from Nicholls Speedway GP, F1, Moto Gp, WSB etc are all about internal politics and not the best at the job Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 1 Posted October 25, 2005 So for him to say that he meets the criteria, is clearly wrong. The fact that he may on paper be regarded as a better rider than those nominated is irrelevant. As he finished outside the Top 8 he failed to qualify, and therefore his destiny was now in the hands of others. If they choose to freshen it up then good on 'em. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I thought the world championship was supposed to be contested by the best fit and available riders? This is a complete farce of a selection process. If they wanted to freshen up the process, the only way to do it is for ALL places to be contested in qualification meetings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racer X 0 Posted October 25, 2005 I thought the world championship was supposed to be contested by the best fit and available riders? This is a complete farce of a selection process. If they wanted to freshen up the process, the only way to do it is for ALL places to be contested in qualification meetings. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> An off night in a qualifying round could feasibly deprive the GPs of a Crump, Rickardsson or Pedersen - would anyone really want that? The qualifying rounds staged in the past have also thrown up some strange names (stranger than Protasiewicz I would argue!)- what a stink there would have been last year if BSI had nominated Tomasz Chrzanowski - so these sort of round are not some sort of magical panacea people seem to think they are. Also I see folks are noe suggesting some sort of GP challenge meeting be held in September - so the most important meeting of the year around the time of the play offs? Think on there, I would suggest.....although I would think this is favourite to return but it could have serious implications for the EL... The selection process in not ideal but a knock out / qualification method also has its drawbacks and should not apply to the top 8 or so riders in the competition in my view. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
orion 7,615 Posted October 25, 2005 Quite funny for all the rights and wrongs every fan thinks that you should have a chance to race for the right to get into the gp everyone in fact bar the saps who run the show . Speedway has never been run by anyone with any common sense hence why it can't get any new fans Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2ndbendbeerhut 1,781 Posted October 25, 2005 What with the last wildcard entries being announced, anyone know who the "reserves" are? eg if any of the riders cannot take their places Karl ps As Tony Rickardsson is quitting at the end of 2006, what happens about his place(assuming a top 8 place is possible ) Will the 9th place get in, or could Tony choose instead? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blazeaway 1,501 Posted October 25, 2005 How big a shot in the arm would every club have had last season off the back of a SWC success? How much more exposure, turnover and crowd numbers might we all have enjoyed? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> About as much as when Mark won the world championsip ZERO! Would't make any difference to the mass media if we won the WTC three years running Speedways face just don't fit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,260 Posted October 25, 2005 People will never agree on who are the best 16 riders in the world - is that for that year or previous years, or in Championship events, or leagues? In my view Iversen was selected ahead of Andersen because he beat Andersen fair and square in the Danish Final. No one can deny that Richardson had a great World Cup, and reached one GP final. The only fair system for the riders is qualification rounds but that would be too unpredictable for the GP organisers e.g. If it wasn't held in Poland then Gollob might not get in, or Rickardsson may suffer a couple of EF's & be eliminated. Still, this was how the old World Champs used to be. I was also quite surprised that Lindback got a place (but that's just based on his very poor performances at Ipswich and some of the GPs this year). We can debate all we like but the GP series is a commercial venture and they have the power to decide some of the competitors for whatever reasons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King Jamie 356 Posted October 25, 2005 poor Hans he should never have dropped the N from his name Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 1 Posted October 25, 2005 (edited) An off night in a qualifying round could feasibly deprive the GPs of a Crump, Rickardsson or Pedersen - would anyone really want that? The selection process in not ideal but a knock out / qualification method also has its drawbacks and should not apply to the top 8 or so riders in the competition in my view. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And indeed their GP prospects if they screw up one night. The greater the risks, the greater the tension, the greater the spectacle. Protect the top 8 if you must (I'd restrict it to the top 3 myself), and weight it if you want, but it must be free, fair and open for ANY rider to fight their way through. After all, if Boris Becker had been subject to the GP restrictions, he'd never have won Wimbledon as an unseeded teenager! Edited October 25, 2005 by AndyM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
