mikegum 0 Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) Get the team together the week before, track is slick, ridiculous running order - all valid comments to be fair, but the truth is that neither riders nor equipment are good enough! Bar Cardiff - where even then Nicholls was found out again in the final - the GB riders in the GP have been light years behind the rest. I think the promotors to a degree get some unfair stick on this point. Financially it is very difficult to keep a modern day speedway team in profit. We the punters want the best racing we can for our £ and going back to the above that cannot include - at present - a substantial number of home riders. If we are all happy to watch a lesser standard of primarily GB riders - slower, but perhaps closer? - standard of racing for a few years then maybe we could be a force again. Anyone care to place a bet on that happening though? The thing is though we are already seeing a lesser standard of racing, almost every reserve in the Elite league makes a mockery of the word...at Swindon for example, we've seen a popular British rider in Andy Moore replaced by a Dutchman who couldn't hold down a Premier league last season who is then replaced by....an Austrian! The premier league doesn't appear to be in much better shape either & everyone I speak to tells me the conference league is on the verge of collapse? There is no instant solution but we need a medium term blueprint that includes things like...a National 'coach', a team 'GBR' similar to the Danes and Swedes backed by a major fund raising/sponsorhip effort that leverages the Sky contract & provides support to fast-track our youngsters, a focus on more junior tracks, all tracks above conference level running junior teams, some careful deliberation on team structures to prioritise home based riders etc, etc. Edited July 15, 2008 by mikegum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Subedei 0 Posted July 15, 2008 no your almost there,but the point is,scott IS a winner,5 british titles prove this,however he is only a winner in his class,and his class is light years away from the worlds elite,who gollob and hancock aside are all danish,australian or swedish. It all comes back to the entitlement culture. Every year when I've said that the global superstar doesn't deserve to be in the GPs if he doesn't qualify on merit, everyone here is up in arms and declaring that as Britain's No 1 he has a right to be in them. And that Britain has a right to have two riders in the GP circus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest chris26 Posted July 15, 2008 Man, looking at that just brings it home, doesn't it? Scott scored only a third of what he scored last year, Bomber less than half, Steady only a fifth... that's woeful. erm, half of 14 is 7, Bomber scored 8.5 last evening... 8.5 is more than 7, meaning more than half Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
21st century heathen 220 Posted July 15, 2008 It is pretty interesting. Someone said the reason why GB didnt perform better yesterday was 38.85 which made EL to poorer league than before. But none of DK and Aus have a good league and still it comes tonnes of good riders from these two countries. I am not sure if it does matter, but during the 80s DK was a supernation in speedway. 20 years later all the riders who got inspired of Hans, Erik and Jan O are on the track, knowing that riders from DK are winners. In the 90s the Swedes were very good in speedway with plenty of good riders like Tony, PK, Henka, Per Jonsson, Jimmy Nielsen. 15 years later Sweden have plenty of good riders in the age of 16-27, like AJ, Lindgren, Davidsson, Antonio, Billy, THJ, Ljung etc. Even if Sweden isnt as good as the danes they know how to win. No offence towards british speedway but Scott Nicholls isnt a winner, and I am not sure if he can inspire people to perform better than their ability. When he got the chance to win GP i Cardiff he T/T. When he after a fantastic performance in Prag 2004 or 2005 ended up with 14p after 20 heats, hade the chance to get his first victory in GP but his start in the semi was miserable and the evening ended up outside the final. So I dont think the league is the problem. The problem is the abscent of winners in the team. When GB will get a rider who actually can compete with the best riders over a long time, GB will get paid in the long term. Am I totally lost? Good post. I agree with hatcham though. Scotty can be a winner, and I'm not sure what's been missing in the GP's. A few chances to win one have come and gone. He screwed up the U21's all those years ago as well. Yet, he's a mutli-time British Champion, and has an average consistantly between 9 and 10 in the British League. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Subedei 0 Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) Good post. I agree with hatcham though. Scotty can be a winner, and I'm not sure what's been missing in the GP's. A few chances to win one have come and gone. He screwed up the U21's all those years ago as well. Yet, he's a mutli-time British Champion, and has an average consistantly between 9 and 10 in the British League. He's had it all too easy. Edited July 15, 2008 by Subedei Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leanne1706 0 Posted July 15, 2008 erm, half of 14 is 7, Bomber scored 8.5 last evening... 8.5 is more than 7, meaning more than half Ok, I got one wrong, but you get my drift. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikegum 0 Posted July 15, 2008 It is pretty interesting. Someone said the reason why GB didnt perform better yesterday was 38.85 which made EL to poorer league than before. But none of DK and Aus have a good league and still it comes tonnes of good riders from these two countries. I am not sure if it does matter, but during the 80s DK was a supernation in speedway. 20 years later all the riders who got inspired of Hans, Erik and Jan O are on the track, knowing that riders from DK are winners. In the 90s the Swedes were very good in speedway with plenty of good riders like Tony, PK, Henka, Per Jonsson, Jimmy Nielsen. 15 years later Sweden have plenty of good riders in the age of 16-27, like AJ, Lindgren, Davidsson, Antonio, Billy, THJ, Ljung etc. Even if Sweden isnt as good as the danes they know how to win. No offence towards british speedway but Scott Nicholls isnt a winner, and I am not sure if he can inspire people to perform better than their ability. When he got the chance to win GP i Cardiff he T/T. When he after a fantastic performance in Prag 2004 or 2005 ended up with 14p after 20 heats, hade the chance to get his first victory in GP but his start in the semi was miserable and the evening ended up outside the final. So I dont think the league is the problem. The problem is the abscent of winners in the team. When GB will get a rider who actually can compete with the best riders over a long time, GB will get paid in the long term. Am I totally lost? No I think there is definatley a place for role models to inspire the youngsters, however these countries also put in place good support and training structures, involved the retired senior riders. In addition as soon asthey showed any promise, they got the opportunity to ride elsewhere with British promoters especially falling over themselves to get them in the team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikegum 0 Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) He's had it all too easy. Absolutely Subedei, his number of British titles is a testament to the lack of competition; it wasn't that long ago that riders with 8 point plus league averages were finishing way down the order in British finals, now we're lucky if anyone with an 8 point plus average is actually in the meeting! Edited July 15, 2008 by mikegum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest chris26 Posted July 15, 2008 Ok, I got one wrong, but you get my drift. yes, I hear what you are saying and agree. just pointing out a slight miscalcuation with the arithmetic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hatcham 1 Posted July 15, 2008 Ok, I got one wrong, but you get my drift. dont forget the danes were not in that meeting leanne,and their vastly superior team won 15 of the 25 races last night Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cornishfisherman 10 Posted July 15, 2008 It all comes back to the entitlement culture. Every year when I've said that the global superstar doesn't deserve to be in the GPs if he doesn't qualify on merit, everyone here is up in arms and declaring that as Britain's No 1 he has a right to be in them. And that Britain has a right to have two riders in the GP circus. Don't blame the riders - blame the organisers, they realise that their gates both here and abroad would suffer quite considerably without a British rider or so. Self interest is a phrase that is often thrown at the British Promoters, it appears that it is also applicable to the organisers of the GPs and SWC. It's all about bums on seats old chum! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinmauger 584 Posted July 15, 2008 Cr*p have we been, shafted are we. Hope Team Brit make the final if only to give the likes of Wuffie a ride out. Though the good ol' USA were eliminated ages ago, anyone know why Hamill & Herbie didn't ride?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leanne1706 0 Posted July 15, 2008 dont forget the danes were not in that meeting leanne,and their vastly superior team won 15 of the 25 races last night Yes, yes, I can see that - BUT, my point is looking at last year's scores compared to this year just brings home how cr@p we were! Regardless of who our opposition were, I expected more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Subedei 0 Posted July 15, 2008 Don't blame the riders - blame the organisers, they realise that their gates both here and abroad would suffer quite considerably without a British rider or so. Self interest is a phrase that is often thrown at the British Promoters, it appears that it is also applicable to the organisers of the GPs and SWC. It's all about bums on seats old chum! But everyone seemed to think British speedway was being done a favour. John Postlethwaite could barely wait to get himself onto Sky Sports during the Elite League final to tell a grateful British public that he was awarding the global superstar and some other duffer free places in the GPs after another season of failure. And then everyone rushed on here to say how just and right it was that the global superstar was going to get another go. He's had over sixty GPs now and still hasn't won one. But, come the end of the GP series, if he's out of the top eight I guarantee you that this forum will be full of people saying he deserves to be in the GPs. It isn't doing the sport a favour. It just means that British riders don't have to achieve, so they don't. Look at Hans Andersen. Kicked out of the GPs but came back stronger. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebrum 6,826 Posted July 15, 2008 Fair enough, but Olly is our best bet at the moment (I'd out him in Thurs as well). Tai is one for the future, no doubt. If olly is the best we have at the moment then its no wonder we are ad poor as we are. Hes done nothing to prove he has any credentials to be considered. Other than it was at Cov. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
