Elite League Pairs 08/08

[Guest Ashie Smashy]

Pretty good meeting for us neutrals, only spoiled by the idiot I am not allowed to mention any more. The whole meeting showed that the art of team racing is dead, to all but a few riders anymore. Those that did team ride well, are the ones that went on to win.

 

I have to say, I do agree with Pearson and Tatum, I would love to see a World Pairs meeting, prefer it much more to the 4TT SWC which is still pretty much individual speedway to a degree.

 

Something else that impressed me last night was Eddie Kennett laying it down to avoid Leigh, that was one of the best bits of fast thinking laying down I have seen in a long time. Leigh owes you a big drink Eddie.

 

Gretat meeting.

 

FORMAT - That really needs looking at. This is all about not coming last and team riding ! ...... So had say Ipswich team rode in 2nd and 3rd place in each of their 4 qualifying heats, they would have svored 20 points .... not enough to make the semi finals.

 

 

I agree, but there were 2 or 3 races where the leader would slow the entire field down to allow his teammate at the back to try and move up, this then led to challenges for the lead. So in actual fact it worked really well. The only thing I would say is that this format requires a racing track, I would love to see this at Cov or Peterborough next season.

 

The commentary did annoy the hell out of me though and it bordered on disrespectful at times towards the Belle Vue boys. Yes we were understrength Nigel - very nice of you to force it down our throats every time the boys are on track and profess that the team against us "must surely be looking for maximum points from this one" I hope he felt very stupid when Morten beat Holder!!!

 

 

Don't worry Jenn, our Nige has a thing for Holder this season, much like he did for Woffy last season and Harris the season before. Sadly for Holder, a rider I quite like, that does not bode well for his form next season.

[Midland Red 2,383]

Congrats to Poole on winning a very enjoyable meeting

Respects to Bob Dugard on track preparation before and during the meeting

Respects too to Eddie Kennett for laying down behind the fallen Leigh Adams

And to Bomber - unbeaten by an opponent on the track all night!

[manchesterpaul 447]

This really needs cutting down to 8 teams (Belle Vue would have been the odd one out last night - sorry Aces fans). Then you draw two groups of four, all riding against each other with the top two from each group going through to the final.

 

There can be no doubt that it is inherently unfair and makes a key difference when all teams don't race each other. This time the 7-2's were available courtesy of Belle Vue. Quite often there will not only be a team a clear margin weaker than the others but a couple stronger. Therefore leaving a pretty poor system in place if some teams not only get to race the weaker teams but also avoid the stronger ones.

 

I know the idea was to allow every track to be represented - purely commercial to squeeze out every fan they could (however the roads from Manchester were unsurprisingly clear bearing in mind we had no chance of success would only see 4 races with the 'team' in it). But why should the Pairs be different to all other tournaments in this aspect?. Most sporting tournaments, including speedway, have a qualification threshold at some point in the structure. When the inclusion of all teams is so severely detrimental to the sporting contest it isn't right. What happens when speedway recovers and we have 16 teams in the Elite? do they all participate in the final and and end up having 1 qualifying heat to get to the semi-finals.

Edited August 9, 2009 by manchesterpaul

[gary moore 35]

I agree, but there were 2 or 3 races where the leader would slow the entire field down to allow his teammate at the back to try and move up, this then led to challenges for the lead. So in actual fact it worked really well. The only thing I would say is that this format requires a racing track, I would love to see this at Cov or Peterborough next season.

 

The last time I saw that happening on a regular basis was when Crump was our no1!! He used to let Rene Madsen go in front and slow the race down to allow Rene to win pure class!!!