Has Sky Had Enough Of The Gp

[robolots 35]

The question starting this Thread was: Has Sky Had Enough Of The Gp

 

I don't know about SKY - but I have. It is VERY boring and so predictable.

 

I agree too with the 'Saint' who stated: "Total dross = Ole Olsen's idea of speedway".

 

Slick Tracks, No Dirt, No overtaking and most Races won from the Gate - Says it all really.

 

They don't want dirt on the tracks as it covers the sponsors to easily when it sticks to riders/fence etc

[emerald tyke 49]

They don't want dirt on the tracks as it covers the sponsors to easily when it sticks to riders/fence etc

 

If they don't start providing a RACING track we won't have a sport to either sponsor or televise!!.....maybe all riders could start tightening sprocket, clutch etc before the race to get their sponsors name seen before the race ( as 'Grin' and Gollob seems to have perfected!!), as surely their leathers/kevs are wiped off between races!! and can't the track staff tear off a banner trackside each time they become unreadable. Doesn't seem to be too much to ask and all so WE as supporters of this great sport could have some RACING to actually watch!!

[GregM 0]

Yip, have to agree, GP's are gash at the moment. Gate and go nonsense, that no matter how much the sky crew sugar coat it, we can all clearly see the racing is poor.

 

I used to love coming in from work on a Sat and watching the gp, now it doesnt bother me if I miss it.

 

Do you think people at sky/fim read these forums in order to see what the fans think?

[rabbit 1]

I don't expect the people at Sky need to - their viewing figures probably tell them exactly what they need to know. And I can't see the numbers being that great in the series this year.

[spook 28]

maybe this is a tactic to get Virgin customers to switch to SKY? Virgin are about to steal an enormous march on their competitors as the broadband speeds they provide as standard become alarmingly faster than anything that anyone else can provide.......Under these terms I would fully expect a dirty fight to be waged where things like speedway would be caught in the crossfire

 

either that or like some of you are saying Ole is killing world class speedway and this is just one of many side effects...................... as it is, even when he does move on, the years of slick tracks will have made the GP field gating tart heavy and we probably wont be able to get back to a smattering of Lorams and Bombers in the field for some years

[Ron Butler 0]

Can't speak for Sky , but i'm certainly bored with it .

 

I lost interest in the GP circus some time ago Paul but I chickened out of posting my feelings on here. Many, I felt, would consider it a form of sacrilege to do so!

 

You, my friend, are of sterner stuff; must be the highland blood coursing through your veins.

 

 

 

[fireblade 0]

Never been to a GP never will.

 

Don't even watch it on TV now. It's dross.

[Stokie052 0]

I lost interest in the GP circus some time ago Paul but I chickened out of posting my feelings on here. Many, I felt, would consider it a form of sacrilege to do so!

 

You, my friend, are of sterner stuff; must be the highland blood coursing through your veins.

 

 

no that'll be beer! lol

[tomcat 21]

As I have said on other threads, where this has cropped up. Its sterile, from the gate dross and is killing what is supposed to be our sports highlight, the World Championship.

 

Ref advertising on the safety fence, Poole manage to remove dirty advertising banners,

put up clean ones AND hose down and clean the dirty banners in between the racing.

Take a look at the Poole v Peterborough meeting from last week. You can clearly

see the trackstaff doing just that on the first bend.

 

So that I am afraid has shot Mr Olsen and the FIM up the backside on that score. So could they please now give us a valid reason why we have ultra slick tracks for the World Championship of Speedway?

 

We all know that a high percentage of British tracks could also do with some dirt on them,

but as far as the Premier event in our sport goes, why oh why do we have to watch this

rubbish?

Edited September 20, 2009 by tomcat

[spook 28]

the only logical explanation is that they are trying to make sure that meetings go ahead no matter what............. there is some validity in that approach but its been taken too far

 

speedway is no longer speedway without the chance of passing........ the sport should not revolve around gating.... in fact everyone involved in the sport should be doing their level best to make sure it isnt................... I asked a valid question a few weeks ago..... 'when was the last time a race was brought back due to movement at the starts?' ............... I am really struggling to remember it has been that long ....................... this means that there must have been a directive sent or expressed covering this at some point and now we are starting to see the results with certain riders creeping at the starts in each of their races .......and they are gaining huge advantages

 

it is this sterile approach to the competition that is starting to throttle it now ............... no one likes a rain off but they are a fact of the sport and if attention is focussed on any area to try to help this then it surely has to be the equipment and innovation............... how quickly can a track be bladed? how quickly should it be bladed? how much are the track drying machines? how effective are they? how easily transported around europe are they? etc etc

 

the last thing that should be happening is that the very sport itself is changed to accomodate a fear of the possibility of rain

 

[pugwash 3,208]

Ref advertising on the safety fence, Poole manage to remove dirty advertising banners,

put up clean ones AND hose down and clean the dirty banners in between the racing.

Take a look at the Poole v Peterborough meeting from last week. You can clearly

see the trackstaff doing just that on the first bend.

and a full set of advertising banners around all the track. It's called good management and marketing.

[Blazeaway 1,501]

They don't want dirt on the tracks as it covers the sponsors to easily when it sticks to riders/fence etc

 

That is not actually true as confirmed by a sponsor.

[MattK 3,447]

I think Spook's suggestion that they want to ensure the meeting goes ahead is a far more likely explanation for slick tracks. I know for a fact that one major broadcaster in the UK is turned off of speedway because of the risk of rain-offs and having to fill two plus hours of prime time television with repeats.

[Sir Jasper 192]

The problem with the gp's is that riders are willing to settle for 2nd places, safe in the knowledge that they only need 9 or 10 points to get a decent gate in the semis. They need to send it back to the knockout series of a few years ago but then need to have draws for the gates so riders are not sitting in 2nd to ensure they get a blue gate which may happen to be working very well. BTW I have searched the yahoo tv guide and cant find the speedway listed for tomorrow, when and on what channel is it being shown?

Edited September 25, 2009 by Sir Jasper

[barrow boy 119]

I agree with the previous posters who have critised the racing surfaces and the same old dross fair that is being offered. I would like to see some different riders from time to time also. Would it be possible in future to have all those riders that do not qualify for the semi finals race off against 8 others in a qualifying event before each next GP with the top 7 joining the previous GP's semi finalists. Those that did not pre qualify and also did not get through the qualifier to be included in the next lot of 8 to try the next time and so on.

Edited September 25, 2009 by barrow boy