The Gp Points System

[Eglese 19 19]

For a while now I've been getting quite irritated with the way GP's are scored, or rather the lack of a reward for reaching the semis, final or winning it.

 

Personally, I don't like that the winner can be outscored by others in the meeting but given the nature of the GPs I accept that it's a possibility. It really did annoy me when Emil finished 5th earlier this year though and top scored. The way I see it winning the GP is not worth much at all right now, if you make the final then 2nd is just 1 point worse than 1st and if you've done better earlier in the meeting I feel the incentive just isn't there.

 

What I would like to see maybe would be to keep the scoring for all heats as it is, no double points, but award a set amount of bonus points to riders who reach the semis, then the final and then the eventual winner. Maybe 5 points for reaching the semis, 10 for the final and 15 for winning it.

 

Am I alone with this or does anyone else think that the current system isn't great? You don't have to agree with my suggestion obviously.

[SCB 0]

You get more points for making the semi and the final by, amazingly, scoring the points to qualify! Leave it as it is, IMO it's perfect. Speedway is 3-2-1-0 and thats what the riders get in every heat.

 

Why should the rider who scores 8 and make the semi and then comes last score 5 more than the guy who come 9th, scoring 8 points? Why not have extra points for finishing in the top 3? And the top 6? And the top 11? It's all pretty arbitrary.

[Grand Central 2,654]

Personally, I think this year it's just about right.

 

If you do win the final you have to have added five or six points to your total after 20 heats.

Second must have added another 4 or 5; third 3 or 4 and even fourth wil have gained an extra 2 or 3 points from his additonal two rides.

 

As Tai showed on Saturday with the combination of more points in the qualifying races and two better finishes in theSemi/Finals he pulled back eight points.

Riders can't get too far ahead and yet there is still scope to catch up.

It all looks fine to me.

 

 

.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Grand Central

[Eglese 19 19]

Well doesn't have to be any points for semis and finals necessarily but I just would like to see at least winning the GP more incentivised. Maybe it's just me and if so then that's fine but I just think that the incentive to win the final is a lot smaller than it should be, kind of making the point of winning a GP a bit hollow, especially when a guy who finished 5th is outscoring you.

[Grand Central 2,654]

Well doesn't have to be any points for semis and finals necessarily but I just would like to see at least winning the GP more incentivised. Maybe it's just me and if so then that's fine but I just think that the incentive to win the final is a lot smaller than it should be, kind of making the point of winning a GP a bit hollow, especially when a guy who finished 5th is outscoring you.

 

If the guy finishing fifth does score more than the winner it is because he gained those points over the twenty qualifying races where each rider met all the others.

I cannot see what is wrong with that.

[SCB 0]

I disagree. It meant on Saturday Tai just tried to beat Emil, he sort of "won" the GP as he top scored. He can be happy. Yet Puk got the win so he's happy. OK if it had been the other way around Puk would have been gutted but thats the joy of the GPs. I say leave it alone.

[Eglese 19 19]

All I'm saying is that it takes something away from winning the GP in my opinion. To me it's almost like we have a really long world final done in stages and as for finding the best rider it certainly does do that yes but for me if it's split into GPs then the reward for winning a GP should be greater, almost as a reward for doing it when it matters most.

 

I'm not saying that the current method doesn't find out the best rider, though if that's all we want we could remove semis and finals altogether and just tally the points over the season.

 

It seems that it maybe is just me and that's fine, if the majority like it how it is then it's good that it's done in the way the fans want.

[Grand Central 2,654]

I disagree. It meant on Saturday Tai just tried to beat Emil, he sort of "won" the GP as he top scored. He can be happy. Yet Puk got the win so he's happy. OK if it had been the other way around Puk would have been gutted but thats the joy of the GPs. I say leave it alone.

 

I think it is yet another sign of Tai's maturity - or at least just his willingness to listen to the good advice of those around him - that he understood that point so well.

And then followed through with such a tactical ride.

He realises that he only actually needs to be ahead come the last race at Torun in October.

Anything more than that is just icing on the biggest cake ever.

[f-s-p 832]

Well doesn't have to be any points for semis and finals necessarily but I just would like to see at least winning the GP more incentivised.

In prize money the winner gets 12k $ and the fourth in the final gets 6,2 k $ and the gap is 1st->2nd 3,2k, 2-3rd 1,6k 3->4th 1k. So I think there's still some incentive.

[kiwi 49]

why not have a separate point system for the series. the winner get 16 points and the 16th place get 1 point. Then the highest place rider over the full series is the Champion

[manchesterpaul 447]

....but I just think that the incentive to win the final is a lot smaller than it should be, kind of making the point of winning a GP a bit hollow, especially when a guy who finished 5th is outscoring you.

In prize money the winner gets 12k $ and the fourth in the final gets 6,2 k $ and the gap is 1st->2nd 3,2k, 2-3rd 1,6k 3->4th 1k. So I think there's still some incentive.

 

In reply to 'Eglese 19' i was going to make a joke about the enormous prize money being an incentive to win the meeting. But the reply from 'f-s-p' makes reality more comical. Shockingly low and embarrassing to the sport to have such pittances as prize money.

 

why not have a separate point system for the series. the winner get 16 points and the 16th place get 1 point. Then the highest place rider over the full series is the Champion

 

At face value that is an excellent idea, however, i'll expand below as to the main reason why we most likely have the semi-finals and final.

 

First just touch on the fact that the semi-final and final do have a lot of incentive to riders to do their best due to the fact that all points scored count in the series. 100% genuine incentive and reward for doing well. Although thank goodness we no longer have the double points which can lead to a series leader becoming out of reach.

 

The main reason for their existence i reckon is the American play-off aspect that has permeated most sports and competitions on the planet. Play-offs were primarily instigated in US sports leagues for financial purposes in order to keep up interest and involvement in a competition which in turn keeps the turnstiles clicking and tv viewers watching.

 

Also there is the aspect of leading to a 'leave them wanting more' entertainment angle of a last event grand final.

 

Regards speedway leagues i feel strongly that there should be a considerable trophy for the 'regular season' winners, also throw in some prize money. In North America the NHL (Ice Hockey) and some other sports around the world do exactly that.

Edited August 6, 2013 by manchesterpaul

[pandorum 1,259]

Emil who won 3 rounds so far said that he was happy with the scoring system after they got rid of the double point final.

He thought it fairer and it cost him points.

I think it's about right now.

People have an incentive in the SF and final.

They can score more points that count towards thier total.

Coming last means zero which is fair enough to me.

I can understand the 4321 scoring in Pairs as it gives an incentive to team ride but to have it in individuals is not a great idea.

[Eglese 19 19]

I guess it kind of boils down to the excitement of league vs cup style of things. Cups, where it can all hang on one moment, create more excitement whereas leagues will find out the best team/individual.

 

For me I would like to see the excitement/tension level raised a bit and hence a reward for progressing further in the GPs. Interestingly enough, the points system I suggested above would make no difference to the top 6 as regards to position, Emil would be further ahead of Tai but Tai would have more points available to him in the last 4.

 

I guess I just don't like the idea of a potential world champ not winning a GP which rarely happens I know. At least from these responses and as Pandorum said Emil prefers it this way I may be in the minority and therefore it is good that the system suits the majority. I only brought it up as it's bugged me for a while and a couple of newbies to the sport said they agree and couldn't get their head around the fact a winner could be beaten by 5th place.

[Dave_minall 232]

The only thing I'd suggest is that riders should get an extra point in the final, so the points scoring should go 4, 3, 2, 1. It would give a bonus to the riders making the final with an extra incentive to win it. Would be enough of a bonus to spice the title race up but would also give a slight reward for those who make the final but can't make an impression.

[BWitcher 12,453]

The only thing I'd suggest is that riders should get an extra point in the final, so the points scoring should go 4, 3, 2, 1. It would give a bonus to the riders making the final with an extra incentive to win it. Would be enough of a bonus to spice the title race up but would also give a slight reward for those who make the final but can't make an impression.

 

They got a reward.. by scoring more in the semi then the guy who didn't make it?