Gorzow GP Saturday 24th June 2023

[racers and royals 8,736]

31 minutes ago, secsy1 said:

The GP series is now over. Boring tracks with no dirt, second rate and over the top riders coining it in and going through the motions.

Crowd was not as large as normal for a Polish GP.

Last night was a season ending watch for me as it is boring.

What would interest me is seeing Zmarzlik in UK? How would he fare on a tricky track like Wolverhampton?

So until he appears here wont be visiting any meetings until then, in other words retiring from actively watching live speedway.

Congratulations !!! Going through the motions- 110% racing from the riders every GP.

[Fromafar 10,375]

Some riders might be able to nail Bartosz if they could get near enough.!!

If you watch Lambert ,a number off times he has more speed the the others down the straight but backs off.That’s the difference.

[Fromafar 10,375]

Going to be interesting to see how many regulars that don’t finish inTop6 will be given Wildcards especially if Emil and Artum are reinstated ( which I think they should be).Couple of regulars lost out in GP Qualifiers as well.

[Gavan 5,050]

What a load of crap people write on here

Zmarzlik is the best around and maybe the competition isn’t the best but he is still a class act and would have won titles in any era 

Got to laugh at people saying Doyle and Lindgren are past it lol … 2nd and 3rd in the world but last it lol…

And those saying Tai shouldn’t get a wildcard lol…. The guy is 9th in the world so please go ahead and find 7 riders who should be in above him …. Only Emil and Laguta but nobody else….do people expect all 15 riders to be capable of winning a world title lol…… back in the days of the one off there was always only ever 6 or 7 riders you thought could win it … the night of a GP is no different…… I wouldn’t expect the likes of Michelsen Thomson and Nilsson to win a GP but they could and in Thomsens case already have ….. in the one off none of the eastern block could win it and in my first one in 1990 you also had riders like Miller Dugard Correy who you wouldn’t have given a chance to.

So yes Tai isn’t a rostrum challenger but find 15 riders better than him you won’t ….. 

[Tinker 203]

Over the last few years the GP Series has got more and more boring. You watch a pretty boring meeting but then have the mindset that the next one will be better so you tune in again and hey presto, it's another boring one. 

Overall, not much excitement and very little real controversy. Riders too pally with each other, no real characters and the whole thing has become rather stale. No one to challenge the current champ (not his fault) and the emphasis quickly shifts to who is going to qualify for next year as opposed to who is going to be world champion. 

To liven things up why don't they have a wild card track every year, each participating country could nominate two tracks so the UK for instance could name Wolverhampton and Redcar. A draw is then made live on TV and a meeting is held at that particular venue. Just an idea of course but the series needs major surgery.

[iainb 5,022]

38 minutes ago, Gavan said:

What a load of crap people write on here

Zmarzlik is the best around and maybe the competition isn’t the best but he is still a class act and would have won titles in any era 

Got to laugh at people saying Doyle and Lindgren are past it lol … 2nd and 3rd in the world but last it lol…

And those saying Tai shouldn’t get a wildcard lol…. The guy is 9th in the world so please go ahead and find 7 riders who should be in above him …. Only Emil and Laguta but nobody else….do people expect all 15 riders to be capable of winning a world title lol…… back in the days of the one off there was always only ever 6 or 7 riders you thought could win it … the night of a GP is no different…… I wouldn’t expect the likes of Michelsen Thomson and Nilsson to win a GP but they could and in Thomsens case already have ….. in the one off none of the eastern block could win it and in my first one in 1990 you also had riders like Miller Dugard Correy who you wouldn’t have given a chance to.

So yes Tai isn’t a rostrum challenger but find 15 riders better than him you won’t ….. 

Can't argue with a lot of what you say... in a one off world final you had jeopardy, something which seems to be sadly missing now. Trick won a lot of his world titles off of gate 1 as another poster had said but in his first he had to go through the quali route and win the last ever 1 off final and in many of his others was under the two duff rides and you're on your way home knock out system. 

Where's the jeopardy these days? Be mediocre throughout the night, squeeze into a semi on 7 points, qualify for a final with a 2nd walk home with 20 points in the bag!

 

[iainb 5,022]

45 minutes ago, Tinker said:

Over the last few years the GP Series has got more and more boring. You watch a pretty boring meeting but then have the mindset that the next one will be better so you tune in again and hey presto, it's another boring one. 

Overall, not much excitement and very little real controversy. Riders too pally with each other, no real characters and the whole thing has become rather stale. No one to challenge the current champ (not his fault) and the emphasis quickly shifts to who is going to qualify for next year as opposed to who is going to be world champion. 

To liven things up why don't they have a wild card track every year, each participating country could nominate two tracks so the UK for instance could name Wolverhampton and Redcar. A draw is then made live on TV and a meeting is held at that particular venue. Just an idea of course but the series needs major surgery.

not so sure about the Wolves/Redcar wildcard idea... but I definitely think the series is in need of a shake up

[eric i 620]

4 hours ago, DazS said:

you need to watch some of his polish meetings!

He always saves his best for the gps has done for a while now.

[Hackett 220]

10 hours ago, eric i said:

Lindgren is not young rider but I can't say I have seen any drop off in his form. 

Totally agree. I would say that with Zmarzlik and even with illness Lindgren has been the most consistent of riders at SGP level.

In terms of the SGP it is becoming more and more repetitive but that is mainly down to track prep. All the tracks have been so slick. Prague,  Teterow and Gorican tend to be pretty mundane meetings at the best of times. As for Gorzow it was unlikely to be any other result with the form of the riders and Zmarzlik riding the track since a kid. Apart from Artem and Emil this is pretty much the best of the riders in the world. Unfortunately Zmarzlik is not only only quick he is just so consistent - Like watching Rickardson again Final - Final - Final . Let's see what Mallila brings it is Bewley's home track so perhaps that will work in his favour. Although I imagine SGP will strip it down to like riding on the M25 again ............... oh and checking last year Zmarzlik won the Swedish SGP. 

 

[Tinker 203]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

not so sure about the Wolves/Redcar wildcard idea... but I definitely think the series is in need of a shake up

Or look at new venues in major cities. Probably been discussed previously and would be expensive but would create alot of interest and publicity. Berlin, Munich, Budapest, London, Amsterdam etc. How many more people would travel to see a GP in Berlin compared to Teterow??

[iainb 5,022]

6 minutes ago, Tinker said:

Or look at new venues in major cities. Probably been discussed previously and would be expensive but would create alot of interest and publicity. Berlin, Munich, Budapest, London, Amsterdam etc. How many more people would travel to see a GP in Berlin compared to Teterow??

That's something that has been lost since the final years of BSI/IMG and despite DSE's "new era" doesn't appear to be on the agenda anytime soon, just rinse and repeat every year

[Tinker 203]

1 minute ago, iainb said:

That's something that has been lost since the final years of BSI/IMG and despite DSE's "new era" doesn't appear to be on the agenda anytime soon, just rinse and repeat every year

Yes, seems the case unfortunately. So if they can't come up with new major venues go the opposite way and like I said, introduce a wildcard track every year. If nothing else it would create interest and would potentially throw a spanner in the works for some of the riders. Imagine a GP at Scunthorpe, Poole, Ipswich, Leicester etc.

Just an idea of course but something radical needs to be done and new ideas need to be discussed. Probably back to the same old same old again next year though.

[Bagpuss 10,784]

I'm not going to sit here and say that it was much better 15-20 years ago because it probably wasn't but the series is definitely lacking something at the moment. Knowing who the winner is going to be before the series starts is the main issue, not Zmarzlik's fault that he is miles ahead of anyone else but it removes all the jeopardy. Too many poor racetracks which to be fair has long been an issue but its frustrating that there are much better tracks not being used even if we all appreciate why. And probably a lack of characters and racers as mentioned. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Bagpuss

[The Dog 413]

1 hour ago, Tinker said:

Or look at new venues in major cities. Probably been discussed previously and would be expensive but would create alot of interest and publicity. Berlin, Munich, Budapest, London, Amsterdam etc. How many more people would travel to see a GP in Berlin compared to Teterow??

Speedway needs to stay in countries that have an interest in the sport like Poland, Sweden, GB etc. Why would you go to Amsterdam or Budapest if they have very little interest? 

Be like taking beach volleyball to the North Pole. 

[spin king 1,923]

3 hours ago, Gavan said:

What a load of crap people write on here

Zmarzlik is the best around and maybe the competition isn’t the best but he is still a class act and would have won titles in any era 

Got to laugh at people saying Doyle and Lindgren are past it lol … 2nd and 3rd in the world but last it lol…

And those saying Tai shouldn’t get a wildcard lol…. The guy is 9th in the world so please go ahead and find 7 riders who should be in above him …. Only Emil and Laguta but nobody else….do people expect all 15 riders to be capable of winning a world title lol…… back in the days of the one off there was always only ever 6 or 7 riders you thought could win it … the night of a GP is no different…… I wouldn’t expect the likes of Michelsen Thomson and Nilsson to win a GP but they could and in Thomsens case already have ….. in the one off none of the eastern block could win it and in my first one in 1990 you also had riders like Miller Dugard Correy who you wouldn’t have given a chance to.

So yes Tai isn’t a rostrum challenger but find 15 riders better than him you won’t ….. 

Doyle 2nd and Lindgren 3rd in the standings so far, is incorrect.

At present 

1st Zmarzlik on 90 points

2nd Holder on 69 points

3rd Lindgren on 68 points

4th Doyle on 68 points

5th Madsen on 60 points

6th Lambert on 54 points

7th Vaculik on 51 points

8th Bewley on 49 points

9th Woffinden on 41 points

10th Fricke on 34 points

11th Janowski on 31 points

12th Thomsen ON 29 points

13th Michelsen on 28 points

14th Dudek on 28 points

15th Nilsson on 22 points