Gorzow GP Saturday 24th June 2023

[Bagpuss 10,780]

2 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

I don't think the series is boring just because Zmarzlik is winning. There are 17 heats he's not in but yet it's him that provides the real entertainment when he misses a gate.

In terms of pure speed, only Bewley comes close, but he's struggling with consistency & lacks that fearless ability that Zmarzlik has when behind.

We're desperate for all the other rider's to show more character, be harder 

For me it is, the whole point of the GP's is to crown a world champion and at the moment unless Zmarzlik sustains an injury its a foregone conclusion, for me that takes an awful lot of the shine off it.

[r8gdp 461]

Just watched the meeting . Not the best in my eyes . When are the riders going to realise you need to be tight on the bend 3/with SMARLIK  behind you . Listening to mr pedersen talking about mickelsen needing to be more aggressive the rest off the riders need to listen to him because zmarzlik is his in all there heads and has got them beaten before they go to the tapes. .going into bend 3 Nikki would not be giving any room .

[r8gdp 461]

The thing that’s keeping me interested is beat the bookie I am still in it lol

[r8gdp 461]

46 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

For me it is, the whole point of the GP's is to crown a world champion and at the moment unless Zmarzlik sustains an injury its a foregone conclusion, for me that takes an awful lot of the shine off it.

The Bloke will have it rapped up well before the final round .will be able to not ride in the last round and turn up in his suit to pick up the title lol

[FAST GATER 853]

2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Obviously is beatable more this season than others,but due to the points system used in Gp’s he has learned to settled for dropping the odd point.He has matured and settled down a lot and a lot more controlled these days.Great skill and speed easily the most consistent rider in the GP’s and will take some beating in the Championship in the next few years.Great rider IMO.

Spot on could not agree more

[Fromafar 10,363]

27 minutes ago, r8gdp said:

Just watched the meeting . Not the best in my eyes . When are the riders going to realise you need to be tight on the bend 3/with SMARLIK  behind you . Listening to mr pedersen talking about mickelsen needing to be more aggressive the rest off the riders need to listen to him because zmarzlik is his in all there heads and has got them beaten before they go to the tapes. .going into bend 3 Nikki would not be giving any room .

Let’s be honest he’s better than the rest,if they hold it tight he just goes round them when it matters.

[FAST GATER 853]

27 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Let’s be honest he’s better than the rest,if they hold it tight he just goes round them when it matters.

Just the way I see it as well !

Edited June 25, 2023 by FAST GATER

[r8gdp 461]

23 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Let’s be honest he’s better than the rest,if they hold it tight he just goes round them when it matters.

I get that he s better than the rest but in an earlier go holder slammed to the door shut on the back straight others have got to show grit and has pedersen says aggression 

[Fromafar 10,363]

1 hour ago, r8gdp said:

I get that he s better than the rest but in an earlier go holder slammed to the door shut on the back straight others have got to show grit and has pedersen says aggression 

He’s is what Gollob was like in his prime he arrives that late ,that it’s very difficult to do.That’s what happened last night with Madsen ,it didn’t give Madsen time  to perform a cut back.Brave and fearless move but thats Bartosz IMO.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Fromafar

[Chris 441]

Zmarzlik would win titles in any era. Special talent. Laguta(and Emil) must be reinstated next year to offer him some competition.

The problem is the tracks they choose and the lack of characters and personalities. How the f does Teterow get anywhere near a GP? Embarrassing for the sport. Gorzow, Malilla, Vojens, Prague and Teterow aren't even the best racetracks in those countries.

The riders are way too pally with each other. The sport is crying out for another Nicki P who was box office in the GP's and was happy to put anybody in the fence. Gollob as well was happy to dive bomb regularly and move riders out of the way. Crump was a grumpy sod who wouldn't be pals in the pits and have a laugh and a joke with his rivals

It's all way too respectful

Edited June 26, 2023 by Chris

[FAST GATER 853]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

happy to put anybody in the fence.

I can't believe anyone would want a rider pushed into the fence on purpose with the result being  a possible career ending injury or even worse ,this sport is dangereous enough without that kind of deliberate behaviour .I for one was glad to see the back of Nikki P( not withstanding his 3 World Titles )  from the series ,the last couple of years he was not an asset IMO, Doyle is a paler version who now falls off if you knock the TV.

There are robust characters in the series lambert and Fast Freddie won't be pushed about but IMO but  are still within the bounds of what's acceptable  .

Bart is head and shoulders above the rest at the moment we should make the most of it ,all the greats have purple patch this is his  bring the Russians back I think he would relish their inclusion .

As to improving the series there are things that could be done but if you look at the standings the other riders  are pretty close together they just have to contend with an exceptional  rider !

 

[stewmac 474]

As far as I can see, the problem with the series is two-fold:

1) The current crop of riders are clearly not the top 16 in the world. If we accept, as few would surely argue against, that the Polish Ekstraliga is the strongest league worldwide, then I'd say a far stronger GP series would be possible if we took the top 12 from the end of season averages for the following year. Then, use the remaining 4 places to add any super new talents who emerge during the course of the following year, and also nominate locally great assets/wildcards on an ongoing basis to the series. With absolutely no disrespect to the current riders there, I can name at least half a dozen, as I'm sure we all could, who are clearly simply not good enough to be there currently.

2) Tracks and venues. Too many of the current tracks have no place in the GP series. If you accept that the whole point of speedway is to produce entertainment, then using venues that are built specifically for one-off meetings is clearly working against this principal, as on the whole, even after 20 odd years, they cannot be made good enough to guarantee consistently good surfaces and racing. Tied into that is the use of the current GP prep team, who appear to instruct local tracks how to prepare their tracks when they come visiting once a year. How can these guys possibly know as much about any given track as the ones who toil week in and week out to prepare their surfaces? That's nonsense and has to be changed. 

I'd scrap one off tracks all round. I'd also get shot of the ideas that we are somehow going to expand the series worldwide. Let's be realistic here. Speedway is a declining sport in every nation it's raced in worldwide. Hoping to attract massive crowds into new, untried markets is not just totally unrealistic, it is in fact crazy business sense. It simply will not work. Far better to have a grown up conversation about which tracks produce the best racing and use them. For example, if you're insisting on using a Swedish track, it simply has to be Vastervik, in my opinion the only one that consistently can produce exciting racing. In the UK, it has to be the National Stadium. To increase the attendance, it would make far better economic business sense to spend a few hundred thousands on temporary stands, than the outrageous costs of laying a temporary track for a week, and all the associated costs with that. Yes, the attendance will still be lower, but how much better would it be to have a packed stadium at Manchester, with fans salivating for more and going away happy, rather than the farcical situations we had last year at Cardiff? After spending some money improving the track in Prague, I'd give it a stay of execution as it was much better this year than previously. Otherwise, get Pardubice to host a Czech GP,  as it's a great racing track and already has a proven track record of successful Golden Helmet weekends for donkeys years. In Poland, you'd have to be looking at Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Leszno, Czestochowa and  Torun. Perhaps even some other 1 Liga tracks too, such as Ostrow and Rybnik, which, if prepared well, can produce fantastic racing. Lodz has a brilliant stadium and a super wee track that could produce an outstanding atmosphere and GP. If you are insisting on using Germany, I'd nominate Wittstock as the only possible candidate for a GP. The track is fantastic, with multiple lines and it's incredibly wide. A GP there could be fabulous. Yes, the stadium is basic, but again, the massive sums saved from creating temporary tracks could be put to good use to utilise this place properly and put in some temporary stands. If Poland ended up with half a dozen GPs, or more, well, why not? It already has the best tracks, the cities are beautifully clean, cheap to visit  and attractive. We have to play to the strengths of the sport, instead of pretending we can achieve worldwide coverage and spend tens of millions trying to expand it which if we are able to think with our heads rather than our hearts, we all know will simply never be achieved. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by stewmac

[iris123 20,988]

These ideas always look good, but lack standing in reality

If Pardu don't want a GP, then they don't want it

Not too sure about the current situation at Wittstock, but don't think it is that good. As i said many years back there is a problem with the Promoter. Unstability i think it is safe to say. Reports of him physically attacking riders. And of course he seemed to have a bust up not only with the German authorities, but the polish also. I doubt he is someone who could work peacefully with the FIM for long 

The main problem is it isn't down to us fans to accept any of that. It is down to those who run the show to accept those proposals..........not as easy as it was to write all that out, i think

Edited June 26, 2023 by iris123

[KevtheRev 122]

Look at Lindgrens line after Doyle went down. 100% would have wiped Doyle out. Bad call.