SGP wild cards 2024

[OveFundinFan 4,142]

It’s easy to think that a rider wearing a non approved suit is something minor and can be “overlooked” with a fine.  That may not be the view of the company who probably invested maybe a 6 figure sum to be main sponsor only to be “took out” by some other unpaid advert. Maybe the main sponsor spotted the error and made a complaint…..and who can blame them…….i couldn’t. A 6 figure sum, say 100,000 is just 10,000 per GP, I suspect the fee would be more than 100k, maybe 250k. Not peanuts)

[OveFundinFan 4,142]

4 minutes ago, DazS said:

why do it in the next to last gp.?

Because if BZ captured the world championship at that meeting……which was very likely, then it would have been his sponsor who would be in all the photos….. that’s worth a lot and they had not paid for it.

[DazS 430]

oh yes if he won it at that event all the pictures of him would have come from the qualifying.

[SPEEDY69 1,260]

18 minutes ago, chunky said:

At least everybody rides against the same quality of rider every round.

At least everybody rides in the same number of meetings.

At least qualification isn't based on where you live.

I know what you're saying but wildcards are definitely selected based on ticket sales/geography and I'm sure the organisers are really pleased Vaculik has made the top six this time so that he didn't need yet another wild card  Also, federations are allocated places in the qualifiers for the GP challenge route so geography is a part of that as well. 

[OveFundinFan 4,142]

IF BZ team was involved, IF it had gone unnoticed then BZ would have been wearing a companies name in the photographs.when they were not entitled to.  I not saying BZ them was involved, it’s been a suggestion. I just trying to get you to see the situ from a sponsors point of view, a sponsor that’s put in, I reckon, a 6 figure sum.  Like all sports sponsors put in lots of money are needed. Without sponsors speedway would be difficult to run.

1 minute ago, DazS said:

oh yes if he won it at that event all the pictures of him would have come from the qualifying.

 

[DazS 430]

1 minute ago, OveFundinFan said:

IF BZ team was involved, IF it had gone unnoticed then BZ would have been wearing a companies name in the photographs.when they were not entitled to.  I not saying BZ them was involved, it’s been a suggestion. I just trying to get you to see the situ from a sponsors point of view, a sponsor that’s put in, I reckon, a 6 figure sum.  Like all sports sponsors put in lots of money are needed. Without sponsors speedway would be difficult to run.

no i fully understand the sponsors position, but not to the point when they can make a decision when and where a world title is won. which is why i question the FIM decision.

[DazS 430]

you obviously think it was the right decision, so if he was thrown out in the last round you would stick by your decision. even the sponsors would not allowed it. 

[OveFundinFan 4,142]

But the fault BZ was excluded is no one else’s fault but BZ and his team. He put the wrong suit on. It’s not that his sponsors name was just a small patch, sort of 25mmx120mm…… it’s big letters. So BZ didn’t notice, neither did his team of three (or four). I beginning to think like some others…… it’s possible, maybe it was planned and it all went wron

 

[Ben91 1,743]

1 hour ago, RPNY said:

Lol thats is your opinion no more. The last time they were in it one of them beat him.

It is but I’m still yet to see any of these so called advantages. 

1 hour ago, eric i said:

Laguta beat him fair and square and is still the undefeated champ

It isn’t boxing. One has improved, the other has regressed. 

[DazS 430]

it was planned and it all went right. for the organizers and the sponsors.

[RPNY 608]

2 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

It is but I’m still yet to see any of these so called advantages. 

It isn’t boxing. One has improved, the other has regressed. 

1) The advantages being he has 3 home rounds every year & his Two main rivals, 1 being the guy that beat him to a world title,  were taken out the series.

2) How can you possibly tell Laguta has regressed, he isn't in the series. World Championships and league racing 2 very different animals.

I will repeat BZ is brilliant, but how can having the 2 riders that finished 1 place either side of him taken out the series not help him?!!

[LagutaRacingFan 1,935]

I won't be watching the GP series with no Emil or Artem.

Zmarzlik will probably start as a 1/8 favourite for next year.

[coppinpr 0]

I believe Emil has been told the Russians will not be eligible in 2024, also Discovery are planning to introduce new venues in new countries, one, possibly 2 next year, you have to ask yourself where will these be.  France and the USA would be favourites so a wild card from those countries is a possibility, hence Becker in the last week's GP? another possibility would be Japan, a big money earner but logistically unlikely, so where else is an option?  Norway? not really, Finland? the same  Turkey, suitable but no speedway history to speak of, Australia? the obvious pick but a logistical nightmare and not a new venue anyway,

 

on a very different note I found this clip of what has to be the worst speedway crash ever, Poland v Austria 1956. this stadium wasn't fit for athletic races let alone speedway, this clip is not for the faint-hearted 

 

[iainb 5,017]

14 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I know what you're saying but wildcards are definitely selected based on ticket sales/geography and I'm sure the organisers are really pleased Vaculik has made the top six this time so that he didn't need yet another wild card  Also, federations are allocated places in the qualifiers for the GP challenge route so geography is a part of that as well. 

Also one SGP slot is reserved for a European born rider qualifying through SEC

[CB252 1,376]

15 hours ago, RPNY said:

1) The advantages being he has 3 home rounds every year & his Two main rivals, 1 being the guy that beat him to a world title,  were taken out the series

The argument about Polish tracks is a nonsense. For a start, a round, or two, in Wroclaw favours Laguta more than it does Zmarzlik. One rides the track virtually every day during the season, the other visits twice a year at best.

The lack of track variety in 2021 arguably cost Zmarzlik the title.  If Cardiff and Teterow hadn't been cancelled it's unlikely Art wins the series given his struggles on anything moderately technical.

You could have 10 rounds at Scunthorpe and Zmarzlik would still win it. He's simply better at adapting to any type of track on the planet than any of the others at present.

And his will and commitment to winning are second to none.  It's actually borderline offensive that people think he just has to turn up to win it without putting any work in.

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by CB252