SGP wild cards 2024

[Gavan 5,050]

2 minutes ago, Col said:

By finishing 5th in the GP Challenge?  Thought if riders qualified through finishing top 6 (Vaculik & Lambert) the GP challenge qualification didn't filter down beyond the top 3.  I don't think current GP riders should be allowed in the challenge.

Correct.  Competed in no 2012 GP's, scored 2 points in one appearance in 2011.  Still think Kołodziej is ignored every year, always right near the top of the Ekstraliga averages.  Janowski has been appalling this year, glad he's not been picked.

So you think Kubera, Huchenbeck and Lebedevs are better riders than Janowski?? He had a poor year but i want the best 15 or as near as possible and Magic would be one of those......

Im not Magics biggest fan but he has had one bad season......He has been in the top 6 every year since 2017.....better than Lindgren....and you want him out through one bad year and someone like Huchenbeck in?? Cant understand your logic

[Bagpuss 10,780]

I've got no issues with those picks personally. We'd all like the Russians back in of course but they've freshened things up and that's a good thing IMO. 

[Gavan 5,050]

7 minutes ago, frigbo said:

It's a race to the bottom. Decisions made on trying to get a broader audience across Europe and not on racing ability.
All the dropped riders,  bar perhaps Kim Nilsson,  are better than the new ones

100% spot on

Except now all the forum people who wanted new blood have their wish........guess they dont want the top riders in it

[orion 7,615]

Poor line up .but otherwise its the same old same old ..the bottom line is that the depth of rider is not like it was. I'm amazed Chris Harris did not get a call the way the UK fans have been rated him this week .lol

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

6 minutes ago, Gavan said:

100% spot on

Except now all the forum people who wanted new blood have their wish........guess they dont want the top riders in it

It appears to me that the FIM want all of the riders to go through the WC qualifiers and to be fair if they did it would make for a better quality field and avoid this sort of scenario of riders in the series that haven’t really got a hope, Lebedevs, Huckenbeck and Kvech are well out of their depth at this level.

 

[iris123 20,986]

I do seem to recall one or two years when a decent dane was dropped for the sake of another lesser rider from another nation.....this was over a decade ago. It happened then and it will happen again. I was also present when Lubod Tomicek failed by the skin of his teeth to qualify from Vojens

There will always be moans and groans with wild card picks or riders who have managed to qualify

But it has always been and always will be that decisions made for money will happen in our sport. It happens in most sports, even and especially so in football, which is bathing in money, but still can't get enough. I remember one disgusted Danish fan saying to me that Iversen is only in because of his sponsor........

Edited October 3, 2023 by iris123

[therefused 819]

I think theres quite a big over reaction, you bascially have Zmarzlik, then another 7/8 riders top riders, and then probably the next 20 there isnt even that much in it. Gives the series a bit of a refresh and hopefully some of the new riders will take the experience on board and potentially crack the top 6 before the likes of Fricke, Magic etc. are back in for 2025. Also gives those riders a bit of a kick to actually push on and not rely on a wildcard pick. 

[RPNY 608]

Sadly this is what we have now. When Discovery came in and spent all that money I assumed they really had mega plans and they were going to take the series all over the world, well it turns out all they want is content. It is cheaper for them to buy the series and put it on their platforms then buy the viewing rights to other sports. So getting riders from as many countries if far more important to them then having the best riders. Sad, but that's what we have going forwards. Unless viewing figures both on tv/stream and at the gate go down enough.

Discovery are brilliant at presenting and with the social media stuff. And they are all very nice people. However literally none of them have any Speedway background, they are all new to it. So what they think is important and what the fans want will be very different. I guess they want to grow it and have their own ideas. Perhaps they are right. I just think this a disastrously weak field and BZ will keep winning till he gets bored.

Edited October 3, 2023 by RPNY

[DazS 430]

i think huckenbeck , will surprise few, his race win from the back was classic. i will miss Fricke.

 

[Grachan 7,362]

As long as they continue to block the Russians it's pretty much invalid as a World Championship as far as I'm concerned.

I wonder if they should put in some sort of legal challenge against this, seeing as Russian competitors are able to tale part in other individual sports under a neutral flag.

Look at tennis, for example. The recent US open had a Russian in the men's final and a Belarussian in the women's final. Even Wimbledon relented this year and allowed them back in after their points were removed from the World ranking the previous year..

I even remember a statement being made by the Russian federation a couple of years ago stating that they had banned Laguta from competing for Russia due to comments made about Putin.

There is no valid reason to exclude them any more than there would have been to exclude Hancock and Loram because of the Iraq war.

[DazS 430]

dont talk common sense its been banned. 

[SPEEDY69 1,260]

3 hours ago, JoeW436 said:

No way is that the best 15 riders in the world, dreadful.

It's not meant to be. It's a serious which needs to sell, attracting not only fans from many nations but also the venues. I think it mixed it up and so much better than just picking the 3/4 riders below from the top 6. Dude & Janowski have had enough chances. 

[Fozzie4388 679]

I like the line-up personally with a few different faces in, Surely Woffinden is in last chance now too? If he doesn't get Top 6 in 2024 that should be him done.

I personally think the Wildcards should be scrapped full stop and all riders should have to qualify on merit for the GP Series. 

[JoeW436 595]

27 minutes ago, Grachan said:

As long as they continue to block the Russians it's pretty much invalid as a World Championship as far as I'm concerned.

I wonder if they should put in some sort of legal challenge against this, seeing as Russian competitors are able to tale part in other individual sports under a neutral flag.

Look at tennis, for example. The recent US open had a Russian in the men's final and a Belarussian in the women's final. Even Wimbledon relented this year and allowed them back in after their points were removed from the World ranking the previous year..

I even remember a statement being made by the Russian federation a couple of years ago stating that they had banned Laguta from competing for Russia due to comments made about Putin.

There is no valid reason to exclude them any more than there would have been to exclude Hancock and Loram because of the Iraq war.

Haven’t they both got Polish passports? Even the year Laguta won it he was competing under ‘MFR’

[SPEEDY69 1,260]

2 hours ago, BluPanther said:

I think my days of staying at home on a SGP night are well and truly over. How boring and predictable...

I take the opposite view, I was bored stiff with the same riders all the time.