Leaderboard

Are vulnerable people the only ones allowed to have deliveries then? I must have missed that directive.

Get them all there so as to experience the occasion. Doesn’t really matter which one rides.

It seems very tough on Smektala as the list is promoting young talent. But because he's 22 he is overlooked for a load of 21 year olds, of whom only Lidsey is currently a match for him. (although I do think Kubera will turn out better than Smektala in the long run). My choices 1 Lidsey 2 Michelsen 3 Smektala or Pawlicki 4 Loktaev 5 Holder 6 Pawlicki or Smektala

Just a message to anyone at BSI towers. Have you seen the weather we are currently getting in the UK this October. Rain, wind , storms , single digit temperatures. At this time of year speedway tracks that are wet never dry out, the temperature does not allow it. By having an October SON at Belle Vue you risk having a mud bath at one of the sports great circuits. Please have a rethink and select a more favorable date earlier in the year.

So, if you had eight riders on eight points, you would have to have two semi-finals and a final to decide the winner. That sounds like a really ridiculous way of deciding the winner of an individual meeting....oh, hang on a minute....

I haven't been sitting here all evening for no reason...

Think there has to be system where you get a few extra for reaching a semi final and possibly a few more extra for making The Final.This years points is perhaps a little to extreme IMO.Although the Top men still figured .Roll on next year ,they done well to get a Series this yearIMO.

We both know that there are a number of people on the BSF who won't agree with that - or don't WANT to believe that... When I look back at some of the attitudes in years gone by, it's amazing how many people thought that world speedway should revolve around Britain, and British speedway. Now we are only a minor player on the world scene (largely self-inflicted, but not totally), there is a lot of resentment towards others - which is totally unwarranted.

Which license does he have then from Poland/PZM? answer please. Only reason I picked up on this is that you stated a fact here, but now it seems you know bugger all about the subject.

That's always the issue of course comparing riders from different eras...different criteria, bikes, tracks and it's very difficult attempting to pass judgement but fun all the same!

You are half correct Geoff....we did meet Eagles in the K.O.Cup final in October 1975.......but Comets won the 1st leg on the Friday night at DP by 47-31......then down to Eastbourne for the second leg two days later, Sunday afternoon...and got well beaten by 52-25......the Comets riders just didn't like the small tricky Eastbourne circuit....I attended both these matches..and despite the defeat it was a good weekend out.

I don’t do Facebook either, nor WhatsAp, nor any other form of social media sites. Never liked them from day 1 and still don’t. BV has a website, they should put it the info on there. Looks like I won’t be viewing the PC Memorial meeting. If they want viewers, they need to advertise where potential viewers look - including the website where they have a news section. and it looks like £12.95 is going to be the norm. Not good.

Didn’t realise that. Makes sense why he hasn’t figured over here then. Get them all in and around the event, the experience will be valuable for them all, would be wasted on a Lawson or a Harris.

That's a good point, Sidney. In "my" era, Briggs and Fundin were known for being ruthless and out for no.1 and not really interested in team riding, whereas Moore was known for being a team man who thought more about his team than he did himself. And, although, many would regard Moore as the most gifted rider, he was less successful in individual events than Briggo and Ove. I'm sure there must be a moral there somewhere.....

All in all, the substitute list is Loktaev for his performance in the GP Challenge, followed by the finishing order in the World U21 Final. The latter was seeded as one rider per nation, hence there are riders now on the GP substitute list, who may not have even made it to a World U21 Final in a normal year. I have no problem with promoting young riders, so long as they are competitive. Sadly with the exception of Lidsey and possibly Kubera those nominated are no where near GP standard. In all probability, another one of Castagna's rubbish ideas...

As has previously been posted if you finish 7th or 8th in an 8 round GP series you are a top rider and deserving of your place. For all the call for fresh faces there are simply not many riders out there who are significantly better than those in the whole field and definitely not better than the top 8. I take it your a fan of the new scoring system, fine but I think you are in a minority. The crux of the series is to find a deserving World Champion, not to fudge it so that it always comes down to the last race of the season. Maybe we should award double points in the last round to give all the top six a crack at being champion on the last round . Sorry forget I ever said that. I fully understand how the system works but prefer the World Championship table to evolve throughout the meeting , not have to wait until heat 20 before it takes shape. Each to their own I suppose.

1 meeting paying less than normal wages which would of run at a loss, possibly a big one at that ,unless speedway finds a major sponsor it can’t run with limited fans or riders ride for next to nowt and if this isn’t sorted soon will there be any riders left to ride ? Even top football is getting uneasy about the situation and we will go to the wall a long time before they do

Just read this and it’s really annoyed me. Cynicism played no part in the demise of Rye House, the track where I watched my first meeting, the team I supported. You don’t have the monopoly on feeling hard done by Rob, neither are you any better of a fan because you play the tune that you tried to help. Rye House has died because the club was run beyond it’s means. Any other explanation is false. The team ran out of money mid-season. There are further reasons for that of course but that is the black and white.

Have the two previous Octobers not been warm and dry?

No it was Jake Sanson, a good friend of mine who I've worked with a few times.

Check your post ARE you on the shandy's

not sure that'll happen, reckon the clubs have the riders by the short and curlies after this year

Absolutely. You are making the same mistake I used to make - working on the assumption that everyone was on 6 after four rides! Put some on 7 and some on 5 - that will still balance out. All it means is that the riders on 5 will win their last rides. I am at work at the moment, so I will show you exactly later.

You're right, but unfortunately there's a few that get aggressive if others don't agree with them! There are merits on both sides but regarding your point as to if BZ had slipped up and missed the semis, could it not be argued that if that had happened it was because the pressure had got to him and he bottled his last ride, in which case would he be a worthy champion? I didn't like seeing riders looking dominant in the heats then go missing in the semis or final but come away with the spoils. As it was BZ showed he was the best rider in the series and won it in the style of a true champion. I like the new system too but as you say we can agree to disagree.

Rye House seemed to go into decline very suddenly. When my team went there when the Rockets folded, it was far from successful and as a Hammers fan I did not enjoy it at all, unlike the days when I used to go ther as a visiting fan to follow my team (and a few others on occasion) when I really liked the place. Such a shame it has been lost for ever.

In action today in a junior 2 day meeting in Lublin- this kid is something very special. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/relacja/112667/zaplecze-kadry-juniorow-w-lublinie

Not simples.....he needs citizenship, not a licence for team meetings

I've always kept records. Even as a young child, i had lists of tracks i wanted to go to!

The fifth round at Belle Vue has now been declared as behind closed doors. Considering the enormous increase in Manchester re new cases , a perfectly sensible and responsible response. Hope that it is suitable to provide pay per view

I guess this is a binary opinion. I would say exactly the same about last year's point system. But we're civilised folks, aren't we? We'll agree to disagree

During a year he can only have one FIM license. That can change year to year though. When Kylmä was in the U21’s early 2k, he was Svemo rider in the finals from memory. Since 2003 when he qualified for the gp I’m close to bet that his FIM license said SML every year until he quit.

Maybe that was a weakness that was often thrown at Briggo?? not a criticism as i was a massive fan of his.

Rowe has based himself in Poland from the end of July riding for Rawicz in div 2 - so he has been getting plenty of practice and meetings.

Not sure- Tom Brennan rides in the European U21 final in Gdansk next Monday - so could stay on to the weekend.

There was big problems on the night when the feed out of Gorzow failed, and heats 4,5,6 were not able to be shown live- when N Sports came back they showed the missing heats in the grading break- to be fair to Premier they might not have had access to those heats. I`m sure however they had heats 1 to 3.

Is it being run on cumulative points basis over the 2 days or will countries be awarded points based on where they finish on each day... so as to bring it into line with other sports?

I would think that they intend moving all tickets from March to the PCMT In 2021... just like the Son meeting.. or give refunds if requested.

Always enjoy these debates. I caught the fag end of Mauger's career in person, so never saw the best of him in the flesh. But have absorbed all that is possible on film and in books. He redefined what it was to be a professional speedway rider. But if you pinned me down, I'd have to rate Tony Rickardsson as just above him. He was World Champion in a one off format, he was World Champion in a GP format. He could win from the front, win from the back, he could win under pressure and do it on all tracks. No-one can say he did it in an easier era either. Crump, Hancock, Pedersen all have claims to be in the world's top 10-15 ever. He was a notch above them all. Not to mention other truly quality riders like Gollob, Nielsen, Adams, Hamill, Loram...whose careers all overlapped Rickardsson. Of course they all got one or two over him, but he emerged as the clearly the best. He's the closest I've seen to a complete rider. That said, I'd like to have seen Ove Fundin in action too

Lindgren would have sealed the silver medal with a top-three finish on the night, but he suffered a mechanical failure at the start line in the final, forcing him into a run-off with Woffinden, which the Brit won. The Orebro-born ace revealed a curburettor issue halted him at the cruellest of moments. But he takes heart from matching the bronze medal he achieved in 2018 and was pleased to mount a strong title challenge throughout 2020. From SGP website https://www.speedwaygp.com/news/article/8591/zmarzlik-standing-with-sgp-giants

He can, but maybe they won't pick him ? I know they had some problem with Latvia for choosing Laguta as their wildcard and Laguta was supposedly trying to gain Latvian citizenship, but failed the language test

I haven't watched Eurosport for a good few years, but I hope their presentation has improved. I'm not so sure this is good news if it hasn't. We could well have many a minute staring at a picture of a tractor going round with just background noise.

An individual meeting, you can represent any country as long as you hold a licence. But you can't represent a team without holding a passport.....an old subject that confuses many

not so sure about that ! Chugunov has not given up his Russian nationality, he has dual-nationality now, holding two passports now, a Russian and a Polish one. Same as Emil Sayfutdinov and same as Artem Laguta ! And those two still ride for Russia ! Chugunov has so far not been chosen to represent any Polish national team. So why on earth would he not be eligible to carry on riding for his homeland Russia in the SoN ???

Why are you asking? Its in Lublin, virtually all of the riders are in Poland, there is quarantine restrictions everywhere, its not advantagous for the Poles. The Brits, Russians, Danes, Swedes, Aussies all ride in the same league as Lublin

Germany or a German promoter/club are hsrdly going to finance a meeting they aren’t in. Probably no promoter in any country would

I won’t but it’s not even going to be a choice, it’s not just speedway it’s everything like retail etc, these places will go under, people will not go, there are a few obviously like yourself that don’t have a problem living your life like someone on the naughty step but I don’t need a label on a bleach bottle telling me not to drink it,

Speedway can’t afford limited crowds or haven’t you been paying attention to how speedway is funded

MONTHLY magazine and probably not sent first class and less time sensitive than Speedway Star. According to Royal Mail, surprise, surprise, all mail is treated equally.

I was (am) that man. When you dread racenight coming round, a sickly feeling as you leave the house for the track, you know something's not right. Many riders have felt this as they reach the last days of their career. But a fan?. Quite a few attend speedway out of guilt, a haven't-missed-a-match-in-12-seasons guilt. Don't want to break the duck now guilt. But a lot of people follow a drip-drip method. Miss one match and it doesn't hurt that badly, not as badly as you used to have cold-sweats over. Stop reading speedway news in full because it's mostly yawn fodder that also happens. Even the speedway you recorded last week gathers dust and eventually gets deleted. The sport you once wouldn’t miss, you now see it through the eyes of those who often scoffed when they knew you liked speedway. Ex-fans have seen the light. Some, like me, stick with it through forums and because of the time they courted the sport. But today's offering from the sport is as random as the lottery numbers that spew out on a Saturday night. In fact, when the only definite thing is you, the fan, attending the track every week... perhaps the sport plays on the guilt factor of many left on the terraces and the spaces around them are like a receding hairline.

Me Too Sid - others may say it is because we are growing old and may be also less interested in other things. I don't think it is as simple as that because I too have been watching man and boy since the early 1950s. With serious interest when Ove Fundin arrived at Norwich. I am not gaga and am very interested in other things and other sports. I live only three miles from the KL track and someone picks me up and takes me there so there are no practical difficulties about getting there. Buster even has a disabled section where I can sit on the bench ( with my own cushion ). So it is the action I see on track which leaves me very disillusioned. Of the 15 heats there are very rarely more than four with any excitement over passing or possible passing. 75% are tapes to flag processions - dull as ditchwater or worse. Too many rules that do nothing to spice up the interest in my brain and entice me to remain in the habit of going. Gardening at the gate is longer than the race - I kid you not! Doubling up - ah well don't get me started on that! r/r or guests all too often. So 4 minutes of thrills for my time and money is inadequate - Thumbs Down for me. Oddly I have NOT fallen out of love with the sport as I am eager for the next GP where I see much more ferocious determination in the racing ( of course for higher rewards ) and only last night I watched a LIVE Swedish match and a Polish League match which provided more ( a higher % ) of exciting races for me to enjoy. The BSPA have got it all wrong because as a die hard fan like me being turned off, they are unlikely to attract new fans who require more VFM in what leisure activity they pay for.