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The issue is simple once people get the right mindset. Under the "every point counts" system, heat 23 was nothing to do with the World Championship (beyond the race points scored). It decides who is the winner of that GP. That's it. The race points scored throughout the series decides the WC. It is very indicative when in commentary it is said, "It doesn't matter what happens here [early heats] as long as you make the semis". What more damning comment of the current scoring system do you need?

What awful news. Alan Grahame was my absolute favorite rider during my teenage years attending Cradley every week. Despite the world class superstars he was teammates with, Al was the man for me. Never let the team down. Always gave it everything. I only recently watched the terrific interview he did on You Tube with Lee Kilby and was reminded what a great guy he was. RIP Big Al.

If you'd been "selling" speedway over the past several decades, Colin would have been one of the fixtures and fittings. A stalwart by any definition. We're worse off without you Colin. Rest in peace.

I don't mind the world U-21 champ getting a place in the GP challenge, but definitely not direct to the GP series!

Hearing that James Wright is the first rider to be named for 2022.

If it had been watched by enough people Sky would have kept it going as the advertisers alone would have been happy for them to continue with it... And if tracks had some kind of covers to increase their chances of running, rather than calling off meetings on 'damp but raceable' ' nights, I am sure Sky would have been more inclined to keep the contract open. As it stood, it cost them a lot of money to take all their kit to a track, set up, and have nothing to broadcast.. Bottom line is UK Speedway had 'the cream of the crop' over here and each top league track got over £100k a year for a long, long time, (literally tens of millions was put into the sport), and when the contract ended UK Speedway wasn't any better at all for all that money they had received... And that is simply rank incompetence...

At 59 years of age, I don't consider myself "old". However, having followed speedway for 59 years, I will admit that many of my earliest memories are speedway related. It's really sad that I was not only that young, but all my heroes were that much older than me. I know it's life, but the last few years have been really hard on me as so many of these heroes have departed. Mirac, Ivan, Booey, Olle 'white boots", Pratty etc...

Shows they're clearly the best 15 in the World then, which is exactly what the series should be

So sad, had a catch up with big al 2 days before his accident, we chatted about speedway and crashing as I had one myself a few days before, I knew how bad his injuries were but somehow held the hope that he would pull through, a lovely bloke who was motorcycles through and through and had some great stories from his career that we listened to up the man cave over a brew, a very humble man, a great loss. R.I.P my friend

Agree track prep has been poor for GP’s .When you see the racing from mainly the same sets of riders in League matches you have to question what is the difference and the only answer is track prep IMO.It’s obvious that it’s overwater in the intervals ,it’s just coming good after the 4 heats in the block when they come out and flood it again. Very poor spectacle for fans.

Did anyone see the visit of Catherine Southen to Kings Lynn speedway. The clip showed Catherine the history of speedway and some riders demonstrating racing. It wasn't brilliant but it did promote the sport.

Have seen Pickering on several occasions this season on at least six different tracks and almost without fail he's been superb. Easily my rider of the season.

Josh Pickering is a class act. Watched him at Leicester this season and he just blew me away with his style and determination. Great rider to watch

Went up to this meeting as my mate’s lad was riding in the 2nd half and gotta say Josh Pickering was sensational tonight, topped off by an unreal ride in heat 15. Was in the pits and thought he was coming to join us for a split second!!! Some fantastic racing all night, a great advert for the sport

Why do Discovery/Sky make it so arduous to get a simple App to watch Discovery Plus. Faffing about with Sky Q and mobile device is a pain. Netflix and others are simple on Sky Q but this one is anything but. Cannot be bothered to waste time just to watch future live speedway, meetings. it really is not worth the hassle. Well done those in charge of the sport you know how to alienate your audience.

Then they deserve to be there! If you want new young exciting riders in the GP, they need to beat the older riders in the qualifiers!

Couldn't agree more. Was there a better British League partnership that Alan Grahame and Phil Collins? Together far outweighing the sum of their parts. A final memory was his one World Final appearance as reserve at 84 in Ullevi. 99% of the time, any reserve who is called upon tends to stay out of the way of those in the running.. Not Alan Grahame, his moment arrived and he was taking it...scoring 5 points from 2 races beating some of the pre event favourites Shawn Moran, Jan Andersson and Billy Sanders in the process. Never less than 100% effort.

3 riders named so far for the ROW team P Hansen A Laguta A Thomsen

You really are overstepping the line between opinion and knowledge; the Sky deal was substantial but not as much as cycling got, included league sponsorship (Sky Sports Elite League for all those who said the BSPA/L couldn't find a big name league sponsor), an element of the TV fees had to be channeled into youth development hence the BSPA contribution to the British Under 21, establishing the Under 19 and so on - it wasn't a fortune but it helped and an element to contribute to the Team GB set up (Pre the current arrangement with Rob). The lower professional league also had to receive a sum to plug a gap because they were competing with live tv (this was their annual BSPA fees paid). Terry Russell reduced his perpetual commission to a fraction of his finders fee and below his contractual arrangements despite all the clever comments on here. It was the cost of football and football only that led to the early settlement of the contract allowing Sky to save the cost of the live outside broadcasts - nothing to do with rain offs, audience figures or advertisers. Don't forget they binned the be all and end all Speedway GPs for the same reason, eff all to do with the BSPA/L Broadcasters need live summer sport to fill their schedules so offering what appears to be brewsters to minority sports is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of football

Alan Grahame - a man who served all of his clubs with diligence and distinction over many years, and a true gentleman and family man. All of us will be shocked and saddened by his passing and especially the circumstances which resulted in his death. May I add my sincerest condolences to his family and closest friends. Rest in the peace of the Lord old friend.

I think that's your answer. After Friday's result, Scunny agreed to go to Leicester today without a facility for Adam Ellis, to get the fixture completed, but it was Leicester who didn't want to hold it today, presumably because there was no chance to get the track back into a raceable state after the rain this week.

Does not change the fact that Igor is still one of the best, if not the best, not to be crowned world champion. If only he could have ridden in Britain, Boris Samarodov as well would have benefitted.

Maybe a lot people had previously bought tickets but unable to travel for one Reason or another

Yes that is true but what is the point of having a rider who will be odds on to finish in the bottom 3 of the series as a wild card pick. He won a GP but he is a one hit wonder. Latvian rider Andzejs Lebedevs would be a far better option than Smolinski.

Please Please Please Discovery please amend the SGP points system to the one we had previously ie every point counts. The GP has now become flat due to the scoring system, the gp only starts to have some meaning when 20 heats are completed. Every point counts brings intensity from heat one and the gp should evolve as a story, evolving heat by heat. I know the issue of the winner scoring possibly less points than the runner up is an issue, but overall I would live with it to improve the overall product. I won't hold my breath thou . I can't think of many who like the current system.

Yes, very sad news. Colin gave so much to speedway not just as a rider, manager and promoter but also, after he retired, through the World Speedway Riders' Association, of which he was president in 2011. I used to see him every week at Hackney of course and then met him several times at various WSRA functions. But perhaps our strangest meeting was when I just happened to bump into him at Liverpool Street Underground Station and we travelled as far as Tottenham Court Road together. This was the first time I actually met him and he must have wondered who this strange person was who suddenly accosted him to talk about Hackney speedway!

Winter viewing- the Canal + archive going back to 2013 - some 324 matches to enjoy !!!!! https://www.canalplus.com/pl/sport/ekstraliga-archiwum?fbclid=IwAR28pIiMkkMMEL0HX9S-BHDYqzPJFGdVTmGjFoF7_QHDLDVlUEwBwynamZQ

Forecasting Snow in some parts of Scotland this week even on lower ground. They just never learn and every season is the same.

In the case of the BSPL I think we'd be better off starting with small steps. How about a 5 day plan?

Looks like it's all over, can't see Zmarzlik making up 9 points on Laguta for 1st. Lindgren making up 9 points on Sayfutdinov for 3rd or Madsen making up 16 points on Woffinden for 6th. Didn't think the racing was bad last night, watched 10 heats before going to the pub and the rest when I got back, but not as good as some Ekstraliga meetings I've watched from Torun this year. Can't understand why the FIM people take over track preparation/grading/watering, just let the guys that do it week in week out for the league meetings look after it, they clearly know it better.

First mistake. Should have the British GP at Belle Vue and dump boring Cardiff

100%! My local National League track Mildenhall is almost perfectly functional and financially viable in the 3rd tier with its healthy crowds for the level they run at. I get the impression that the powers that be would rather Mildenhall stepped up into the 2nd tier but that wouldn't work out as costs would go through the roof, admission prices would have to go up but crowds probably wouldn't go up to subsidise the increases. And I doubt racing the racing would get any better cause race times would sometimes be 2 seconds quicker which would mean race times of under 50 seconds which would be a blink of an eye and make overtaking even harder! - Indeed with out the 3rd tier Mildenhall speedway would of probably finished permanently in 1992 when the track folded mid season in the 2nd Division and the track tarmaced over for stock cars. The reality is in present times most tracks in the 2nd tier don't get big enough crowds to afford to pay riders a professional wage. In fact most of them would be better of racing at 3rd tier level where the crowds would be more viable in terms of the reduced costs. Rob Godfrey has a short memory cause if there wasn't a 3rd Division when he got Scunthorpe going in 2005 its doubtful he would have even tried cause reopening Scunny in one of the two professional Leagues, a former failed speedway centre that failed to attract viable crowds in the better supported times of the 1980's would have been a massive gamble! I also suspect Godfrey is a tad bit oblivious to the struggles of other tracks in the Championship because his team is subsidised by being able to have almost unlimited access to his track which means he can put on lots of practises, amateur meetings, stock car meets and the venues available for private hire. The likes of Birmingham and Eastbourne only kept going a few years back when they had to drop down into the less expensive 3rd Division. The modern 3rd Division in its numerous guises has been one of the best innovations in British speedway ever since it was formed in 1994, in fact its something that would of helped speedway if it had been formed in the late 70's. - I suspect quite a few of the track closures from the late 70's to the early 90's may have been prevented had a 3rd Division been in place then? Apart from offering up and coming riders a constructive 6-7 person team League to race in the 3rd tier has been a viable water in which to reopen former tracks and for new venues to test the water. Also competent riders not good enough for higher Leagues but are still capable of providing good racing and passing on experience to young riders have benefited from the 3rd tier. Basically all this leads me to conclude that British speedway needs to go to 2 Leagues next season. - The top League called the British League will be an amalgamation of clubs in the current Premiership and Championship that can afford to run professional speedway at a level akin to the current 2nd tier. - This would be at most 15 of the tracks at present I suspect? The new 2nd tier to be called the National League to be a semi professional League stronger than current National League but not by a massive amount. This would contain the likes of Birmingham, Newcastle, Berwick, Kent, and maybe Scunthorpe and Redcar combined with Mildenhall, IoW, Oxford, Eastbourne, Workington and maybe a couple of reserve teams like Belle Vue Colts if they could afford to? - No foreigners except Commonwealth riders with a British League average under 5 or 6 allowed. 2 per team allowed. The successful, properly run, enthusiastic 4 person Northern junior League and the Midland Development League (rename it the Southern League to encourage Southern tracks to enter and for a equal North South split!) to continue for novice riders not yet ready for National League. Forget about the still born, half hearted Godfrey/Louis Premier junior League from this year. Allow teams representing defunct tracks to enter like Milton Keynes, Exeter, Reading cause these could possibly stir up enough interest to provide the inspiration to open new tracks at these lost centres like what happened at Scunny cause again Mr Godfrey who blocked such teams from running done exactly the same thing in 2003 and 2004 before Normanby Road opened in 2005! Things need to change thats for sure but what is certain is the National League has to continue albeit at a little bit higher level!

Anyone think we should go back to the every point count scoring system

No bigger example of why every point should count than tonight, World Championship on the line and all these races and points are almost superficial.

Cause running r/r. If lose another rider can end up with 3 rider races

Can agree with that - really unlucky to have a failure when he had done all the hard work. Really enjoyed that stream and Bears Commentators kept the interest alive well. Some excellent fast racing on a well prepared track. All the Monarchs chipped in with vital points with possibly Drew Kemp and Josh Pickering stealing the show, but overall it was a solid team effort. If we get racing like that in the home leg we will be happy.

You must have been there in 1963 when Colin Pratt, riding for a Provincial League Select against Southampton at New Cross (I think the home team had an away fixture) beat Björn Knutson, A Provincial League rider beating one of the "Big Five" was almost unheard of and shows just how well he was riding that year. Sad news indeed that Colin is no longer with us.

That's very sad to hear. A proper racer in every sense of the word. For me and other Aces fans, he was often a thorn in our side through Cradley's dominant years. But even in opposition, you couldn't help but admire his no frills, 100% commitment for club and country at all times. Sincere condolences to his nearest and dearest at this sad time.

Emil... 2 x WU21 champion, 2x European champion, 3x SON winner, 3x WC medals, 22 GP finals, 7 GPwins... how much more is needed to class him as a great rider?.

why are we having kerr as a guest after all the hard work getting to the playoffs why are we suddenly giving it away. had to be cook the only reasonable choice

Donation given to BEN Fund- really enjoyed doing it this season.

on here http://kergel.ucoz.lv/ could move to div 2 play-off soon

If Redcar progress then I would think Poole would pick them in the semis

Sky realised that no matter how much money was thrown the was of the BSPA nothing would change. In fact the product got worse with each year sky was involved, not the fault of sky who gave the BSPA some big contacts. The BSPA squandered the opportunity with sky. As for Eurosport isn't it been given to them pretty much free of charge, so they have nothing to lose!

I think madsen and doyle are certs think thomsen will get a pick after finishing 3rd in Russia lambert s finishing with 3 semifinals in the last 3 gps should see him get a pick and due to his injuries I d expect them to give vaculik a pick

Really depressing news! When I was the Coventry correspondent for the Speedway Mail, Colin was always very amenable to the 'Press Gang' as he named us. He traveled (cadged a lift) with myself and Wayne Roberts to a few Bees away matches and often had us in stitches, or awe, with his outrageous (but true) tales of his life as a rider. We always had to stop on the way to Eastbourne at a certain spot for an ice cream. A really great loss to our sport in general. RIP Pratty.

A really nice man who was an excellent rider manager and promoter. Lovely sense of humour and was a genuine fan of the sport. He will be missed at Peterborough despite the short time he was here.

He did he paid his money

Chuffing Apps, sky Q, Iphones, smart tvs ....

Crap?? He was sensational at Shielfield, one of the best passers of the 21st century