robpeasley

Why was the other thread locked anyway? There was no bad language or anyone being particulary nasty to each other. True, the discussion had been going round in circles, but with the nomation of Nicholls and Harris, it would have moved on. Also, I wanted to see how quickly my old Mongolian chum could rack up 500 posts on the same thread!!! All the best Rob

Subedei wrote on the other now locked thread (therefore let's move the discussion onto this one): "Anyway, any chance of those among you who posted that you want to see "the best 15 riders" in the GP coming on and criticising Harris' inclusion. I doubt any of you are deluded enough to say that Harris is superior to Kolodziej." Sub, I'll stay consistent. Harris was not in my list of the world's top 15. I don't think Harris should be in the 2007 GP series - it's a year or two too early for him. He's amongst the best 30 in the world, but not amongst the best 15. The only Brit in next year's series should be Scott Nicholls. Incidentally, why do you keep mentioning Kolodziej? It doesn't do your argument any good. He's been very inconsistent when I've seen him. Like Harris, I would place him in the best 30 in the world, but certainly not amongst the best 15. Peter Karlsson is a better rider than either of them - but isn't in the 2007 GP series. There's the injustice, that Harris has been picked ahead of PK (the only rider in my top 15 who won't be in the 2007 series). If you started banging on about that, as opposed to your one-man crusade against Scott Nicholls, I'm sure more people would listen. All the best Rob

Well, it should be Peter Karlsson instead of Chris Harris, but otherwise I agree with that list of riders. All the best Rob

Subedei wrote: "Anyway, any chance of those among you who posted that you want to see "the best 15 riders" in the GP coming on and criticising Harris' inclusion. I doubt any of you are deluded enough to say that Harris is superior to Kolodziej." Sub, I'll stay consistent. Harris was not in my list of the world's top 15. I don't think Harris should be in the 2007 GP series - it's a year or two too early for him. He's amongst the best 30 in the world, but not amongst the best 15. The only Brit in next year's series should be Scott Nicholls. Incidentally, why do you keep mentioning Kolodziej? It doesn't do your argument any good. He's been very inconsistent when I've seen him. Like Harris, I would place him in the best 30 in the world, but certainly not amongst the best 15. Peter Karlsson is a better rider than either of them - but won't get into the 2007 series, as I expect Lindback and Bjarne Pedersen to get the other two places. There's the injustice, that Harris has been picked ahead of PK (the only rider in my top 15 who won't be in the 2007 series). If you started banging on about that, as opposed to your one-man crusade against Scott Nicholls, I'm sure more people would listen. All the best Rob

Subedei wrote: "I was meaning to contact you about that wager. I'll shortly be making a donation to one of cheetahhawk's chosen charities and thought I'd make it a double donation by including our wager. But I'd forgotten the sum involved. I believe it was £25, but I'm not sure." Sub, I can't remember the exact amount, but that's a brilliant idea, please go ahead. All the best Rob

Subedei wrote: "I've given my list of fifteen riders I consider better than Nicholls. If you don't consider them better, well you're wrong." Sub, I admire you for sticking to your guns mate, however wrong you may be. As we well know, Nicholls WILL be in the 2007 GP series, so let's defer the argument to the end of 2007, and then discuss whether Nicholls was a worthy representative in the 2007 GP series. All the best Rob P.S. Just a reminder of our little bet regarding Gollob becoming World Champion...

Sub, I notice although you have now posted 138 times(!!!) on this subject, you still haven't given 15 riders in the world who I consider to be better than Scott Nicholls. Until you do, I will remain convinced that Scott Nicholls is deserving of his 2007 place, not because of his nationality, but because he is, in my opinion, around the 11th or 12th best rider in the world, and therefore should be in the GP. Back to you mate, did you come up with better examples than Kolodziej and Seb Ulamek?? Now, if you were to direct your arguments towards the second British rider likely to be seeded into next year's GP series, then you would have a much, much better argument, as I fail to see a second British rider who is amongst the world's best 15 and yet you can bet your bottom dollar that a second British rider will be in the 2007 GP series. My own rankings (not calculated, but simply my opinion): 1. Jason Crump 2. Hans Andersen 3. Greg Hancock 4. Nicki Pedersen 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Leigh Adams 7. Matej Zagar 8. Tomasz Gollob 9. Jarek Hampel 10. Peter Karlsson 11. Antonio Lindback 12. Scott Nicholls 13. Bjarne Pedersen 14. Wieslaw Jagus 15. Rune Holta All the best Rob

Subedei, Result of ELRC: 1. Crumpie 2. Nicki P 3. Greg 4. NICHOLLS 5. Hans Andersen 6. Todd 7. Leigh Adams Hmmmm.... surely a rider who finishes ahead of Hans Andersen and Leigh Adams in one of the biggest individual events outside of the GP series is worthy of a GP place? Kolodziej is nowhere ready for a GP place... Nicholls is a much, much better rider. So give us a BETTER example of a rider who should be in the GP in Nicholls's place. All the best Rob

Subedei, I understand your wish that the GP series should contest of the best 15 riders in the world. But your arguement on here is full of holes. Anyone can see that Nicholls probably would have qualified for the GP series had he not missed the Czech round. OK, he's only made one final, but he's also made most of the semi-finals, suggesting he is competitive enough in the GP meetings. As for suggesting that Kolodziej and Ulamek are amongst the best 15 riders in the world, do me a favour. They are good riders, but they certainly would not be as competitive in the GP series as Nicholls. Yes, there's a lot of us worried about the lack of top British riders at the moment, and it also concerns me when I travel to Poland and witness a much better organised league than those in Britain. But don't take it out on Nicholls, who is the only World class British rider about at the moment. All the best Rob

Sub, To be fair, Nicholls has got a valid excuse this year, he WAS in the top eight at the time of his collarbone injury, and looking at the final standings, he would have probably booked an automatic place he had not missed a round. Personally, I think all the riders down to twelfth (Bjarne Pedersen) have been competitive and good value in the GP this year. Given that Hans Andersen doesn't qualifty courtesy of his overall sixth, but does qualify along with Jagus & Holta from the GP Qualifier, that makes 14 riders (13 if Gollob does retire, I hope not, after seeing him weave his magic in the "flesh" on Saturday). Maybe the fairest solution would be to put in the next one or two from the qualifier, that's Peter Karlsson and then also Chris Harris (if Gollob does retire). That way, surely no-one has been selected on the basis of their nationality, but on their position in the GP series (top 12) or GP qualifier (top 5). All the best Rob

Norbold, Surely the 1946-1948 British Riders' events should not be counted, as they were not "World" events as such, with the vast number of riders coming from Britain, Australia or the USA. In fact, in 1946, I don't think even many Aussies (such as Vic Duggan, not over in Britain again until 1947) or Amercans were in it either. It was only in 1949 that the event became a true "World" event again. Anyway, Peter Craven was my dad's favourite rider, so I want him to stay as a No. 1 Brit!! And, personally, I would award 6-4-2 points for the World Final and 3-2-1 for the GP series, as the World Final was much tougher to win. One mistake or bad ride and you were history in the World Final. In the GP series, it's even possible to have a couple of bad rides in the qualifying heats and still win a GP, due to top eight (half the field) getting to contest the semi-finals. And no-one has yet to go through a GP series reaching every final, so no-one has yet put in the almost-faultless you needed to put in to win a World Final. All the best Rob

I'm surprised that the referee is getting such a bashing, because it was an incident pached GP and he called just about all the decisions right. His big blunder was not to bring the race back after Lee Richardson had the spokes taken out of his wheel. Otherwise: Heat 4 - Greg excluded for tapes, correct Heat 6 - Nicki excluded for tapes, correct Heat 7 - Richardson excluded for falling, correct Heat 10 - Nicki excluded for bringing down Sullivan, correct Heat 11 - Bjarne Pedersen excluded for causing Crump to fall, correct Heat 13 - Sullivan excluded for two minutes, correct - the riders know the GP rules regarding two minutes, Sullivan was there a second too late. Very harsh, but those are the rules. Notice how Sullivan wasn't blaming the ref, but his mechanics. So he knows what the rules are. Heat 17 - Bjarne Pedersen excluded for two minutes, correct - see above. Heat 19 - Adrian Rymel excluded after locking up bang in front of Jonsson, causing Jonsson to run into him and Rymel to fall, correct One bad decision during the whole night. I think the ref wasn't bad at all. All the best Rob

21st Century Heathen, I can't see any Lativians scoring many points in the next round (who's the wildcard - Custard Gadzooks who rode for Oxford at the start of last year?), so it's likely to be only the Polish wildcard from the final round who has a chance of passing him. So Lubos will finish 20th or 21st - even if it's unofficially (the BSI website still seems to be confused whether track reserve points count!!!). All the best Rob

Steve, Now that makes things very confusing indeed. Bjerre and Gjedde are credited with their track reserve points from Denmark (1 each), yet Lubos is not credited with his 4 points from tonight. All the best Rob

Steve, Who produces the graphics for the GPs? If it's BSI, then Lubos Tomicek is showing with 4 GP points in 20th position. All the best Rob

21st Century Heathen, It's a slightly strange situation, but as I understand it, the wildcards and reserves do get official placings in this year's series, but they DON'T count towards for qualification for next year's series. For instance, Hans Andersen could now easliy go now to finish second in this year's series. If he does this, then he will get the World Championship silver medal. However, if he was not one of the original 15 riders, this would not have guaranteed his place in next year's competition. (He's now qualified for the 2007 series another way, but finishing third in the qualifying final). It's similar to 1999, when Mark Loram finished fifth in the world, but had he not qualified via the 1999 GP Challenge, he would not have been in the 2000 GP series. All the best Rob

21st Century Heathen, That was something else Millard got wrong tonight. Look at the graphics produced by BSI and Lubos's 4 points DID count. He was listed as 20th in the World Championship standings at the end of the evening!! All the best Rob

Well, I normally stick with my initial gut reaction, but this time just as I went to press the send button, I changed Bjarne Pedersen's name to that of Jarek Hampel. And it saved me from having just 200 credits left... and now I've shot up to 11th!!! All the best Rob

What a sensational GP debut for young Lubos tonight. Only one of his four points was gifted, the others were hard earned. Luobs beat Andreas Jonsson, the winner of the previous GP, and ulimately cost Jonsson a place in the semis. And beat Niels-Kristian Iversen on a night where Iversen reached the semis and had his best GP of the season. It does make you wonder had Lubos been selected as the wildcard tonight and not a reserve, whether he could have made the semis... And now officially the 20th best rider in the world!! Well done Lubos!! All the best Rob

Congratulations to Jason Crump on being a derserving World Champion this year - he's dominated the whole season internationally and domestically this year in a way no rider has for quite some time. Some premature celebrations tonight, mind you - as Crumpie was only confirmed as World Champion when Hancock finished third in Heat 18. Reaching the semis on six points is highly unusual but Scott Nicholls did it in Lonigo last year and there was still a slim mathematical chance for Greg tonight as he lined up in Heat 18. Had Greg won Heat 18, then Jonsson & Hampel failed to get those second places in Heats 19 & 20, there would have been some mighty red faces around as Greg lined up in the semis!! All the best Rob

Subedei, Personally, I feel Loram would hold his own in the GP series - he is after all, a former World Champion. He now appears to be fully fit again, and also seems to be enjoying his Speedway at Ipswich. Is he amongst the best 15 riders in the world? Maybe. The recent World Cup showed he's still competitive at the top level. Yes, it would be better if we had British riders gaining thier place by right, rather then being seeded. But I guess politics rules at the end of the day. Even though it does mean that in a way that Speedway stopped having a true World Championship after the 2001 season - as the 2002 GP series was the first to feature seeded riders (discounting the honourable exception of 1996 World Champion Billy Hamill being seeded into the 1999 series, on the basis that he had miss the 1998 GP challenge through injury - if I remember rightly, they managed to get him in by reducing the number of wildcards at each meeting from three to two). All the best Rob

Iris123, League form, is to some extent, irrevelant. It's form in World events that count. And Loram showed, during the SWC that he is Britain's second best rider and that he is maybe amongst the 15 best in the world. Also, Loram didn't so much not enter the round this year, as have the opportunity taken away from him. Remember all the hoo-hah regarding the British Final? Subedei, Er... didn't Harris WIN a race during the SWC Final?... three beaten opponents there already!! I agree that he's not ready for the GP series though. Will be interesting to see how Stead, Harris and Howe (if Kolodziej is still unfit) fare in the GP qualifying final in a week's time. If none of them perform, then it has to be Loram in the 2007 GP series. All the best Rob

Subedei, Well, Poland have still got "old man" Gollob in the GP series (we here about all these up-and-coming Poles, but Hampel is only one to have a regular GP spot - and he seems to be losing his way). So why not "old man" Loram as well? He's clearly the second best Brit about at the moment, and I think, he is amongst the best 16 in the world as well. Wouldn't be at all suprised to see him included next year. After all, the GP series has just lost one of its main drawcards in Tony Rickardsson, and Loram, as a former World Champ, is a star name. All the best Rob

Rabbit, You're not alone - I was at Lonigo last year and thought it was good racing. In fact, I have to give credit to Rickardsson for his riding in this meeting last year. Seven rides, seven wins, and several spectacular passing moves. He should have quit on the rostrum like Penhall, and gone out with his reputation still intact. All the best Rob

Steve Shovlar wrote: "So does the meeting start at 8 pm UK or is it a delayed broadcast with the meeting starting at the usual time?" Steve, They don't start the meeting until 9.00pm Italian time, otherwise it's too hot to race. I was out there last year. The Lonigo track is bang in the middle of housing, and yet the meeting didn't finish until gome midnight, and then there was a firework display went was still going on after 1.00am in the morning!! Fortunately, the Italians are a laid back lot, the locals we passed on the way back to the bus didn't seem fussed at all... they'd just come outside to watch the fireworks!! All the best Rob