BWitcher

It's interesting.. For the past few years it's been debated that speedway has two options. Option A: Fortnightly speedway with strong teams Option B: Weekly speedway but weaker teams. There were many fans, Wolves included, who didn't want fortnightly speedway. Likewise there were many other fans, Wolves included, who didn't want the weaker teams. In typical speedway fashion we now have the worst of both options.. Fortnightly speedway with weaker teams. The reality is that we've had that for the last couple of seasons, this year they are just going to make it obvious!

Really?? You must not speak to many folk then.. The fact is most peoples minds are so closed, it scares them to contemplate that they are consistently lied too... even though history shows that administrations have always done just that, especially the US one. The 9/11 investigation was full of unanswered questions. Even the head of the investigation admits they were prevented from doing their jobs and that many things remain unexplained. Voice of Reason of course forgot to add the announcement of Building 7 collapsing some 25 minutes before it did.

There is one rider in that Peterborough side I would be happy to see Wolves sign and that's Kenni Larsen.

Quite the opposite in fact.

This is all very simple. The 'heat leader list' does not mean those riders will start as heat leaders. It simply means you can only sign 3 from that list. Some of the riders on that list will have a lower average than riders not on it.. and thus if they are in the same team as them will begin as second strings. People seem to have this conception that if you are on the 'list' you have to start at heat leader.. you don't.

Don't come back with any nonsense. If people didn't pay, there would be no live speedway. That's the reality. Most of us have watched 'illegal' streams at one time or another, but we don't try and claim that it's all above board.

Lindgren and PK are the only two obvious signings from the current Wolves assets, assuming PK is not on the heat leader list.

If PK isn't on the heat leader list, then why are people saying he will be looking elsewhere?? He's a no brainer signing if he isn't. He should be though.

You don't have to do anything. If you want to watch GP speedway, that is your choice. Same as if you want to go and see Poole race, funnily enough, you pay for it. Have a pop at poor old Matt Ford for making you HAVE to do that. Meanwhile others end up paying more because of scroungers, or more accurately I should say thieves, like yourself who want everything handed to them on a plate for free..

100% agree with this and can only concur with my own situation. I've not lived abroad for as long as you, nor been involved in a national team like you have, however, I already feel an affinity to Portugal and just recently in their Euro qualifying I was 'singing' along to their National Anthem.. I say singing, I only know a few of the words, so more.. da di da di da etc. I am and always be English, but the longer I live here, the more affinity I will feel towards Portugal. If you've grown up in a country, like Tai has, then of course he's going to have a massive affiliation to them. However, he is British, legally so and it doesn't matter what any jealous folk spout on here.

Folk would think he was worse than Pearson within 3GP's. He has far more stock phrases than even Pearson. Personally I don't mind any of them.

Fridays is utterly pointless and entirely defeats any potential benefits. It HAS to be on different nights to Premier League racing or its a waste of time.

Forget top riders! The biggest problem is Elite League and Premier League running on the same nights and teams being decimated as a result. Separate race nights for the leagues solves many of the sports problems immediately. Its not rocket science.

And here is the biggest problem with the sport NO Sport will survive while it panders to the anoraks who attend more than one match.. and no there aren't that many of them either. Spot on!

You're so far out of touch with reality it is staggering. These changes will be massively beneficial for a number of reasons. Firstly it will allow some of the top boys to return if they wish. Secondly and more importantly at this stage it is imperative that the EL fixtures are run on different nights to the PL. Then GONE are many of the problems of continuity. You will no longer be missing 2,3 riders from a team because they riding for a PL team or vice versa. The only time a rider should be absent is when injured or the odd international meet. That will improve things one hell of a lot and give the sport a lot more credibility. If however they make this change and you end up with the EL and PL still running on the same night then its an utter waste of time.

I was just looking on that site too, its brilliant. I guess it shows what a tough thing it is to do.

So just 3 people have done it since 1988? Jason Crump, Sam Ermolenko and Hans Nielsen?

Regarding 11+, does anyone know how many times an 11+ average has been achieved since the nominated heat was brought in? I know Ermolenko did it in 93.. and I think Jason Crump managed it? I'd have thought Nielsen would have done it too at least once, if not more? Any others?

The point is, that was a different year. What happened in 79 is irrelevant to what happened in 80.. likewise 2014 and 2015. Ivan Mauger was world class for almost his entire career, in 1980 he wasn't as good as previous years. That's not diminishing him at all, just the truth. With Ermolenko I said 1993 Ermolenko.. he was 11+ that year

Irrelevant. KK spent this year as World No 2. Was he any good? As for Nielsen, a mid 80's Hans Nielsen very likely would still average over 11 with bonus pts, but that's another topic. So would Ivan Mauger at his peak or Ole Olsen at his peak.. or the 1993 Sam Ermolenko etc.

Which nullifies almost your entire argument.... unless you're going to claim there were more riders in the top 20 in the averages in 1980 than there are in 2015. Who ranked 12th in the averages in 1980? Emil Sayfutdinov was 12th in the Polish league averages...... One off meetings here and there don't make you world class. Davis was a decent rider who could sometimes have good meetings. Never in the upper echelon of riders. Gert Handberg was 3rd in the World Final, was he a world class rider?? Absolutely not, not even in the year he managed that.

It has everything to do with it as it determines how we perceive a rider.

It depends how you judge world class I suppose. For some people it would be the top 5 in the world, for others top 10, others maybe class top 20. Who have you ranked similar this year, to where Mauger ranked in 1980? That would be a good comparison. I'm not belittling Penhall's achievements at all by the way and I think he does rank above Hancock, just about. Hancock I think has most certainly got better, he has got the complete package dialled in now.

Good points, but then did Penhall win all of his qualifying rounds? Hard to compare GP's to a world final in that respect as its part of a longer competition. 3 World Finals is a very small sample to go off too, things have to fall your way.. and as we know they did fall Penhalls way. He could, if luck had gone the other way, had won neither of them. That doesn't diminish his achievements or his ability.

It is entirely relevant. Riders are only as good as we perceive them to be. The format in which we see them racing entirely dictates that. Every single post you are making shows that to be true. You've picked out the 'Commonwealth Final' again waxing lyrical about the line-up... yet much of that field are riders that are perceived to be better than they were purely because of the format. Is Chris Harris a world class rider this year? He came 3rd in the GP Qualifier which was just as tough a line up. You won't 'perceive' it to have been because the riders involved don't all have 9pt averages.. why? Because of the format they were in. If you're having Mauger as being World Class in 1980, then Harris is World Class in 2015. Seems you're setting a low bar.