iwright71

The point is that one of the reasons we moved away from One Off World Finals was to try to assemble the best 15 riders in the world to contest the World Championship. Unfortunately there still has to be riders nominated primarily by their nationality to ensure key markets that host GP's have ample riders from that nation to aid selling tickets. I get this but lets not dress it up that if Antonio Lindback was not Swedish but say Danish he would not have received a wildcard for next years GP Series.

I'm sure Phil Rising will give us a rigorous defence to the wisdom of BSI picking Antonio Lindback as a wildcard. The asperation might be to pick the best 4 riders but unfortunately they also have to come from the right part of the World. Lindback has been selected because BSI need more than 1 Swede in the field having to sell 2 GP's in far flung Swedish venues almost devoid of travelling fans. Antonio has had a good run in the GP, and has won GP's but rarely challenges the top 8. There were other , better options, The other Laguta,, Michelsen to name 2. But unfortunately the GP has always been run on a quota system.

It was Wolves vs Kings Lynn. Not aware that the home promotion asked for it to be shown. Not sure if this is even possible. It would open a whole can of worms if promotions were able to cancel TV coverage at their own request.

BT Sport also have no problem binning Premiership speedway matches that are in their schedule at a moments notice.

We don't have to watch this again in the Final do we ? Can we not use the stadium replacement rule and get a leg of the Grand Final at the National Speedway Stadium so we at least see some speedway racing in the play offs instead of a gating tournament. Lets be honest if it hadn't been close tonight who would have switched off tonight after 4 heats. As someone who doesn't support either team or have a perverse affliction to Poole getting stuffed it was an absolute bore fest. Still those protectionists out there will tell me the racing is better than ever ! . No secret to why attendances drop year on year and the sport slowly dies

There is only 7 links in the chain as well

Todays airhorns ,the ones you blow into are nowhere near as loud as the gas ones we used to use .Happy days at World Finals at Bradford and abroad and the Cardiff GP many years ago.. Ahh happy days before Health and safety .

The quality of racing on offer these days is better than ever didn't you know ?

Likewise me at another venue, although most scribes on here will tell you the quality of racing at tracks in the UK has never been better.

Interesting how opinions can be at polar opposites on this forum. Some on here see the racing as better than ever while on the Premiership forum below Peterborough and Kings Lynn fans are moaning about Busters tracks and describing the fare offered on live TV in the Premiership as 'invariably dire ' with the exception of the NSS.

I think the sport has sunk so far in Britain for so long it will be impossible to resuscitate it.

Just caught up with Saturday's GP at Wroclaw. Brilliant stuff. As I said about Manchester last week, we need more tracks like this. If this was the standard on offer most weeks the sport would be in a much better state all over the World. Unfortunately tracks of the equivalent of Manchester and Wroclaw seem to be the exception rather than the norm. Big . wide, relatively slick, fast throttle open tracks are the blueprint to suit modern speedway bikes. Unfortunately most tracks are historic and not of the correct size , shape or surface material to produce the formula needed for top dollar speedway, you only have to watch the Premiership, SON or the GP to see this. Wouldn't 2 marque temporary tracks in Cardiff and Warsaw plus 8 GP's on tracks similar to NSS and Wroclaw be utopia. Sadly not possible as most of these tracks are in Poland ( Czestochowa ) for example and there are 3 their already and the NSS which won't happen because of the potential impact on Cardiff. You also have the financial implication of who is prepared to pay. Saturday was a great advert for the sport, we need more of it.

Pretty sure Wales have 2 warm up games at the Principality , August 11th and August 17th. Nothing in May, June or July. Stadium must be extremely busy in these months or its a conscious decision by BSI to want to stage the 2nd last Grand Prix in the calendar.

Think that's what the organisers were hoping for. Was that why they changed the date for Cardiff this year ? Doubt we will ever know

Don't go down that line. You will get Fortythirtyeight on your case, he has already told me I'm wrong when I dared to say quality of racing had detreated since the silencer change in 2011. I have eyes , can only call it how I see it.

We will have to disagree on that one. Lack of class from Madsen. We all knew how bad that crash was. It may not have been Madsen's fault but he speared another rider which caused him a heavy fall which caused another rider to ride over his head. Fatalities and permanent disabilities have resulted from similar crashes. Madsen showed no concern for his stricken opponent and shamelessly dusted himself down, walked back to the pits waved to fans as a fellow rider he brought off was being put on a stretcher . Then a belly laugh in the pits with a mechanic and the presence to reach for the sponsors hat when realising he was on screen. Madsen may be playing up to this ruthless image he has but that for me was poor fare and unusual amongst todays riders

Think the clue is in your last post " there's a few tracks out there producing great racing and entertainment EVERY week " I think we all know where they are but a few " good " tracks around the country is not enough to sustain a sport as the empty spaces on the terraces shows. On this forum all fans do is moan about the poor quality of racing, Kings Lynn, Peterborough, Sheffield, Leicester, Berwick etc etc

Must be something else then. Amazing quality of speedway went rapidly downhill from the day F.I.M ordered a regulation change with silencers and the quality has not returned to this day. Probably just coincidence .

Also with his fellow countryman that he has just wiped out being loaded into an ambulance, Madsen is seen having a laugh with his mechanic and his major concern seems to be finding his sponsors cap when he sees the camera is on him.

Can only speak from my own experience. I would tell anyone pre 2011 that I watched the best speedway in the country. Now its poor, average on occasions and for this reason I've stopped attending after hardly missing a week in the last 30 years, I'm not the only one, plenty of others have voted with their feet, they have eyes. Do you watch speedway at every track in the country to validate your argument ? . Honestly when was the last time we saw a brilliant match on the TV that wasn't from Manchester ? Haven't seen anything out of this world from the GP's yet and don't mention the 2 day Final of the SON.

Just watched the highlights of the SON from Russia. Sums up speedway as a whole these days ' UNDERWHELMING '

The introduction of the new silencers (2011) has led to a dramatic downturn in the sport in terms of the motorsport experience ,and the reduced quality of racing.

Well that was an excruciating watch tonight. Never did I think I would see the once mighty Poole in this state. Awful meeting on a dangerous track with bumps, inconsistent preparation and a large blue groove. The shabbily turned out Pirates , residing in what looks like a rundown stadium in front of the lowest crowd I've seen for a Poole TV match. If anybody was in any doubt that the sport is on life support this was it.

Ah track changes, that old chestnut rolled out again for about the tenth time after another poor Prague GP. Rather than defend all things Speedway GP why not admit what everybody knows, Krsko and Prague have never been or will never be great race tracks providing the quality of spectacle expected for the Speedway GP.

whey hey, one hour in and at last something resembling a good race. Not sure how may channel hoppers who have stumbled on the speedway will have had the patience or stamina to stick it out for an hour. First hour garbage.