szkocjasid

How times change, in 1992 Hans Nielsen a 3 times world champion didn't qualify through the Nordic final and missed out on the world final, these days you can get given a place in the gp series using an unknown criteria (if there is one).

That's a very good point. I think if they had less or no seeded places available more top riders would enter the qualifiers and you should get the best riders through. If a weaker rider qualifies on merit then they deserve to be in it. Why are they so keen on younger riders being seeded in, i've seen some fantastic races over the years starring Adams, Crump ,Hancock & Gollob. If they're so keen on young riders how about Przemysław Pawlicki?

Richardson entered the qualifiers but pulled out on the eve of the meeting (semi final i think) cause of illness after he had travelled to the venue (can't remember where it was held off the top of my head).