tomcat

Absolutely agree. The trouble is, that back then, the bikes were more standardised, ie: none of this special carburettor stuff, special internal parts (Flywheels etc), all were pretty much as they came out of the crate. It was down to rider ability, pure and simple. Add the fact that there was more dirt on the tracks and you have a better product. Now it all seems to be about how much money you can throw at the sport, from a machinery point of view. Back in the earlier years, it was down to a particular rider, if he had the brass balls to drop a tooth on the rear gearing, wind the trottle on that bit more, or for a little longer than the guy in front etc. Now its all down to who can get the most out of his machine via tuning and those special parts. Even the reigning World Champ has admitted in the past, he may have been on a Jawa cased engine, but the internals were nothing like a Jawa, in fact I believe he did say that it was more akin to a GM inside. Get the sport back to what it should be and speedway may gain a better outlook from the media and also claw back some of the mssing fans. Likewise the tracks, better prepared tracks produce better racing...fact. They don't have to be a foot deep in dirt, but a more consistant surface all over and a sensible amount of grip and watch the difference. I await the usual 'Dinosaur' comments that the younger fans seem to dish out when those of us that have seen better racing in the past speak out. Unfortunately, many of thoe that dish out that sort of comment weren't about to see the racing in the 60's,70's & 80's, where as we were and can see the huge differences between the era's. A few clips on YouTube don't even start to help their arguments. There were definitely more good meetings than bad, unlike today, which seems to be one poor meeting after another on super slick motorways.

I have asked on the forum before, but no-one really seemed interested. I have been looking for any footage of the 1979 BLRC from Hyde Road, when Bruce Penhall and John Louis had one awesome race which eventually decided the title that year, with it going to Louis. Wally Loak kindly sent me a copy of the audio commentary he did of the meeting, which is something really special I have to add, but am still desperately trying to locate any film of that meeting. Moxey, got your list by the way, a huge Thanks for that. You have meetings there that I started to remember very vividly, you lucky man. I am going to hunt through my stash of GP video's, as I am sure I have copies of the ones on the end of your list, where you say you're looking for better copies. Bear with me and I'll check to see if A: I have those meetings and B: That they are clear enough to watch. I'll drop you an e-mail back after we get Christmas out of the way. Merry Christmas to one and all. Stay safe and see you all in a few days no doubt.

White City, that was some stadium, fantastic, well it was to me back when I was young and fuelled by Methanol and Castrol R fumes.. Makes you want to weep, remembering so many famous old stadiums and their now sad demise. Never had the privilege of going to West Ham to see any speedway, but have seen plenty of pictures and heard a ton of great stories about the old place. Wembley to me, was the spiritual home of the World Final, a bit like it is for FA Cup Finals and the footy. The last Final I went to there, was the 1975 Final, when John Louis became the first Englishman to get on the podium since the late great Peter Craven. Hyde Road was scary, not dangerous scary, but it was such a big daunting track. Used to love watching my speedway there.

Malmo... now there's a blast from the past. Reading on the GP section, about what BSI are asking, or reportedly asking, from track promotions/councils to run a GP or SWC round, then its no wonder that we have so few venues to use for these meetings. Its a shame as there were some very good tracks about in years gone bye. And yes Parsloes... you can mention Crayford with pleasure. Laurie Etheridge still rates as my all time fav Kestrel. Just quickly looking at British speedway in general. So many fans are saying they get bored with the same teams visiting 2, 3, 4 or more times a season. Maybe, just maybe one answer lays in the WC rounds. Back in the years when we had the One Off World Finals, we had a WC qualifying round at every Division One track and some Division Two tracks, why can't the FIM and SCB get together and sort this out. What I mean is, it would give EL tracks more fixtures, thus allowing a league fixture list of one home, one away, then a WC Qualifier, British Championship qualifiers, Semi's and then we have the British Final for one lucky track, move that around each year and share it, that fills in some more dates. Just an idea to try and alleviate the repeated appearance of EL league tracks. The PL seem to be doing ok, with the Prem Trophy, Shield matches and their Playoffs too. Don't see many PL teams moaning about seeing the same team too often in a season. And before anyone starts on about One Off World Finals being outdated etc etc etc, I only mentioned them due to the qualifiers, it seems the SGP is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but if we reinstated proper WC qualifiers, it would give more meaningful fixtures to fill the calendar. Other than that, its going to take a severe case of blackmail to get more Pl teams to move up.... but I digress from the main topic here...sorry. Anymore defunct or unused former WC tracks about?

Hi Iris, Thanks for the heads up on Fredericia, thats answered that one for me.

Hi all, Just sitting here thinking about the World Championship of years gone by. What ever happened to tracks that used to host rounds of the World Championships, like Frederica(sp) and the like. Seems a lot of these tracks have either not been used or have just dissapeared. If anyone can remember that far back on here, do you have any info. I wasn't too sure on where to post this, so stuck it in here, as it is to do with International Speedway in a way. Any info on whether tracks still exist or why they no longer run WC rounds etc would be appreciated. To be honest, I'm just getting plain bored with seeing the same old venues year after year for the SWC and SGP series. Maybe, if any of the old tracks are still running, they might be up to spec for the SWC or SGP. I know its down to the promoters to bid for these events, but surely there must be more promoters willing to take the risk than the few we keep seeing?

Don't think it was missing the Uk at the start of the season. Its not affected other GP riders, like Crumpy, Nicki P, Gollob, Holta, and Greg H. Something has been amiss, you don't suddenly become a mediocre rider overnight. Sometimes a step back helps, as I said, look at what he was doing setups wise when he was flying and try and work out where the drop in performances started, analyse that and he might work out what went wrong. Some people reckon he doesn't deserve the title, you know, those that think Hans is too cocky, loud mouthed etc etc, but what a great World Champ he would be, has that character about him. Just hope he gets that W/C and sorts things out for a serious crack at the Title for 2010.

Tell your nephew not to ask silly queations... next he'll be asking about the Birds and Bees.... try getting out of that one.

What happened to Hans, when he was in as a wild card he was flying wherever he raced, now he has gone backwards. Perhaps ditching this tribute to Erik Gundersen may be a good way to start, plus go back to whatever setup he was using back then, on and off track. I'm not having a pop at Hans, as I seriously thought he would be a contender this year, but he needs to get his head straight. Whilst I applaud his attempts to recognise Erik as his idol etc etc, it is a distraction and a weight to carry, with people seeing what he is doing and expecting him to perform to Eriks level. Get the set up right and then pay a tribute to Erik, preferably at the final GP of the year of he has the title sewn up. I hope Hans does get a W/C pick for 2010 as he is an exciting rider to watch and also a real character too. As for the rest.... not too sure, but something like: Jason Crump. Nicki Pedersen Emil Sayfutdinov Tomasz Gollob Chris Holder Jarek Hampel Darcy Ward Greg Hancock Freddie Lindgren Matej Zagar Hans Andersen Andreas Jonsson Antonio Lindback Rune Holta Tai Woffinden (If there has to be a Brit) Get some decent track surfaces and that would probably produce some exciting races between that little lot.

Congratulations to Leigh on his 2nd place tonight. Was it me, or did it appear that Leigh was perhaps mean't to win that final. Just going on Nicki P's reactions at the end of the race. almost like a "Sorry mate, I forgot to let you through" type reaction. Whatever it was, at least made a final to end his GP career on, for which I'm chuffed. Glad to hear he is not thinking of retiring from League racing for a while. Hopefully he will be back in 2010 to lead Swindon.

What was the story with that track??? Thought I'd bite the bullet and watch this live, hoping to see some cracking racing at what is supposed to be the Worlds best track, only to witness super slick, blue groove, gate and go rubbish again. Congrats to Crumpy, well deserved, shame on you Tomasz, from hero to zero in the space of a few minutes. Maybe Nicki P's pass was a bit hard, but I won't defend any rider that leaves their bike on the track mid race. Ok, it may have hurt somewhat, specially on that concrete runway of a track, but had Tomasz gone down, there is no doubt that Nicki would have been excluded, Tomasz stayed on, spat his dummy & lost all respect as far as I am concerned. Roll on 2010, hopefully Tony Olsson will improve the track situation, only time will tell on that one.

Congratulations to Crumpy. Never used to like him way back when, but over the years he has kind of grown on me. Well deserved and a worthy Champion. Glad the injury didn't cost him the title in the end. Also smashing to see Mel and the kids on track to welcome Hubby and Dad in from his winning ride. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it... Jason Crump Triple World Champion.

Not totally unexpected. Thanks for the entertainment over the years Leigh. Shame that you didn't get to lift the main title, but you have won pleny of other honours over the years and there could still be an EL winners medal with Swindon to come, maybe next year? Hope you do stay racing in the League for another couple of seasons at least.

Has there been any more news on Crumpy's injury situation? Being serious here, as it would be a shame for any rider to lose a World Title because of injury. Although I wouldn't be overly upset if Tomasz was to pinch the title at the final GP of 2009. One rider who should have had at least one World Title to his name by now. Also, weather updates on this, hows the snow/rain affecting things in Bydgoszcz itself?

In a Nutshell... NO. BUT... it still wouldn't stop the GP tracks being as slick a the M25 and as sterile as always. So it wouldn't matter to me who was in the 16, as the racing probably wouldn't be any better.

As I have said on other threads, where this has cropped up. Its sterile, from the gate dross and is killing what is supposed to be our sports highlight, the World Championship. Ref advertising on the safety fence, Poole manage to remove dirty advertising banners, put up clean ones AND hose down and clean the dirty banners in between the racing. Take a look at the Poole v Peterborough meeting from last week. You can clearly see the trackstaff doing just that on the first bend. So that I am afraid has shot Mr Olsen and the FIM up the backside on that score. So could they please now give us a valid reason why we have ultra slick tracks for the World Championship of Speedway? We all know that a high percentage of British tracks could also do with some dirt on them, but as far as the Premier event in our sport goes, why oh why do we have to watch this rubbish?

Silly statement?? WoW. OK, so when were all but 4 or 5 riders ever seeded directly to any one off World Final? None that I can remember and thats over a 40 odd year period. In todays GP series, we have the top 8 seeded, plus the permanent Wild Cards, with just 3 riders actually qualifying from the GP challenge at Coventry on Friday evening. And I am not going back as far as the Star Trophy, or whtever it was called way back when the likes of Price and co were racing, as that wasn't ratified by the FIM as an official World Championship, to the best of my knowledge. I am talking about the FIM approved World Championship. Of course some riders got a free ticket to a World Final, but never ever to the degree that they do today. So please refrain from stating that it was a silly statement and check the facts that are there for all to see. Oh and if you're looking for an argument for the sake of it.... dont even bother.

I would also like to Thank Mr Rising for taking the time to come on here and try to give us an insight into the world of the Speedway GP series. I did enjoy the old One Off World Finals, but as with most things these days, progress means change, which is fine, but if the 'New' product is failing, then someone in authority needs to take a long hard look at the product and take on board the need to improve it. The GP presentation, Start line Girls, parades etc etc are fine, but the actual racing is nothing short of sterile and its turning fans off the series very quickly. Track preperation is not that difficult, regardless of weather, humidity etc etc. Any half decent trackman, with the correct tools, will produce a good honest surface, that will allow the riders to race at a decent level, even those that cant gate to save their lives. I've done the job with very little in the way of materials and always managed to produce a 'racers' track. If you put the effort in, you get the rewards. As for the 'Invited' riders, thats a sham. Did the World Champion automatically qualify when we did have the One Off World Final? No of course not, he had to qualify by right, the same as any other rider that entered the World Championship. Ok, its too late to alter the setup as far as the top 8 goes, although I think that it should be reduced to the top 6 and let the rest qualify by right through a proper series of qualifying rounds. If a rider doesnt take that option and fails to make the top 6 on merit, thats his tough luck. Absolutely NO more Wild Card entries, with the exception of the one chosen for his 'Home' GP, as it is now. What we should be seeing, in my own opinion, is a series of one off World Final type rounds, which I assume was the vision when the GP series first started. Somewhere along the line it got waylaid and we now have the farcical situation we see now. Riders given a free entry to our sports World Championship, because they ride for a certain country, ie: GB or Poland, why?? If they are good enough, they will qualify for the series by right and in the correct manner. A country will have a representative of their own in their own GP, when it comes around, so why should a better rider be ommitted because of his nationality? Yes I would like to see a BG rider in the series each year, but if they're not good enough, they dont belong in there. Another thing that rankles with me, is this aspect of a rider racing on a national licence of another country. Ride under your own country's flag or dont bother. In a nutshell, get some dirt/grip onto the GP tracks and allow good honest qualification for the series on merit, not a gift. Then we may start to see a true World Championship contest. And as a final comment on track preperation, agreed, some British tracks, well more than some if I'm being honest, are no better than the dross we see for a GP, there is no excuse for that either. A well prepared track gives good racing and will entice paying fans back to the sport. Slick gate and go rubbish will kill the sport. Its only a matter of time.

100% agree Rob. Your post sums the whole thing up in a nutshell. Just said my piece on the Slovenian GP thread on the GP section. Boring, dull and so contrived its embarrassing for any true speedway fan to be associated with it as it is now.

Well, That was my last GP as far as watching goes. I yawned my way through a dozen heats and then switched it off. I had to record it as I dont have Sky and their beloved little red button thingy. Until BSI or whoever the heck runs the GP's now, does something about the ultra slick gate and go tracks, I will not be bothering again. As for being our sports top prize..ie: World Championship... dont make me laugh!! Entry by invitation for 75%, then the rest do a couple of half baked qualifiers and their in. If we must keep the GP circus, at least make it accessible to any professional rider that wishes to enter, as it was in the One Off World Final days. I could live with a 6 round (Max) series, on proper speedway tracks, prepared in the correct way, with some dirt on them and with the opportunity for any rider to qualify. No way will I sit and be swindled out of my hard earned cash for this totally contrived and false rubbish we currently have. Emil Smash'emoff isn't my favourite rider by a long way, but Thank God the kid was on the ball last night or we may all have been better off watching the dreaded X Factor. Seriously...FIM/BSI get your flamming fingers out and start seeing this circus for what it is. Oh and to finish with.... Well Done Scotty Nicholls..way to go mate. Good to see you scoring some points and riding with more passion. Knew you could do it..

Got Virgin here too. Sky are taking the wee wee again. I presume that Virgin pay Sky for the sports channel coverage, so isnt this short changing the paying customer? You could blame Virgin, but ultimately its down to Sky, they have the power to show sports without resorting to this red button mallarky. May just save myself a few bob next year and not bother with the speedway on TV at all. Wonder how many others may do the same in the end, specially when we can watch it all on the internet these days. Edited to add: The replay's are from 7am to 10am Sunday morning on SS3 and also 2pm to 5pm Sunday afternoon, SS3 again.

Late posting on this...but it was that boring it sent me into a coma.... Well I will be rethinking my Sky subscription this winter. I cant do another season of utter GP boredom again. Sorry, but slick track, follow my leader racing is not speedway racing, which ever way you want to try and dress it up. Whether its Ole Olsens fault or anyone elses, I'm past caring. This is our sports World Championship and its become as dull as dishwater for many fans. Sorry, but watching the kids race in the NL would be preferable to watching the so called Worlds Best boring the pants off thousands of fans worldwide. And I dont mean that as a slight against the NL lads. At least they get to race for their points, not play gate and go for 20 odd heats. Personally I think that the GP's, in their current format have passed their sell by date and some. Either revamp the series to keep it interesting, get the tracks prepared properly or ditch the whole series....please..!!

Sandor Levai.... One of my heroes at Ipswich.

Is there a confirmed lineup for the GP yet? Also are they still making the draw for riding order on the Friday or has this been changed? I know lots of daft questions, but its frustrating trying to find out.

Add to that the fact that Sky cannot control the weather... as happened today at the SWC Final and over runs happen. Its LIVE... so these things do happen. To blame Sky Sports for meetings over running is a bit OTT.