OveFundinFan

If Peter Collins had won the world championship in 1977 (gammy leg year), and he nearly did but tired due to injury, I would put him at the top equal with the other PC, Peter Craven. Any more then that, he would be ahead of P Craven on the basis Collins would have won both his world championships on foreign soil. As for the rest, yes I seen Woffinden and in 2013-15 he was magic on the bike with the way he was passing with relative ease (though it would'nt have been. Only just saw Lee before I went absent for 30 years, never seen Loram, might have seen Freddie Williams but too young to remember. So I cant finish the list

Looks like they covered this year to stop Hancock, or any one else, doing a runner after the qualifier.

Hancock doent seem to get into tussles resulting in injuries, but he gates. Woffinden this year doesnt seem to want tussles, but the difference between hinm and Hancock is that YTW is not gating well. Same with Emil, maybe now a family man he not prepared to get into the tough tussles, but he is not gating either. If you dont want tussles, sure way of keeping out of most of 'rm is to perfect your gating.

Going back to the original post - which tuners serve which GP riders

Last year the rule was different, this year its as waihekeaces1 says, so I too would have Lambert as reserve and use him beneficially.

I agree completely, I noticed he was backing out of situations that he would usually keep pushing. Someone mentioned Latvia GP earlier, and yes I too saw Emil really battling, going for gaps on the straights that was making me cringe. In Prague there was no "fire", even his starts were lacking, whereas he would normally be into the corner first.

Compared to the 700 Euros per meeting On those figures I am surprised others have not jumped ship and gone to Gerhard. A good GP from Freddie at the next GP (Horsens) and maybe more will swop during the summer "break".

Overall a good meeting, just "too slow" in getting going. Pity they do not have 4 heats before the main GP (non GP riders of course, just to settle the track in. Doyle did well to turn it around after just qualifying for the semis. Hancock deserved his 18 points. Perhaps after what PhilRising just said maybe Tai needs to switch tuners (or perhaps he did - oops). Biggest disappointment tonight - well two actually - Fast Freddie (perhaps still not fully fit) and Emil, who was a shadow of what he can do - bike just not fast enough and missing most starts.

Sounds excellent for the paying public........ another reason why crowds are diminishing

Was one of my fav riders visiting Belle Vue, and did ride for BV for a while in 1979. Always exciting. Stuck with Sheffield from '65 to '78, BV and Workington in '79, Exeter and Edinburgh in '80, Oxford and Cradley in '81 before retiring. Came 4th in the British Final 1970, also appearing '69, '71 and '72. He died in 2003 aged 60, after a fall in his brothers garden, went upstairs to lie on bed, fell down stairs few hours later. Took to hospital but never recovered.

First time I seen cycle speedway on TV, it was good publicity. It was because world team championship in Aussie I about a month and team GB are there. It was from Coventry, always had good tracks and good teams. Showed kids as young as 5 on track as well as seniors going at it proper. Showed a clip from last years Brit Championship (think it was) where the winner was decided on last bend of last race, 3 tangled on last bend, the 4th rider managed to get through the mess. All lasted about 4 minutes and covered the sport well. Well done to Coventry speedway and the British cycle speedway authorities for getting the TV air space. Question - are British motorcycle speedway doing enough to get effective coverage????

I reckon it would be a ...marvelous success

I would love to get decent viewing via BT. I put my order in 9th March for fast fibre. phone, TV package with multiroom, and still waiting for connection. The fibre box is about 10 paces across the road (fact). Tuesday I got call from BT to say Openreach would be here Wednesday, to connect external of the house, no need to be in. No show. Today I rang BT, was told (after delay whilst they contact Openreach) they didnt have time yesterday, would try for today or tomorrow (friday) It is scheduled for next Friday, 9th June, for engineer to come to connect inside. That wont be don unless outside is finished. Not holding my breath put my patience is now a bit thin. I do have access to BT Sport on my mobile phone which I can cast to my TV, but whulst picture quality looks ok on phone, it looses some quality on the TV, watchable but not brilliant. I missed 3 GPs now (in high quality) and if not connected I will also miss the 4th GP, Prague, on the 10th. Not a happy bunny.

I thought BT pick up the pieces of Sky contract at shortish notice.

Kildemand broke a bone in his left foot when he fell off in the Latvia GP, so hes out of action for a few days. I hope Nicki is ok for June 10th Prague, much better spectacle then PK

I dont know what off track problems you referring to, but yes, I do think what is going on in your life will affect how people perform, whether its good things in life making performances better, or bad things in life making things worse. What goes on in someones head can be very complex and different people will be affected differently to some degree.

If they reduced the GP series from 12 say to 8, and put 3 GP Challenge finals at the beginning of the season, top 7 point scorers over the 3 meetings go to the GP series, that may work. A case could be made against any proposal, its just picking what may work best.

Thats a real shame, I hope he has engine number and other markings for frame and other bits etc

BV would be ok for a GP, half the crowd would be Polish and the other half rest of the world of speedway. Many would have to watch on TV, obviously not the same atmosphere, the WC Final last year was really good, but with TV you get pit shots, replays etc. I would be happy with BV as a second GP, could be called the European GP or the Brexit GP

Could be some Monster sponsorship up for grabs next year by the looks of it.

Seems a reasonable suggestion, and worthy of serious consideration, but my only but would be...... Any proposal may not throw into the ring the best riders, my thought with this idea is that having a final qualifier right at the beginning of the season may mean some riders are not at their best due to lack of rides. I know all are "in the same boat" but some can adapt to the pace quicker then others.

Since the Warsaw fiaso 2015, indoor arena tracks have improved immensely - well done those guys. How about a team of track specialists (not necessarily the same ones that do indoor tracks) be appointed to prepare outdoor speedway tracks for the GP's? They could work along with "local" track staff initially to gain the knowledge of THAT particular track and work from there. Might tak a couple or three years to get it right, but hopefully then we would have race tracks every GP

Im sure there are a few on this forum who put themselves into that bracket. Its one thing to talk he talk, but another to walk the walk. Its finding a stadium big enough for the track. If its indoor stadium you talking about, big enough are difficult to find. Cardiff holds in excess of 50,000 and so does Warsaw. there is generally a relation between crowd capacity and potential track size. For example, Manchester Arena is claimed to be the 2nd largest in Europe, yet it only holds 21,000 max. I been there many times and you would not get a decent sized speedway track in that arena (decent size=Cardiff, Warsaw) Go for a football stadium and you battling with weather wherever you go, so you may as well make a speedway track a racing track and have it their. Also many football stadiums would not contain a speedway track, look at Horsens (Danish GP), one end of it has to be extended outside of the normal stadium dimensions, its not everywhere you can do that. With some more money (not likely) Belle Vue could be covered like Torun such that the track is covered but not the whole stadium area.

Top eight have split themselves from the rest, Zmarzlik the only one likely to join them. Will now take some spectacular recovery for the likes of Hancock and Holder to catch up. Linback having one of his dreadful years. The racing wasnt top class, but certainly not dreadful. Not the riders fault, more the track. And as I remember that track seems similar to Prague - oh dear. Hopefully Prague will be prepared for RACING

Well done to Adam Ellis and Josh Bates who wont the first semi. What will that do for their confidence! Poor dos Denmark and Germany who only fielded one rider each