SCB

So not Nicki when he won his first title in 2003? Nicki that year, last year and now Tai are proof that the wildcard system is better than 100% qualifiers. Probably others too.

Honestly, it's not something I enjoy but it shouldn't be down to if I enjoy it or not. It's is that rider one of the top 15 in the World. Who cares if I like them, if they've had 20 wildcards, if theres already 10 Poles, if the rider does this or that it comes down to, "is he one of the top 15 riders in the World" and even riding as he is at the moment, I'd say he's on that cusp - especially if the Lagutas are not an options. I hope he has a great end to the season though so we don't have to worry about this and he makes it impossible to not offer him the chance (or even makes the top 8). Either that or he announces his retirement but I imagine Gollob would give notice of any retirement and try milking it.

LOL. Frame, engine it's a speedway bike right?

Post 49 can be anything you want it to be, right, wrong, whatever. Because nobody normal can make any sense of it.

Top 8 is an arbitrary figure though. Are you telling me that if everyone in the World agreed that the top 15 riders in the World were the 15 riders in last years GP, you'd kick out the riders 9-15 for 7 new riders? Gollob is currently 9th, he's going to end 9th (he'll pass Holder, Ward will pass him). So you need to name 7 riders, currently not in the GP series, who are better than him. 7 riders who can score 5-7 points a GP. 7 riders who can make a GP final (as Gollob did the GP before last). Owning to the fact of the Wildcards only Lebdevs and Harris have managed 7 or more there can't be much outside the GP system capable of matching Gollob, even a Gollob who can't be bothered!

Yet he's still scoring OK points. Proof he has a stupid amount of talent, can turn up, go through the motions and still score 5 or 6 points and outscore Lindback, Lindgren and Vaculik with worrying regularity.

Surely that rules out Gollob and Lindgren too then?

No, he never does. He just repeats a load of statements he heard from others and fancy sounding words he has heard others use, strings together with a few other words that sound like they fit, throw in in the odd riders name and voila, it's a starman post.

Thats not really fair either. Tai was wiped out. Yet Ward wiped himself out so Wards 0 should count to his average. He crashed ebcause he was desperate and was about to be on 0 from 2 rides. Has Woffy had two last in a GP this season? I doubt it as I can't think of a single time he has come last in the heats.

So Tai takes the lead of the World Championship, finishes 3rd and I'm gutted, haha! Nice one Tai!

The promoters messed up 14 years ago when Sky started showing speedway. Sky meetings should have been £5 entry to pack the place out so it looked good on Sky. Too late now.

If the leader fell then Nicki was through. You're not making sense. He didn't need to let Nicki though unless they were 3rd and 4th which I'd already called before the heat he'd have to do. I don't doubt he did let him through, you're right, it looked like he did but he was wrong to, he didn't need to. Therefor it was a silly thing to do.

It's not wise to drop a point to give a rider an extra point when the rider he gave the extra point to didn't need it. What's wise about dropping points on purpose?

Nicki only needed a point so I doubt it.

TBH I don't expect many people at all to understand its

To be fair, he is, after Tai the 2nd highest averaged Brit in the EL. He probably does deserve it. I'd say good luck but the thought of Danny King in the GPs scares me a little :/ Maybe 1st reserve would be nice.

When Jason Crump retired his place should have gone to the next rider in the qualifiers but now, they gave it to the rider in 9th place, Andreas Jonsson. Why do you think they wont do that again? on what basis? Im basing it on past actions but I'm guessing you're basing it on the naïve belief they'll do as the rules say? I notice they have now changed the rules, so if someone does a Crumpy now, the 9th place rider does get the place. The fact they've changed the rules suggests they were wrong to give AJ the place and not Ales.

I think comparing Leigh to Travis is a bit unfair. Leigh would have kicked Travis' backside on any track anywhere in the World as he was so much better. The exception being possibly a track that gave Travis an advantage (probably through familiarity, possibly through confidence as the first time eh went there he fluked a maximum), had that track been Travs home track it would have been home track advantage. An advantage can come from anything and you can make things an advantage. Rarely will an advantage only be available to you. It's not a bad thing either, I know if I was a promoter/manager I'd sign 7 rider who rode my track well and then prep it every week to suit them. That would be an advantage they had over the opposition.

But if Hancock and Gollob are 9th and 10th in the GPs I bet that they get Zagar and Iversens places and that Zagar and Iversen are giving the places from the qualifiers. The FIM/BSU will do what suits them, ask Ales Dryml.

Being better at home than away. Why do you think the same teams are towards the top if there no such thing? Obviously it's more than just the track. It's the track, the prep and the riders. Take Craig Cook, his split is 8.5/5.5. So he's quote a bit better at home, if he signed for Lynn (and track he is pants on) would he still have home track advantage? No. But Kings Lynn is generally a track with quite a bit of home track advantage. So the rider and the track have to match for the advantage.

I'd say generally people perception is pretty spot on. I think most EL tracks have a fair degree of home track advantage with Eastbourne, Lakeside and Peterborough the top 3. Brum, Coventry and Poole probably the bottom 3. TBF, home track advantage is also a disadvantage away. A good team will be a good team over a season and a bad team a bad team regardless of any home track advantage.

Im sure Screens team needed a 3-3 in that race to avoid relegation making it, for the fans at the time, all the better as he went through that gap!

Eurosport will do better coverage anyway!

Of the current bunch I can see Woffy, Emil and Ward having a virtual monopoly for the next few years 5 or 6 at least (beyond that you just can't see sure someone wont "do a Woffy"). I can't see Holder winning another title, I like him but I think he got lucky to some extent that he won the title in a bit of a void year, he'll more medals sure but not win it. Obviously we have great hopes for young Lambert but don't forget David Hower was an 11.8 rider in the NL at 15, a 7.5 PL rider at 16 and a 5.5 EL rider at 17 and then what? Yet Bomber was more of a steady plodder for most of his career

Except thats not true is it? Because pretty much all the top NL boys are in the Pl plus a few more non-NL riders. Lets be honest, it's the best way to do it, better in the higher league. some rider have always performed better (relatively) in the higher leagues than the lower leagues.