SCB

But what is to fail? Not be World Champion? Not be in the top 3? Nopt be in the top 8? top 10? Not make a final? I do believe that Scott is a GP standard rider and I don't believe he has failed (ok, he has failed to make the top 3, failed to make the top 8 etc etc). Only riders who failed this year IMO where Lee Richardson and Pepe Protasawicz! I'm not even going to include Puk as I think most people knew he was going to struggle.

Shields is NOT the future. He's already about 29-30 and if he was going to do "it" he'd have done "it" by now. Decent rider but never likely to be GP rider. Schlein on the other hand, I said the first time I saw him was going places, I stand by than now some 5 and a half years later. GP rider of the future. I also rate Doyle and Holder but not so sure about Harding Holder is by far the better rider tho.

I did believe Lee was one fo the top 15 riders in the World. I also argued last year that Lee was more likely to win a GP than Scott. It all went wrong though. AH Well! I think it would be pretty catastrophic if Scott did a Lee R!!!

So basically, Scott misses out due to being consistent. He'd have bene better if he made a final, then scored 0, made a final and then scored 0! That table shows that Scott is quite clearly top 8 material with an average points per GP of 8 which puts him 6th! Why do people insist on saying he has failed to make the top 8 so he's not good enough? He's only not good enough if you can think of 15 riders ahead of him (Subedei has named his 15, I can't say I agree but then thats a personal choice). I believe scott deserevs a wildcard because he IS one of th top 15 riders in the World, sod all this "Failed to make finals" and "failed to quilify three times now", it's not about having bene top 8, the GP is not a top 8 but a top 15!! If the GP's were shrunk to 8 riders you'd have a good point. Scott DOES DESERVE a place as he is one of the World top 15 and to say we need a change is farcical! If's he's a top 15 rider, he deserves to be there, you can't drop him just becasue he's had 4 years. Maybe we should drop Crumpy? After all, he has two World Titles, we could do with a change!

TBH, I don't think it's worth it. They'll pay someone (or some group) many thousadns to come up with a way of working it out, wasting money better spent elsewhere in the sport and for what? Who cares who is the 27th best rider in the World? No dount we'd all argue with it, disagree with it and say how wrong ti is anyway, I doubt anyone anywhere would agree with it! It would be flawed as for a start the top 15 would HAVE to be the 15 GP riders on the nominations look like a farce (which they are really, I guess) and make BSI look stupid for picking the wrong riders.

They did a World Rankings in about 2000 and printed it in the Speedway Star. It was a bloody joke as National Champions were given extra credit so people like Phillipe Berge (rode for IoW and had a spell at Peterborough) who were PL 8 point riders were ending up in the top 30 on the back of being the top French dude when in reality they were 80th at least! There were loads fo iregularities with the Swedes, Poles and Brits outside of the top 5 or 6 in there Nation far too low and some odd Fins, Germans, Russians etc far too high.

In fairness, when Brian and Jan had a match race at Coventry last year, I think most CL riders would have had the beating of the pair of them had they outgated them!

The fact he is 11th in the GP standings is a good signing IMO. Also, it's my opinion, based on his performances in the SWC, GP's and various other meetings and leagues. I'd also argue Bjarne Pedersen is probably worthy of a place too.

I disagree. I want to see the Worlds best 15 riders in the series. I believe that Nicholls is one of the World best 15. He may not be in the top 5, he may only just scrape into the top 10 but he is definatly top 15. I'd also argue that Peter Karlsson is one fo the top 15 rider in the World and should be in the GP's while Puk, Pepe and Richardson are most definatly not. Just because a rider is not able to finish in the to 8 of the regualr GP riders does NOT make him a non-GP standard rider!! It just makes him a non-top 8 GP rider!

Actually, Bomber had the fastest time of the night. Dare I say it, in heat 3, Simon had Bomber well beat. Heat 12 was a great race betrween the two with them virtually holding hands while blasting around the boards together!! Had the Somerset fans mesmorised, but we're using to seeing Bomber do that every week

Heard in Prague that next years Czech GP won't be in Prague but Pardubice.

I knew this would happen! In fairness, Bomber was terrible. Barely EL standard last night. Sadly In his defence, he did have a nasty crash in his 2nd heat and in his last heat he was also trying to look out for Billy Janniro. BTW, play-offs don't count for averages

Join the queue!! I'm not at all suprised loads of people lost big poitns or went out this GP. Lots of people took big risks to try and take the win. Pepe Protasaweicz, LOL. Fools, fools!!! HaHaHa!!!

How does Hans drop so far back? He won 2 GP's giving his 50 and had a 2nd in another giving him 70. So how does he only have 61? Or are you not including Wildcards but you are including GP reserves. I notice Ryan Sullivan is not in there if it's the latter. Just me being awkward BTW What this does prove is Scott is capable of making semi's but then bombs out. That suggests he often makes the top 8 in GP's, it just with the scewed point system you get a better reward for coming last a few times and then having a good GP/podium finish rather than being consistent like Scott. Other stats I'd like to see is riders average finishing position in a GP and a rider average number of points per GP (not including semis and final).

We all learnt that years ago OK, another idea. Get a tent!

Cardiff has trains and busses. Staying in Newport, Bristol, Neath etc is viable. I always manage to get home from Cardiff just fine using public transport. So I don't quite understand the 2 days in a hotel thing. Arrive in Cardiff on Saturday morning/afternoon, book into hotel, see GP, go back to hotle and sleep, leave Cardiff the next day. Cardiff even has it's own airport, so it's not exactly out in the sticks and impossible to get to/from! South Wales is NOT the other side of the World! (unless you're Australian) Please don't think I'm rubbishing the Wembley GP idea. I just don't see how logistically it's that much better than Cardiff, I certainly don't believe it's cheaper!

Yes, within a 5 mile radius of the stadium. I bet within a 5 mile radius of Wembley they raise their prices too! AH! this si where this little pet theory goes ** up, you say "London", now how big is London? Lets assuming I randomly book a hotel in London, how far am I from Wembley? Possibly 40-odd miles. So when booking a hotel for Cardiff try futher out in Cardiff, Newport, Neath, Swansea, Bristol! Only the centre of Cardiff goes up. See above. Newport, Bristol, Neath, Swansea.... Every penny counts! We're not all as rich as you clearly are How much do you save on a train in London then? Personally, I can't see me being able to pay less than £3 as I do now If you want to stay in the centre of Cardiff on a weekend when the Millenium Stadium is on use, expect to pay a premium. If you want to stay within 5 miles of Wembley while the stadium is in use expect to pay a premium. DONT try and compare the prices in Cardiff with London as London is so much bigger you're so much further away from the stadium in the majory of the place. At least play fair and get quites from within 5 miles of the Millenium Stadium and 5 miles of Wembley. Then try 10 miles. See what the difference is! I'm all for a Wembley GP but NOT at the expense of Cardiff.

Cardiff has not been laid on pallets for about 5 years now. Not sure how it works these days as when the rallying was there in November last year, they had the concrete floor on show. No idea how they moved the grass/turf!

Sat and watched tonight with a couple of speedway vigins. They loved it. They'll be watching the play-offs on Monday now but would not be convinced to come to Peterborough. Brilliant meeting, great racing and I don't believe a single rider ended up on the floor all night. My one complaint, Scott Nicholls, WAHT WERE YOU DOING IN YOUR 4TH RIDE?!?!? A near certain 2nd, probably 1st had you stuck to your line and rode your own race but NO, you did a Naughty Nicki and moved the main contender over and let everyone pass you! You plonker! you bloody great big plonker!!!! BTW, glad Lee is now out of the GP's, that'll save me £10 a GP. Stan James will be gutted, it'll be £10 a GP less for him now! So much for my theory, "He has to come good eventually!".

We didnt see anything decent. Just Nicki moaning to Ole after the Hans vs Harris non-CL incident.

I can't actually remember I do remember my mum having to wait about 2 hours before we could be torn away form the bar I know some of us were in no state to go into town! Infact, very few us "us" managed to make it to the train station at the arranged time the next day (even I was late and I was the first one there )

You have an almighty high opinion of yourself if you really think this whole thread revolves around you. I could not give a dman who said something as I replay to the posts and comment on this forum, rarely do I post in reply to a person. you're still the one asking questions about riders averages in certain leagues. I DONT KNOW. I DONT CARE. You ask him, don't ask me, or even ask me to ask him! BTW, Elite League Pairs = International Meeting?! LOL. International is FIM/World Championship meetings that all nations compete in. So SWC, GP rounds and the British final.

I have and I've replied to the bit I find relevant and can answer. I think averageing 10 abroad is good, averaging the 5 Steady does, is not. It's not about the difference in scores here and abroad but the lack of scoring power abroad TBH. I did read it all and TBH, I see no relvance what so ever between Crumpy's Swedish, Polish and British scores and who's the better of Simon Stead or Chris Harris at this moment in time. I see it as a side issue that is being created to devate away form the fact people have thrown up some damn good arguements for Bomber and you're unable to do the same for Steady. TBH, I don't care which league is weaker, which league is better. If I had to argue a case, I'd say the EL has weaker teams but mainly due to the fact there's more teams. Why does Lee Richardson perform better in Swede? Prefers the tracks? LEss fans on his back? Less pressure? Nicer scenery so he can relax between heats? I don't know, thats why I did not get involved. I cannot answer that question or query so why bother trying? To please you it seems! But do tell me the relevance of Crump and Richardsons averages with the who's better, Steady or Bomber debate. I can understand Richardsons as he is British and so in contention for a GP place but I thoutgh we'd already counted him out and worked out it was between Bomber and Steady anyway.

Yes, in fairness, you can be out in Cardiff getting drunk or at Newport Speedway watching Newport lose. God knows why anyone would stay in Cardiff TBH, i can't see the point of anything properly organised. We all have a good enough time meeting who we want on the Friday, meeting up the forum lot on the Saturday adn then watching the GP with whoever we want (some of us watched it with half the stadium last year and every time I went back to somewhere I had already been, I had a different person with me Made me look popular) and then on the saturday night we all make arrangments to meet other people and go off and drink/eat and generally be merry

Bloody Danish Speedway riders!!! They're an embarasment. That should get a response