PersonalResponsibility

It's a terrible position that Gorzow are in, and you have to feel for their fans, but this is some great sh1thousing from Rybnik: https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/1207862/zuzel-krzysztof-mrozek-chce-pomoc-stali-gorzow-znowu-zwrocil-sie-do-komarnickieg "I don't want to comment on Stal's financial situation, as it's not my area of expertise, but if there really is a problem, we need to help others. We'll try to make sure Stal only loses two more matches. I'm willing to help,"

Good idea, sadly you just know that whatever was delivered would be shambolic and embarrassing. Cricket is an interesting comparison because they've reinvented their sport as something fast paced, entertaining, and appealing to the younger generation. If only our sport was set up for that sort of crowd, what with 60-second races, music, entertainment opportunities and high speed motorsport....

The U24 league will continue next year, so no flood of free youngsters to fill team spaces. I don't think Poland can be held responsible for this, though, for all they push the envelope at times. The riders know they'll be paid a fortune, and the fortunes are there because Poland get huge crowds, and they get them because they run a professional, attractive product. If you were paying £1000s for someone to ride for your club, then you probably don't want him risking injuries in another country, which is fair enough. I do actually agree with you on giving riders some form of ultimatum, though. In reality, are the likes of Lawson/Howarth/Kemp/etc. really going to ditch British speedway for Poland? It's probably handy now, given Poland is some extra money, but would they sacrifice riding over here for a potential 10-12 meetings a season there? I'm not sure personally. The issue is filling the bottom and middle order riders, probably with NL level riders. Would fans still attend/support in the time it takes to produce new riders to keep teams stocked up?

Why has there been no competition, though? Is it because Bartosz is just that much better than anyone else? People talk about the era of Crump, Adams, Pedersen, etc. as some kind of golden age, and they were all great riders, but you could make the same argument. Gollob only won a single world title (beating Hampel) - did he only win because he had no competition? Hancock won 2 world titles with Kasprzak and Jonsson behind him each time, hardly bulletproof. I think it's very harsh to crab Bartosz for not having any competition when this is his 10th season as a GP regular, and he's had zero competition aside from Laguta until now? Was 3x World Champion Woffinden not competition in 2020 when he walloped him by 16 points?

This is the main downside with it, I agree with you on that. It'd be lovely to sit down and know every rider can score a maximum of 21, and once, for example, Zmarzlik gets to X on the night then Kurtz cannot win. It takes away from it a lot when nobody knows, or only one boffin has worked it out.

Double post.

Yep, barely anything in it. And, as someone on here pointed out a while back, Bartosz seems to focus his attention primarily on his closest challenger (Kurtz, in this case). If the sprint race didn't exist, or 1st place counted double every other week, or finals in Poland only had 3 laps, or virtually anything else, I'm almost certain Bartosz would adapt and ride to those conditions. He's phenomenal and so is Kurtz for pushing him. I genuinely think Kurtz could be a big player for a long time.

What a load of whingers. It was an absolute pleasure to watch the soon to be best of all time at his brilliant best. Brady Kurtz is a more than worthy opponent, the man simply cannot be rattled. An excellent stadium, great atmosphere and the 2 best riders in the world leaving nothing out there - there is zero to be unhappy with. I might agree that it'd be a shame if Kurtz loses because of a sprint race - except he knew as well as Bartosz (and the others) the rules of the game, and there were lots of opportunities to score outside of one sprint race. I can't wait for Vojens to see how it'll play out, it'll be a shame for whoever has to lose in this epic. I wish I was going!!

I'm almost certain that Peter Schroeck is a social experiment to see how inept a team manager can be before they get sacked. How can he genuinely stand there - with a smile on his face I'll add - and say the riders need to pull their fingers out but there's not much he can do about that. It's quite amazing to watch as a neutral, probably not as fun for Oxford fans.

If he was so altruistic he could've at least given Bartosz his £7.5k a meeting instead of wasting money on Zagar and Rew 😝

Maybe a ban won't make much difference in some situations, but why should the rider suffer if they're the ones not being paid? What if Tungate had the opportunity of another team place and couldn't take it up because he was banned for withholding his services? Who knows what the real truth is here. Let's face it, Tungate is hardly Mr. Reliable at the best of times, but everything always seems so focused on the riders. If it's a crap track, riders are 'whining', if they're not getting paid they should refuse to turn up, etc. Maybe it's time they started properly investigating these things and punishing the club if they're to blame. It's not as if a points deduction would bother Oxford this season, but it might send some sort of message.

Janowski it is. Like being teased Lego for Christmas and then ending up with a lump of coal.

It would probably increase numbers/interest but I also can't see it happening. Then again, I'd be amazed if it was Laguta. It'd be one thing to test the waters of reintroducing the Russians in a nothing GP, but to do it on Laguta's home track with only 3pts in the title race...? Bold move. For that reason I hope it happens!

First time going to Wroclaw for this one - any tips/recommendations/etc? We've been to Poland plenty times (and for GPs), but never Wroclaw, so looking forward to seeing a new city. Edit - interesting tease from the Speedway GP social media account...I can't remember the last time a WC had a pre-announcement? Usually it just slips out quietly 🤔

Zmarzlik Kurtz Lindgren Bewley Holder Fricke (WC or Top 7) Lambert (WC or Top 7) Kubera Woryna Madsen Lebedevs Dudek (SEC) MJJ (GP Chall) Vaculik (WC?) WC (??) Possibly the strongest line-up in a few years if all this happens. It'll be interesting to see who - if the above happens - makes the cut from Michelsen, Doyle, Kvech or Thomsen.

Completely fluffed it now you feel after failing to beat Huckenbeck. Edit: Lebedevs getting in likely means 5th place is enough for MJJ if he can do that. Well done to Madsen and Woryna. Madsen should never have missed out this year tbf. Woryna will doubtless be another Nilsson/Wozniak backmarker, but at least he's earned it.

It was hard to tell who was responsible, but maybe a near certain 2nd was the best bet for MJJ there. An X in a meeting like this is a hammer blow.

edit.

Strange. Unless they've conflated the final and qualifying? No doubt they'll wriggle out of it if push came to shove, though.

I believe so. Top 4 go through after 20 heats.

God forbid that minor breaches of rules & regulations are allowed to slide - surely not in speedway?!

5 Oxford appearances since 30/04. How does it keep happening, and what is the point in him even being there?

Double post.

It's the aggregate super heat that I don't really get. How can you have 2 different meetings on 2 different tracks and then have the decider on one the club's home track? Especially in a sport as poorly organised as speedway when there's any amount of reasons as to why meetings could be rearranged/rescheduled, again giving one side an advantage. As for the super heat for a draw on the night...why?

It's shocking really for someone with his track record of success...