PersonalResponsibility

Sadly, I think a lot of what you're missing is nostalgia, not that there's anything wrong with that. Modern day speedway is clearly thriving domestically in Poland, and isn't exactly dead in Sweden, so why is GB struggling? I think you could bring back Wembley, uprights, 4TT and whatever else, but it's too late. It's been like death by a thousand paper cuts following British speedway in the last 25 years. I think where we do agree is that it's probably too far gone now. Sad.

Double post

Oh absolutely, it's a publicity thing at the end of the day. Strange from a sporting perspective at least, alas...

"Shall we get a new face in? Someone young, exciting, fresh or should we stick with an old face, someone we at least know will be challenging at the top end?" "What about if we just did neither?" What a strange 3rd pick.

I contemplated a treble at before the last GP consisting of Zmarzlik to win the world title, Australia to win the SON and Leicester to win the league. I got as far as adding it to my betslip and then didn't bother, so I can only apologise in advance to Ipswich fans...

Sadly, I think GBs best chance of a SWC win was in 2023. Poland were there for the taking. We were one rider short but still pushed them very close on their home soil. I agree with you though, Poland's talent pool really isn't that deep as it stands, and Australia look formidable. I'd sooner rely on Fricke/Kurtz/Holder in a big team meeting than whoever they can find to partner Zmarzlik.

What in god's name is this final section? There's more cameramen than riders. Is it some sort of showreel because they're all down the job centre on Monday?

Quite funny making the Polish federation's president present them with the trophy though.

That rain looks bad now, Kelvin will want this presentation hurried along, just in case.

Australia the first ever team to score the most points in the meeting and go on to win the SON. Dudek letting the Poles down. Ah well...

I've nothing really against any individual rider in this final, but it's always good to see Australia beaten, so I'm probably siding with Poland. Kurtz having another world title robbed by Bartosz would be sickening for him.

Was that Patryk Dudek or Jerzy Dudek? Impressive dive.

A Polish engine failure?

He's desperate to get it called off at the next available milestone, must be on a promise.

Is it just my TV or is the rain making virtually zero difference to the track? Kelvin is talking as if the Ark is about to appear from the pits.

Bewley's fault sadly. The bike seemed to stop when it hit that dirt. That's our meeting over I'd say, right when we were looking good finally!

It's the same in the GPs, you eventually lose track/forget who's doing what. I'd also like to see the race positions done similarly to the Ekstraliga, not in size 4 font in the corner.

We only had 8 points after 2 races last year in fairness. We just need to ignore the fact we'd faced Aus/Den last year, not Den/Lat. Keep the faith.

Can we get Bubba to teach Bewley how to gate? We might end up with the world's best rider.

GB looked poor there. I'm not too worried yet, the track in the semi/final will be much more suited to Bewley. We just have to get there!

Poland looked dominant there. Reminiscent of when they used to steamroller the SWC 15 years ago. Big statement of intent.

Everyone will be getting a block to themselves at Warsaw next year judging by this!

Is it time they split out the U21s from the whole SGP/SGP2 structure and replace the SGP2 with something more akin to the SEC? SGP2 then becomes a place where your Huckenbecks, Kvechs, etc. ride. Maybe they can offer a full SGP spot for the winner/top 3 (balanced out by a relegation spot(s) from the SGP). This way, we can find out how good a rider is amongst what would theoretically be the top 16-30 in the world. It also offers a nice route for the likes of Parnitskyi, Przyjemski, etc. to experience a season-long competition without being dumped into the GPs. They could even have it on a Friday night before a GP, offering something meaningful and competitive for fans to make a weekend of it.

Unbelievable achievement. I don't think anyone had them down to win gold! They deserve it for that team riding in the last heat - only took 28 heats. The 12 year streak is over!!

They did, which I'm sure was a great help, but there's a lot of development before that. Woffinden didn't arrive in the UK until he was 15. Lambert did at least ride in the British Youth rounds, but famously spent plenty time in Germany. I don't even think Bewley rode in the British Youth rounds, he was another straight into the NL. The NL is (was?) a great training ground for youngsters, I was thinking more about what impact Vatcher & co's words of wisdom may have had.