AndyM

Apart from Lindback, Davidsson, Lindgren and Alden, has any other rider in this field ever ridden in the UK?

Not so. Ivan had to go through all the qualification stages each year, often winning stages en route to the final. You didn't qualify for anything by right in those days.

Kris, if you send me a private email I'll put you in touch with my friend Keith McGhie who was originally from Rayleigh and likely to be a good source of information about the stadium and team.

Winning in 1-off finals where anything could happen usually did involve a slice of luck to some degree, but then the same has always been true of GPs too. My dad used to reckon the one-off finals should be replaced by GPs on the grounds that a single engine failure could be the difference between success and failure (it was Dave Jessup's broken rocker arm at Wembley that prompted the comment), though the more I think about it the more I prefer the razor's edge approach to the relative predictability of the GPs.

Since Loram became world champ without winning a single GP, he clearly wan't the best but was the most consistent. It's a different skillset to dominate a GP than to dominate a one-off world championship. We can argue the toss about whether Tony could have achieved his championships in the old days, but I'm convinced that Ivan's professionalism and consistency would have been made for GPs. If anything, he might have done better had the GP circus existed in those days. The other thing to bear in mind is that the standard of competition was possibly higher in the 60s and 70s, and possibly even the 80s. Granted that machinery is three times quicker so it's hardly a fair comparison, but it seems to me that there were many more quality riders - those with a realistic chance of success - than in more recent times.

So far as I can see, Ivan's maintained a dignified silence about the subject. Have BSI or Sky Sports ever invited Ivan to a GP or interviewed him about Tony? If not, why not?

PC is still collecting them, though I don't see where the money is in old JAPs. Maybe all modern machines will be outlawed next year and everyone will be on old JAPs?

It might be an accident of the draw that a rider has 4 comparatively easy rides and one difficult, and score 33330. Somebody with a more even draw might score 32232. Why should they be punished for something out of their control?

Carrying forward points scored is fine. The problems only come when you start awarding additional arbitrary points for semis and final places, which is why I'd sooner use a simple system based directly on achievements. If we must have semis and finals, I'd go with the suggestion for using the 3/2/1/0 points to add to main event totals.

Yes, I said that too and got lots of stick from predictable sources! Really needs a BSPA initiative to invest time and money to get Brits back to the top of the pile...but sadly, I don't think they give a monkeys either.

Morale should be Middlo's job, though as I've said before he's not really a dedicated England team manager in the sense that a Sven Goran Eriksson would demand complete control over the team when on England duty. Neil should be totally dedicated to the training and preparation of British riders in any international event, which means ensuring they arrive at events in plenty of time, have a chance to relax and stay cool, learn the tracks thoroughly and work on their weaknesses with help of a "national coach" (I suggested someone like DJ or Simmo would be excellent - world class experience is vital), and have top class moral and tactical support during the event - a cool head to guide the riders and take the worries from their shoulders. As I understand it, when Nicholls and Rico are at GPs, it's every man for himself!

Well said, Unibabe. There's no inherent difference in terms of ability between our riders and the rest, or it would show up in league averages. But they do need effective support if they're going to bridge the gap between EL and GP standard, where consistency and winning key races is everything. And the psychology, the mental edge of winning, is where they're demonstrably weakest.

Whether you call it the GP Challenge or anything else, the GP circus is badly in need of being opened up. It should be an open qualification system every year in my book.

Yes. We've gone into this in a shamateurish way and we're reaping the rewards in the form of under-achievement. Evidently there is no body in UK speedway that cares enough to pump in resources to GP success. I've long argued for effective support and back-up to the British squad so we can achieve to our potential. Middlo is not enough on his own, and most of his time and effort is dedicated to Poole anyway. I'd expect that if we were doing the GPs seriously we'd have a rider coach (someone like Simmo, Jessup or Louis, for example), maybe a sports psychologist, a full squad of mechanics and whatever other resources we needed to optimise the riders' chances of success - even a chef if that made all the difference!

The machine inspectors do weigh bikes, and any sub-minimum machine would be reported.

So if the weight of bikes is much the same and the fuel batch is identical, how do you manufacture huge increases in BHP from what is essentially the same engine but stay within the rules? If Penske can do this, you'd think every rider would be after one? Or maybe the cost is prohibitive to all but TR?!

Of course you're right about the machine inspections. Presumably they would investigate if there was a complaint, but otherwise the assumption is that every rider is whiter than white. Call it naive, but it's certainly not as thorough as an F1 inspection! I now have specs made from titanium and can vouch for their incredible strength and light weight. The other benefit is that titanium doesn't corrode.

Of course he's not cheating, but he's certainly found a way within the rules to obtain 10hp more than everyone else. Would be interesting to hear what theories the more technically-minded posters can come up with for that. I remember a number of years ago Erik Gundersen developed a world final bike that included titanium which improved the power:weight ratio, though I believe that was subsequently outlawed. Suspect TR's trick is down to an engine tuning device?

Rob, it's basically the same format that served us so well for many years, with semis and a final tacked on. Personally I'd lose the extra races and award the GP to the top points scorer, but that seems to be heretical these days. For the record, I hated the old GP format too. Much fairer and more interesting to let every rider have their 5-ride allocation.

Yes, and we haven't heard too much about the Brits he claims to be supporting!

Well done to the big guy. Almost in the bag. Wonder when they're going to get Ivan on for a few well-chosen comments - he seems to have kept his distance.

Presumably because he'd scored some points from 3 in earlier races, though if you look at how he did it it was because riders inside and outside him suffered mishaps of one sort or another. At any rate, you're right that his championship is almost over for this year and he needs to sort himself out ready for the 2006 campaign. Hasn't really looked the same rider at all this year.

Ditto Crumpie. Ouch!

Looks like he blew it in the semi.

Exactly what I said several pages ago, Chun.