AndyM

Excellent! Hope he shows what he's capable of (ie. better than tonight at Arena!!)

Bit of a shame, but I have to miss this year's GP because I'll be in Poland on that date. Didn't quite get the timing right, but I wasn't going to miss my mate's stag weekend, and by gum did it take some effort to persuade my missus that I should go!!

Anyone would think you're taking the catheter bag, SCB!

Wasn't there, but saw the TV highlights (as I recall) - was certainly a great meeting. Everything PC did in those days was a thrill a minute!

Eloquently put. Why do our authorities not see that?

Since when does any other sport select its participants on the basis of anything other than ability? Every sport you can think of has open qualifiers, even if the cream are seeded to the main events. Why should we be any different? That would open the sport to allegations of fixing.

Whatever the vagaries of chance qualification, at least that would be fair and open. Hand-picking riders means a closed and subjective process dependent on the prejudices of people who are neither indepedent nor from within the sport. In other words, they have an axe to grind, for good or evil! Who knows what their criteria for selection might include, but unless it's done openly we'll be open to accusations of fixing. I'm not saying it's necessarily a corrupt process, but it is wholly inappropriate to separate the roots of the sport from its world championship without effective accountability. It could well result in a form rider deserving of a place being denied for arbitrary reasons that are never explained in public. This is a backward step and has to change.

Hardly a comparison to football boots, is it? Not saying the idea is practical in the current climate, but it's an excellent solution to allow rider skill to be paramount above equipment differences. We need imaginative thinking and to consider a full spectrum of blue skies thinking if we're going to get a decent perspective.

Why change a winninng formula?

Totally agree, Gredon and RR05. It needs to be hard to win a GP or what's the point?

Quite right. The riders did well against an obviously difficult track. How anybody could come to the belief that the meeting format caused that is beyond me! Besides, don't see how eliminating riders makes the meeting more exciting. More riders are in with a chance of qualifying for the semis for a longer period, hence greater excitement!

You're right that I wouldn't be in favour of 6-lap races as such, but more because I think the basic product is OK and doesn't need gimmicks. 6-lappers whenever I've seen them tend to detract from the quality of racing rather than add to it - you just get two more processional laps rather than extra passing.

Better because it's closer to the old-fashioned individual tournament. Gives every rider a reasonable opportunity to reach to reach the semis without the fear of elimination after two rides, and therefore has to be an improvement. Would be better still without the semis and final, but that's just my prejudice.

That makes more sense than awarding arbitrary GP points based on position, but further stretches the gulf between the elite and the rest. I'd really like the GP to be an event where anybody is in with a realistic chance of winning a single event and the whole tournament. At the moment, it's like the FA Cup; while some lower league opposition occasionally pull off a giant-killing act, you know that 9 times out of 10 it will be the big boys who reach the final stages.

Better that than a closed shop

Exactly. Crump is a pro and doesn't go down like a ton of bricks, he gets on and tries to beat the riders on the track fair and square. He might have had the odd lapse over the years, but nobody could accuse him of whinging about either of the two incidents with Nicky Pedersen this week. That said, speedway is not a contact sport, so refs should have a clear mandate to prevent nudges and similar race tactics for the safety of all, no matter who the perpetrator.

Much to the detriment of the sport. If any rider doesn't have an opportunity to aspire to GP status where it matters, on the track, it's a two-tier system. The GP entourage has effectively abandoned its roots in league speedway. This is not sustainable! Speedway is eating itself alive.

Better solution: keep the top 3 and make the rest qualify. Better still, make everyone qualify!

Long way to go yet, and lots of different tracks. The new formula is much fairer and more likely to deliver the best verdict, though I'd still prefer to do away with the semis and final myself.

SS - "Hard but fair" - those were your words, I believe?

Did well after a learning experience in the second half, and came out well in the final. Congratulations to the lad.

Looks like Crumpie's got loads of speed, but his bike's not getting him out of the starts quickly enough, which is how he lost in heat 16. They showed him earlier with the back wheel spinning, scrabbling for grip. Needs a bit of adjustment to keep the torque flowing, by the looks of things.

Overtaking an underpowered Hancock? Tricky didn't look as fast as Crump to me. We'll soon see.

Three riders looking good, and not surprised to see Hampel being one of them. Am surprised to see Gollob looking underpowered, but then it always was a mistake to tune his own engines - cost him a lot of places over the years. Any idea why Andersen is failing to live up to his billing?

Crump was brilliant first time out, and second time out too come to that. Adams rode an excellent race to come from the back. Pretty damn good ride by Tricky too, though if he'd tried that outside Pedersen he'd have found himself spitting shale from the deck!!