Subedei

I agree. You'd think everyone would be able to tell the difference between right and wrong. Nicholls not being in the GPs is right and him being there is wrong. That should be the end of the discussion. Nicholls himself has already stated that failure to qualify means he shouldn't be there. I don't see how people can argue the point.

You're the expert on that front. My country? My country? I wasn't aware that Mongolia had won the 2005 SWC. I'm a Mongol and proud of it. And, as far as it goes, you can actually subtract not only Holta's score but also Tomasz Gollob's score from Poland's total in the 2005 SWC final and the Poles would still have won. I don't happen to agree with Holta having ridden for Poland in 2005, before - it seems - reverting back to being Norwegian for the GP qualifiers. But Holta is a Polish citizen, so he was well within his rights to ride for Poland. Nicholls' presence in next season's GP will bring shame on Britain, shame on Nicholls (who has already said he doesn't deserve to be there) and shame on the GPs as a whole. Edit: And I never argued for Hampel's inclusion for 2006 on the grounds of missed GPs, but on the grounds that he qualified for the 2005 series (guess who didn't, I wonder if you can?) and therefore deserved a second chance. You see, unlike you people who drift with the tide, I'm as constant as the Northern Star.

Almost as boring as watching an out of his depth Nicholls in the GPs? Sure, he sneaks into the semis, but then he bombs out. If you ask me, that's rather boring.

Subedei is just offended that it looks as if the world speedway title is going to be corrupted, sullied and rendered pointless via the inclusion of a serial failure who regards qualifying for as something for the proletariat. At the end of the day, you can't argue that Hampel, Gollob and Jagus have qualified on merit, while no British rider has. Scandalous, if you ask me. It should get people thinking about the sorry plight of the sport. But instead you cling, with no sense or reason, to some bizarre idea that Nicholls is a world class rider. He's not. In 46 GPs, he's made a miserable 4 finals. The Gollob you are so quick to deride has won 10 GPs and only Jason Crump and Tony Rickardsson can beat that.

Trust me, I think the same each and everytime someone tries toi justify the unjustifiable, i.e., the inclusion of serial failure Nicholls in the 2007 GPs. And everyone else completely ignores the fact that Nicholls himself has stated that if he couldn't qualify on merit he doesn't deserve to be there. Did he qualify? No. Did he enter the qualifiers? No. Why not? Beneath his princely status? Or the realisation that flopping in the qualifiers as well as the GPs (one final in three years, lest we forget) would give his own personal charity BSI a headache. No arguement, in fact pathetic seems rather a generous assessment of Protasiewicz's and Richardson's GP seasons. It's more appropriate for Nicholls' GP season. Check your facts and I think you'll find that Jagus is in his thirties. But what does his age matter? He qualified, unlike Nicholls. He's there on merit. Nicholls hasn't been in the GPs on merit for years now. Nicholls doesn't have to be in the GPs and if he has a single shred of integrity and decency he won't be in them.

And managed to win the SWC a year earlier. Ah yes, I know, it was held in Poland. The poor hapless Britons can't manage even that. Held in Britain this year, but who won? Not the British. The arrogance of the aristocratic pauper never ceases to amaze. And Poland has not one, not two, but three riders already qualifed for the GPs next season, which is three more than Britain.

Lots of competition for Gollob in the Polish final. There's Hampel and Jagus, for a start. You know them, a couple of riders who actually qualified for the GPs on their own merit. And then there's Ulamek, Kolodziej, Kasprzak and a host of ultra-talented youngster such as Zabik, Miedzinski, Buczkowski coming through the ranks. Future GP riders one and all, if they can get past the British roadblock and in. They'll have to qualify of course. Only Nicholls and the British are spared the indignity of having to qualify.

Look at the opposition for Nicholls. A bunch of no-hopers and has-beens. Being British champion used to mean something, when it was won by riders of the calibre of PC, Morten and Carter, all three of whom are so far superior to Nicholls it's hard to conjur with.

And having qualified for the GPs on merit last season, thus, qualifying himself for my support in his remaining next season. And it's far too early for bed yet. I'm only just getting warmed up and into my stride.

That would be the decent thing. And I'll be among the first to applaud and cheer his integrity.

If he does the right thing, I've nothing against him whatsover. But I won't be holding my breath waiting. Thought everyone knew where the cruel, crazy town is. It stands aloof on the banks of the river Tweed.

Doesn't make it right though, does it. Do you feel a great sense of pride at British speedway having to always accept charity? Does it warm the cockles of your very soul that Britain's No 1 is so inept he can't qualify on merit via the GPs and is filled with such false arrogance that he seems to consider the qualifiers beneath him? The GP qualifiers weren't above vastly superior riders such as Andersen and PK, why were they above Nicholls? He didn't qualify, again. He doesn't deserve to be there.

Get yourself up to the cruel, crazy town next season. I'm easy enough to find. And if you struggle, ask one of the locals and they'll point you in the right direction.

And why shouldn't I dismiss such balderdash?

But CAN qualify for the GPs, unlike Nicholls? Yes, that'll be the one. The same Holta who was in the Poland team that swept all before them in 2005. Yes, I know, the Poles can only win in their homeland, but the Nicholls-led Britons can't even manage to win in their homeland.

Yes, by all means give Nicholls the Cardiff wild card. Then he might do something, since he'd, like Andersen this season, have something to prove. As it stands, it doesn't matter how badly he performs, how many semis he flops in, you still call for a charity entry.

On what do you base that outlandish claim? And don't give me his GP standing, when riders of the calibre of PK, Jagus and Holta aren't in the GPs. You just end up looking silly. Nicholls isn't even in the top twenty of the Swedish averages, while in Poland his average is a dreadful 5.60. Broaden your horizons, there's a whole wide speedway world away from these shores. Nicholls has accepted that failure to qualify means he doesn't deserve to be there, why can't you?

None. No one is good enough, so why should they be there? But, since you all think the GPs would fall apart without a charity Briton, why not give someone like Harris a go. Nicholls has failed to qualify three years running. How many more chances does he get before everyone has an "emperor's new clothes" moment?

But he didn't. End of story. No more excuses. And he said if he couldn't qualify via the GPs - remember he spurned the opportunity to qualify via the qualifiers (probably thought them beneath the princely status you so easily allocate to him) - he didn't deserve to be in the GPs. So, now we'll find out how much integrity Nicholls has. If he turns around and says "thanks, but no thanks, I don't deserve it", then great: he's got integrity.

Yes, all very interesting and I'm sure you'll find some poor souls to wear it. But I'll stick with Armani, Gucci and Prada, if it's all the same to you. And that's about the difference, isn't it. Nicholls is the Cotton Traders type rider, not Gucci or Prada.

Injury ravaged season? When was that then? He missed one GP in 2004 as I remember and one this season. He's had more than enough chances and has failed on each and every single occasion. And he has even said himself that if he couldn't qualify he has no business being there. If he accepts the inevitable charity invitation from the malignant BSI then he has no integrity at all. And that's on top of not being a quarter the rider he believes (and far too many people are far too eager to fuel this belief) he is.

I thought you were bored with this whole thread, yet back you come with more spurious nonsense. And Nicholls was hopeless in the 2005 SWC, but that made no difference. He got a charity nomination all the same. As far as I remember it, Richardson and Harris and Stead had higher SWC averages than Nicholls in 2005. But you'd still proclaim Nicholls among the greatest. The simple truth, sorry to say, is that Nicholls is a second rate rider for a second rate speedway nation that relies on the GP organisors being domiciled here to get riders into the GPs. And as long as we're prepared to accept living the life a speedway's aristocratic pauper, filled with false pride and arrogance, nothing's going to change.

We'll soon see if he's any integrity. If he turns down the charity wild card for the GPs that BSI seem certain to offer, then he's got integrity. If, as I expect, he almost takes their hand off in his haste to accept, then he's got none. Not a single iota of it.

But averages are the only comparison we have. We'd have been able to compare Jagus and Nicholls in the qualifiers, if Nicholls had bothered himself. But there lay danger for him. What if the proable happened and he hadn't qualifed from Vetlanda? Would've made it very difficult for BSI to grant him a nomination after his usual failure in the GPs. He probably realised that and decided the qualifying route was far too risky. And you and JIROUT will probably be the first to call for Jagus' head if he doesn't cut the mustard, yet you allow Nicholls entry after entry after entry, despite his continual failure. That BSI will nominate Nicholls is probably true, but it doesn't make it right. It just shows the corrupting, malignant influence of BSI on the sport. The great saviours of speedway and, judging from this thread, all they've actually succeeded in doing is bringing it down to the level where it can't survive - apparently, so you keep saying - without Nicholls, a rider of such obvious limitations, in the GPs. What a sad and sorry state of affairs.

It doesn't look like continued failure makes any difference either.