Parsloes 1928 nearly

Alan Diprose.. We used to call him 'Alan Drip-nose' on the terraces at Crayford (though this may be in my imagination coz Bryn says I never went there!!! ) - didn't he ride a few matches for Canterbury..?

Ah, happy days! Am I not right (pardon the pun!) in thinking that Matt Wright made an appearance for the Dons (joining a cast of thousands!) in that traumatic 2002 season too..? And I'm certain Barry Burchatt did in '03. Also there was that veteran rider who stepped into the breach at an away match - was it Peterboro' in '03..? I think his name was Ron Jones..?? Roger Dickerson... What a top bloke Roger was.. Oh, and BTW Tom Brown never rode in a proper competitive match for the Dons (just a challenge match) but I think Chris Schramm did and I can't see his name mentioned..

Perhaps as many as Nicholls..!!

No, Ole didn't break the tapes he fell.. But if you see the following you'll note he only fell coz having got from 4th. to 2nd. , he was determined to win. Such an attitude would NEVER happen in an early ride in a GP meeting coz it simply wouldn't be important to do so.. Therein explains all one needs to know why the old World Final was so much better than the nonsense competition we know have...

But the GP Challenge currently only throws up such qualifiers BECAUSE the top guys don't bother with it - safe in the knowledge that they'll be 'picked' anyhow or if they finish 9th. or 10th. in the Series it doesn't really matter coz they'll be given another chance..! Make it cut-throat like sport is MEANT to be and they'll be no dodgy qualifiers from the Challenge and no easy rides in the GP either. You have sensible views but you insult others by accusing us of being totally naive...: we DO know what we are talking about.. The GP is a hopelessly flawed concept and the most flawed thing about it is that people are 'picked' for it and there's an enormous 'comfort zone' once one is in it.. This makes for meaningless racing in the series and a below standard qualification process to get into it..! And "when Greg retires"...!! Are you 'aving a laugh!!!

Hmm, so you also think that Joe Haines who won five out of five rides in the GB Under 18s last week was "out performed" by the three riders who finished on the rostrum ahead of him and who the record books will show as the first three..?!

Right, well of course I accept that there is an argument there... Might be best perhaps for the authorities to ask the family what they think's best but on any other criteria he really SHOULD be in there in 2010. On the subject of the GP Challenge. great store is being made by posters about those who did or didn't qualify to or from this meeting. I tend to agree, in truth; so why not make all EIGHT places up for grabs the top eight from that meeting!! This is the logical progression of what people are saying and it WOULD make for one hell of a lot more competitive edge to both the qualifiers and the GPs. No safety blanket for those finishing 9th. and 10th. in the GPs; and restoring to us a proper competitive and meritocratic route to contest for the world title...

What utter nonsense!! Harris has had his chance - for a number of years. Sure, he's 100% more deserving than Nicholls but if we have just one place (though I'd guess we will have two...) it HAS to be Woffinden. And I'm sorry, but look at the facts of yesterday's meeting and you CANNOT simply glibly state that Hougaard and Pavlic "performed better in the U21"..!!

I agree - after all, few people champion the idea of returning to the old WF than I do... BUT the previous poster had poured scorn on the suggestion that Tai might've scored significant points in the race in which he was disqualified (sic) for a tapes offence.. I'd respectfully suggest that the "ifs and buts" in this case strongly suggest he WOULD have done.. But all this speculation and discussion is and was what makes the sudden death format so exciting... So bad luck Tai, well done Darcy and yes, BRING BACK THE WORLD FINAL!!

That's utter nonsense!!! This thread is about which BRIT is going to be "nominated".. we all know that at least one has to be... And Tai is clearly the rider who most deserves this... You can't honestly believe that Pavlic and/or Hougaard would bring more or perform better at GP level than Tai..

Hmm, well no - but perhaps the clue is in the fact that he DID win all of his four other races... On the balance of probabilities I'd say if he hadn't had that tapes offence, it would've been Tai who was celebrating today...

Absolutely.. The organisers would be crazy not to include these two in the 2010 GP... IF we have to be stuck with this pale substitute of a proper world championship, we may as well move it on by bringing in top YOUNG talent...; otherwise a start-line of four late thirty-somethings (as we've seen a number of times this year..) will soon before one of several 40-somethings and that would make the sport look a laughing stock..

Hmm, so you KNEW Tai was gonna break the tapes...?!

Er, no. One assumes (well this thread does...) that at least one Brit is going to be awarded a so-called 'Wild Card' (I actually thought that expression related to the one-off riders allocated as 16th. man to each indiv. GP, but there you go.. ) and Tai, particularly after today, IMHO has to be that man. It was only the tapes exclusion which prevented him from being at least second today, BTW.. Oh and where and when has LOGIC ever been applied to the way the SGP series is made up..?!

Hmm, and I wonder if you might have posted this same comment about Sayfutdinov a year ago..?! If the likes of Nicholls who is a million miles away from being world class can inhabit this series for so long without being lapped I don't think there's too much to concern you.. BTW, your posting is almost certainly the most stupid in the history of the BSF...: well done!!

Ah, right.. Well thinking about it Sayfutdinov won the U-21s twice and this is his first year in the GPs so I suppose it can't be.. Well, that's shocking IMHO.. And regardless clearly for the good of a fast fading concept, both Darcy and Tai MUST be included in 2010..

It's automatic surely isn't it..??!

What a disgraceful posting

Well after today's Under 21 WF there can no longer be any doubt what the answer to this question posed in this thread MUST be. It HAS to be Tai who was so unlucky not to win the world crown and in which case he'd be in, in 2010 anyhow. A SGP next year containing Sayfutdinov, Holder, now Ward and also Woffinden..? Blimey, this would transform it IMHO.. If we go instead for Scotty we may as well all pack up and go home...

I know - and wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if Gollob could by some miracle win that world title he so deserves...

As would, without doubt the unluckiest rider not to win a World title, Master Gollob..!!

Hmm, well if you believe that IF a World title had depended on it, that Greg would have looked around to have a good look-see who it was on his tail and then what happened would have happened, then that's entirely up to you... Personally I'd differ.. One thing for certain, Mr. Hancock would NOT have been all smiles on the rostrum if it had been a World title 'lost' on the final bend as opposed to a more or less meaningless GP round...! Which is why one can't really ever use a GP Round result to second guess what might have happened if that meeting had been a proper World Final...

Hmm, and are you struggling with the concept of 'get a life'...!!?

Hmm, not sure there's any fictional world I can conceive where Greg Hancock wouldn't have taken Bomber out to the fence rather than see him past on the final bend if a World title depended on it...!!!

And Michael Lee, even younger in 1980.. 'Fraid World Championship Speedway is now predominantly an old man's game..!!