SPEEDY69

At present, given all are available I'd pick: Woffinden Nicholls Lambert Harris Howarth

As expected, home win for Aces, Schlein not an improvement on Bjarne. Nicholls' bank balance will be healthy after 7 meetings in the last 7 days.

It seems to me that Pedersen missing is all about Leicester strengthening themselves rather than the rider pulling out - his scores for Leicester have been shocking so far and I wouldn't be surprised to see him depart these shores soon. This is only my opinion of course.

cook and stead cost belle vue dearly it seems. they will need to improve away from home for aces to get anywhere this year. i expect stead will but not so sure abput cook.

As I said on another thread, faster does not mean better and I think the modern high-revving engines have a big impact, alongside electronic gadgetry around ignition settings etc. I don't really have an answer though - what's F2 speedway like, any better?

As with all motor sports, machinery plays a big part but I don't think that Greg's riding ability can be questioned. He has the tremendous ability to be able to perform at a consistently high level no matter what tracks conditions are like, whether big or small and very rarely gets out of control - that is pure motorcycling ability.

You can never please everyone, nor should we! Some riders do better in slick "full throttle" type surfaces, others where it's grippy or deep, others in the wet but whatever one of those, I think they all like the track to be consistent and not have patches of these variations within the bends.

Yes. At the Southern Track Riders 20th Anniversary meeting a few years ago there was a photographer and there are big selection of photos. See here for thread: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=74902

1st bold section: Not quite true though is it - he was only a reserve for the challenge final and only by luck did one of the qualifiers not take their place which then promoted him in to the final. 2nd bold section: Again not true though. Not all riders get the opportunity as those in the qualifiers are there only due to being selected by their country in the first place. No issues with him being in the series next year though because he took advantage of that chance and I wish him the best of luck - the more Brits in there the better.

The weather in March/April can be worse than October (definitely can be much colder!) - whatever months are used the weather plays its part and always has.

Qualification, whether through the top 8 or the qualifiers does not result in the top 15 riders in the world being in the series - merely those who have 'qualified' to be in the GP series. The 'top 15' would be difficult to agree if juts selected, howvere that was done. The point I'm making is why should current GP riders have two ways of qualifying.

I think they should change the qualification rules - the wild cards may then become even more of a talking point. The permanent 15 riders in the series that year should not be allowed to compete in the qualifiers, thereby giving as many riders as possible the chance to qualify (from those picked by each country in the first place of course). Those 15 already have their qualification series over the year whereby the top 8 qualify and the rest don't - why should they get two chances? Imagine if all 15 choose to go through the qualifiers, as they could under the existing system, the challenge could simply be another GP!!

I agree with this in respect of those riders 'lucky' to get in that you identify. Difficult one though because there are always those who get promoted in the standings due to other riders being injured/withdrawing/suspended, as you know

You're forgetting Linlithgow/Lathallan. Tidy little track with a nice bump into bend 3 that I remember well. Of course, being serious, 'best' can mean lots of things - best for passing, best for facilities, best for location, best for when it's raining, best for value etc. For racing then I think most tracks have their moments. I particularly enjoyed the Bradford World Final in 1990, the Semi they had there and the WTC in 1989 was dramatic of course - all for the racing and atmosphere. I remember seeing a decent Czech league meeting at Pardubice - the space there is astounding and in the middle of the woods. Mildenhall is a cool little track and Peterborough awesome to ride. Scheesel was an eye opener, simply for the speed reached, although that's longtrack so probably out of scope for this thread.

don't disagree with this but let's not forget that those in the qualifiers relied on a pick - certainly the brits were selected by BSPA/Rosco, so not all riders had the chance, but I know what you meant.

Really? Thanks for that, didn't realise My point is that I can't remember there being quite so many as this year and serial wild carder Lindgren wil get in again due to them. It's not a gripe as such just an example of sod's law!

Well done to the riders who qualified from this challenge. Whatever the GP line-up is each year is always subject to controversy in one way or another and is one reason I have little interest in it. Injuries have played more of a part this year than most - for example I think Lindgren and Jonsson for example would both be out of 2015 if Darcy wasn't suspended and Iversen got injured. Several riders pulled out of the Challenge meeting due to injury, which hasn't happened as much before and although Harris cannot be faulted and rode well to qualify - although he wouldn't have been in it if it wasn't for withdrawals. It would be great if everyone could get into the series without any controversy, but then the forum may be less active!

Hi all, just to let you know I got my refund within a few days of filling the form in they sent me via email, back on 1st september. Best of luck with yours.

When did he drive, thought he was already banned from doing so?????? Failing an alcohol test for a GP is not illegal.

All this legal talk though is surely irrelevant Ward has not been criminally or legally charged has he? I thought he'd failed a test to compete in a sporting event and surely any punishment etc. Is solely a matter for the sports governing body? Take Dwain Chambers for example who admitted using drugs. There was no conviction under law but simply the sports governing body banned him. In fact he is banned for life from representing GB at Olympics but other athletes from other countries haven't been. This suggests it is wholly a natter for whoever governs the indivuduals' right to enter events. This si speedway though....

you're never too old to learn buddy.

yes, they have better 'racing brains' and no, he's also not more naturally talented.

Some people's 'arguments' on here in defence of ward are laughable. We all take risks, dw risked being over the limit when racing and got caught. Anyone can choose to take the risk and some will be more sensible to ensure they cannot be over when it comes to race time. Until there is compulsory testing then we'll never know for sure. As for DW, he's guilty, get over it. P.s. The punishment should not take into account any mitigation. To risk lives is far worse than silencer tampering in my view

I see in that article you refer to that this is also mentioned, talking about likely punishment (don't know if it's initial pending further investigations or not): "It is very possible that he will be suspended from the player for 30 days, because such a punishment predict FIM disciplinary rules. Then you would start in the last two matches Unibaksu in the main round, the tournament would lose GP in Gorzow and Vojens."

People mature at different times in their life and no-one can really force another person to stop this or that if they are intent on doing it. Other riders consumed alcohol the night before this GP but in moderation and will have made sure they ate a big brekafast/lunch to ensure all alcohol had passed through. It's food that helps the body dissipate alcohol quicker than water or any other liquid. Random testing for alcohol, when it's not expensive to carry out, should be changed to compulsory. If the GP had taken place on Saturday night of course then this wouldn't have happened. I don't condone his behaviour but it's a real shame for the sport - what a weekend.