Mr Bee

I think that you are spot on with that.

Surely the following Saturday is free so perhaps they could put the GP back a week!!!

And Hans. So the GP looks set to bugger up another Friday at Brandon!

Yes, silly me. I forgot Speedway doesn’t do anything logically does it? Constantly shoots itself in the foot time and time again. My idea would never work. I would like to see those 7 other Wild Cards "logically" picked on a years hard graft, performance related lets say. Again I use Holder as an example of why he should be picked for next year. He has put in solid years work with results to match. I haven’t got time to pick another 6 now, as I'm off out to watch a proper sport that does do things a bit more "logically".

If it gives the Italian Speedway fans a rider they can cheer on, then yes he deserves a go at it. He will never win it, but then Harris had a win last year and has done nothing since so who knows They see more of Franchetti than they do any of the other 15 riders on show, so its a name they recognise and it may put that few extra thousand on the gate that you don’t care about. Britain, Germany and Italy all need a home rider on show. IMO, I think not having a home rider in the GP's that are hosted by smaller Speedway nations would harm the crowd. But who knows. Maybe if they included Holder in the German GP at the expense of Martin, then they would attract a large portion of the 10,000 Poole faithful that attend Poole every week. Personally speaking, I would scrap the qualifying system to get into Speedway GP. At the moment we have six good GP riders, Nicki, Gollob, Adams, Greg, Hans and Crump. AJ occasionally pops his head in to see what’s going on......decides he isn’t interested after all and settles for 8 or 9 points. Then we have position number 8 that the also rans fight over. I would go with the top eight from the previous year and then pick the rest as Wild Cards for the following year. So in short, each GP is made up of the previous years eight, seven permanent Wild Cards and one host nation Wild Card. Most of the seven permanent Wild Cards would logically pick themselves, i.e. Holder who has performed well in all his domestic leagues and was robbed of his place in the Challenge last week because of a fall or engine failure I think in his qualifying round. No doubt he deserves a crack at it next year. If the British GP didn’t have a British rider next year, I would be interested to see what the crowd was like. I don’t think Nicholls or Harris deserve nomination for next years series, as neither have done anything to shout about this year. But Cardiff still needs a Brit to make up the crowd IMO. I have friends who make Cardiff the only Speedway event they attend all year. They are people that are not huge Speedway fans, but have come to recognise what a great day it is and more importantly come to cheer the British rider on at the end of it. If a Brit wasn’t in it they wouldn’t bother going. I bet that there are more people like that and I see no reason why that would be different in Germany or Italy. But then In your world, Speedway doesn’t need that extra few thousand does it?

Cant believe you even have to ask "why" the line "Not riders picked because it might put a few thousand extra on the gate" is stupid. So you would rather a Stadium be empty then, than have just one rider representing the nation that the GP is held in? You may as well not have a German Speedway GP if you don’t want that extra few thousand on the gate. Speedway is hardly a sport that can turn people away is it? We have had a wild card nomination for years, and I see no problem with a rider from the host nation taking part, no matter what his ability. If it puts bums on seats than that’s a good thing. You never know, there maybe the odd one or two Patriotic German fans cheering him on. Out of interest which part of Denmark are you from?

What a stupid post. So when we have no brits in it next year, who do you want as a wild card at Cardiff? An aussie, another Pole, a Dane, perhaps a Russian!!! Granted Martin isnt going to win the event, but maybe, just maybe, the German fans will want to cheer him on.

Spot on CB.

I can't see anyone from Norway

Cheers. That will give the Edinburgh fans a bit to cheer about then.

Couldn't see this one started so thought I would post the line up. PK is in for AJ as first reserve and I guess Hampel wont be riding due to his injury. I'm not sure who the next reserve is. Anyone got any ideas? Its PK's home track in Sweden, reckon i'll have a few quid on him each way when I've seen the odds. STARTING POSITIONS DRAW (TAKEN FROM SPEEDWAYWORLD.TV) 2007 FIM Scandinavian Speedway Grand Prix Målilla, Sweden, 11 August 2007 – 19:00 COMPETITORS Draw N° Riding N° / Name FMN Country 1 7. Matej Zagar AMZS Slovenia 2 1. Jason Crump MA Australia 3 8. Tomasz Gollob PZM Poland 4 16. Fredrik Lindgren SVEMO Sweden 5 5. Leigh Adams MA Australia 6 11. Scott Nicholls ACU Great Britain 7 12. Bjarne Pedersen DMU Denmark 8 6. Hans Andersen DMU Denmark 9 10. Antonio Lindbäck SVEMO Sweden 10 14. Rune Holta PZM Poland 11 9. Kaj Laukkanen Finland (replaces Jarosław Hampel) 12 3. Nicki Pedersen DMU Denmark 13 19. Peter Karlsson SVEMO Sweden (replaces Andreas Jonsson) 14 13. Wiesław Jaguś PZM Poland 15 2. Greg Hancock AMA USA 16 15. Chris Harris ACU Great Britain TRACK RESERVES 17 17. Jonas Davidsson SVEMO Sweden 18 18. Sebastian Aldén SVEMO Sweden

There is a great feature on Andrzej in the latest issue of Backtrack magazine. Well worth a read.

Go On Captain Flymo!!

Hampel not a starter then? Big shock IMO that he is out.

So start off a thread about him then!! Well done Bomber

Its good that Smederna are being open about their situation rather than painting a rosy picture that some clubs do when all is not well. Im glad that a team seems to be in place aswell, Speedway Star must be someway behind in overseas news as it made the situation sound ten times worse in this weeks edition. I'm Happy to see Rory fixed up with a team spot and I wish your team well for next season Tarabanko. I'll be at both Swedish GP's next season. Roll on 2007.

Not looking too good though for the Blacksmiths next year. Have read in the Speedway Star that the club is reported to have debts of several Millions, 800,000 Kr at least needing to be paid before the end of the year to avoid bankruptcy. Hamill has signed for Masarna, Nicholls has signed for Bajen, Kim Jansson is on his to Kaparna and Morten Risager doesn't look like he will be back. I have also read that Matej Ferjan was interested in joining but he demanded too much money. Financially, things must be in a bad way if a team can't afford Ferjan!! Has the club signed Jagus yet Tarabanko? Hope things get worked out for the club. I had an excellent time there for the GP in may, but at the moment it would would seem a very uncertain time.

Great Post barbs. Come on Bomber, King of Cornwall

Well done Chris. This is fantastic news. With Scott getting the nod as well it should be a great night on Friday at Brandon when we will hopefully win the Cup as well. A great end to the season.

its his older brother

Give it to the Mighty Harris. His showing last week in Vetlanda is worthy of a pick and he soundly beat the likes of Pepe, Ryan, NKI etc...... Harris for GP 2007!!!

Yes, he prefered to do his business with a tramp in a lay by on the M6.

Where will he be then? There is only Coventry that can afford to pay him other than Belle Vue..... and we have no need for him. He had his chance last year and blew it!!

So that means that Olsen, Gundersen, Nielsen, Mauger (one short of Greatness in the Shovler world of Speedway......damn) are not great riders? They must be SO disappointed to have not lived up to your rating

Good God!!! This is Speedway not a "Knitting Class". Its hard racing from both parties. Not shaking hands, rivalry between teams and riders.....its all good stuff.