enotian

I think it's the same meeting twice over with cumulative scores across the two meetings. (presumably only the riding order changes) top cumulative scorers through to the final, 2nd and 3rd run off to reach the final. "winner" of the final are champions. "winner" might be finishing 2nd and 3rd. I think.

https://app.box.com/s/fzngmofjdpxqb3ycqmkihyjmezg8mepe Excel or pdf for race off 1. Hopefully the format is correct, apologies if not.

Spoken like a true innovator. I look forward to nothing new ever happening ever again on the basis that it would have already been done if it was worthwhile doing.

Both are forms of entertainment, both competing for custom but if you want a more direct comparison how about speedway itself. Based on the potential for injury (or work permit issues if you want an example from today) what guarantees are there that the advertised line up at the time of purchase will be the actual participants? Absolutely none. You also have people who buy their tickets a year in advance. Effectively they don't know how will be appearing but it's the event that they subscribe to. i.e. a whole host of people didn't stop watching SGP when Rickardsson retired. You'll also find that not everyone in Kiev tonight is either a Liverpool or Real supporter. You don't have to be a supporter of a team or individual to enjoy an event. Granted you might not enjoy it as much as a supporter of the winning team but you enjoy it if the product is entertaining. Sport has moved on. It competes as a form of entertainment against anything else people can spend their disposable income on. If UEFA thought they could make more money holding Champions League semi finals at the same venue they would. Alas those poor footballers aren't able to perform on successive evenings so it's not feasible. You've got me on that SWC nail in the coffin though. They'd never replace it with SON which has finals on a Friday and Saturday night at the same venue. Apologies for resorting to sarcasm but some of your arguments are wafer thin.

I presume the majority of those staff attend practice and their cost is marginal. Might as well utilise them in managing a meeting that you can create income from (ticket sales and TV, potentially sponsorship). Check out sports channels Friday night schedules particularly during the summer. Zero content bar T-20 cricket. As I understand it they now often run a pre-meeting on the temporary tracks anyway and they run practice the day before a GP but I agree that must be a consideration as track conditions are essential to the product. But just because something might be difficult doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. To be fair I'm more than happy with the GP series as it is (although there needs to be more than 10) as I have stuff to do on Friday nights but others expressed that only 15 GP regulars didn't offer sufficient variety. So rather than change the almost perfect 23 heat format to allow more participants I suggest having a pre gp qualifier

So nobody bought tickets for tomorrows Champions League Final because there's no guarantee Ronaldo will be playing.....? If you're that fixated on seeing a certain top star wouldn't you buy a ticket for the qualifier knowing that they were in it? So people would pay to watch a qualifying meeting after all? Then another ticket if they qualify for the GP.

All bar 4 riders qualify by on track performance. Either by finishing in the top 8 in the previous year or via the GP Challenge. Of the 4 wildcards I'm sure if money talked there would be more Poles selected. I look forward to hearing your evidence as to who has bought their way into the series...….

Excel score chart https://app.box.com/s/fzngmofjdpxqb3ycqmkihyjmezg8mepe

The previous 24 rider field participated in one meeting only so only one set of ticket sales. With a qualifier then the GP as two separate meetings there'd be two revenue streams plus potential additional TV revenue for two meetings each covering the cost of a 16 rider field. It would appear the venues are hired for at least two days anyway so no additional cost there. So you might as well put on an event to attract additional revenue if you've hired the venue anyway. Provided you can attract income to cover the marginal cost of putting the meeting on. So it would have to be a meaningful/entertaining event, which I think a qualifier would be to many. Surely hand picking the riders is an advantage? Notwithstanding there'd be qualifying rounds to determine some of the 24. Surely hand picking is better than most motorsports in which riders/drivers with the best sponsorship backing get the GP places. Those riders/drivers are not necessarily the best in the World. Surely the aim is to see the best riders fight for the championship? Isn't that the nature of sport? I've no idea why you'd want to dilute the product by having 48 riders of various nations? For example, what value would including David Bellego add to the series? France is a big country but if you think his inclusion will add thousands to the gate and attract French TV coverage to justify his inclusion that's just not going to happen. When he's earned a place by being competitive at that level he'll be a welcome addition but just turning up to be a token Frenchman would add no value to the product at all.

I think you refer to the Amsterdam World Final(s) so hardly an extensive trial, perhaps there are more examples. This years SON will have two meetings in two days but I agree what's the point of seeing the same meeting twice. But the GP qualifier would have 8 different riders from the GP. I'd expect the meeting to be fiercely contested with the prize of reaching the following days/later that day full GP line up. Why do people attend Moto GP, F1, WSB, BSB, music festivals etc etc over the course of a weekend? Qualifying for Moto GP etc appears rather dull to me yet all three days appear well attended. If the content is good a 2 day/2 meeting GP could attract two attendances I'm sure.

I can see people wanting "to make a weekend of it" often the cost of travel is more significant than the overnight stay. Like those who do the pairs meeting in Somerset the night before Cardiff, admittedly not on the scale required. And the Friday night/Saturday afternoon qualifier would have some big names in it. For example the qualifier in Prague this weekend would have Jason Doyle trying to reach the GP. Yes it would only increase the regular participants to 22/23 riders assuming there'd be at least one local wildcard but would you really need any more than that without diluting the quality?

This whole GP qualification could be run over one weekend from the same location. How about top 3 from the Overseas, Nordic, Continental & European finals, plus 4 from a last chance meeting for those finishing 4th to 8th in the first 4 meetings. With the final being re-christened the Inter-Continental Final. 6 meetings over 2 or 3 days. TV coverage by pay-per-view? If the sports channels don't want to cover it. Make it a speedway festival and curtain raiser for the GP series. Sell weekend tickets to cover all 6 meetings, you might even get cities to bid to be hosts. It would certainly cut down the amount of travelling for riders and reduce their unavailability for league fixtures.

Friday night/Saturday afternoon qualifier??? i.e. whenever practice is held. Bottom 8 from the last GP have to qualify against another 8 permanent riders/local wildcard(s). Need to decide what happens when a wildcard finishes in the top 8 but should make those semi final places even more fiercely contested. If you look at other motorsports their content is across a whole weekend with sports channels covering testing and qualifying sessions. Likewise would supporters attend both meetings therefore funding the additional costs?

https://app.box.com/s/fzngmofjdpxqb3ycqmkihyjmezg8mepe Excel score chart. Print Off or fill in electronically for gate stats. Now including the round 1 result. i.e. don't download if you don't know the result

Sheene, Knievel and Mauger. If you grew up in the 70's you couldn't help but love motorcycles thanks to those three gods. Its an honour to be able to follow the Diamonds and see where one of those Legends was born. Rest In Peace

whoooosssshhh one was being sarcastic, considering the Diamonds rich history of riders from New Zealand and his apparent availability BWD should have been a shoe in for a team place. I made reference to including him in the 2018 line up pre Christmas thinking we'd be going for a strength in depth team rather than an under strength team perhaps I selected the incorrect emoji

Trouble is Kiwi's have never gone well around Brough...... One can only presume he's been asked and, like many others, decided not to. Must've been on more than the Diamonds radar (doesn't seem to have a Polish team). Like you say he's odds on to add 2 points to his CL average this season. I Think he even had a PL maximum last season. First Kiwi to do so since one.... Mark Thorpe is what SS reported. Almost exactly the same average as Wethers but I suspect heading in opposite directions in terms of points and geography. You can't force these boys to sign if you can't afford to make it worth their while and the reduced CL schedule probably doesn't help either. Crazy this year not to have a new foreign rider on 5.20. As I understand it the assessed averages (normally 7.00) were set so low to actively encourage this approach. Fredrik Jacobsen looked full of potential at Belle Vue on Friday. Easily looked like a 6-7 point CL rider. Again probably too expensive. Nevermind.

Can you have a winning team without a No.1 standard rider? Yes. It's been done. Can you have a winning team that starts 2 points lower than the other teams? Maybe if you've got a team full of riders who'll increase their starting averages. Can you have a winning team that has no No.1 and starts 2 points lower than the other teams? No chance, unless you've got some serious increases in average. Assuming Ludvig and Robbo are in Ht 13 and possibly some Ht 15's and neither are on an upward curve they'll do well to maintain their starting averages. Lewis Rose is on the up but Ht 15's might restrict his potential increase. The rest will swap between reserve and 2nd string so should on average maintain their averages (remember there are not that many 2.00 reserves this season). Add the fact that Ludvig, Aarnio, Wethers and Wilkinson will only have 20 odd meetings all season whilst others have 50 plus can't be good. No point in denying this is collectively a poor team but will it be entertaining??? Maybe but getting tonked every week gets old real fast.

Oh, we really are on a budget then!!! Finances can be the only reason for this when you can sign a highly rated foreign rider on 5.20, if you can afford one. We can now narrow our search for a No. 1 down to somebody who averages under 8.00, lives local and had a good score at Brough Park once on a freak track sometime in the last 10 years or so. Are Ellis Short and Martin Bain in charge of the Diamonds as well??? It's George Stancl isn't it. Yes the reserves will be stronger this season but it's all relative because most others are as well. PS the standard just glad to have speedway applies but even happier it's a short season.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/85085-polish-transfers-2018/&page=15

I don't like either team suits or race jackets. There's no scope for merchandise. i.e. joe public wouldn't wear either out and about as people tend to with football/rugby/cricket/ice hockey/basketball/NFL/baseball kits. The kevlars should be considered as safety kit worn under a team shirt, that supporters could buy replicas of. I seem to remember Boro Bears (and others) trying these in the 90's but the designs were awful, they were baggy and the riders used to cut the arms off to display more sponsors so they looked shabby. Designed correctly they would be relatively inexpensive and could be made available to supporters. Got to be better than those god ugly wulfsport anoraks. Guaranteed to make any new supporter run a mile.

Is it the standard or how successful the team is that determines crowd levels? It is the solution to the Sunday problem though.

Sounds like head scratching is the current state of play. Can't see how we'd be allowed to start the season with guests but I suppose stranger things have happened. Perhaps if Kennett doesn't like the thought of the travel he could sign short term until say May by which point you'd expect who's actually getting rides in Poland to be clearer.

Or, as I posted last week, what division??? If Sunday isn't viable for Championship, it would be in the National League. Sounds like the finances are a struggle at Championship level anyway. Perhaps the U21 semi final will give a flavour of the future.

With less and less riders available to ride on a Sunday and Monday's allotted to the Premiership (even if they were viable as a race night for Newcastle) is National League speedway the only future option for the Diamonds? Having said that I'm almost certain that once a number of the riders who think they're riding in Poland find out that they're just squad members there desire to ride in the Championship will improve somewhat....