barrow boy

Should the top 2 qualifiers from the qualifying heats go straight to the final with the 3rd & 4th going into the 2nd Semi Final who then race off for the 2 remaining final places against riders 5 to 8 in a first semi final.

Cannot see RH finishing last though. By using the same maxim I decided NP should win, Rh was the third best rider in the final 5 2009 GPs.

I am a fan of MZ and on his GP qualifier gritty performance I see no reason why he should not competitive. This year's lineup does look stronger this time but I do not think he will be out of his depth. He may well not be challenging for a top 8 finish but I do not think he will finish last.

If last year's title had been decided over the last 5 GPs the winner would have been NP so if this trend continues in 2010 then I see no reason why NP should not win his 4th championship,

Agreed. he did the job on the night by beating some more fancied rivals but he only had to do it once in the final because he did not have to qualify via the qualifiers and semis. Why was this incidentally?

What I originally said was that I would like to see all riders who have won at least 1 GP being invited back who this year are the top 6 finishers. Add to these the next 4 and the top 5 finishers in the GP Challenge final who include one rider who has pre qualified giving the final place to the 6th best finalist who was Chris Harris. Simple really and only my thoughts on being fair allround. I know this won't happen because it is not the rules but I am just conveying my own personal wishes for how it ought to be done. This way everyone properly qualifies on merit.

Exactly. Then Harris would be in on merit

But if the GP quality invited wild cards are riders such as Zagar, Lindback etc didn't they also enter the GP Challenge competition and didn't they fail to even reach the final so why should they get prefence over riders that did.

It's not about whether I think he is GP quality or not, he has in my opinion done enough to be there because he has earned his place by trying to qualify in the required manner. Anyway there are one or two others in my list that could be considered not to be GP quality by some but if they deserve to be there then they deserve to be considered to be GP quality if only for the moment. Thank you for your taking the time to discuss this matter, I have enjoyed our chat.

Because on the night other than Zetterstrom, Holder & Hampel who all qualified by right and Lindgren & Protazeiwicz who I have put in, Harris was the next highest scorer i.e better than all the others who you quite rightly say were also trying to qualify.

He got through to the GP Challenge Final and finished the next in line after Protaziewicz so having made the effort to qualify by right I think he should be in.

Fairest way to go is to invite all riders who have won at least 1 GP this year for a start. I feel that to win a GP should be enough to earn a place next time. I would then fill up to 10 places from the current GP Series' finishing order with the remaining 5 places coming from the GP Challenge Final. For 2010 we would then have the following:- Crump Gollob Sayfutdinov Hancock Pedersen N Jonsson Bjerre Holta Lindgren Andersen Zetterstrom Holder Hampel Protasiewicz Harris All of them being in on merit

If Crump does enough to clinch his 3rd title he is certainly being asked to do it the hard way having been drawn to ride in the dreaded number 1 slot. No one has won this year from number 1 and the total points amassed by the previous 10 incumbent's is 75 at an average of 7.5 per GP. Olsen will now of course decide how well he does by how much water he has put down after every 4 heats. Would it not be better if the meeting wild card always got the number 1 draw leaving the other positions available to the more important riders.

I agree that the reigning British Champion should be the one if a pick is forthcoming and I agree that it should be Harris on current form and reliability etc but I should just like to ask if in fact it is not Richardson who is the highest averaged British rider.

I agree with the previous posters who have critised the racing surfaces and the same old dross fair that is being offered. I would like to see some different riders from time to time also. Would it be possible in future to have all those riders that do not qualify for the semi finals race off against 8 others in a qualifying event before each next GP with the top 7 joining the previous GP's semi finalists. Those that did not pre qualify and also did not get through the qualifier to be included in the next lot of 8 to try the next time and so on.

If there has to be a British permanent wild card then it should be the reigning British Champion

My daughter who is only a casual fan having been brought up in a speedway family wants to know why the GP challenge final is raced before this season's top 8 are known because if either or all of Harris, Lindgren, Bjerre & Walasek had finished in the top 3 as well as in this season's top 8 other riders who did not figure in the GP Challenge final would have had the chance to race off. She appreciates that riders finishing lower than 3rd would qualify but she still thinks it unfair not to wait in case it is possible for other riders to get their chance.

Totally agree

Just been looking at the races line ups for this meeting and have suddenly wished there were some different riders to watch instead of the same 15 every time. It would be nice if after each GP the lowest 2 makes way for 2 others who in turn would come in for the next 2 to drop out and so on.

It would be nice if the teams could be kept together, especially those that are successful. Most years the top team finishes bottom the next year and the bottom team invariably finishes top just like this season. Not very credible is it. I think though that it might be necessary to make a slight reduction to the strengths of the top end teams say a 2 point reduction to bring them down to 44ish with all teams below 42 being allowed to track a team up to this figure if they so wish. This would then only require teams to change one rider each season thereby keeping together their riders which presumably will help to make the sport much more credible. It would also be nice if the old tactical replacement system could be tried again with perhaps heats 8 and 14 being no go zones and retaining the rule requiring all riders to have at least 3 rides. I would also suggest that reserves should only be used as replacements if their team is losing.

100% agree

Don't think it is the Aussies themselves who are calling for the changes. In the post match interviews I saw they said they were obviously disappointed but they all agreed they had been beaten fair and square by the Poles who Chris Holder said they were better on the day. It is some of us on here that feel it is unfair and I agree that all teams should be given the opportunity to use a double points ride if they need to. Don't forget also that any team which is a mere paltry 6 points down can if they wish bring in an on form rider to replace an out of form rider which Poland did in addition to doubling up. Australia had no chances to do either therefore in my humble opinion it was unfair.

Recently a friend of mine who is also a fellow forum member said to me he had trolled through all of this topic to learn of my opinion on Charlie and I just thought that I would just say that I think she does quite a good job and she is very popular with the riders who very rarely fail to talk to her. What I would say though, and this is not just aimed at her but to the other pits interviewers, is that I think it would be best if they did not always jump on the winner of each race the moment he returns to the pits. Other riders who are more relaxed may better be happier to talk to them.

Totally agree.

I would also add that this has happened before. I believe Sweden won in the last heat when all the other 3 teams had played their aptly named Jokers and Australia who had not were pipped at the death. Unfair I say.