barrow boy

I to thought that he was lacking speed but when my wife returned from Poland with the race times I found that his first race in heat 4 was up until then the fastest time of the night, easily bettering the time of Niki P. I think he is not riding as well as last year. There are other riders who look better this time and Niki P's control and balance and ability to make the bike do just what HE wants and not vice versa is the difference at the moment and he is most certainly gating much better. Last year if you recall JC was not so dominent in heats 1 to 20 and invariably made a bigger effort in heats 21 & 22 and on at least 2 occasions he benefitted from others misfortune in finals. So perhaps its the new scoring system that has effected his mindset.

But every race would count anyway because every rider should do their best and keep trying to hopefully make the last 8. Look what happened last night. Several riders were in with a shout at the end even having only scored 6 points. Whatever happened to the good old trusted and completely fair run off deciders?

Exactly

I am missing the importance of getting to the final already. In fact I'm starting to yearn for the old elimination system with perhaps some method of providing more than 2 rides for those eliminated early on and more points for the losing semi finalists. I feel this year it will just drag on and soon become a non event

Congratulations. You just about covered it. Just one point though, didn't JC make the first final?

And don't forget a rider can win every GP this time and someone else can still become world champion. Unlikely I know but it is possible.

I think many of the riders can deny JC the title by beating him along the way thereby denying him points that others will gain but I think there is only one other good enough who has the same do or die mentality who can win overall. Niki Pedersen

How about having a forecast competition with members selecting 4 riders and if one of them wins gains 5 points, 3 for having the second, 2 for having the third and 1 for having the fourth. If enough enter into the spirit it can be a full series competition. I'll start it off with Nikki P, Jason, Bjarne & Scott. Good luck BB

At the risk of again being told that I must get out more or get a girlfriend or something similar, I think it was FlyanRyan who suggested this, I would just like to remind you all that last season just for my own self interest, I kept a league table based on. 4 points for a win by 10+ 3 points for a win by less than 10 2 points for a draw 1 point for losing by less than 10 0 points for losing by 10+ The result was. 1 Reading 99 2 Peterborough 98 3 Swindon 92 4 Belle Vue 90 5 Coventry 86 6 Wolverhampton 84 7 Eastbourne 78 8 Poole 77 9 Ipswich 75 10 Oxford 51 11 Arena Essex 49 The end result might not have been different but Belle Vue would have been in the playoffs instead of Coventry as a reward for being involved in closer matches.

Just read on Speedway World that one of the Polish teams is tracking Hancock, Lindback, Ulamek, Drabik,Richardson, Kennett & Szczepaniak. Not a bad team is it ? I make it a 50/51 pts team.

I would allow any rider to be replaced once only by any other rider once only when a team is so many points behind. I would allow the losing team to have the choice of starting positions from heat 2. I would award 4 points for a win by 10 points or more with 0 points going to the losing team. 3 points for a win by less than 10 points with one point going to the losers. 2 points each for a draw. Aggregate point still up for grabs over the 2 legs. Can't see why each team can't have seperate pre match practice sessions of say 10 mins each. Might see some closer matches then

Hi there my good friend. Please confirm something for me. A rider not winning the BIG FINAL can still score more points than the winner.

He still finished higher than someone that was reinivited ahead of him

Don't forget that Nikki Pedersen beat them both one year and the popular opinion is he may be better equipped now to be considered as having every chance this time to take his second crown.

I hope that most are proved wrong and that Chris Harris does not finish last but if he does not do too well but proves to be an entertaining future prospect I sincerely hope that he will get another chance to become established on the world scene.

Subedei I think I almost agree with this observation but I feel Hans did no different to Jason really. When he had secured his second title he also became ordinary. In fact I think he did extremely poorly in the latter rounds. He was honest though when saying afterwards that he had taken his foot off the gas. Perhaps it was the same for Hans who had proved his point and had already qualified. Starting from fresh all riders will surely be up for it for just as long as they need to be. Even your least favourite SN.

Tony Millard will now have to say TG is the 40th highest paid sportsman in Poland

On the BSI site it quotes Bjarne Pedersen as being all in favour of the new points system. He feels it will prevent anyone running away with it again but if a rider wins most times as in the past 2 seasons I can't see the changes making much difference. He also feels that it will be of benefit due to the field being a much better standard this time but this in itself should keep the contest closer without needing to change the scoring. I must say however I am pleased that the losing semi finalists will be rewarded next time.

Sorry

There we have it. Every forum member that thinks it is OK for Scott Nicholls to be in the GP's is TERMINALLY DELUDED. Come on all you terminal deluded one's what do you think of that?

Bring back the GP Challenge I say where GP non qualifiers race off against the best from a GP Challenge qualifying competion with the top 7 or 8 going into the GP's. Not sure if I like the wild card entry either.

Most of what you feel is true but I'm not sure about the begging bowl bit. You are correct though in saying what he said and the bit about his indifference to trying to qualify by right.

Exactly

Well done Jason

I said it doesn't matter to me whether or not he (SN) is invited or not. He is just one of many that has got in without qualifying. As I said he is our national champion so why shouldn't he be asked to fill one of the wild card places if it is allocated to GB. I like GB riders to do well but I also appreciate anyone who entertains and does his best wherever they come from. For this reason it would therefore be best if all 16 GP places be filled by riders who all qualify even if it means there are no riders from GB but as long as the rules are as they are then why not let the GB title holder compete. I don't know about integrity though. Do the words Speedway and Integrity belong in the same sentence?