IainB

He's been demoted to the SGPVerse... that nobody can get

No that's fair enough... I'm obviously not the only one who thought it was a done deal, there were people reporting it as if it was going to happen on various socials, websites and podcasts

Agreed, look at Hancock, he bumbled around for about 15 years before rediscovering whatever it was he rediscovered. Also, other riders get better (Zmarzlik undoubtedly for one) and new talent comes into the series not so race weary.

What a brilliant Speedway meeting! The racing tailed off a little towards the end but just about every race was a good one, competitive and with incident. We had Flint doing a Jellyman (or dog having a p1ss, not sure which) and Boughen doing a Trick wall of death! Well done to surprise winner Sam Hagon, he's coming on brilliantly (since joining Leicester ) The track was kept in tip top condition throughout with watering on the in and outside. Only black mark was the 18 minute delay while tyres were being changed between heat 20 and the semi.

To be fair it was sold to the rest of us, not as close to the situation, as a done deal.

Because of the way he's conducted himself over the years, he's not exactly backwards in coming forwards in how good he thinks he is, it's difficult to feel sad for him and his current (last 5 years) performances. Not only is he a marmite character, my opinion of him changes from interview to interview

I was going to post the exact same thing last night... but bottled it For me the maximum jeopardy was when there was 24 riders in the KO race format... when it went to every point counts we lost a lot of that... and now we're on this crazy system it's pretty much gone. I know you can run 2nd's all night long and then win a final in any of the systems. I just think that knowing you're going to be knocked out if you run a couple of thirds adds that jeopardy, instead of riders just thinking, if I run a couple of thirds, that's okay I'll just win my last 3, scrape into the semi and win the final. Zmarlik would still win it of course as he's head an shoulders above anybody else in it at the moment... we may just get the odd shock round though, where he gets knocked out... or at least in a bit of trouble

I don't normally do predictions... so I'm not going to start now But surely you can look much further than Dan Thompson for this? Quietly goes about his business, with virtually no profile at all, seemingly ignored by Team GB, got on the rostrum last year. Should be between him and Flint.

The final results of the poll are in and it's a goodbye to Mr Pawlicki. He shot into an early lead but it all tightened up in the end. He's down to reserve in June... could he have been a trump card? Pawlick 45% Cook 9% Worrall 24% Lampart 22%

Great result for Fred, he must have been fearing the worst after his first race and a disastrous start to the series.

The best 15 riders in the world (not just in Poland) regardless of nationality, simples

Woffy's child mascot was bigger than he was

If it's anything like last season riders were coming over on visa allocated to other clubs, I'm not sure how it works but I'm sure Laguta came over on a visa that Plymouth had to complete!!

They can draw the results for the final from a hat!

What because they just won't bother televising it? Probably

Can't they bring him in on a dinghy?

Jesus Christ! Where's the skill in that? I'd go for rock, paper, scissors ahead of the hat

That's exactly the type of thing but it needs tweaking for me as some of the Poles are rated far too high, Koldziej, Pawlicki, Janowski, Hampel, Drabik & Kubera shouldn't be anywhere near the SGP

That would be the most reliable source for riders who can ride Polish tracks, but this is a World Championship, we've seen this year with the likes of Janowski, Lampart, Pawlicki & Milik that being able to ride the Polish tracks doesn't mean guaranteed success everywhere else. Do you have a link to the list you mention?

That still comes down to "picks" though and is also country dependent, who are the 15 best riders in the world? I'm sorry to single him out as he's a top lad but Is Paco Castanga (averaging 5.98 in the CL) better than Jaimon Lidsey, Szymon Wozniak, Martin Vaculik, Luke Becker, Jacob Thorssell, Benjamin Basso, Rohan Tungate, Tom Brennan or Kim Nilsson? Who have failed to qualify, Paco qualified from Lonigo, his local track. Other riders who didn't even make it to that, well you could probably name at least 30 riders who you'd place ahead of Paco. I stress this is nothing against Paco, before all the Paco brigade start complaining, it just shows that the whole qualification process needs a shake up imo based on rider performances in different country's.

Well, that's "a" list of riders I suppose, but we may as well use @Barrow Boy 2list that he puts up. That's just the FIM's opinion and you could argue about who should and shouldn't be on it until the cows come home.

Averages don't come into effect until tomorrow though, I think?

I'm not sure assets are really still a thing are they?

Should there be a different way of qualifying for the SGP series? At the moment a lot of it seems to be based on opinion and where a riders qualification round is ridden. Is the SGP series any the poorer this season without the likes of Janowski, Dudek, Fricke & Thomsen? Judging by Janowski and Fricke's form this year, for me, no. Will the series be any the poorer next year without Woffinden? Will he get a pick again? Should he have been in it this year? Who are the top 15 riders in the world? Would Holder and Bewley be in the series if the ruskies hadn't have been thrown out or world they still be bumbling about in the qualifiers? Should the likes of Paco Castanga be 5 rides away from a SGP spot because his qualifier was ridden on his home track? Is it right that the SEC champion gets an SGP spot, a competition that is not open to non European competitors? Other sports have published world rankings (Tennis/Golf/Darts/Snooker), should Speedway do the same and base SGP qualification on these rankings? I'm not quite sure how you'd work it out, that's for somebody cleverer than me. But you could have world ranking events where you score ranking points for competing and based on your finishing position, national championships, SoN/SWC, PCMT, Czech Golden Helmet etc. Also points for league averages every month. It'll never happen of course... but it's nice to dream

Yes, I do seem to remember an incident with Blackburn