IainB

it all proved pretty academic in the end as Bartek finished 16 points clear of Tai where under the old system he would have finished 18 ahead. What it did add was real jeopardy in the final round making it more akin to a one off world final than a GP series. What it did show was that nobody really knew what was going on and who had to score what as the commentary team showed when trying to explain what would happen if Bartek didn't make the final, that it would depend who finished where in the semi-finals and then look back through the programme to see who had beaten who in which heat on count back, those of us watching on TV had the luxury of somebody trying to explain it to us... I bet if you were in the stadium you wouldn't have a clue who had actually won... fortunately Bartek made the final and won a well deserved 2nd title.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 17 19 12 14 121 133 12 10% 1 1 0 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 12 16 13 12 103 117 14 14% 2 2 0 Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 9 15 11 16 103 117 14 14% 2 2 0 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 6 10 16 17 102 107 5 5% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 9 9 9 10 84 89 5 6% 6 5 1 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 13 12 9 9 79 87 8 10% 7 6 1 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 13 6 9 14 85 84 -1 -1% 5 7 -2 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 11 7 11 10 75 81 6 8% 9 8 1 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 13 11 10 5 79 78 -1 -1% 7 9 -2 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 8 7 16 4 57 64 7 12% 10 10 0 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 4 7 8 3 45 46 1 2% 11 11 0 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 7 6 5 6 40 39 -1 -3% 12 12 0 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 5 3 0 2 33 32 -1 -3% 13 13 0 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 7 3 2 2 33 32 -1 -3% 13 13 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 2 5 1 7 22 22 0 0% 15 15 0 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 16 16 0 Jack Holder 6 7 13 12 -1 -8% 17 17 0 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 18 18 0 Vaclav Milik 0 2 2 1 -1 -50% 19 19 0

I'm inclined to agree with you but you have to ask yourself what was the reasoning behind changing to top 6 from top 8 if you're not going to include the likes of Lidsey, Chuggers, Holder, Loktaev etc.

ruled him out for this year, but he wasn't going to get a pick this year anyway, it remains to be seen what nationality he'll be next year

Germany?

No I don't, I'll admit that but there is a difference between cricketing countries and countries that play cricket. I would probably define a cricketing country as one that has some kind of sustained professional league.

Winners & Losers after the final round: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 17 19 12 14 121 133 12 10% 1 1 0 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 12 16 13 12 103 117 14 14% 2 2 0 Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 9 15 11 16 103 117 14 14% 2 2 0 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 6 10 16 17 102 107 5 5% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 9 9 9 10 84 89 5 6% 6 5 1 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 13 12 9 9 79 87 8 10% 7 6 1 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 13 6 9 14 85 84 -1 -1% 5 7 -2 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 11 7 11 10 75 81 6 8% 9 8 1 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 13 11 10 5 79 78 -1 -1% 7 9 -2 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 8 7 16 4 57 64 7 12% 10 10 0 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 4 7 8 3 45 46 1 2% 11 11 0 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 7 6 5 6 40 39 -1 -3% 12 12 0 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 5 3 0 2 33 32 -1 -3% 13 13 0 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 7 3 2 2 33 32 -1 -3% 13 13 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 2 5 1 7 22 22 0 0% 15 15 0 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 16 16 0 Jack Holder 6 7 13 12 -1 -8% 17 17 0 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 18 18 0 Vaclav Milik 0 2 2 1 -1 -50% 19 19 0

Was it Loktaev that blew it in the GP Challenge? For me it doesn't really matter what nationality he is, I think of rather see the 4th place from the challenge or Gleb than the likes of Dudek again I thought he'd made a semi (s) before? Could be wrong

I think Fricke will get another year, the pressure is certainly on him now though Artem is bloody fast when in front, looks like a novice when he's behind though, If Greg ain't bothered it's Gleb for me... and it looks like there's a whole host of others coming in the pipeline, not many people have mentioned (was it?) Loktaev who all but qualified in the GP Challenge until he blew it. Russia look like they could be a dominant force in World Speedway if they could stop all the major events being held on Polish tracks

BEWLEY was 4th You'd think they would be told that the world feed commentary was being done from a studio though so just do a nuts and bolts production instead of a David Lynch production with strange camera angles that defy commentary Well done to Max but one swallow doesn't make a summer, Lidsey for me is the best young Aussie. I hope he proves me wrong be Max looks a little too safe for me, a bit Leigh Adams like, great style but no aggression

Personally I'd like to see G Laguta instead of A, I'd even have Gleb ahead of A Laguta, maybe Lidsey instead of Fricke, Fricke as a choice would be a knee jerk choice based on last nights win, he's not shown much else during the series and didn't qualify from the Challenge and even Lindback & Kolodziej have wond GP's. Final spot... Nicki P for me, there's still life in the old dog yet

Winners & Losers after round 7: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 17 19 12 107 113 6 6% 1 1 0 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 12 16 13 91 105 14 15% 2 2 0 Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 9 15 11 87 103 16 18% 3 3 0 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 6 10 16 85 89 4 5% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 9 9 9 74 79 5 7% 5 5 0 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 13 12 9 70 76 6 9% 8 6 2 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 13 11 10 74 73 -1 -1% 5 7 -2 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 11 7 11 65 72 7 11% 9 8 1 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 13 6 9 71 68 -3 -4% 7 9 -2 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 8 7 16 53 60 7 13% 10 10 0 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 4 7 8 42 43 1 2% 11 11 0 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 7 6 5 34 33 -1 -3% 12 12 0 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 5 3 0 31 31 0 0% 13 13 0 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 7 3 2 31 30 -1 -3% 13 14 -1 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 16 15 1 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 2 5 1 15 14 -1 -7% 15 16 -1 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 17 17 0 Jack Holder 6 6 5 -1 -17% 18 18 0 Vaclav Milik 0 2 2 1 -1 -50% 19 19 0

Nice... Taking up the slot of a vulnerable person, classy

So are you not doing your shopping because of the restrictions?

Everybody knows that but you said even if they allowed crowds "with any restrictions" you wouldn't be attending

I fully expect the country to be in a position to allow at least limited crowds, with restrictions, into sporting events by next spring. I could be wrong of course but if it is the case I will be there and you won't

No... I'm going to attend a speedway meeting as soon as I'm allowed to following whatever restrictions are required

So you're going to fight for your right to be a free person by not going to Speedway and not going to any protests but by letting everybody know on a Speedway Forum that you won't be going to live Speedway? I think you may have been to your last Speedway for a while then

I get a lot of what you're saying but one thing is for sure not going to protests to try and get things changed and not going to Speedway is not going to save Speedway during these current times. Basically you're sitting back and punishing Speedway for the governments actions. It doesn't really matter whether I agree with you about whatever you think about Covid or not but if I understand you seem to think the way to get the government to change policy is to not go to Speedway? You say there is no point in Speedway without a crowd and I agree, I think that about any sport but you were saying that even if a crowd were allowed with "any restrictions" you still wouldn't attend because you didn't want to be on the naughty step... well you can't go to Speedway carrying a gun or wearing no clothes, or possessing drugs, they are all restrictions, for the good of society, I'm guessing you don't have any problems with these so why should you with a face mask or 2m distancing, for a short while until things are under control?

That's a good recovery then... the job ain't done yet though

Was Masarna vs Lejonen the final? Because the way Masarna were celebrating at the end of the match was completely over the top, the most over the top celebrations I've ever seen from a team winning a semi-final!

I'm not calling Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe non-cricketing nations... Sri Lanka were in the first world cup. I would call: Canada, Kenya, UAE, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Holland, Ireland, Bermuda & Afghanistan non-cricketing countries often made up of players on passports of convenience not good enough to make their own national team A similar thing has happened with Rugby Union

I think if Eurosport want to break into untapped markets they maybe should have gone for a longer deal, 20 years because as things currently stand it's highly unlikely they're going to successfully break into a market that requires a crowd to make it pay. Under a 20 year plan they could have been offering "Speedway Scholarships" to promising motorbike riders from countries like Spain, Japan, Brazil, Argentina etc. to fund a riders development to a certain level in the European leagues to get to a standard where they could be included and promoted in their local country.

They don't need to, the manager can "work from home". I know I always do the Team Managers job sat on my sofa at home when watching Speedway on TV... and I've never made a bad decision Cricket diluted their World Cup tournament with the inclusion of loads of "non-cricketing" nations and for the most part they're non-events and just fill up TV air time

As a matter of interest and obviously you don't have to answer but why haven't you been for 10 years and why did you stream the British Final I don't think you can compare streaming coverage of Speedway to what was on offer on Bet365 a few years back, from what I saw of it, it had no commentary and you couldn't watch it full screen and a lot of people don't want to sign up to a betting website to watch it. Obviously I don't know for sure but I think you'd probably find that the vast silent majority do subscribe to BT Sport or Premier Sports to watch their Speedway rather than watching some ropey stream with Polish of Swedish commentary, I certainly do. I don't think you can tar all Speedway fans with the I'll watch it for free brush. I don't think streaming will be the saviour of the sport but it's certainly an untapped revenue stream (pun)