IainB

While I tend to agree with you to be fair NKI did qualify for this years series by right from the 2019 GP Challenge as did Zagar and Fricke. The real strange decision was to offer Lindback a wild card slot and it not to have been offered to Aspgren. Like I've said elsewhere I'd like to see Loktaev in, blew it in this years challenge and was only 1 point adrift of possible qualification in 2019

I'm answering PHILRISING's question of where else it could have been held and I offered Germany as an alternative, as far as I know there are no travel restrictions, they are letting crowds into football events, it's just over the border from Poland and it's a neutral venue

That's great for you and the mental work out is obviously part of watching the event for you... it's not for everybody though. I and many others don't sit at home watching it on TV filling a programme in, I don't even have a programme when I attend live so I rely on what the commentator or announcer is saying (or Speedway Updates when I'm at a track). Put yourself in the position of a floating watcher and imagine how it appears to them.

I doubt Lublin are financing the meeting either, nobody knows the financing arrangements but I would suspect BSI/IMG are underwriting the event in order to fulfil TV contracts as they probably have with the GP series playing to less than half full houses. So why not hold it in a neutral country? How many fans are being let into sporting events in Germany?

Whatever the points scoring system surely the point of a World Championship GP series is to find out who the best rider in the world is for that year. If you accept that then surely you must choose the best mathematical points scoring system to find that rider. You could run 20 "qualifying heats" and then just draw lots afterwards to award points, that maybe the rules for that season it doesn't mean you're finding the best rider though. Am I right in thinking that riders have made a semi final with 6 points in the past? if so taking things to an extreme 8 x 6pts in each round with 2nd in each semi and last in each final means 64 points, where as 8 last place finals using the current system bags you 112 points. I'm no mathematician and this is very much back of the fag packet stuff but 112 would have got you 4th place this year where as 64 would have gotten you 10th. The powers that be need to decide if they're trying to find the best rider in the world or whether they're trying to make each GP a world final

Perfect then... a neutral venue for once, to determine worthy winners

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?