IainB

SEVENTEEN RACE POINTS ahead not 7

I wasn't totally convinced by Zmarlik... until last night, he's a different class at the moment, the move he pulled on Woffy in the final, for me, is up there with the memorable moments of the GP's Tricks "wall of death" at Cardiff and Gollobs las bend swoop on Jimmy Nilsen at Bigdosh. He's head an shoulders above anybody else in this years series 17 race points clear of the next best (Woffy) On another point... did anybody notice Pat Dudeks helmet last night? WTF was going on with the front of it? 2:04:21

Winners & Losers after round 6: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 17 19 95 99 4 4% 1 1 0 Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 9 15 76 92 16 21% 3 2 1 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 12 16 78 89 11 14% 2 3 -1 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 6 10 69 71 2 3% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 9 9 65 70 5 8% 5 5 0 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 13 12 61 69 8 13% 8 6 2 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 13 11 64 63 -1 -2% 6 7 -1 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 13 6 62 60 -2 -3% 7 8 -1 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 11 7 54 60 6 11% 9 8 1 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 8 7 37 40 3 8% 10 10 0 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 4 7 34 37 3 9% 11 11 0 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 5 3 31 30 -1 -3% 12 12 0 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 7 6 29 29 0 0% 13 13 0 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 7 3 29 27 -2 -7% 13 14 -1 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 15 15 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 2 5 14 12 -2 -14% 15 16 -1 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 17 17 0 Vaclav Milik 0 2 2 1 -1 -50% 18 18 0

Reminds me a bit of Jan O, he could usually find grip and speed where no one else could Either the Russian mafia has got to him or his bikes are running on novichok May as hold a GP in Blackpool then If I were BSI I'd pull him from tonight's GP, didn't even finish a few of his races. I thought the wildcard was used to pull in a crowd... as crowd's aren't allowed they may as well grant it to somebody who's interested in finishing races. Seems injury prone They're always wrong! You either need to be sitting down with a laptop and dictionary or have racers & royals by your side to understand at any speed what's going on. I predict a real shambles in the last GP when the winner is to be decided if one rider makes the final and another hasn't as people are trying to calculate who the new world champion is!!! to be fair it's always been the case... the only positive I can see with the new system is that Zmarzlik is only 1 point clear of Lindgren, where under the old system he would now be 14 points clear of Woffy

I think the Monday meeting was live, those numbers do seem very low! Do you know how that compares to the footy they show?

Yeah... I was just wondering where Stan (Simon) & Olly were?

Winners & Losers after Round 5: 1 2 3 4 5 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 17 76 79 3 4% 1 1 0 Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 9 61 78 17 28% 3 2 1 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 12 62 71 9 15% 2 3 -1 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 6 59 62 3 5% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 9 56 59 3 5% 5 5 0 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 13 56 55 -1 -2% 5 6 -1 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 13 49 53 4 8% 8 7 1 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 13 53 51 -2 -4% 7 8 -1 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 11 47 50 3 6% 9 9 0 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 8 30 32 2 7% 10 10 0 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 4 27 30 3 11% 12 11 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 5 28 28 0 0% 11 12 -1 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 7 26 24 -2 -8% 13 13 0 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 7 23 23 0 0% 14 14 0 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 15 15 0 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 16 16 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 2 9 8 -1 -11% 17 17 0 Vaclav Milik 0 0 1 1 100% 18 18 0

https://twitter.com/philmorrisgb/status/1306925140991672320

I agree, to a certain extent, maybe choosing Doyley was a bad example being a former world champ. I remember going to watch a WRC event at Cardiff a few years back and although I didn't really know who most of the drivers were it was clear to see who the WRC drivers were compared to club drivers, the difference was night and day

What are the audience numbers?

A few questions need to be answered on this... suppose it'll be a FIA/Ferrari cover-up job though

Yes, he is Danish team manager... I understood that each rider was only allowed 2 other individuals to be in their "team" though

I saw that Hans Nielsen was in the pits at Gorzow, does anybody know who's corner he was in?

Nobody's surprised really though are they? We know they're amateurs

I like your National League quality post But for me personally I do agree with you. I was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to watch some NL action last year at Leicester as part of a double header, but due to Leicester's inability to run a meeting at a reasonable pace it was rained off, so I never got to see it. But I have watched NL standard racing over the years and it's never really been "proper speedway" for me. I do know that the racing at Leicester (for me) was generally better when they were in the top league with the better standard of rider. With the exception of watching Scott Nicholls last year who really mastered the track, a lot of experience there though. As for what fans want, in reality different fans want different things. Some fans lap up their team winning by 30 points every week, the floaters probably want a close match with good racing, a new fan probably wants a value for money night out, doesn't care about the "stars" is not going to know former world champ Jason Doyle from the Jason Doyle plumber who lives down the road at 22 Arcacia Avenue

I think everybody that's a Russian speedway rider is a "rocket" aren't they... except of course when Emil Sayfutidnov used to be "The Jose Mourinho of Speedway" as nobody ever referred to him (except for one person)

I think Woffy will win a round at Prague and go on to take the title with the rest of the series being held on "neutral" tracks. Although I understand he took a knock last night, I haven't watched it yet.

I care... You don't, a few others will and a few others won't. I'm just comparing as it's an obvious topic of discussion

Zmarzlik would be 6 pts clear of Janowski under the old system 1 2 3 4 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 52 66 14 27% 3 1 2 Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 59 59 0 0% 1 2 -1 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 53 57 4 8% 2 3 -1 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 50 53 3 6% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 47 50 3 6% 5 5 0 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 43 45 2 5% 6 6 0 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 36 42 6 17% 8 7 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 36 36 0 0% 8 8 0 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 40 35 -5 -13% 7 9 -2 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 23 27 4 17% 10 10 0 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 22 24 2 9% 12 11 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 23 24 1 4% 10 11 -1 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 19 18 -1 -5% 13 13 0 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 15 14 1 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 16 16 0 0% 14 14 0 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 16 16 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 7 6 -1 -14% 17 17 0

Personally I think he's got a really good chance of winning it now, Laguta and Janowski are up and down as usual, Zmarlik has not been doing a great deal away from Gorzow this season, Emil is out of it, I think it'll be between Woffy, Madsen & Freddie... maybe Zmarzlik

I disagree, Lindgren is now 14 points and 2 places in the rankings better off than he would have been under the old system and has only won 1 GP. It places more emphasis on just making the final, if you wanted to place the emphasis on the win they should award 25 or 30 pts for a win. Perhaps breaking his neck last year has had an effect on him?

You could argue that Ermolenko was "lucky" to win the 93 final with 12 points... he was clearly the best rider in the world that year though imo

Winners & Losers after round 4: 1 2 3 4 Total Pts +/- % Old Rank New Rank Rank Diff Freddie Lindgren 10 11 14 17 52 66 14 27% 3 1 2 Bartosz Zmarzlik 11 14 20 14 59 59 0 0% 1 2 -1 Maciej Janowski 17 19 8 9 53 57 4 8% 2 3 -1 Tai Woffinden 12 15 12 11 50 53 3 6% 4 4 0 Leon Madsen 13 7 12 15 47 50 3 6% 5 5 0 Artem Laguta 20 13 7 3 43 45 2 5% 6 6 0 Jason Doyle 5 3 12 16 36 42 6 17% 8 7 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 6 6 13 36 36 0 0% 8 8 0 Martin Vaculik 11 4 13 12 40 35 -5 -13% 7 9 -2 Matej Zagar 6 4 8 5 23 27 4 17% 10 10 0 Max Fricke 2 8 4 8 22 24 2 9% 12 11 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3 11 6 3 23 24 1 4% 10 11 -1 Mikkel Michelsen 5 7 5 2 19 18 -1 -5% 13 13 0 Gleb Chugunov 6 8 14 16 2 14% 15 14 1 Patryk Dudek 5 7 3 1 16 16 0 0% 14 14 0 Anders Thomsen 4 6 10 10 0 0% 16 16 0 Antonio Lindback 1 1 2 3 7 6 -1 -14% 17 17 0

I think what it does show, so far anyway, is that consistency (some may call it mediocrity) is paying off big time over the series... it's saying to me cruise home for a 3rd or 4th in a final and don't risk the win, ironically the new points system was brought in to encourage the winner of an individual event getting the most points, all well and good for a one day event, over a series it's being shown to fail

Vaculik has been the big loser so far with the new points scoring and is at -4... the reason for this is because I had an e/w bet on him