RPNY

You are indeed correct he served British Speedway with absolute distinction. However he was the first one to go and many followed

Was an interesting read I thought. To be honest there's nothing that shocking but good to get his insight. As someone who's cheered Tai on at home and on the continent its a little bit of a tough pill to swallow knowing he 's heart is really with the Aussies. However 1. its understandable, 2. Can't say he hasn't been anything other than brilliant when he's represented GB. It's more and more common in the world we live in people have split loyalties when it comes to their nationality. Whether is be they are new to living in a country, parents are from somewhere else, its just the world we live in. With regards to how he's treated British Speedway, yes I appreciate it gave him his start but I can't say I blame him for not wanting to be any part of it. He's not alone either, this goes back the Hans Nielsen in the mid 90s. Unfortunately its just an inferior league run by an old boys club.

Coulda just had a 2 rider run off if equal. Used to do it in the world pairs. What a dramatic finish that would been to the 2018 competition

Yup

FWIW, I believe that although we only found about it last week, people on the inside knew a while ago...

Firstly, there are reserves in place who are well prepared to come in at any point. And the chosen first reserves especially will know from recent history that there is a good chance they will be called into action. Secondly he desperately wanted to ride and have another shot at being world champion again, unfortunately his wife needs continued treatment for the cancer and he didnt want to be away from her and the family. So its a bit harsh to say he didnt make his mind up soon enough

Was never a Huge Greg fan, Billy was always my favorite rider. However I got to know Greg when he visited NYC a couple of years ago and we have remained friends ever since. What I can say he is as nice in person as you see on the camera. Its not a front or BS. But he was fiercely determined to be successful without over stepping boundaries. Its fascinating talking to him on how he reinvented himself in 2010 to make himself a contender again. A genuinely nice bloke and whether or not you enjoyed watching him ride, deserves a massive amount of respect for the career he had.

10 teams averaged above 20k this season. the rest between 15k and 20k. 2 new Teams coming into the league next year (Austin & Miami) It gets regular coverage on big TV Networks. Soccer is going from strength to strength over here. Flat Track & Motor X are shown regularly on NBC Sports (I guess a BT Sport equivalent) I find it very annoying that no one has even had a discussion with them to show the GPs over here...

Not sure I am happy about BSI no longer being involved, I think they have been great for the Series. Certainly dont like the thought of them running it the next 2 years knowing the series will soon no longer be theirs. Cant imagine there will be a great deal of effort regarding new venues etc!

Going forward would like to see the Premiership with 8 team, all ride against each other once home & once away. GP Riders are a non starter pretty much so dont even worry about set race nights. Just do whatever is best for each club to maximize crowd potential. 2 U23 British reserves for each team. Proper Cup competition with final at a neutral venue (Perry Barr maybe) help on a non GP Saturday in September. Ditto for the Championship with the Cup Final somewhere like Belle Vue or Peterborough (depending on what teams get to the Final) All other meaningless competitions forgotten about as they rarely attract decent crowds. Just a local friendly to kick start the season before the league campaign gets going. Most important though is a decent track so the boys can race and a fair price point so family's and young kids/students/young adults can go. Its really not a case of re inventing the wheel.

It was a good system for sure. I would like to see the man with the most points win the even thats all. A guy Winning it with 13 points and a guy coming second on 20 seems as silly to me as someone scraping in the semi's and then getting 25. But thats just my opinion, I fully expect people to disagree!

I hear you. Id say the only counter argument is that the last race becomes more important ans that is essentially what the organizers want. Current scoring system with the winner getting 25 seems like the perfect medium to me (I'll admit I didn't think about that till I read it on here earlier. )

Impressive knowledge my friend! However if the scoring system was different then so would the dynamics of the situation and the mindset of the riders. So we dont know exactly how it would have finished up. For example Billy sat and got a third in his last race as he'd already qualified for the final. He was unbeaten other than that and I'm sure he could and would have one that race had every point counted. Mighty impressive research you did there do and quite interesting to see.

Its become and after thought of a competition. Should be mid Summer, 1 week, 4 man teams. It was a superb competition till they messed about with it.

Thats not a bad ideal at all

I hear you. But at the same time its unfair there is only 3 spots. I think the Challenge should be 7-14 in series then qualifiers. Top 5 from that would be decent (hopefully!)

The points changing doesn't really bother me. It's pretty much the same as 1996 and that went down to the last race of the entire series. The qualification is a little worrying. If anything should be 5 from GP Challenge and 3 wildcards. But again I definitely think track/stadia is the bigger issue.

Any news on the Venue of said meeting next year Phil?

I cant help but feel on some levels we are arguing the same point here!

There are plenty of sports (or businesses in general) that were stagnating but success of certain athletes plus good promotion gave them a massive boost. I'm not saying it would be easy, but to say its fantasy land is way off in my opinion. The use of a American world champion with the backing of Monster Energy and other media outlets, they could of easily got a crowd of over 25k and a deal to screen it on one of the sports networks over here.

Doesn't mean little if you have a good marketing and promotional strategy.

Could not agree more. Most the glamour GP's have gone. Togliatti and Vojens are understandable as even tho they are remote places they are good stadiums that will be packed out. But some of the other smaller venues tho lead a lot to be desired and are not good for the series. I'm not completely sure of exactly how the costs of staging a GP are spread out, but from a few people I've spoken to tell me its lumped pretty entirely on the local promoter. Seems very odd to me. How BSI didn't embrace Having an american World Champion to get a GP in the states or an Aussie world champion to stage another GP down under is very confusing to me.

Only held Speedway meetings there in October since 1938

hahahaha that's fine my friend

Hopefully Manchester and Hopefully after the series is over or at least with only a round or 2 to go