Problems with SGP

[eric i]

38 minutes ago, Ghostwalker said:

I'm not a BSI fan (rather the opposite) but BSI/IMG weren't better  then what or rather just as bad as Discovery are. DSC had made som minor tweaks but in general  the GP circus is stil the same.  Don't really understand the love for BSI. They had the rights for ages but hardly changed anything the past 10 years.

They took the series to Australia and New Zealand, as well as great stadiums in big cities in Europe..... I think they were better than discovery.  

[BluPanther]

One of the main problems with the SGP is that the line up doesn't contain the best 16 riders in the world...

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

9 minutes ago, BluPanther said:

One of the main problems with the SGP is that the line up doesn't contain the best 16 riders in the world...

While this is true, it really makes little difference who the riders are, yes sayfutinow and laguta should be there and I hope they are back next season if nothing else just to prove they are not the threat to the championship that people think they are, imo they are no better than holder or lindgren who are top riders but never really look like a world champion, yes laguta did it once  but he isn’t that rider anymore but he should be there 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, Ghostwalker said:

I'm not a BSI fan (rather the opposite) but BSI/IMG weren't better  then what or rather just as bad as Discovery are. DSC had made som minor tweaks but in general  the GP circus is stil the same.  Don't really understand the love for BSI. They had the rights for ages but hardly changed anything the past 10 years.

I’m not praising BSI I’m just saying discovery are dreadful 

[Ghostwalker]

On 8/14/2025 at 7:17 PM, eric i said:

They took the series to Australia and New Zealand, as well as great stadiums in big cities in Europe..... I think they were better than discovery.  

They did but stopped well before DSc took over the rights? Why? Could it be the same reason that DSc are unable to host round in Australia?

The cost of arrangibg a round in Australia or South America is very high compared to lets say the German GP. 

Everyone and everything will have to be transported by airplane and/or by ship, and someone will have to pay for it (it won't be Dsc). This leaves a local club or promoter who are unwilling or unable to pay what it xosts, especially since the financial gain are to be higher than the cost .

[Gambo95]

On 8/14/2025 at 7:10 PM, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

While this is true, it really makes little difference who the riders are, yes sayfutinow and laguta should be there and I hope they are back next season if nothing else just to prove they are not the threat to the championship that people think they are, imo they are no better than holder or lindgren who are top riders but never really look like a world champion, yes laguta did it once  but he isn’t that rider anymore but he should be there 

Maybe 4 years of missing out on racing at the top level (and missing out on the extra sponsorship) would have something to do with your point.

Jack Holder and Dan Bewley got into the championship when they were kicked out.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

38 minutes ago, Gambo95 said:

Maybe 4 years of missing out on racing at the top level (and missing out on the extra sponsorship) would have something to do with your point.

They still had top level racing in the extraleage and yes they probably did lose some sponsorship but imo they are just not as good a rider as zmarzlik  on a consistent basis, good enough to be in the GPs but not really title contenders, laguta’s win for me was always going to be a one off, he is fast when he is in the mood and average when he isn’t and imo sayfutinow was never going to win as much as he is a hard technical rider and  as much as I want them in the series I don’t think they would be serious challengers 

[Gambo95]

11 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

They still had top level racing in the extraleage and yes they probably did lose some sponsorship but imo they are just not as good a rider as zmarzlik  on a consistent basis, good enough to be in the GPs but not really title contenders, laguta’s win for me was always going to be a one off, he is fast when he is in the mood and average when he isn’t and imo sayfutinow was never going to win as much as he is a hard technical rider and  as much as I want them in the series I don’t think they would be serious challengers 

Still missed a year of racing when banned.

[False dawn]

On the one hand, allowing Emil and Artem back into the World Championships would generate a lot of interest. Whether they are real contenders or not.

On the other hand, in the current political climate, bringing the Russians "back into the fold" could generate some less than positive publicity inside and even outside the sport. Imagine the coverage if one of them won it?

Either way, it's all publicity. And as Barnum (and others) said, "There’s no such thing as bad publicity". 

And as speedway fans, surely we want two of the best in the series?

[IainB]

1 hour ago, False dawn said:

On the one hand, allowing Emil and Artem back into the World Championships would generate a lot of interest. Whether they are real contenders or not.

On the other hand, in the current political climate, bringing the Russians "back into the fold" could generate some less than positive publicity inside and even outside the sport. Imagine the coverage if one of them won it?

Either way, it's all publicity. And as Barnum (and others) said, "There’s no such thing as bad publicity". 

And as speedway fans, surely we want two of the best in the series?

It seems clear to me that the organisers of the series have no interest in having the best riders in the series with the omission of Dudek and particularly Madsen this year, as they have both shown with their wild card appearances, add in Laguta and Emil, they (arguably) may not be capable of winning a championship (again in Laguta's) case, but I'm pretty sure they'd have a hand in deciding which way a championship did go... unlike many of the riders currently in the series. 

[norbold]

2 hours ago, False dawn said:

On the one hand, allowing Emil and Artem back into the World Championships would generate a lot of interest. Whether they are real contenders or not.

On the other hand, in the current political climate, bringing the Russians "back into the fold" could generate some less than positive publicity inside and even outside the sport. Imagine the coverage if one of them won it?

Either way, it's all publicity. And as Barnum (and others) said, "There’s no such thing as bad publicity". 

And as speedway fans, surely we want two of the best in the series?

It would be a bit like, say, Aryna Sabalenka winning the Australian and USA Grand Slam singles tennis titles. Think of the bad publicity that would attract for tennis. It might never recover...

[eric i]

14 hours ago, Ghostwalker said:

They did but stopped well before DSc took over the rights? Why? Could it be the same reason that DSc are unable to host round in Australia?

The cost of arrangibg a round in Australia or South America is very high compared to lets say the German GP. 

Everyone and everything will have to be transported by airplane and/or by ship, and someone will have to pay for it (it won't be Dsc). This leaves a local club or promoter who are unwilling or unable to pay what it xosts, especially since the financial gain are to be higher than the cost .

I agree they probably lost money going to Australia and New zealand but they went there for a number of years, along with big cities in Europe. When Speedway Gps go to these places it benefits the sport as a whole, prestige, media exposure, public awarness and sponsors.

When Discovery got the contract they said they were going to grow the sport and have a gp in Australia by 2023 at the latest, I wasn't a fan of the BSI but they never to told porkies on this scale. .....

 

[ShanoXtra]

22 hours ago, False dawn said:

On the one hand, allowing Emil and Artem back into the World Championships would generate a lot of interest. Whether they are real contenders or not.

On the other hand, in the current political climate, bringing the Russians "back into the fold" could generate some less than positive publicity inside and even outside the sport. Imagine the coverage if one of them won it?

Either way, it's all publicity. And as Barnum (and others) said, "There’s no such thing as bad publicity". 

And as speedway fans, surely we want two of the best in the series?

I mean the amount of time people keep bringing the issue of it being russia but nobody dares to speak of the issues that Ukraine bring is laughable. Media loves to make everything about Russia but if you actually see the drama Ukraine have brought and more shockingly how disgusting their people treat Poland as a country when they were given free housing, food, cars etc but still attack Polish people, attack Polish traditional, break Polish transport and hold signs at concerts saying “death to poles” but nobody moans when Ukraine are allowed into the speedway World Cup? 
Media agenda and targeting is a joke, politics in sport and as a whole is a joke, English people moan about these migrates but still think Ukraine is treated unfair. Nobody has been shown on English TV the city that is ‘war stricken’ in Ukraine but has now rebuild a brand new super night club with the funding from European money? Google Ibiza club Ukraine and see how fearful they really are this club was on its last legs but then had money from the war poured into it and renovated, it’s all on Polish news but you don’t see any of it in England, and be reminded that their president has bought two houses, one in Caribbean and one in Europe with your tax money. 

[YeOldPitGate]

5 hours ago, ShanoXtra said:

I mean the amount of time people keep bringing the issue of it being russia but nobody dares to speak of the issues that Ukraine bring is laughable. Media loves to make everything about Russia but if you actually see the drama Ukraine have brought and more shockingly how disgusting their people treat Poland as a country when they were given free housing, food, cars etc but still attack Polish people, attack Polish traditional, break Polish transport and hold signs at concerts saying “death to poles” but nobody moans when Ukraine are allowed into the speedway World Cup? 
Media agenda and targeting is a joke, politics in sport and as a whole is a joke, English people moan about these migrates but still think Ukraine is treated unfair. Nobody has been shown on English TV the city that is ‘war stricken’ in Ukraine but has now rebuild a brand new super night club with the funding from European money? Google Ibiza club Ukraine and see how fearful they really are this club was on its last legs but then had money from the war poured into it and renovated, it’s all on Polish news but you don’t see any of it in England, and be reminded that their president has bought two houses, one in Caribbean and one in Europe with your tax money. 

Putin has stolen hundreds of billions from Russia over the years, Donald helped himself to a free plane worth $400 mil so a couple of houses (if true) is small beer in the political corruption spectrum

[ShanoXtra]

1 hour ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Putin has stolen hundreds of billions from Russia over the years, Donald helped himself to a free plane worth $400 mil so a couple of houses (if true) is small beer in the political corruption spectrum

You read all of that and your only take from it was the two houses 🤦🏼 the point is Ukraine people and their government are just as bad as Russia… yet they get a free pass into speedway with no issue. Poland is the Meca of speedway let’s be honest and Polish people hate Ukrainians… why does the rest of the world not see how they really are?

[therefused]

17 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

You read all of that and your only take from it was the two houses 🤦🏼 the point is Ukraine people and their government are just as bad as Russia… yet they get a free pass into speedway with no issue. Poland is the Meca of speedway let’s be honest and Polish people hate Ukrainians… why does the rest of the world not see how they really are?

just because the Polish dislike the Ukrainians doesnt give everyone free rein to also dislike them, its not like Poland has always taken the moral high ground in political matters. 

[BluPanther]

28 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

You read all of that and your only take from it was the two houses 🤦🏼 the point is Ukraine people and their government are just as bad as Russia… yet they get a free pass into speedway with no issue. Poland is the Meca of speedway let’s be honest and Polish people hate Ukrainians… why does the rest of the world not see how they really are?

Because they believe everything they see on the BBC and CNN etc. The scamdemic proved that beyond any doubt...

[Humphrey Appleby]

On 8/17/2025 at 1:28 PM, eric i said:

I agree they probably lost money going to Australia and New zealand but they went there for a number of years, along with big cities in Europe. When Speedway Gps go to these places it benefits the sport as a whole, prestige, media exposure, public awarness and sponsors.

It wasn't IMG/BSI who took the financial risk going to New Zealand and the 2002 Australian GP, but the local promoters as far as I remember. 

How did the GP actually benefit the sport in these countries? I didn't see any particularly increased media coverage, nor any evidence of increased domestic audiences - then or now. 

I seem to remember the attendances - at least for some of the Antipodean GPs - were relatively decent but nowhere near enough to make the events viable in the stadiums they were being held in. I think part of the problem was that after the initial novelty wore off, the crowds never picked up... 

 

[ShanoXtra]

1 hour ago, therefused said:

just because the Polish dislike the Ukrainians doesnt give everyone free rein to also dislike them, its not like Poland has always taken the moral high ground in political matters. 

Are you actually reading the whole point of my posts or just choosing to ignore it? I don't care if you like or dislike Ukraine, everyone has a choice. The point is this... Ukraine don't get blocked from speedway but Russia does, but both are equally involved in the politics. Me personally, I believe Russia and Ukraine riders should be in any sport... because politics doesn't have a place in sport, IMO. If it did, then surely Bewley and Lambert should be out of the GP as God knows we love to stick our noses into every 'war' along with USA that goes.

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, ShanoXtra said:

Are you actually reading the whole point of my posts or just choosing to ignore it? I don't care if you like or dislike Ukraine, everyone has a choice. The point is this... Ukraine don't get blocked from speedway but Russia does, but both are equally involved in the politics. Me personally, I believe Russia and Ukraine riders should be in any sport... because politics doesn't have a place in sport, IMO. If it did, then surely Bewley and Lambert should be out of the GP as God knows we love to stick our noses into every 'war' along with USA that goes.

I'm not sure you speak for 36 mil poles anymore than I speak for 65 million britons, I've found the Ukrainians in the UK to be decent people on the whole I'm sure there are 5-10% that are unpleasant the same for virtually all races on planet earth.

The fact they are fighting tooth and nail to stop the aggressor speaks volumes, most of the other old Soviet block countries left as soon as they could and have zero desire to return to the Russian boot s, if Russia gets all of Ukraine they will simply use Ukrainians to attack somewhere like Poland or Romania next.

And I have no issue with Emil or any other Russians riders being let back into Speedway GP. I would imagine 90% of Russians want this war to end and just have a quite life but that's not happening whilst a hundred odd old men from the KGB are running things.