German GP Landshut Saturday 2nd May

[FAST GATER]

8 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

It’s quite ridiculous that someone who scores 6 from 5 rides could get 20pts for winning the final.🤔👎

I think the point is that it stops the usual suspects dominating the series as we know cream floats to the top, so if you introduce as much uncertainty as possible  it can yield  in an unexpected result . It's not the way I would like the series to be run as like many people I want the best rider on the night win ,in the case of this GP it should of been Bewley IMO  !

[Fromafar]

13 minutes ago, FAST GATER said:

I think the point is that it stops the usual suspects dominating the series as we know cream floats to the top, so if you introduce as much uncertainty as possible  it can yield  in an unexpected result . It's not the way I would like the series to be run as like many people I want the best rider on the night win ,in the case of this GP it should of been Bewley IMO  !

 

13 minutes ago, FAST GATER said:

I think the point is that it stops the usual suspects dominating the series as we know cream floats to the top, so if you introduce as much uncertainty as possible  it can yield  in an unexpected result . It's not the way I would like the series to be run as like many people I want the best rider on the night win ,in the case of this GP it should have been Bewley IMO  !

Agree with what you say, it was brought in to try to stop Bartosz winning every year😂Not really worked YET.The riders have sussed it out and ride accordingly .Woryna was worthy winner though gave it everything all night. Dan was different class on the night though.

[SPEEDY69]

On 5/2/2026 at 10:54 PM, ONTWOMINUTES said:

Well done mr woryna , not sure he'll be wc this year but what a fantastic achievement for him to win on his debut in the series like smolinski did years ago. 

The way he rides it's a bit tense, will he lose control further or stay on? I think there's a high chance he'll have a few crashes. 

[SPEEDY69]

22 hours ago, MattB said:

Must admit I'm amazed more hasn't been made of it, although given speedway's constant fear of controversy,  perhaps I shouldn't be.

I think BZ may have been starting to turn left on him but i think it makes it good to watch, talking points are what we need. 

[enotian]

3 hours ago, FAST GATER said:

I think the point is that it stops the usual suspects dominating the series as we know cream floats to the top, so if you introduce as much uncertainty as possible  it can yield  in an unexpected result . It's not the way I would like the series to be run as like many people I want the best rider on the night win ,in the case of this GP it should of been Bewley IMO  !

Wasn't it something to do with the 'them' thinking that it was too confusing when the winner of the final wasn't the top GP points scorer. Especially when compared to other motorsports.

I didn't find it confusing and prefer the old system. I don't like how finishing 2nd in one Last Chance/Semi Final scores more GP points than finishing 2nd in the other. 

Of course the new system does allow the top two heat point scorers to avoid the semi finals.

Swings and roundabouts I guess but I feel that there was more competition in each qualifying heat when every point mattered. 

[racers and royals]

2 hours ago, enotian said:

Wasn't it something to do with the 'them' thinking that it was too confusing when the winner of the final wasn't the top GP points scorer. Especially when compared to other motorsports.

I didn't find it confusing and prefer the old system. I don't like how finishing 2nd in one Last Chance/Semi Final scores more GP points than finishing 2nd in the other. 

Of course the new system does allow the top two heat point scorers to avoid the semi finals.

Swings and roundabouts I guess but I feel that there was more competition in each qualifying heat when every point mattered. 

But surely every point does count throughout the 1st 20 heats. One rider gets more points finishing 2nd in the semi than the other rider finishing 2nd in the other semi is because they finished with a better record in those 20 heats.

[FAST GATER]

8 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

But surely every point does count throughout the 1st 20 heats. One rider gets more points finishing 2nd in the semi than the other rider finishing 2nd in the other semi is because they finished with a better record in those 20 heats.

Fair point but ultimately IMO it is to stop BZ dominating the series !

[enotian]

13 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

But surely every point does count throughout the 1st 20 heats. One rider gets more points finishing 2nd in the semi than the other rider finishing 2nd in the other semi is because they finished with a better record in those 20 heats.

If you're going to use the qualifying heats to decide who comes 5th and 6th then why not just use the old system? If the current system is about awarding most points based on where you finished in the last three heats then the riders who finish 2nd in the semi's are equal 5th. Just cleaner to award both 12. They might actually have identical qualifying scores anyway.

I also think that heats 16 to 20 in particular are a dead rubber for anyone not going to make the top 10. Where in the past winning your last heat meant 3 extra points to your championship total. Now winning your last heat might get you 1 extra championship point. 

Or if you're not going to make the top two but are going to make the top ten then your last qualifying heat doesn't matter especially if there's no great advantage in gate choice or you're not getting first pick.

Doesn't really matter but I just feel that there was something riding on every heat for every rider under the old system.   

[racers and royals]

3 minutes ago, enotian said:

If you're going to use the qualifying heats to decide who comes 5th and 6th then why not just use the old system? If the current system is about awarding most points based on where you finished in the last three heats then the riders who finish 2nd in the semi's are equal 5th. Just cleaner to award both 12. They might actually have identical qualifying scores anyway.

I also think that heats 16 to 20 in particular are a dead rubber for anyone not going to make the top 10. Where in the past winning your last heat meant 3 extra points to your championship total. Now winning your last heat might get you 1 extra championship point. 

Or if you're not going to make the top two but are going to make the top ten then your last qualifying heat doesn't matter especially if there's no great advantage in gate choice or you're not getting first pick.

Doesn't really matter but I just feel that there was something riding on every heat for every rider under the old system.   

How can you say that about heats 16 to 20 ?

11th gets 6 GP points 16th 1 GP point, which is a big difference !

[enotian]

1 hour ago, FAST GATER said:

Fair point but ultimately IMO it is to stop BZ dominating the series !

If ever there was a rider who could win a semi final/last chance from the worst gate it's Zmarzlik. I don't think it disbenefits him at all.  I think in all of his title wins he'd won a good few grand finals anyway. I don't think he's ever relied on his heat scores to win a title.

As I say I think it was because they didn't like the concept of the winner of the grand final not being the top scorer on the night. 

Tbf there probably wasn't enough riding on making and winning the final in the old system. Didn't Loram win the title without winning a GP that season?

That didn't bother me as he was the best rider over the season which is what the GP series was meant to reward as opposed to the old individual one off world final where a Szczakiel could end up being World Champion the only one day ever where he was the best rider in the world.

So we've kind of gone from the jeopardy of the world champ being someone who was the best over 5 rides on one day, to a GP series which rewarded the rider who was consistently the best over the season, to this hybrid where you only have to be the best rider twice per gp across the series.

 

[enotian]

23 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

How can you say that about heats 16 to 20 ?

11th gets 6 GP points 16th 1 GP point, which is a big difference !

You often can't jump from 16th to 11th off the back of your 5th ride can you. It's all relative to who has scored what but I'd suggest that the reality is at that stage of the meeting winning your 5th ride potentially moves you up a place or two. So two more points instead of 3.

Aside from gate pick there's no reward for finishing 3rd than there is for finishing 10th. If you're on 8 points after 4 heats you could basically sit out your last ride and focus on the last chance.  I'm not saying that's what happens but it is absolutely a different dynamic to every point being added to your championship total where every heat was an opportunity to add three points to your championship total.

Like I say it ultimately doesn't really matter as no system is perfect. Just preferred the old system.

[racers and royals]

3 minutes ago, enotian said:

You often can't jump from 16th to 11th off the back of your 5th ride can you. It's all relative to who has scored what but I'd suggest that the reality is at that stage of the meeting winning your 5th ride potentially moves you up a place or two. So two more points instead of 3.

Aside from gate pick there's no reward for finishing 3rd than there is for finishing 10th. If you're on 8 points after 4 heats you could basically sit out your last ride and focus on the last chance.  I'm not saying that's what happens but it is absolutely a different dynamic to every point being added to your championship total where every heat was an opportunity to add three points to your championship total.

Like I say it ultimately doesn't really matter as no system is perfect. Just preferred the old system.

Saturday before their last rides. Bottom 6- so yes everything to ride for.

Madsen 3

Blodorn 4

Lebedevs 4

MJJ 4

Fricke 5

Parnitskyi 5

 

 

[enotian]

1 hour ago, racers and royals said:

Saturday before their last rides. Bottom 6- so yes everything to ride for.

Madsen 3

Blodorn 4

Lebedevs 4

MJJ 4

Fricke 5

Parnitskyi 5

 

 

You have to factor in what heat they were in and maybe what gate they had depending on how much you want to think about it. If you just want to go 3 plus 3 is 6 and that's more than 5 then fair enough. If Madsen was in heat 16 fair enough he might have got to six and hoped others didn't reach six and he'd have finished 11th and scored more GP points. If he was in heat 20 then a win and 6 points might, depending on other results only get him to 14th.  The point is that the system doesn't reward every point scored.

That's fine everyone knows the rules it just offers different incentives and therefore behaviours. btw did Madsen win his last ride and finish 11th instead of 16th? Not that it proves anything.

I guess the only way to find out is by asking the riders and they probably just like winning speedway races so none of it matters at all. For me as a spectator it just feels like there's less riding on those last 4 of the 20 for a those riders that are already in the semi/last chance or not able to make up ground. Maybe they are full gas regardless and it's just the pragmatist in me that thinks they're not but there's no denying that the emphasis of the series is now very much about the final and what happened during qualifying doesn't really matter.

That probably works in todays media. You can effectively watch the 10 series deciding races in 30 mins.