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Post by admin on Oct 4, 2016 20:42:09 GMT
WILD CARD #16:
Brady Kurtz
RESERVE #17:
Sam Masters
RESERVE #18:
Max Fricke
Stadium Capacity, 42,000
Track Length, 346 meters
Track Record, 60.04s Greg Hancock (24.10.2015)
2015 Winner - Greg Hancock
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Post by admin on Oct 5, 2016 11:10:22 GMT
SWINDON captain Jason Doyle has confirmed his withdrawal from the season-ending Australian Grand Prix later this month. Doyle suffered multiple injuries in an horrific crash at Torun last weekend, ending the Robins star’s chances of winning the World Championship. He said: “I would just like to let everyone know first-hand that sadly I have had to withdraw from the Melbourne GP. “I have punctured my left lung and badly traumatised my right lung. My right elbow is also shattered and I dislocated my left shoulder. I am unable to fly due to my lungs and have to wait for surgery on my elbow once my lungs are healed. “I would like to again thank everyone for their kind messages, I have got time to read them all! I will concentrate on my health and recovery to be ready for 2017.” bspa 5/10/16 sounds grim  Elbow/arm injuries are bad news. Michael Blixt did an elbow and Paul Whittaker an arm if my memory serves me right? |
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Post by admin on Oct 12, 2016 7:01:42 GMT
All I remember is the sponsored? medical team being somewhat too prominent:
Australian SGP Final Replay 2015
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Post by admin on Oct 15, 2016 18:55:12 GMT
Just seen the BT Sport advert for this saying that the programme starts 09:45 so make sure that you set the record facility.
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Post by Bigcatdiary on Oct 19, 2016 17:47:29 GMT
Just seen the BT Sport advert for this saying that the programme starts 09:45 so make sure that you set the record facility. Now saying the correct time of 08.45 as a recent change to zone time wasn't taken into account. |
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Post by admin on Oct 19, 2016 20:39:02 GMT
Just seen the BT Sport advert for this saying that the programme starts 09:45 so make sure that you set the record facility. Now saying the correct time of 08.45 as a recent change to zone time wasn't taken into account. I thought that it was a bit late but assumed that BT new what they were doing. That level of incompetence within explains why the bottom has fallen out of BT's share price  Hopefully it's not Aussie commentary with copious plugs for any commercial interest in the event. |
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Post by admin on Oct 20, 2016 20:57:06 GMT
The stakes are high Down Under as the race for FIM Speedway World Championship medals, qualification and wild cards reaches a dramatic climax at the QBE Insurance Australian SGP in Melbourne.
Series leader Greg Hancock may head to the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest indoor motorsport event at Etihad Stadium needing just a heat win to be guaranteed an historic fourth world title. But the race for the rostrum and places in the 2017 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series is set to be spectacular.
Injured Aussie rider Jason Doyle misses his home event after suffering season-ending lung, elbow and shoulder injuries in Torun. But with 123 points to his name, he could still land silver, with Tai Woffinden (115), Bartosz Zmarzlik (113) and Chris Holder (109) all chasing him down.
The top five are all guaranteed SGP places for 2017, with Piotr Pawlicki (91) in sixth 10 points away from securing automatic qualification too, and his compatriot Maciej Janowski (85) in seventh also keen to seal his spot.
But they face stiff competition from Torun winner Niels-Kristian Iversen, Matej Zagar and Antonio Lindback, who are all tied on 79 points just outside the top-eight automatic qualification places.
Sweden’s Freddie Lindgren in eighth is already guaranteed a berth in the 2017 series after finishing third in the GP Challenge at Vetlanda last month. Should he finish inside the top eight, his qualification position earned in that meeting will be handed to Denmark’s Kenneth Bjerre.
Once the qualifiers are confirmed, the SGP Commission will complete the line-up with four permanent wild cards, meaning the Melbourne showdown is a final chance to impress before the selectors meet.
Hancock doesn’t have to worry about racing for his place in the competition and he could even win the title without turning a wheel if Woffinden or Zmarzlik drop points before he takes to the track.
SGP
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Post by admin on Oct 21, 2016 20:28:07 GMT
1 M. Zagar (55) P. Kildemand (25) T. Woffinden (108) A. Jonsson (100)
2 M. Janowski (71) M. Jepsen Jensen (52) C. Holder (23) B. Kurtz (16)
3 C. Harris (37) B. Zmarzlik (95) N. Iversen (88) S. Masters (17)
4 F. Lindgren (66) A. Lindback (85) G. Hancock (45) P. Pawlicki (777)
5 P. Pawlicki (777) M. Zagar (55) M. Janowski (71) N. Iversen (88)
6 A. Lindback (85) C. Harris (37) P. Kildemand (25) C. Holder (23)
7 B. Zmarzlik (95) F. Lindgren (66) M. Jepsen Jensen (52) T. Woffinden (108)
8 A. Jonsson (100) B. Kurtz (16) S. Masters (17) G. Hancock (45)
9 C. Holder (23) G. Hancock (45) M. Zagar (55) B. Zmarzlik (95)
10 S. Masters (17) M. Janowski (71) F. Lindgren (66) P. Kildemand (25)
11 B. Kurtz (16) N. Iversen (88) T. Woffinden (108) A. Lindback (85)
12 P. Pawlicki (777) A. Jonsson (100) C. Harris (37) M. Jepsen Jensen (52)
13 M. Jepsen Jensen (52) S. Masters (17) A. Lindback (85) M. Zagar (55)
14 P. Kildemand (25) P. Pawlicki (777) B. Kurtz (16) B. Zmarzlik (95)
15 G. Hancock (45) T. Woffinden (108) C. Harris (37) M. Janowski (71)
16 N. Iversen (88) C. Holder (23) A. Jonsson (100) F. Lindgren (66)
17 M. Zagar (55) B. Kurtz (16) F. Lindgren (66) C. Harris (37)
18 N. Iversen (88) P. Kildemand (25) M. Jepsen Jensen (52) G. Hancock (45)
19 T. Woffinden (108) S. Masters (17) P. Pawlicki (777) C. Holder (23)
20 M. Janowski (71) A. Lindback (85) B. Zmarzlik (95) A. Jonsson (100)
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Post by Bigcatdiary on Oct 23, 2016 10:11:32 GMT
What a cracking end to the 2016 series with some quite thrilling racing on a well prepared track which allowed overtaking throughout.
Holder was a worthy winner but I was paying more attention to the run off between Woffinden and Zmarzlik for the silver medal.
As for Hancock, not a rider I particularly favour but you have to respect his record in GP,s and to win at his age is a tremendous achievement, his riding in heat 9 was a bit suspect as he rarely makes a mistake once he hits the front, but to withdraw as a result of being taken to task for letting Holder by was unforgivable to his sponsors and supporters.
Following on from his actions in this years World Cup and then his PR statement about clutch problems just highlights that he is yet another rider who has head to far up his own backside.
It will be interesting to see if the FIM take further action but docking the World Champion for fixing races should ensure few others will try it in the immediate future.
I am yet to speak to any friends who differ from my view and he is getting rightly slaughtered on the BSF.
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Post by admin on Oct 23, 2016 14:31:00 GMT
I missed the Hancock interview because I recorded the meeting to watch at lunchtime and it looks like the recording stopped sharpish after the final, although that seems strange that that should happen. First thing I noticed in the preamble was how respectable and intelligent Nicholls is, and a good advert for the sport (boring old fart syndrome thinking?) - then they interview inked up Suri ears - must be a young people's thing? Second was the Doyle interview and crash. He didn't look too well to me? I hadn't seen that angle of the crash. It's nasty from any angle, that's not what got me, it's how adept Harris is at getting off the back of a bike. He just lets go and falls off the back. Must take some nerve but so much better than getting entangled with the bike in the airfence. I said previously that a shattered elbow (if that's what it was) is very nasty and there is no guarantee of a return to full fitness as Doyle naturally wants. Nicholls thought the same. Finally the Ward interview. It was the usual how are you and what are you doing before there was an glimpse of reality as he spoke about missing speedway, the travelling, his mates (Holder specifically). He's done very well to get where he is in a short space of time but this is basically it as he said previously. Those speedway days finished before they started for the incredibly talented Ward, and that's going to be raw for a few years yet. Dealing with the physical aspects is one thing but the psychology is a whole different ball game. Onto the meeting, a cracking GP on a Peterborough type circuit, although I don't think that anyone regularly smacks the EoES fence going into turn 1 for a turbo charge? Pleased for Holder. He's come back from horrible injuries so nobody should be displeased about his win. Rumour is that he could have been a Panther when starting out? Tenuously he is now anyway as a Dorset Panther! Anyway enough of Holder. Not caught up with the Hancock situation. I'll leave that to the boys and girls of the BSF. I remember Hancock guesting for us once and putting in a shocking effort. That was bad enough but I wasn't a fan anyway so it didn't change much. Having said that, you can't take away his record and longevity so he'll not be too worried about those who don't get out the pom poms over his achievements. However, being accused of not playing the game is a different matter if this isn't swallowed: Greg only raced in three heats after withdrawing from the meeting in protest at the FIM’s decision to disqualify him from his third race, after the race, for breaking the FIM sporting code.
They alleged that Greg deliberately let Chris Holder through in first, and despite Greg showing FIM Race Director Phil Morris the cause of the bike issue that caused him to slow down, they chose to take away the points he won in the race.
Greg explains; “It’s very technical but basically there’s a lever that connects to the handlebars and the clutch and it came loose, I think it started in my first race and it kept getting worse.
“The clutch was getting more and more loose and in that third race it just kept slipping, I had nothing at all, and when that happens it’s easy to lose a chain and when you’re going at full speed and your chain goes, it’s pretty dangerous. I get quite nervous when it’s like that because it’s only a matter of time until something goes and you can’t just sit in the middle of the track with three guys behind you if you feel like you could fall off.
“I went wider and wider to try and make sure that I would be out the way of the guys behind me if anything happened and to try and hold on to the win, it seemed to be working okay and I thought I might be okay but it just wouldn’t go any faster and Chris came by and passed me. He was the fastest guy all night and I just couldn’t keep my speed.
“I got back in and then they told me what was alleged so I showed the race director my clutch, I said ‘hey look, you can see that it’s gone’, I proved that it was done for and why I was riding like I did. Then he came back and said ‘the jury have made their decision, it’s not mine, sorry’ and I just couldn’t believe it. If anybody thinks I’d really let him by on purpose then they have never seen me race.
“I am so, so angry about the whole situation and I even proved to the race director that my clutch was pretty much gone, he saw it, I proved it to him, but he said the decision wasn’t his and that I was thrown out. I said ‘fine, if you accuse me of cheating that’s it, I know what you think of me and I won’t race again tonight’.
“I walked away from going for glory, from prize money, from the fun of racing my bike in that stadium, because I feel that strongly about how I was treated. I show them what the problem is and a bunch of guys who haven’t looked at it decide what happened?
“All the years I’ve been racing, over 25 years, and I have a clean record. I race for every point, I will never not try to win and then these guys are upstairs deciding that they think I have. I just couldn’t believe it, they’ve ripped me apart because they think they’ve seen something that isn’t there and I know now what they think of me. They think I’m a cheat, well okay, we’ll see where that goes now and I say good luck to them.”
“I won’t let it overshadow my night, I’m world champion, and I’m going to go and enjoy it.”
greghancock web
As well as that there was much going on at the lower end which looked dodgy at times? Totally ineffective Fast Freddie will not be getting a Christmas card off Bjerre, that's a certainty. Iversen makes it easy for himself and unfortunately Lindback sneaks into the top 8. Now it's up to BSI. Most pleasing bit was going with Pearson and Tatum as commentators instead of Tapp and Crump (you can can the final on the sgp website if you want to sample the delights). AUSTRALIAN SGP SCORES: 1 Chris Holder 17, 2 Tai Woffinden 15, 3 Bartosz Zmarzlik 15, 4 Antonio Lindback 14, 5 Niels-Kristian Iversen 12, 6 Matej Zagar 11, 7 Michael Jepsen Jensen 10, 8 Piotr Pawlicki 8, 9 Andreas Jonsson 6, 10 Fredrik Lindgren 6, 11 Greg Hancock 5, 12 Maciej Janowski 5, 13 Peter Kildemand 4, 14 Chris Harris 4, 15 Jack Holder 2, 16 Sam Masters 2, 17 Brady Kurtz 2, 18 Max Fricke 0. FINAL 2016 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1 Greg Hancock 139
2 Tai Woffinden 130
3 Bartosz Zmarzlik 128
4 Chris Holder 126
5 Jason Doyle 123 (tough on Doyle - from probable top spot to not even getting a medal).
6 Piotr Pawlicki 99
7 Antonio Lindback 93
8 Niels-Kristian Iversen 91
9 Matej Zagar 90
10 Maciej Janowski 90
11 Fredrik Lindgren 88
12 Peter Kildemand 68
13 Nicki Pedersen 62
14 Andreas Jonsson 52
15 Chris Harris 40
16 Michael Jepsen Jensen 31 |
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Post by Bigcatdiary on Oct 24, 2016 14:29:59 GMT
Interesting thread on the BSF ( Tai Woffinden 2016 WC) that quotes a FIM GP rule that states any rider withdrawing from any GP unless injured or other acceptable reason makes that rider ineligible for the World championship.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2016 20:55:00 GMT
I think Hancock's comment is pathetic ie that he withdrew from a meeting because he thought the ref made an unfair decision on that basis ALL motorsport events would be very short of competitors I bet he would not have done so if he hadn't sealed the championship in his first despite all his rhetoric (aka BS)
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Post by admin on Oct 24, 2016 21:18:41 GMT
Interesting thread on the BSF ( Tai Woffinden 2016 WC) that quotes a FIM GP rule that states any rider withdrawing from any GP unless injured or other acceptable reason makes that rider ineligible for the World championship. Probably this but as he'd already won the title it made no difference apart from his reputation or lack of it: A rider who has entered the FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship
and refuses or is unable to take part, shall be deemed to be suspended
competing internationally for a period of 1 day before and up to 3 days after
the Grand Prix meetings concerned. Furthermore, he shall be considered
as ineligible for the FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship for the
remainder of the season.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2016 9:00:14 GMT
It's not as if Hancock was continually looking behind him for Holder. Oh...hang on.
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Post by Hodgy on Oct 25, 2016 11:11:58 GMT
Finally watched the meeting last night. Some great racing, very entertaining. But,,,, oh dear Hancock. I've previously defended him on the BSF but this season he has really soured his reputation. Pulling out of the WTC, blatantly team riding Holder home (looking for Holder the entire race), refusing to continue in the meeting but above all the cheek to lie about it. No consideration for the WTC attendees or those that travelled half way round the World has sadly changed many opinions, most certainly mine.
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