Team Speedway v Individual Events

[Deleted]

Reading Jim's thoughts on the Poole Diamond Jubilee event gives me the chance to dig up this old chesnut for discussion .
What do people prefer ?
Unlike Jim , i prefer team speedway every time . Going to the track sporting your team's colours is what it's all about for me .
Individual events cant come close to the thrill of seeing your team win , especially away from home .
The GP circus leaves me cold i'm afraid , and the Elite League and Premier League Riders Championships get cut up that badly every year , they've become a bit of a joke .
In Scotland we have the Scottish Open and Ashfield Classic , but i'm afraid i can take them or leave them . As far as the Scottish Open is concerned , my only enthusiasm for it is to see if Shane Parker can win it at the home of the enemy ( hasn't happened yet ) , whilst i'm afraid i've witnessed some really poor Ashfield Classics . And please dont get me started on the farce that is testimonial meetings - god i hope i dont see one of them for a while .
Nope it's team speedway for me . Watching Shane Parker nursing round one of his less experienced team mates for a 5-1 is a joy to behold , or your team producing a last heat winner has reduced me to tears in the past . And the crack between supporters is brilliant , but totally non-existant at individual meetings .
So what's your thoughts weirdos

[schumi]

Not having a team to support I'm not too bothered by the league racing - if a meeting interests me I'll keep an eye on it, and if not I won't. But I am looking forward to the GPs - and therefore the GP qualifiers and National Championships too, the SWC, and, believe it or not, Poole's Diamond Jubilee, just to see how the up and coming riders compare against the best in the world.

Edit: didn't really answer the question, did I? If it's a choice between league or individual, I'd have to say the latter.

[Deleted]

Have to agree with you Paul, I love my team speedway, the passion of your boys beating their opponents...nothing better.

as for being reduced to tears, have to say though being at Cardiff and seeing Bomber sweep round that 4th bend reduced me to tears ( of joy I might add) because it was so unexpected I think

[Deleted]

badge said:

as for being reduced to tears, have to say though being at Cardiff and seeing Bomber sweep round that 4th bend reduced me to tears ( of joy I might add) because it was so unexpected I think

I find the GP's a bit boring usually , but yes that certainly nearly took the roof off that night Badge . I dont think i'd ever heard noise like it before as Bomber took Greg Hancock on the last bend . Up until that though it had been the usual GP fayre .

[Genghis]

It's always been team speedway for me, but now "my" team has gone, I'm not so sure.

P.S. I was lucky enough to choose Krsko and Bydgoszcz as my two foreign GPs in 2006 and both were great meetings (I think someone had kidnapped Olsen, to stop him fucking up the track). Good GP rounds are very entertaining - although I'm still concerned about the effect the GP series is having on British Speedway.

[Deleted]

genghis said:

It's always been team speedway for me, but now "my" team has gone, I'm not so sure.

Your team will be back mate . Of that i have no doubts .

[admin]

I'm happy with either medium.
But so often individual events are meaningless. And even some of the so-called major individual events, such as the ELRC, PLRC and even the British Final are becoming more and more meaningless.
If you go back a few years, there were quite a number of individual events that most people looked forward to. And not just the world championship events, such as British Final, Overseas Final, Intercontinental Final and World Final. Events such as the BLRC and NLRC were "red letter" events, while events such as the Golden Hammer and 16 Lap Classic were eagerly awaited. Now so many of them are just fixture fillers. In a British sense, the only individual events of note are the Grands Prix and only one of them is staged on these shores.
However, as I like both aspects of the sport, my favourite events are the ones that combine both disciplines, which means the four team events, where riders race as individuals in a team environment. My favourite event at international level is not the GPs, but rather the SWC. And I'm looking forward to qualifying rounds for the Premier League Fours this season.

Edit:

Think about it, last season's best three televised fixtures, as far as I was concerned, were three rounds of the SWC. The Coventry round was excellent (largely due to the "mad Russians" and Jonas Davidsson), the Race-off was superb and the Final took speedway to a whole new level of excellence - it was beyond fantastic.

[Deleted]

Team speedway and the GPs for me.

Agree that testimonials are dead boring although sometimes I just have to do them in support of a particular favourite.

Can't wait to go to the meaningless KL vs Ippo challenges soon, but the Poole individual next week holds no interest for me whatsoever. Weird!

[admin]

genghis said:

P.S. I was lucky enough to choose Krsko and Bydgoszcz as my two foreign GPs in 2006 and both were great meetings (I think someone had kidnapped Olsen, to stop him fucking up the track). Good GP rounds are very entertaining - although I'm still concerned about the effect the GP series is having on British Speedway.

I believe Ole Olsen was ill and missed the Bydgoszcz Grand Prix in 2006.

[Deleted]

genghis said:

Good GP rounds are very entertaining - although I'm still concerned about the effect the GP series is having on British Speedway.

The "Greed is good " GP circus cares little for British Speedway , which is why i cant see any future in them trying to co-exist .
Let the top stars go their own way , and let's get back to a league structure with riders who actually want to ride here and be part of it . But then that's another discussion . ;D

[Genghis]

admin said:

genghis said:

P.S. I was lucky enough to choose Krsko and Bydgoszcz as my two foreign GPs in 2006 and both were great meetings (I think someone had kidnapped Olsen, to stop him fucking up the track). Good GP rounds are very entertaining - although I'm still concerned about the effect the GP series is having on British Speedway.

I believe Ole Olsen was ill and missed the Bydgoszcz Grand Prix in 2006.

He was ill and missed one, but I don't think it was that one. But, for whatever reason, Bydgoszcz was properly prepared in 2006 and served up such magnificent racing (by the end of the meeting, I was joining in with the Poles with their Gollob chants!! ).

Unfortunately, last year it went back to the slick track of 2004, 2005, etc. Gollob produced one moment of magic in the final (to stun Nicki), but otherwise it wasn't a good meeting. I was glad that I only watched that one on the TV!

[Deleted]

Team speedway for me every time. Riders come-and-go, but teams are something to identify with locally, whilst (usually) representing continuity from year-to-year.

I've never really been interested in individual racing beyond following riders from my team in the World Championship or the odd prestige meeting, but since the advent of the 'closed' SGP, I've even lost interest in that. I don't really advocate a return to the old-style championship, but I enjoyed it more.

Whilst some may claim the SGP is way of the future (although that very much remains to be seen), an F1 or MotoGP-style series might as well be a different sport as far as I'm concerned. Of course, without a team these days, I've rather lost interest in the whole sport anyway, demonstrating that fans don't transfer their loyalties elsewhere when their teams close down.

[Deleted]

wibblemuis said:

I've rather lost interest in the whole sport anyway, demonstrating that fans don't transfer their loyalties elsewhere when their teams close down.

It is a interesting phenomenon that . I go to Edinburgh most Fridays , and if Glasgow closed i would probably still do that . But i wonder how long it would be before my interest waned - i hope i never have to put it to the test .

[schumi]

wibblemuis said:

Team speedway for me every time. Riders come-and-go, but teams are something to identify with locally, whilst (usually) representing continuity from year-to-year.

See, not having a local team, and following Sweden and Poland probably more than the UK, I prefer to follow the riders. Teams don't excite me - individuals do. But I do agree about the British individual meetings being non-events. I can take or leave those.

Also, I think part of the excitement of following a team comes from the hope of a win. Last year that was fine if you supported Coventry, Swindon, Poole or Peterborough, but for the other teams there wasn't much hope. It tends to sap your enthusiasm when you know you're going to get a thumping almost every time.

[Deleted]

I will always watch my team, regardless of what the result is expected to be. Sometimes it can be exciting even if we don't do well and there can be 'dull' races even when we win - that's one of the things I like about the sport, you never know what is going to happen...

In the GPs I have seen a Dane winning in Copenhagen and a Pole winning in Bydgoszcz - the atmosphere at both events was fantastic and I also enjoyed the German GP last year. The rest I will always watch on Sky (but with most of the commentary muted) and generally enjoy the racing.
I always watch the World Cup as well - bit of a shame that the gap between the top and bottom teams is so wide (even in the final last year...).

Basically I just enjoy watching speedway