What’s in a Name? (Edition No.16 Nov 2003)

Has speedway slowly started to go down the same road as professional boxing by having an ever-increasing number of people who have earned the right to call themselves the current world champion?

I ask this question following the decision in 2002 by the FIM, in an attempt to increase the number of new riders appearing in the following years GP, to replace the GP Challenge with a series of qualifying rounds and a final. Whilst I can understand the reasons behind the change, after all the GP organisers must have been upset to see certain riders performing a Houdini like escape annually at the Challenge to qualify once again for the GP but this cunning plan had one major problem.

In their wisdom the FIM called the new competition the Individual Speedway World Championship (or in French according to the FIM web page Championnat du Monde de Speedway Individuel). So naturally the winner of the final, in 2002 Lee Richardson and in 2003 Priotr Protasiewicz, must be that years World Individual Speedway Champion with the winner of what the FIM call the Individual Speedway World Championship Grand Prix (Championnat du Monde des Grand Prix de Speedway Individuel) being the GP World Champion.

With the meeting being in Britain this year various national newspapers have carried reports/results of the meeting and have referred to it as being the World Speedway Championship Final and people who read these reports/results will be confused to see the GP on television and hear pundits talking about who will be world champion when they know already that the winner of the World Final at Poole is the World Champion! To avoid this confusion in future would it not be wise for the FIM to rename the championship as the GP qualifying championship? Of course the FIM could go the other way and introduce lots more variations of the World title as per boxing we could have :

FIM Individual Speedway World Championship

BSI Individual Speedway World Championship Grand Prix

BSI Individual Speedway Indoor Stadiums World Championship Grand Prix

BSI Individual Speedway Permanent Tracks World Championship Grand Prix

BSI Individual Speedway Temporary Tracks World Championship Grand Prix

and to avoid confusion why not get all the top riders from the various championships to take part in a 20 heat meeting to decide who is the undisputed World Champion and call the meeting the World Final. Just think of all the excitement of the world title, the greatest prize in the sport, being decided on one night?

Charles McKay – “The Star of Saransk”