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Let’s face it the SON was only introduced to try and stop Poland winning everything(which it succeeded).Not a patch on World Team Cup Final.Thats Speedway though,they don’t have good record when it comes to change.

The problem with holding a "Final" race in any pairs competition, whatever the scoring format, is there's big potential for a massive anti-climax. A tape touch, 2nd warning, e/f from the start, any type of exclusion and all of the tension is lost. It amazes me that the authorities still want to paly roulette with this system for pairs meetings as it's bitten them on the bum a few tomes in the past

Well the K's are now playing in a non descript ground at Tolworth, groundsharing with Corinthian Casuals. Whilst Kingsmeadow, their home, is now owned by money bags Chelsea. A tale almost as sad as the original Wimbledon FC moving to Milton Keynes. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Been great to watch so much Speedway Dave.. Commentary fine and any 'confusion' when faced with changes you had no access to was always met with the right amount of self depreciation and humour... Not been the most fantastic racing ever in the Polish and Swedish leagues, which could possibly be down to a lack of crowds in Poland, and less quality on show than usual in Sweden, but overall there has been more than enough to keep the viewers interested... Well done on putting a fair old shift in too with all the rearranged, short notice fixture changes, meaning some weeks it seemed there was racing every night and sometimes twice a night during those weeks.. As said previously on here, in an ideal world you would have a co commentator to share some of the commentary, as it must be very difficult to be the only one constantly talking for a couple of hours.. Overall though, for me, I have enjoyed the summers racing, and the broadcasts that showed it, and considering 'no Speedway' could have been a possibility, ironically I don't think I have ever watched more...! Keep up the good work, and here's to next year and more of the same..

Now look... You are a speedway fan, I get it. So am I. A lot of us speedway fans have lost the teams we love. Over the years, a lot of football fans have also lost the teams they love, but it is clear that you don't give a crap about them. I am one of those who has lost both their speedway team AND their football team. Speedway always was - and still is - my favourite sport. Wimbledon was my favourite team, and I could be found at Plough Lane most weeks. Wimbledon FC was my favourite team, and I could be found at Plough Lane most weeks. How the hell do you think I felt, losing both? I'm not the only one. There are several BSF members who were regulars at both Wimbledon speedway AND football. Yes, it's bittersweet, but speedway was never coming back. Football is not the reason for speedway's demise in Wimbledon. Or London. Or the UK. At least WE have ONE team returning home - which is a lot better than none. There really is no need for you to be such a bitter and spiteful b'stard towards people who have done absolutely nothing to you. Including those of us who have suffered the heartache of losing our team TWICE.

I can understand fully people questioning why a second senior rider hasn’t been named alongside Robert, but for me the only two worth naming would be Ellis or Wright as I think they could actually be competitive and have some room for improvement. All the others have either been tried before and not performed or their careers have peaked and they aren’t good enough for international competition. On the basis that Ellis isn’t fit after his GP challenge crash (an assumption) and that Wright has chosen to stay dormant for the year it seems sensible to take the next best U21 for the experience and to reap the benefits in years to come of him being exposed to this level of competition now. Even if Kemp is way behind everyone else in his races (assuming he gets one/some) he will learn a hell of a lot from the weekend. I hope Palin and Woffinden will be there too.

As I've said on social media, I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who watched along and stuck with me through what's been a tough and really confusing season, and I'm sorry my commentary wasn't much good for a lot of it. I am pretty certain about half of the Polish meetings were postponed and rearranged for various oddball reasons which led to a somewhat farcical season at times, and that plus not being at trackside and having only limited information (particularly from Sweden) made for a trying experience. Thanks to all who have offered words of encouragement and have messaged in during broadcasts, and thanks to everyone who tuned in at any time. Congratulations to Unia Leszno and Masarna on their league wins.

Can't think it would be that difficult to come up with a compromise format with 3+1 rider teams. Or run the Pairs event on Day 1, with a proper World Cup on Day 2.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules#international-elite-sportspersons

11 May 1979 Hackney 22, Wimbledon 56 (new BL away win record) Hackney (Finn Thomsen 7, Barry Thomas 7, Sean Willmott 3+1, Bo Petersen 3, Ted Hubbard 2+1, Bobby McNeil 0, Vic Harding 0) Wimbledon (Edward Jancarz 12 max, Roger Johns 9+3 paid max, Larry Ross 11, Stefan Salomonsson 8+3, Rudy Muts 7+2, Colin Richardson 7, Patrick Pawson 2) The following season on 23 May 1980 the scores were Hackney 56, Wimbledon 22 Hackney (Bo Petersen 12 max, Zenon Plech 11+1 paid max, Finn Thomsen 10+1, Barry Thomas 6+2, Roman Jankowski 6+2, Sean Willmott 7, Keith White 6) Wimbledon (Edward Jancarz 9, Larry Ross 7, Roger Johns 5, Colin Richardson 1, Stefan Salomonsson 0, Mick Hines 0, Dave Brewer 0)

Best Pairs competitions by their nature are not well suited to knockout or winner-takes-all formats. There's, what, a one-third chance in each heat of each team scoring the same number of points unless you have a contrived scoring system, so you can really only go on accumulated points over a number of heats. Ultimately it's a flawed format for a major (televised) team competition.

John Dews was one of my favourites. It was John who kept Billy Sanders at the back in the last heat during the return fixture at Cowley thus earning the "Rebels" a win...payback time! Great memories!

I exchanged email addresses with John at the game. Earlier today, I passed on the apparent coincidence. This is what he said: "I was a member of the medical profession. However, I was merely a lowly general practitioner, in practice in a commuter town outside Edinburgh, rather than a specialist. Now, if there is another hopper [i.e. groundhopper] called John, in Edinburgh, also keen on going to matches at obscure venues, I would love to know who it is." Curioser and curioser?

Nah, just a sublime move, I'm sure he had at least one eye open! From memory (it was 45 years ago, bloody hell!) it was a typical move with a few elbows that you saw most weeks up and down the country and I don't recall the Oxford pair complaining or having words with Billy afterwards. Most teams had one or two in their side who loved that side of the racing, Billy was always up for a bit of that and the other Witch handy with his elbows at that time was Ted Howgego. Ted had the most ungainly style of any rider I've seen, was difficult to pass as no one knew where he was going, least of all Ted and was pretty fearless. Going back to the Ipswich v Oxford match Gordon Kennett let you down, usually very good round Foxhall but failing to score that night but a real thorn in the Witches side was John Dews, who I think scored double figures.

Shows how bad Hackney were that Patrick Pawson got two points! I was at the the match the following year. Cyril Maidment complained that the announcer was mispronouncing Jancarz's name. Needless to say he got a very dusty response..

"The team" never sold us fans down the river; the owner did... AFC is the reincarnation - the REAL Wimbledon.

Ah, so just as the virus knows when there are seven people rather than six, or you are drinking in a pub at 10:15 rather than 9:55 pm it also selects its host based on their status. Clever thing isn't it.

I can't believe all the bitterness and hatred from some on here, can you? I lost my speedway, and I lost my football. I got my football back, and now these hatemongers on here are praying for me to lose it again...

Lambert will ride again in the top league in Sweden and Poland, with a probable team change in Poland, add on SGP and I would be surprised to see him sign on again for Kings Lynn

Am I missing something here? Poland, where Lidsey and Bewley will be coming from after the SoN, is on the UK quarantine list. Will they not have to self-isolate at home for 14 days as soon as they return here, thus ruling them out of the Peter Craven? Same applies to Lemon of course as Aussie team manager.

4320 scoring has, for me at least, made the PL Pairs an exciting meeting to watch for a number of years, with good races at the back trying not to finish last. the biggest downside i see with it though is when there is an exclusion/fall especially come semi final time

I think there is a number of reasons. He’s no longer classed as a junior rider so would need to ride in the main 1-5 of the team, otherwise I can’t imagine Leszno would be letting him go. They already have Lidsey as their U24 rider and whilst they are being linked with riders like Jason Doyle, it would be a straight toss up between him and Kubera. Kubera himself said after the play off final that he wanted to ‘spread his wings’ and go somewhere else to learn more and become a better rider. He said aswell he would want to return to Leszno in years to come further down the line.

Well he has a Polish passport doesn't he....

If they have Woffinden, Laguta, Fricke, Chugonov (U24) and Janowski, they have only got 1 Polish senior rider in the team... unless they pull another dodgy one and get Laguta to turn into a Pole too!

JK`s excellent racecards for the 2 SON days 1st day https://www.speedwayservice.at/images/racecards/2020/SoN2020-F1.pdf

Rafał Karczmarz has set conditions for cooperation with the Club and will stay with yellow and blue colors for the 2021 season We are counting on the further development of the student of Steel Gorzów and we are convinced that he will be an important member of the Team

The original Speedway World Cup was always one of the highlights of the year. There used to be some epic meetings using the 4 teams of 5 format. Ironically, even with that format I think Russia would probably take some stopping... unless you hold a few rounds at Lakeside or Eastbourne again

As it seems that Russia are now the emerging nation in Speedway, perhaps it's time for a return to the 4/5 rider format?

Rumblings of Torun choosing between Tobiasz Musielak and Adrian Miedzinski for one of their senior Polish riders in their team, with others suggesting they take a punt on Gregorz Zengota. Personally speaking I wouldn't have Miedzinski anywhere near my team but he's obviously been at Torun in the past for a number of years. I have also updated the post on the first page to now include teams 'outgoing riders' so that it's easy to track who has left and where they have gone to.

Quite probably, although never say never! Hopefully the strong sporting ties to that particular piece of land will eventually force his hand.

It is used in SON(2020)

Check out my Junior league thread on the same section and it is all explained there- Its run on a pairs format hence 7 teams only in a meeting, unlike the other junior comp DMPJ which is 4 team format( thread on that as well) the only thing somewhat strange about the junior league is that the final at Zielona Gora is an individual meeting using the best riders from the 8 teams( thread on that as well).

How about the heartache of the Kingstonian fans who appear to have had their ground sold from under them?

That is really bizarre!

During the game, I got talking to the chap next to me. Turned out to be a John, from Edinburgh. One and the same, I suspect!

Well let's unpick that shall we? You can't win the team pursuit in cycing without having the winner. Don't know about the biathon. Running one is good in my book. F1 is not decided by the last race of the year. The point is, speedway in the SON does it different. The whole championship is decided by one race. Winning the race and having the last is a 3 all to anyone with half an eye. By intuition, you can't lose the championship by winning the final. Whatever the scoring system, the two best teams should arrive at the final. Whatever happens from there onwards should at least appear to be fair. To be honest, I'd sign up to the top scoring team, without a final, being the winner. You can have any race scores you like then.

Dave, you did fine, exceptionally in view of the lack of information available to you. Don't be discouraged, your style is engaging and thankfully lacking in hype. You have the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for your subject that makes your commentary excellent company for a few hours. I've got a few stock car meetings on my Tivo to work through as well. As someone who tackled both speedway and stock car commentary I'm envious that you can be equally commanding in both sports. When it comes to commentary there's a lot of jealousy out there. It's been a tricky year. Enjoy your break and I look forward to hearing from you next spring. I do hope the bits of information I passed on were helpful. It's good to have someone on the mic who speaks the same language as the supporter. Thanlks, Rob.

You want to talk about Pedants? It's BishopsFORD, not BishopSTOKE! Plus, that is Morden, and not Mitcham! Anyway, I also checked Google Maps which is different to that one you have!

Let's not worry about low probability occurances. Let's consider something that has already taken place not so many years ago. The rules say that SON champions are the team that "win" the final race on day 2. Let's, for the moment, disregard how the two teams got there, but the GB no.1 wins that race beating those pesky ruskies into 2nd and 3rd. Then, to the surprise of our companion, who is unfamiliar with the workings of world speedway, the Russian Team are declared the SON Champions. Stop me when you get a sense of déjà vu.

Tai Woffinden, despite having broken hand, did his best to make sure that his team Wroclaw reached for bronze medal in the Polish Speedway ExtraLiga. He made available for Dan Bewley not only his engines from Ryszard Kowalski, but also mechanics, and during the two final matches personally supervised the progress.The effect was surprisingly good, because the young Bewley scored 23 points in two matches for the bronze medal and was by far the biggest surprise at the end of the season. Most importantly, the 21-year-old rode not only efficiently, but also very effectively, and confirmed that his problems at the start of the season were due to poor equipment and not fear of risky riding. (…)His position in the Wroclaw team will be rather unchallenged, because currently Tai Woffinden, Artiom Łaguta, Maciej Janowski, Gleb Czugunow and Bewley are sure of a contract for the next season. In recent weeks, several clubs have applied for the Brit, but Wrocław have told them that they do not intend to release him. (source: Przegląd Sportowy)

That would be an Arris...

What is the point of taking Harris, he would only be having 1 ride each day as Bewley will be taking the majority so might as well take Kemp.

Chris Harris would have been a better option. Experience is key in these pressure events. Bomber is also a proud Brit, he would put it all on the line.

Is the Polish league bigger than the world?

What about the Bomber ? He could and probably would ride !

Remembering George, Glasgow and Berwick, on this day. R.I.P.

On a slightly different note, I was surprised Freddie performed so well at weekend knowing his wife had gone into labour on Friday in a foreign country on her own.