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Great to see all the Polish interference in helping develop some of our youngest and best talent, with several lads being given contracts.... And recognition too for the work put in by those leading the development of those lads over here.. Can only be good for British Speedway for these lads to develop within the biggest Speedway nation, and get to experience what it's like to perform under true pressure every week like their Polish peer group sample from such an early age.. Let's hope Poland's interference stretches to a few more team spaces being made available...

Good luck with the plans! While its obvious that spending a fortune reopening the stadium just for greyhounds and speedway wouldn't be financially viable, making full use of the facilities by having other events can make it just about pay? Detractors of the plans need to realise that most professional clubs in the Worlds most popular game football run at a loss but there existance is justified by the community values of them, job prospects and the money they generate for local businesses on matchdays. - Society need outlets, its not feasible to just cover the Country in swathes of cheaply built new housing without facilities for the communities. - a reopened, renovated Oxford Stadium would be a great community asset even if it didn't generate a fortune for the owners!

Blame the poles? More like blame the UK authorities who have mismanaged the sport over the past 30 years the result being the frail sport you see in the UK today.

Couldn’t agree more. That is now Dan Bewley, Anders Rowe, Drew Kemp, Jack Thomas, Tom Brennan and Leon Flint from the U21s this year, all with contracts in Poland for next year - plus obviously Robert Lambert and Tai Woffinden. That can only be good news for British Speedway even if they don’t feature in regular league matches.

Leon has has connections to the Rybnik club in recent times, its great to see him getting a contract with a European league, whether he gets a regular team place in Polish League One could be a different matter. Maybe ROW Rybnik will loan him out to a Polish League Two team that will see him get a more regular chance, something similar to what Anders Rowe did this season.

For any Berwick fans Leon Flint has signed a long term contract with Rybnik in Poland, great news to continue his development.

Calendar: 13.07 - Marmande - Final 22.08 - Pardubice - Challenge 28.08 - Rzeszow - Final 04.09 - Morizes - Final 19.09 - Herxheim - Final 26.09 - Roden - Nations Challenge allocations: CZ 3 GB 3 AT 1 DE 3 DK 2 FR 3 IT 1 NL 3 AU 1 NO 1 PL 1 FI 2 SE 2 Nations allocations: The Nations will have a new format with 9 nations, with teams of 2+1 riders. CZ GB DE DK FR NL PL FI SE

It was quite bad, he never ever fully recovered from it. Hans escaped the wheelchair but he could never properly walk again, just limping. And of course this injury ended his very promising speedway careeer.

A strong national team kept the sport in the wider public eye in the seventies which the domestic leagues then benefitted from.. I believe that the sport would get much more coverage if consistent GB teams' success was being delivered... The sport over here should see itself as a 'breeding ground' for riders who then naturally move on to the bigger leagues and plan accordingly for their departure with talent coming through to replace them.. Maybe a successful GB team over a few years would then help grow the domestic leagues and mean they can then meet the expectations of their very best riders again, thus meaning riders not having to see Poland as their 'golden ticket'.. It wasn't too long ago that the UK was THE place to ride, unfortunately we ended up training everyone else up to take our position at the top table and gave loads of team spots to foreign riders. Poland won't make the same mistake and will maintain a team structure that has a minimum amount of Poles in them, therefore the UK should do the same and protect places for the young British lads in particular and provide them with as much track time as possible.. If a conveyer belt of talent is coming through then the best can move on accordingly and the sport can still thrive over here, and a very successful GB team can only be a good thing, and the chances of that happening are increased the earlier our lads are tested and stretched riding in leagues that actually have kudos, under the huge weight of expectation from clubs and their fans that exists in Poland..

If you reread my post correctly, you will see that is exactly what I had said.

just been to the small room !

Danish riders have to ride in the Danish Leagues to be able to get the permission to ride in places like Poland, UK, Sweden, etc. Without the stars riding at home, it would be doubtful that speedway could continue in Denmark. It's a bit like respecting what you were given to make it where you are now.

Thank You

No. In the Polish Extraleague it is the Polish League and one other league. In the Polish Divsion 1 and Division 2 it is the Polish League and two other leagues. So Iversen couldn’t for example ride in Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Britain.

Thanks Najjer for doing that. 2 teams have no wriggle room in the top 5 because of the 2 Poles in the top 5(excluding U 24)rule. Czestochowa and Wroclaw will have to use Smektala and Chugunov respectively as a "senior rider" in their top 5.

Ah...That was actually the same meeting, and in fact the same race as the one I mentioned, just the restart after PC had fallen. Rather blurry quality, but this video starts with the race in question: https://youtu.be/PZT2okwsw-g

A bit before my time, so I don't really know of Hans, but have seen him mentioned online...assuming there wasn't any other Hans Wassermann who was a star of German speedway in the past! I believe that after the initial recovery from his crash he stayed involved with speedway, doing coaching for his local club and was instrumental in bringing Gerd Riss into the sport. Gerd and him still seem to be close, or at least in contact with each other. There were photos from Herxheim last year where Hans and Gerd brought an old bike of Hans' along and Gerd went out on track with it. The album of pics was on facebook but looks like it can be viewed without an account. Photo of Gerd and Hans together that day: https://www.facebook.com/MSVHerxheim/photos/a.2079089285543407/2079091315543204 Video of Gerd on Hans' old bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkLuXhZaiJM

Anders Rowe has signed on for Rawicz on loan from Leszno again for 2021 in the Polish Division 2

We had lots of British League riders Championships at Hyde road in October that produced racing far superior racing than any Individual World final.... 25,000 capacity crowds at it’s peak. Yes it would be better in the summer... but they have chosen October

Luke Becker has just signed for Łódź in the Polish Second Division - That’ll pretty much rule him out of any Championship side!

100% agree !

no i think they should be allowed however there is a lack of riders if supporters want the same level of rider that are already competing. if they weaken the product slightly and allow good standard NL riders in more than enough to go round. personally think they should stop doubling up or down for any rider over say 23 and no doubling up for any non british passport holder . hopefully that would give more team places and stop young british riders drifting away from the sport as there are the lack of oppertunities

I liked full meeting journalism on British meetings to include heat details and times. I also found myself reading a small portion of the mag as opposed to cover to cover reading that I used to do. Stopping the Speedway star was more to do with a mammoth reduction in meetings that I now attend. Having averaged 55 meetings a year over 56 years , 2020 would have seen me attend no more than 12 meetings... so The Bspa website was sufficient for my needs

Rory confirmed he was riding on for another year, so I’d almost be certain that he’s in the team again.

We will have to accept that speedway has come to the end of the road when it comes to being regarded as an international sport. It will become a sport that will be regarded as something Polish motorbike riders do. But you can't knock them for looking after their own interest. Doesn't matter how long this thread goes on for it won't change the natural outcome of their diktats

A true 100% speedway man. always looking to help the kids find the right path in their career. He will leave a big hole in in the heart of speedway.

you cannot blame the riders going for riding in Europe. put the blame on Poland for their selfish attitude to World Speedway. Certainly damage could be done to the overall standard of the Premier league.