Ghostwalker

Nässjö have announced that they will take the step up to Allsvenskan for 2018. They will get support by Dackarna, Elit Vetlanda and Lejonen. They will also have a Div 1 team called Brassarna. https://www.facebook.com/nassjospeedwayklubb/posts/1451858808264343 http://www.aktuellspeedway.se/sverige/allsvenskan/nassjo-tar-klivet-upp-i-allsvenskan/

Well I think Zagar doesn't have any choice since he is without a Swedish contract as well.

That's not relevant. Reserves are picked just like the wild cards. Reserves are 1.NKI 2.Milik 3. Linus Sundström.

@CHR well that is something that regularly keeps being suggested. I don't think it would work because of it having to be staged after the season. Some / many of the riders wouldn't have done a meeting in 1-2 months which means that they would be very rusty. Those who qualify also needs to have enough time to find sponsors as well as sorting out their team and equipment prior to the GP-season which sort excludes anything later than late October.

Well it's not like it have happened before.... politics and sponsor demands have nothing to do with performance. If he have another bad year and Monster wants him in, he'll get a wild card for 2019 as well.

FIM have the formal authority but in reality it's FIM, BSI/IMG and Monster Joe.

Disgraceful that Holder gets a pick and that Lebedevs isn't even a reserve.

wild cards will be revealed at 12.00 CET today (45 minutes from now).

Drabik and Woryna? we'll see about them but they are still young and not established reliable heatleaders yet. "ell there was an article earlier in the year saying that Zmarlik uses Sweden to test his equipment." perhaps but he is doing a very good job with his testing then: http://www.svemo.se/sv/Grenar/Speedway/Elitserien2017/Rankinglista/

IMO, very few of them actually add any value to the league. Janowski, Dudek, Zmarzlik, Wozniak and Pawlickis and Protasiewicz fine, they add something to the league but the rest no not really. Swedish teams and many fans usually claim that Elitserien is not a place to develop talents but at the same time they have no problem bringing in any foreign talent they can find, pretty much a perfect definition of double standards or of throwing stones in a glass house.

Correct and they didn't choose to abandon national teams either but was not allowed to continue to use them. I think the problem with pairs competitions is that the pair riding skill is more or less extinct among today's riders. Sometimes they can pull it off but usually they aren't able to.

I don't have a link but wild cards are supposedly Greg, Nicki, Holder and one of Iversen / Kildemand according to claims in Polish media.

I did not say that, Col did. As you also can see above, I suggested a wild card to Madsen since he have been the best Dane this season.

I never said that SWC alone should decide wild card (that is just your assumption) but SWC should be a part of the merits that one should look at when deciding who should get a wild card. SEC and the leagues should also be taken into account.

I'd still go with Vaculik (9th placed rider) Lebedevs (SEC champion, excellent performance in SWC+leagues) Leon Madsen (best Danish rider this season) Milik or Fricke Milik should not get a wild card ahead of Lebedevs IMO, especially not if you take into account their respectively permanences at SWC Greg, Nicki and Iversen? Nah they've had their years. Bring in some exciting fresh blood.

No not ahead of 9th placed rider.

He was very good all season but it is of course despite that not justifiable to accept his offer for a doubling of his pay rate.

Woentin doesn't count since his average is 0.500. Loktaev have a contract with Lejonen but he will be left outside the squad initially. Lejonen can then insert him in the squad in case of long time injury or in the mid season transfer window.

No, that is correct. Zagar is claimed to have wanted to double his pay so Smederna went with other options. Smederna still have one place to fill though but I think it's unlikely that Zagar will be filling that one.

There is no room in Masarna. They have their heat leaders already and wouldn't be able to fit him in with the other riders they have. Lejonen will likely use Timo Lahti as a Sweden which means that Lejonen could use the following lineup: Position First name Surname Average 1 Chris Holder 1,651 2 Timo Lahti 1,509 3 Martin Vaculik 1,772 4 Maksym Drabik 1,439 5 Piotr Pawlicki 2,250 6 Oskar Fajfer 1,079 7 Kenny Wennerstam 0,500 total 10,200 However that will cause problems if Fajfer is unavailable since they don't have another rider with such a low average except for a bunch of 0,500:s

A few teams have positions to fill but it's possible that they have filled their squads but not yet announced those signings. Lejonen could possibly fit him in. I think Hampel is likely to be the last riderfor Vetlanda.

Maksim Bogdanovs takes the last place in Västerviks squad.

https://www.facebook.com/SpeedwayEuro/photos/a.738225986239644.1073741854.457099514352294/1621129737949260/?type=3&theater

No their squad was full already. Greg signed with Dackarna. http://www.aktuellspeedway.se/sverige/elitserien/hancock-klar-for-dackarna/

The biggest news is of course that the City of Motala once again, for the second time in 7 years. 7 years ago CoM gave Piraterna a very generous loan worth 4 million SEK and today the city decided that they will buy a few building at the track from Piraterna for 6 million SEK. That is 10 million SEK in 7 years times even if Piraterna have repaid about half of the loan. IMO even if we need as many teams as possible, I strong dislike that sports teams uses the city (kommun) to bail them out as soon as the sports team have a financial crisis. It is also convenient that those buildings CoM bought were worth the same amount as the amount of money Piraterna needed. Obviously those building are not worth anyway near 6 million SEK and I doubt any independent assessment was made but rather Piraterna made up a sum and the city just accepted it. Przemyslaw Pawlicki stays with Masarna. http://www.masarna.nu/2017/10/24/fortsatt-masarna-for-przemyslaw-pawlicki/