tomhaines

I think that Lee R should stand down from the team if he is anything less that 95% fit. Imagine what it would be like if the same thing happened to him on Monday as did against Denmark. Would leave Britain in alot of trouble. If there is a risk that the same thing could happen again then Gary Havelock or somebody else (Howe maybe) should take his place. Lee could end up costing us the World Cup for christs sake!

Those are the riding orders also yes. One change, Pepe Protasiewicz has pulled out. Kris Kasprzak fills in at 5 for Poland. Teams can then change their line-ups for race-off/final. With the riders in their 12 man squad.

Great Result Does anybody know what happened to Wallner?

5 Qualify from here, 6 from Teterow which is also today. They join the 5 from Outrup who were: Moller Lindgren Lindback Messing Risager (Looks like all the really big hitters rode there, Lubos was pretty lucky, not really anyone in his line-up who i would see as potential champions... Prehaps the Lindback's and all didnt fancy a trip to outer mongolia like LT ) Jeff, can you text me the result of Rovno if you get it as I'm off now. Cheers

It says: 1 (LAT 2 Andrey Karpov (UKR) 3 (HUN) 4 (POL) 5 Fritz Wallner (AUT) 6 Limberger (GER) 7 Mihai Dejmar (ROM) 8 (POL) 9 (UKR) 10 Lubos Tomicek (CZE) 11 Alexey Harcheko (RUS) 12 Victor Goluboskiy (RUS) 13 Jan Haklabrin (SLK) 14 Zdenek Simota (CZE) 15 (HUN) 16 (GER)

Hi Jeff, www.speedway.org has half the lineup if thats any help. I think we will just have to wait for Lubos to tell us the result himself

Do we know the British riding order yet?

The same Stefani who still rides for Hungary? How/Why!? Stefani is Hungarian but spent a year at Oxford as Mark Frost Why I dont know. OK, i understand it now.

The same Stefani who still rides for Hungary? How/Why!?

I reckon this round will be between the Slovenians and Hungarians... With Slovenia coming out on top. Austria will probably lack support for the top two of Hauzinger & Wallner. While Russia are missing their top 2 of Darkin & Povazhny(!!) Why?

I seem to remember a few years back there were plans to run a world under 21 round at Santerem (?) in Portual. But it was rained off? What happened to the whole idea of riding a meeting there because afaik nothing has happened there since?

Is the joker still in operation this year? Are teams able to replace a rider with a reserve if he gets injured or can they only do this when 6 or more points behind for T.S?

Bo Brhel is Czech Champion

SGP Averages I have worked out the averages of each rider who has ridden in the GP series. Results are quite interesting, and show that in some seasons the best rider hasn't always won the series. Averages are worked out by traditional points scored (3,2,1,0) divided by rides and multiplied by 4. (Data from every single heat ever raced in a Grand Prix!)

The only changes which should be made imo are as follows: Scrap heats 9 & 10: Pretty pointless, the top 8 riders have the advantage of not having to 'qualify' therefore having the small disadvantage of having no heat should really mean very litte. Bring back the Consoltation final: Not only will it allow Mr Adams to talk about the A final with some sense, it also gives the fans an extra heat (esp important if you lose heat 9 & 10) Pick gates for final: Make the riders walk out on track like they used to! It built up the tension. Give the guy who is highest in the championship standings first choice to make it fairer.

Line-Up according to world.speedway.org 1 - Miroslaw Fencl 2 - Vladimir Visvader 3 - Robert Kral 4 - Pavel Ondrasik (Newport) 5 - Lukas Dryml (Peterborough) 6 - Lubos Tomicek (Newcastle) 7 - Richard Wolff 8 - Tomas Suchanek 9 - Ales Dryml (Peterborough) 10 - Radek Smolik 11 - Adrian Rymel (Berwick) 12 - Josef Franc (Berwick) 13 - Bo Brhel 14 - Jaroslav Peterak 15 - Zdenek Simota 16 - Karel Prusa Reserves - Antonin Galliani & Jan Jaros Last years champion was Tomas Topinka. As far as I can see he did not ride in either of the semi-final rounds this year.

I can see this one being quite a battle. Finland have gone pretty well in previous SWC competitions. The Germans are usually strong and the Italians have home advantage. Don't know anything about Latvia, but i assume they are favourites to finish 4th?

That leaves you with just 13 heats (or 16 if you had an A,B,C & D Final) Perhaps run two rounds per GP, similar to what is done in things like BTCC. Which would result in 26 heats.

Bit worrying isnt it lol!

In theory wouldn't they have the roof on?

It will have to be R/R because you can only have a guest for your number 1. Carl is still number 1 at Workington I believe.

according to www.speedwayworld.tv Jarek Hampel is out of Saturday's GP. Reserve 1 Joonas Kylmakorpi is injured Reserve 2 Simon Stead is thinking over the invitation and will decide tomorrow Reserve 3 Rafel Dobrucki says that if he is called in Thursday (if Simon turns down the invite) it may be too late for the invitation.

That's a pretty cool idea. Prehaps less than 16 though. It could have say 8-10 potential wildcards with a kind of race-off system just before the normal heat 1. With the top 1/2 going into the meeting proper and the next 2 going in as meeting reserves (with 20 heat formula there will probably be reserves) Having these local riders wouldn't cost much extra as they would belocal, would give the fans some extra value for money, also give people a chance to look at some riders we don't normally see and even allow riders to put themselves in the shop window for a team place in one of the big leagues. Obviously if they want to try and move the series to non-speedway nations then this is not possible as there would be no local riders, but would work for the current rounds. I'm pretty sure i have seen a similar format for Swedish championships(?) Where there is a pre-meeting race-off series to determine the final two placings in the meeting proper.

http://www.fck.dk/webcam/parken.asp Updates every 4 seconds. Those who don't have sky could possibly watch the GP on it lol! But I doubt it very much

Not just Europe but the world... If they have just 16 riders, then the prize money, sponsorship money and other things are distributed between less riders and therefore each gets more. Shipping 16 riders equiptment to Australia, New Zealand etc.. costs less than 24 which makes a more global series very much more viable. Also it seems likely that each rider will get more than 2 rides therefore sponsors will be more interested. Imagine a 16 rider series, in the present series there are at least 10 possibly more riders capable of winning a GP. With less riders it will be even more exciting as you are guaranteed 4 world class riders in each heat, unlike a few in the present system.