2ndBender

Here in Wales, my understanding is that the DragonHeart Hospital, aka Principality Stadium, is being retained in a state of readiness until at least October.

I think the ball games will take precedence if ANY sport takes place at the Principality Stadium in 2020.

I've got a copy of the programme, neatly filled in, and there is no indication of a run-off. As Davis beat Bason in the heats, I've credited him with the win in my own database. There is also no indication that the meeting took place on any date other than the 26th.

Been saying this for years. Might as well put all the available riders names into a hat and draw out 2x7 every time there's a match. Sod the averages. That, and the ridiculous double points era finally killed it for me....(and no, I would no longer 'take a friend' to Speedway. It's too embarrassing!)

Great city for 'Speedway tourism' with lots of interest near the city centre and further afield. Lots of stuff around the shipyards where Solidarity and, some say 'modern Poland', was born. You could take a boat out to the Hel peninsula and see a real 1950's style seaside resort. Or you could get a train to Malbork castle, the largest brick-built castle in the world. One of my favourite Polish cities.

Done it both ways, independently and with TPT. Independent travel is good fun, and, as someone pointed out, getting ever easier to do. However, I've had some great tours with TPT and I can't personally fault them at all.

Thanks for the link BB, and also for another very informative and interesting post!

Thoroughly enjoyed your post BB and I'm glad you had a good time! I've met some generous people on visits to Poland myself, notably at Katowice and Gniezno - you are dead right about 'Speedway people'. You mentioned a 'set' track record at the meeting you attended, so I'm assuming that meeting wasn't the first at the new stadium? I'm not up to speed with Lodz's fixtures, but as a programme collector I'd be keen to get a copy of their first one. One interesting question though - do you think the attendances at Lodz are going to justify the capital investment involved in building a brand new stadium? I read that at one of their meetings the attendance was only around 300.

I'm from Newport but I've worked and socialised in Cardiff for most of my life. In my experience the 'locals' are barely aware that there is an event at the stadium on GP day. Those I worked with were rarely tempted to attend, the usual response being 'Whats that then, something to do with car racing?' There was more enthusiasm and interest in several monster truck events that have taken place there. I've said it many times before, if there's not a ball involved, South Walians are just not interested.

Reading the above posts re Aarnio, Hungary and Lawson, is it any wonder that no-one takes this sport seriously. As usual, you couldn't make it up....

Yes, I'm pretty sure Cyril identified Somerton Park as a potential Speedway venue, and recommended it when he was with Wolves. Good solid team man whose best period with the Wasps was probably when he partnered Toby Harrysson. RIP Cyril.

Many thanks to you both. Always pleased to plug a hole in my database, however small!

No worries Moxey, always on the look-out for obscure results myself. Unfortunately, I can't track down the Hungarian Czaki's christian name, which annoys me greatly1

Nyiregyhaza 29.04.91 Hungary 68 (Zoltan Adorjan 18, Joszef Petrikovics 15, Zoltan Hajdu 12, Robert Nagy 8, Sandor Tihanyi 7, Laszlo Bodi 6, Zsolt Kovacs 2) Belle Vue 40 (Carl Stonehewer 11, Chris Morton 11, Kelly Moran 10, David Blackburn 3, Nigel Leaver 2, David Walsh 2, Paul Smith 1) Miskolc 30.04.91 (rained off after 11 heats) Hungary 43 (Zoltan Adorjan 11, Zoltan Hajdu 9, Joszef Petrikovics 9, Robert Nagy 7, Laszlo Bodi 4, Sandor Tihanyi 3, L.Czaki dnr) Belle Vue 22 (David Blackburn 7, Chris Morton 6, Nigel Leaver 3, David Walsh 2, Paul Smith 2, Kelly Moran 2, Carl Stonehewer dnr) Warsaw 23.10.55 Warsaw 42 (Wlodzimierz Szwendrowski 16, Florian Kapala 8, Marian Kaiser 8, Mieczyslaw Polukard 6, Alojzy Frach (r) 3, Andrzej Krzesinski 1, Zibigniew Ranisewski (r) 0, Edward Kupczynski 0) Belle Vue 66 (Peter Craven 16, Ron Johnston 14, Ken Sharples 11, Arthur Wright 10, Peter Williams 9, Bob Duckworth 6, Dick Fisher (r) 0, Fred Rogers (r) 0)

Fully agree with the comments about the lack of team affinity and club loyalty. One of the reasons I've stopped going is because you can never be sure who is going to represent your team anymore. Guests, doubling/trebling up, three or four clubs in three or four different countries - its laughable. You may just as well have an open pool of riders from which the home and away team managers choose seven each on the night (God, please don't take me seriously, BSPA.....!!!). Oh, and I fully agree with the comments about Wilkie. Saw him ride many times and he was Belle Vue through and through. Good luck to the man and his family.

Only three for me really. Other sports fans laugh at me when I tell them a rider can score more for coming second than for winning the race, and a rider can race for three or four different clubs. As well as that, clubs can 'borrow' other clubs star riders! 'Jeux Sans Frontieres'?

As others have rightly said, Torun is indeed a fine city - probably my favourite Polish destination; (I think it's designated a World Heritage site). However, at opposite ends of the country, I also love Gdansk and Krakow, and whilst you won't see a GP at either, they both have league tracks. From Gdansk you can explore the Baltic sea coast, (including the Hel peninsular), the historic shipyards and Malbork castle. From Krakow, there is of course Auschwitz, the salt mines and maybe a trip over the Tatra mountains into Slovakia. We've done both of these destinations independently, but we've also travelled with Travel Plus and I cannot speak too highly of them; James and his crew really look after you!

See my post, no. 125.

Right hand side of the castle as you're facing it, 150m or so up North Road and just on the right. Makes sense really. They have a temporary ice rink and ferris wheel there around Christmas time. Still only 10 mins walk to the stadium.

I can't imagine the fan zone being in the Wood Street area this year. What used to be the bus station is completely fenced off and awaiting/undergoing redevelopment. Come to think of it, there's not a suitable area in the city centre which could realistically accommodate the fan zone, unless they get permission to put it in one of the parks.

Although not strictly a flea market, Cardiff indoor market in St Mary Street (5 mins from the stadium) is well worth a half hour browse, especially if you haven't experienced a traditional British market before. It has hardly changed in 60 - 70 years. Further afield the open-air Welsh National Folk Museum at St Fagans is pretty special. However, you will need a car or bus to get there from the city centre and it will take up quite a few hours out of your day. You probably wouldn't have time to do that and the Bay unless you started really early! Whatever you decide, you will have a great day.

I live in Newport which is an easy 15 minute train ride away. I NEVER drive into Cardiff on a Saturday and I wouldn't dream of doing so on GP day - but then I am fortunate to live close by. As you are doing the Pairs on Friday night, I would personally try to get accommodation in the Bristol area - Chippenham seems a bit too far. You can get an easy train from Bristol, via Newport, to Cardiff. As others have said, head for Cardiff Bay for food and a sense of Cardiff's maritime history. There are many excellent restaurants in the city centre too, and if you are a beer drinker you MUST visit the Urban Tap House, (exactly opposite the Stadium gates) for the best beer in Cardiff!

Wow, June01, that was quick....! I never, ever thought to check that site. It looks like his tragic death happened a mere TWO DAYS after the Rovno meeting. How very, very sad. Thanks for plugging a gap in my database.

OK, following on from June01's successfully answered recent query, can anyone help with this one? I've got a programme from the 1988 Continental Quarter-Final at Rovno which contains a Polish-typed scoresheet. A certain 'K. Swinkin' of the Soviet Union raced at reserve and scored 2 points. I cannot find any reference to this rider in any of the usual sources. Anyone got any ideas? What is his first name? Is his surname correct?