Wee Eck

Anders Rowe was selected but chose his Polish team ahead of GB. I think some people were disappointed with his decision but the days of riders having pride racing for their country seem to be passed. He’s earning decent money in Poland and decided that’s where his loyalties lay.

My first year watching speedway was 1966 when there was one league with 19 teams. Had speedway run in 2020, there would have been 7 Premiership and 12 Championship teams which I make, erm, 19. Add in IOM, Plymouth and Mildenhall, and that makes 22. Yes, we’ve lost many venues, and 10 of the 19 from 1966 have gone (and 3 of the remaining 9 have not only changed location, but changed it more than once) but supporters have greater choice now than they had over 50 years ago.

This is what I was referring to - no masks, no social distancing.

Looking at the lack of social distancing last weekend at Scunthorpe, I doubt they’ll be bothered about following any rules.

Was it ever publicised what the tyre problem was with Hellstrom Bangs in last night’s Masarna meeting?

For me, this was the first watchable match of the year after some pretty one sided and boring stuff - and the lights go pop. Grr! At least there was some excellent racing especially Zmarzlik who really attacks that track. I’ve sat on the exit of the second turn at Gorzow several times and always reckoned one big bump and he’d join me in the grandstand

I don’t know the Polish rules - I thought the reserves had to be Polish but didn’t realise there were other restrictions. And I’ve just read up about the new German lockdown - 1,500 new cases and 500,000 back in lockdown suggests that they have released lockdown, or certainly some of the lockdown rules, too early.

But still possible to make the top eight despite not having raced against all the other riders?

That’s an interesting one. The 20 race format is designed to ensure every rider races every other rider once only. Under that rule, a track reserve could complete 5 rides, never racing against the top riders, so inevitably racing more than once against several riders and, if they score enough points to qualify for heats 21 onwards, be allowed to do so

Not sure why you’re so grumpy. Or rude. As I said, I have my opinion, you have yours.

I think the worst is yet to come in many places, and Poland (and Sweden) are two of them. Germany has just discovered what happens if you release lockdown too early.

As I said, I am giving my opinion which has as much validity as anyone else’s. Citing two additional races and referring to one as “decent” isn’t going to change that, anymore than my responses to you will change your opinion. And, while I accept your point about decent juniors, is Wiktor Lampart, for example “decent” or just someone who gated quickly on a track not prepared for passing?

Obviously. Other than when I lived there. And when the standard was far better. Excluding the protected juniors, the Ekstraliga is now predominantly non-Polish. By the way, I don’t really count passes between the start and the entrance to the third bend as that’s just skirmishing, so I’ll need to look at the replay, if I have more time to waste, to see how many after that there were. As I said before, if you can only cite one decent race in 75, you make my point for me. Polish Ekstraliga is a shadow of its former self. You now need super fast bikes on super smooth circuits. Cojones rather than skill. How else do you account for the inexperienced guys holding off heat leaders repeatedly? Sweden, Denmark and U.K. provides far more close and exciting racing, in my opinion. Which, as ever, is all it is.

Each to their own! I watched the live meeting yesterday afternoon. Zmarzlik was in it but I didn’t see Pawlicki. If you are referring to the Gorzow/Lezno meeting a week ago, I think you make my point. It’s not “one decent race in 15” but 1 in 75. Yesterdays Lublin vs Gorzow meeting was dire. The track had no grip. We’re there any passes of any merit?

That’s because they’ve done much less testing. As Trump said on Saturday, the less testing you do, the fewer cases you find. They’re not treating it seriously so they might as well not bother doing anything. There was no social distancing in the crowds, the start girls were taking their masks off between heats and plenty of those in the pits had the mask only covering their nose or even just over their chin. And, let’s face it, since the Ekstraliga restarted, there’s not been a single decent meeting. In future, I think I’ll reverse Phil Rising’s advice and fast forward through the racing

Have there been any passes after the 2nd bend yet? It seems all FTG to me

Sky strictly controlled what could and what could not be advertised. One of the rules was that you couldn’t bring a new sponsor in just for a tv meeting. Or even plug an existing one too much. I seem to recall a discussions between the floor manager and the Poole promoter about the number and visibility of the A-frames on the centre green. Maybe Discovery/Eurosport will be less demanding.

What other forms of regular motor sport take place in Poland? In UK there are many bike and car racing circuits, large and small plus local moto-x, trials, grass track, karting, rallying activities, but I never see anything about Poland. There must be some activity because there have been a few top class drivers like Robert Kubica but maybe the success of speedway in Poland is partly down to the lack of alternatives?

Can I assume you are talking about annual global deaths? The World Health Organisation estimates annual deaths from influenza as being between 290,000 and 650,000 so upwards of 800 a day. Public Health England says the average annual death rate from influenza is approximately 17,000. As England has around 89% of the UK’s population, that equates to 19,100 across UK or just over 52 deaths per day. It’s been reported that 938 people died from or with Covid-19 today, which would have taken 18 days for the equivalent number of influenza deaths. Or, looked at another way, it seems likely from the statistics that more people died in UK today with or from Covid-19, than died in all of the countries in the world from influenza.

How many are still in the country, though?

I’m not sure why that should be. Most tracks make losses. Will the losses be greater if they don’t run? In my view, speedway in UK will survive if speedway supporters want it to.

My money is on Cardiff staying where it is, but becoming the first GP

He had to apply for a second visa. The one he had (like Jack Holder’s) only allowed him to race in one league

I thought they were running after every league meeting?

Yeh, ok. I’m not convinced Newcastle will end up bottom but I couldn’t by **sed coming up with a new list