ladyluck

Didn't you say that about Zielona Gora last week?

The silence observed was, presumably, in memory of ex-Bydgoszcz star Zdzisław Rutecki who tragically lost his life in a traffic accident earlier in the week.

I was a bit surprised by Pavlic's superb start to the season and then I found out that his engines are being tuned by His Holiness and everything made sense.

Fantastic last race to round it all off, as first Janowski and then Jedrzejak pass Lee Richardson to salvage a draw for Sparta. Truly superb last couple of turns from Jedrzejak.

Disaster for Wroclaw.

Terrible from Shields. Might as well have waved Crump through. Actually, I think he may well have done exactly that.

Jedrzejak really does have a glorious style to watch. By the way, things have finally started in Tarnow, but a bad start for the Swallows as Gorzow powered to a 1-5 in Ht 1. That said, Krzysztof Kasprzak has just humbled Nicki P in Ht 2.

That was just rubbish from Maciej Janowski. I wonder if Ms Kloc is wondering about his activities in the UK?

And there is Ms Poltorak enjoying a laugh with the Crumpmeister.

There's a lot of criticism of the new rules regarding juniors in Poland. Fact is, Rzeszow have have two Polish juniors and Kret is obviously the second best option for the club after Lampart.

Seven heats down and still all square in the battle of Poland's female administrators. The Wroclaw club is run by the formibable Krystyna Kloc, while Rzeszow is run by the no-nonsense Marta Poltorak. Both tough cookies.

Great effort from Kuciapa in Ht 5, but fairly woeful from Shields at the back. The Lakeside Hammers not exactly puling up trees in Lower Silesia so far.

Okay, I'll try again: when it was first constructed the stadium "enjoyed" the name Leerbeutel, which means, literally, "empty sack".

It hasn't started yet!

Totally random and uninteresting fact: The Olympic Stadium in Wroclaw has hosted home football matches for two nations, Poland and Germany. It was also once officially called "The Herman Goring Stadium", back in the days when Wroclaw was Breslau.

The untelevised fixture between Tarnow and Gorzow has been delayed due to a downpour in Tarnow. They're hoping to start in about thirty minutes time.

I think that's unfair to Tomasz Gollob. Okay, he may not have Hancock's trademark grin, or the measured quips of the consumate actor, but it's a long time since I saw any ungentlemanly conduct. He was quick to congratulate Nicki P on his win and took his exclusion an awfully lot better than Nicki P would've done. Most of the leading riders seem to share Gollob's reservations about the new silencer, including "the Grin".

Lindback's record in Polish-staged GPs has always been iffy and twice he's failed to trouble the scorer. Just checked and his Polish record is: 2005..Wroclaw..2,2,3,0,1..2..0 = 10 (16 - 4th) 2005..Bydgoszcz..0,0,0,0,0 = 0 (0) 2006..Wroclaw..0,0,0,2,0 = 2 (2) 2006..Bydgoszcz..0,3,E/F,0,0 = 3 (3) 2007..Wroclaw..0,0,0,0,0 = 0 (3) 2007..Bydgoszcz..0,0,1,3,1 = 5 (5) 2011..Leszno..1,0,0,0,0 = 1 (1)

No idea, but Liga II seems to be just a straight league with no play-offs so perhaps with less fixtures to fit in they've taken a week off? Meanwhile, in the ever entertaining world of Grünberg in Schlesien, the Falubaz-besotted populous aren't happy at the embarrassment of having their newly renovated stand closed for today's fixture against Czestochowa. A protest has been staged in the city and further protests are expected at the stadium: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/05/01/kibice-falubazu-pojawili-sie-na-apelu-1-majowym-zdjecia/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhj6x8tTqI3_lAqrgV6gxn4sElE3Ug

Curiously, Belle Vue No 1 and renowned "dirt-lover" Chris Harris thought the track was "well prepared" for the meeting: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/05/01/chris-harris-dla-sportowefaktypl-chce-w-tym-roku-regularnie-/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhjV2b15ZTLr6OeA5aBcA4cS6wkf2w

Still, always fun to see Grzegorz Walasek being semi-weird, even if it was as a pundit. I especially liked the bit where he started to answer a question and had to be reminded that he needed to use the microphone. He's a total funhog. But it would be far better if they got His Holiness involved.

As in the referee's report stated the track was poorly prepared, the authorities investigated, found Leszno guilty, fined the club a total of 40,000 zloty and suspended the licence of the track manager for six months. Details of the findings and verdict at the following: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/16/unia-ukarana-za-stan-toru-podczas-meczu-z-pge-marma/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhjhZsTCOG4ggxEH3raRqdR9r6dT_Q And Polish legend Zenon Plech believes Leszno got off too lightly: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/22/zenon-plech-walkower-ostudzilby-zapedy-innych-klubow/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhgePkknRCOeR3BGuO-kTvimvIFseA Leszno are not alone, as Wroclaw are now being investigated for the same thing: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/28/wszczeto-postepowanie-przeciwko-klubowi-z-wroclawia/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhiO0FcN7wLjXmmtaf3x35PHZSWmBA Leszno is a great track, when it is properly prepared, but this idea that Polish tracks are always properly prepared and provide fantastic racing until the GP people become involved is just a myth. Have to say, reading that last link, it seems that there are some fairly draconian punishments available to the authorities (walkovers, closing tracks for four weeks and so on) and with Leszno and Wroclaw already finding themselves "in the dock" this season, it looks like they're intending to clamp down on "dodgy tracks". As I understand it, both tracks had too much dirt, so perhaps not so surprising that some was removed in Leszno.

Did you hear the reports that the Leszno club was fined 40,000 zloty for the state of the track during the last official meeting staged there? They were accurate.

Good news and bad news for Unia Tarnow ahead of today's meeting. The "good news" is that, due to his poor start to the season and new "rider replacement" lists being in force now, there'll be no rider replacement facility for Hans Andersen, so Gorzow will probably go with Artur Mroczka. The "bad news" is that Gorzow provided the top two riders in yesterday's European GP. Can't see Tarnow getting their maiden win of the season, to be honest.

Better than Lindback and not much worse than Crump. Not sure what went on with the Crumpmeister, but it seems he may have decided to chop and change bikes trying to improve. Anyway, Gorzow's president is happy as his riders take the top two places on the podium. For me, the best rider on show, until, not for the first time, it all went avocado shape in the semi-final, was Greg Hancock. Hancock led the way into the semis, Gollob leads the way in the championship. The old guys aren't looking like surrendering to the younger generation just yet. Will they ever?