iris123

3 seasons later and Matten is still a vital member of the Brokstedt team.Riding in the Budesliga and also the lower level 2.Bundesliga http://www.speedway.org/liga/2015/index.html http://www.speedway.org/liga2/2015/index.html

Have never seen any results from these meetings.It is normally a case wen I am there someone say's "you should have been here when they used to have a meeting on the long track in the morning and then a meeting on the speedway track in the afternoon........." I should ask one of the guys if they have a programme or two to copy and send.

http://mc-ludwigslust.de/unser-verein/chronik/ Used to be a long track next to the speedway track and back in the day they used to have a meeting on both tracks to find a champ.Simon Wigg and Kelvin Tatum are a couple that took part in this 1 day double meeting.The Long track has been turned into the MX track now

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwigslust

When I was at Ludwigslust the other week I did hear that Güstrow would again host a round

As an historian John you should know that solo racing was the origins of the sport and in the UK the public very quickly got bored of that one dimensional aspect. and the team sport was developed to stop the early decline.That was very specific to the Uk and other countries didn't always follow suit.Some stayed mainly with solos and others copied the UK with differing levels of success.

I wonder how many examples there are of riders losing sponsorship when they have dropped out of the GPs by failing to get into the top 8 or wildcard etc?

You might put South Africa down to political unrest.The question is was it league racing or were crowds down in all forms of racing?And could you say the restarting of leagues in say NZ, and like I posted Holland, is the start of a new interest in that concept?

Exactly.Hard to link the end of those leagues with anything to do with a drop in attendance with EL/PL/NL.One of the factors often claimed is the variety of entertainment available nowadays.That clearly doesn't fit with most of those leagues

http://www.knmv.nl/motorsport/Nieuws-motorsport/2015/mei/dutch-speedway-league-van-start-in-veenoord/

I agree.I am just talking about in a perfect world that is the best way,but speedway lives in nothing like a perfect world,and most know that.

Personally would rather have two or three meetings for the finalists to stop any lucky or "home" riders getting through,but realise that is unlikely due to time and money.But a little series to qualify for the big series seems as fair as you will ever get

Not a bad crowd then.Holsted only has a pop of 3,000 and the municipality 7,000,but nearby Esbjerg has 115,000 alone

Sadly I don't think U21 meetings are that well supported even in Europe.At least I have been to a few individual and team meetings/finals and the crowds are not great arnieg's post here puts the crowd in perspective though http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=80072&page=5&do=findComment&comment=2704135

Classic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsKQIihffE8

Wouldn't have thought so.Use the joker against the weaker rider and you still have the substitution for injury later.......still like I said it wouldn't have made much difference in the end as the Poles got to grips with the track conditions better than the others.See the Germans are saying the track was totally different from thursdays training......

Still trying to track down the Bhoys goals from earlier to stick on your timeline to cheer you up

Just jealous because yours are rubbish

I would say one of the main things that doesn't cost extra money is to get the show running efficiently without too many breaks.Of course maybe doing that does cost money as they want to drag things out to collect more at the bar etc,but it does end up being counter productive and p people off For me although it probably never happens in the Uk I would also ask for a professional job to be done.For example it was announced a while back that today there would be a memorial meeting for Tobi Busch's father.Over a period of a week or more,riders were teasingly announced,then all of a sudden they declared that the council hadn't given the permission for the meeting and it was off and not even delayed to tomorrow or next week because the weather could be dodgy!!!!!!!

Was surprised Secher didn't use the joker in ht 13.Don't think it would have made much difference in the end,but would have put the heat on the Poles a bit.But seems a bit foolish to use it against Pawlicki(or Zmarzlik either).And that is not with hindsight.I was thinking at the time of ht 13 he was going to use it now........

Actually for example in the Olympics they are one of the top countries when you measure medals against population.They also have a major football win and a few top placings in Handball(one of their major sports) along with some very good cyclists and Mikkel Kessler in boxing

Hear what you say Rob,but how old was Posa when he won his second world title?50 or so.......that takes some doing in a pysichally tough sport against the Russians alone without anyone else

There was a rider on Good Morning or something years ago.It caused a bit of fuss on here I seem to remember.The presenters thought speedway was something to do with Indianapolis style car racing and the guy(can't remember his name)was claiming he was some sort of international although his claim to fame was he was track reserve for something like the European Final.All got quite messy and quite funny even his wife joined in on here I seem to remember.But he was basically on the show to talk about an illness he had Back on topic bit,didn't Ole Olsen appear on the Danish Strictly Dancing? And even more on topic,watch out for young Mads Hansen.Seen him a few times on 85cc(in which he was world champ) and last weekend on 250cc in which he is the world champ.Quite a rider

A clip showing the British built speedway track in Hamburg including pre war Hamburg star Herbert Drews in what must have been one of his last meetings before his tragic death at the same track in January 1949 https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/583620?q=&xf%5B0%5D=all_personsinfilm&xo%5B0%5D=EQUALS&xv%5B0%5D=Viscount+Alexander

Not sure there are any others who started in 1946.Guess there could well be somewhere.Think Alfred Dannmeyer might be one of the oldest/earliest riders still alive,but he joined the Hamburg Motorclub in 1947(not sure if this is when he started riding though,just guess it was) and Olle Nygren started in 1948 I guess