Mr Snackette

Thanks for posting the fixtures. Very dissapointed that there are no fixtures planned for the Sunday after the Wroclaw and Bydgoszcz GPs. Equally surprised that no fixtures are programmed for the Corpus Christie holiday. It is to be hoped that the Ekstrliga fixtures will fill the gap!!

For those who have not has the "privilege" of meeting Dave, a photo of this fine specimen of Aussie manhood can be found at the following link: http://www.travelplusontour.fotopic.net/p32253337.html Dave also got the TP Tours award for the best quote on tour. Having just made the bus before it departed, Dave commented: "Blimey mate that was tight, I nearly had to break into a stroll!!!" Dave, I hope you can join us on another of our tours in the not too distant future. Brian

More importantly, I would have thought, is what teams will be riding in the Ekstraliga in 2007. Was it not the intention that the league was to be expanded to take in 10 teams? Is that still on the agenda? If so who are likely to join the party?

If we accept the idea that the majority of fans want the GP series to expand and to have more events, then it is to be expected that at least one(possibly more) will need to take place in October. If we then accept, that for the time being at least, the series will be contested solely in Europe, which "proper speedway track" could 100% guarantee that the event and the Championship will be concluded on the due day? I would suggest none. Only stadiums such as Cadiff, Parken and now Gelsenkirchen are not at the mercy of the autumnal climate. I'm sure that had this Forum existed back in time there be those folks bemoaning the loss of cinders for this new fangled shale stuff!!! "One off tracks" are part of speedway's development and over time will continue to improve. Mind you nostalgia ain't what it used to be!!!

Go to: http://travelplusontour.fotopic.net/ or the main TP website: http://www.tptours.co.uk, and follow the link to the photo site.

Naturally with full acknowledgement to those who were providing him with the information!!!

Thank you Joanne for adding some authority to the debate!!! I like this weather site, and it may replace Weather Underground as my forecaster of choice in future. Best of luck with the navigation!!!

Good news, I now have a cable that links my camera to the computer. Pictures from the European Tour, will be released over the next few days. Photos up to, and including the meeting at Debrechen have now been posted. For those interested please go to: http://travelplusontour.fotopic.net/

A letter from Jimbo should be winging its way to all those on the tour, and hopefully there shouldn't be a problem. It was interesting to see, that even yesterday, when scores of flights were cancelled and delayed the Manchester flight got into Budapest just 15 minutes late. Just be aware of any announcements concerning the restrictions on hand luggage, and you would be well advised to turn up at the airport a little earlier than usual. As for currency, I wouldn't bother with getting too much / any Slovakian currency, as Travel Plus have laid on a meal in the hotel for the Sunday evening, and we will be leaving for Krakow early Monday.

As I understand it first race is planned for 18.00, with presentations earlier. However it always pays to get there in good time. Meeting is a Junior International between Czech Republic and Poland, plus some vet races. Sorry can't help with the trains.

Not so sure about that, and booking hotels for the 2nd and 9th might lead to some dissapointment!! Say no more. But, hey time will tell!!

As an update, we have just been advised that the Liberec meeting has been cancelled. As far as we know the meeting at Divisov is still on, and we are awaiting confirmation as to the details. As Travel Plus clients will be aware, (well those of them who have travelled with us to Prague before!!!) Divisov is the home of the Jawa factory, and is about 40 minutes to an hours drive from central Prague.

Pure and simple the Polish product is far superior to that on offer in the UK. They use squads, not guests. They have real tactical substitute rides, as opposed to silly golden double rules. They have a genuine eight man team, where a quality number 8 can replace someone who is having an off night. Also the fact that they only have 7 home regular season fixtures, plus 3 more at home in the play offs, makes each fixture more of an occasion. As they say: Less is sometimes more!!

Slany is around 40k, and you can drive it in about 45 minutes to hour. Liberec is about 120k from Prague, and you should be able to drive it in about one and half to two hours. The Slany meeting starts at 6pm, and we are await confirmation of the Liberec start time. Those who are on the Travel Plus European 12 day tour, and the weekend tour to Prague, will have the opportunity to visit both tracks, as we will be running optional excursions to both meetings.

I think you'll find that were going via Slovakia! See you next Thursday in Budapest.

I tried that and ended up in a small village 137k and 2 hours drive from Torun!! Best to enter "63-400 Ostrów Wielkopolski", and you get the correct directions. Distance 230k, around a 4 hour drive. Looks like it's Gniezno for me, and a more civilised 100k drive from Torun.

With the World Cup well and truly over, its time to move on to the next GP. Travel Plus will be there as usual, this time with around 100 clients looking forward to a weekend on the Italian lakes. For those that missed the announcement in the Speedway Star, we hope to be able to publish photos taken whilst we are away on tour. Obviously a lot depends on the quality of the internet connection we can get, but all being well photos should be there to view. So if you’re travelling with us (and I know there are a number of Forum members who do), you can tell friends and family to go to: http://travelplusontour.fotopic.net/ and they can see what a great time you’re having. Obviously if you’re on the tour don't forget to have a look when you get back.

Apparently Scoop Pearson has gone into training with legendary Norwegian football commentator, Bjørge Lillelien. For the Final, and using it as a promo, Sky plan to overdub the commentary of last night's Heat 13 with the following: "Søren Kierkegaard, Viggo Mortensen, Brigitte Nielsen, Victor Borge, Morten Olsen, Peter Schmeichel, Hans Christian Andersen, Helena Christensen,Ole Olsen, Whigfield, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Can you hear me Anders Rasmussen. Your boy took one hell of a beating. Your boy took one hell of a beating." Fade to picture of Union Jack, overlaid with the boys of Team GB, and sound of Rule Brittania. PS. This is no time for gloating!!!!

Badge, having supplied you with a copy of the rules, I think you need to download the meeting spreadsheet. From this you will notice that Tomasz replaced Jagus in Heat 22, as a tactical joker, quite legitimately as per rule 078.9.4. Heat 24 was his own programmed ride. So all above board and nothing to get grizzly about. Just as well SCB isn't the GB Team manager!!!

Badge, as Subedei was a bit curt in his reply, go to the following link: http://www.fim.ch/EN/rules/Sportifs/ccp/2006/CCP_078_en.pdf It will allow you to download a copy of the competition rules. Hopefully this will add to your enjoyment and understanding of the competition.

Horses for courses. The Aussies, who remember won the meeting, will not be relying on team that got them to the Final, as Schlien will almost certainly be replaced by McGowan. In the same way, the choice of Stead for Rybnik was absolutely the right one, and the choice of Louis for Stead is clearly right for Smallmead. I'm sure Middlo will do the right thing.

I understand that the Torun / Leszno meeting has been put back to Saturday 15th July. Not sure why. Mind you with a full programme on the Friday. and the World Cup meeting on the Sunday, may not be a bad weekend for another visit.

Thankyou Champion that explains things perfectly. It also explains why Miskowiak wasn't able to replace Kajoch in the Rzeszow / Tarnow meeting. Thanks again.

As someone who has watched a little Polish speedway, I wondered if someone could help clarify the regulations surrounding "the number 8". Firstly who can ride at number 8? Are there any restrictions? Who can a #8 replace? What's the maximum number of rides that a #8 can take in a meeting? Any help would be much appreciated.

What a superb meeting. Really enjoyed it. The crowd and atmosphere were fantastic. I think that had Wieslaw Jagus not touched the tapes in heat 14, Torun might just have nicked it. I did like look of Stanislaw Burza, who appears to have some considerable potential. But for me the highlight was seeing Thomasz and Trick lining up in heat 15, evoking very pleasant memories of Ipswich in 1998. The meeting itself helped reinforce my view of just how shoddy Elite League speedway is in the UK, which must now be considered a very poor third to both Poland and Sweden. Hoping that Rzeszów is as good on Sunday, which I understand starts at 6pm. Thank you Champion for you help with start times, much appreciated.