SarahLapworth

Pleased to tell you that Team Viking are set to ride against a full strength Premier League team on our April tour. Any guesses which one?

There was a good turn out for our awards presentation last night and a big thanks to everyone who came along. The winners were....... Most Improved Rider - Patrick Tarp (dk) Best Team Player - Robin Bergqvist (sw) Top Points Scorer - Peter Juul Larsen (dk) 106 points from 9 meetings 2010 Rider of the Year - Thomas Jorgensen (dk) Special Recognision Award - Richard Hollingsworth 3 squad members from 2010 are now premier League riders - Team Viking is getting bigger

Just to let you all know that we are having a Team Viking get together next saturday night (29th) at the Clock Inn, Atherstone, Warwickshire from 6pm onwards. Most riders will be in attendance and everyone is welcome to come along for what should be a fun and messy night

The latest rider to add his name to the tour is one of our 2010 Vikings Jonas B Andersen from Denmark. Jonas showed us what he is capable of on our end of season tour last year and at 17 has a very bright future in the sport. He will take up one of the heat leader roles and is already looking forward to the challenge. We should be able to name our final 2 riders in the next few weeks, watch this space 1. TBA 2. Mikkel Salamonsen (dk) 3. Alexander Edberg (sw) 4. TBA 5. Jonas B Andersen (dk) 6. Patrick Tarp (dk) 7. Lee Geary/Sam Woods (gb)

Now thats tempting, could do with a bit of sunshine lol

Thanks for your post Stansolo Please read my post regarding sending Sam Woods to Denmark in 2011. I am all for helping British kids in the sport and I am working very hard on sending more of our kids there in the future but its also down to the BSPA to do their bit and encourage the sport at an early age. I have been long in the opinion that we need to start them as young as possible on 50cc and also run an 80cc league. For those who think its a daft idea take a look at Scandinavia and see how many world champions they have compared to us

A big well done to our riders Patrick Tarp and Andreas Westlund in todays New Year Classic at Newport. It was always going to be a hard meeting for them being up against top end premier and Elite league riders but they both gave it 100% and enjoyed the experience. Also a mention to another Viking Henning Loof who did well with a couple of rides at reserve.

Well we sure are working on that one. Next year we have arranged for our very own Sam Woods to spend a year in Denmark where he will ride for Grindsted in the Danish 2nd division. We hope this will be the first of many "exchanges" and our thanks go out to Jimmi Trasborg for helping out with this. I would like to take a young British touring team to Denmark or Sweden at some point in the future as it can only help towards are own lads progress

We would like to wish all our friends and supporters a very happy christmas. look forward to seeing you all in 2011

Pleased to announce that Mikkel Salamonsen has become the latest rider to add his name to our April 2011 tour Mikkel is 16 years old and has been highly recommended to us from good sources in Denmark. 2010 was his first season racing 500cc and he put in some good shows towards the end of last year including a very good performance in the Danish Under 21 final. We are looking forward to having him on the team and who knows we could be seeing a star of the future for the first time on these shores.

The Schedule for the tour is coming along nicely, so far we can confirm the following..... Saturday 2/4 @ Stoke Thursday 7/4 @ Sheffield Sunday 11/4 @ Newcastle (vs USA Touring Team) more to be confirmed soon

I take it that your not a fan of Team Viking then?

Thank you for your comments Iris we really appreciate them. Its easy sometimes to get tunnel vision in team selection so its good to hear the views of those who see these guys race on a regular basis. I can tell you though that Michael Palm Toft is not on my list. he is a good rider but has already told me he has no intentions to ride in the UK. One rider I have been keeping a watch on is Kenni Nissen. What are your thoughts on him? Cheers

Thank you for your post Iris but please can you define what you mean by "the level of rider that turns out for Team Viking"?

That would be the one Gary as far as i'm aware it will be Belgium v Team Viking v Germany v France or Czech Republic. Hope you can make it. We have been there for the last 2 years for the golden helmet meeting and everyone there goes out of their way to make you feel welcome. Benny Kupers and Nico Moors are a credit to speedway

Plans for the tour are now in full swing and looking good. I have had some positive responses from the promoters I have approached and the plan is to have 4 or 5 full 15 heat meetings and a couple of 9 heat 2nd halves. Nothing is confirmed yet but we will probably race a 2nd half against our good friends at Sheffield and also we have been approached about doing a "mini meeting" against the new Long Eaton project providing the potential venue has spare dates in the period we are here. We hope to be racing against the USA touring team again at Newcastle and are just looking to finalise a date with Steve Evans and Newcastle On the team front Patrick Tarp has commited himself to the tour providing he does not get a premier league contract in the meantime. Our number 7 spot as always be shared between our 2 British riders Lee Geary and Sam Woods. For Sam this will be his last rides in the UK before he leaves for Denmark where he will spend the year riding for Grinsted in the Danish 2nd division. Thats all for now but I can tell you that we are having very progressive talks with a very talented Swedish rider who has premier league experience and a Danish former 80cc world champion. any guesses?

I'm not sure if he's still riding. I know he put in a few good scores for Team Bikab in the Swedish 1st division in 2009 but I heard nothing of him last year. Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't Wimbledon once try to sign him in the conference league on a British Licence?

We would love to race against the Saints. We have a very good relationship with Scunthorpe who have signed Tommy Jorgensen after he impressed them whislt riding for the Vikings. I have put the idea of us riding at the EW Raceway to the Scunthorpe promotion so fingers crossed

Any rider requests? Also Team Viking will be going continental in 2011. We have been invited to ride in an international 4tt in Belgium in June

Its been a bit quiet on the Tamworth front for a couple of months but here is a quick update on whats happening.... I have been in preliminary talks with people within the sport about forming a Midlands amateur/junior league to start next year. The idea would be to run this as a 2nd half league to follow on from the main meetings. We are looking at 4-5 riders per team over 6-7 heats. I'm not going to mention who I have been talking to about this just yet but the feedback has been promising. If this league can happen the Tamworth will be one of the starters. It would be good if some likeminded supporters could put teams together to represent other defunct names of the past like Long Eaton, Milton Keynes and Crewe. If you are interested then please IM me your details. Of cause nothing is plain sailing and anyone doing this would have to find a promoter willing to allow you to use their track for the 2nd half. I am planning on an official media launch of the Tamworth Saxons to place in march 2011 possibly in the grounds of Tamworth castle where all the local newspapers and radio will be invited. Our race jackets will be sponsored by Racegear raceware from Leicestershire (please check them out on their facebook site). Finally the first rider to commit to the Saxons is Lee Geary from Hincley, Leicestershire. Lee has also been a permanent part of the Team Viking set up and will take on the role of captain for the Saxons ... or should that be cheiftain? watch this space for more details as they come

We are pleased to let you all know that Team Viking will be heading to these shores again for a spring tour next year to take place between the 1st to the 10th of April. There is interest from at least 5 national league tracks but nothing can be confirmed yet until after the conference. As we are over the same time as the American touring team I am working with Steve Evans about the possibility of another USA v Team Viking match at Newcastle. This fixture last year was very entertaining and it is one that I would like to see become an annual meeting provided we are touring at the same time and of cause as long as Newcastle agree. I know the riders i want to bring on this tour and if all agree we will have some very exciting talent on show. One rider who has 99% confirmed is Patrick Tarp but we will name the others when they confirm watch this space

I support Steve on his comments, we know ourselves from running Team Viking how hard it is to run a touring team. In the 6 years that the Dream/Touring team have been going Steve has done a fantastic job in dedicating his time to showcasing young American talent in this country and we should take all our hat off to him. Keep up the good work Steve P.s we are gonna kick your asses this time at Newcastle lol

We have known Henning and his wife for some time now so let me put the record straight here before the gossip's start spreading their stuff, Henning did not get married to an English girl so he could ride in the national league. However as no premier league promoter has given Henning a chance since he last raced in the PL in 2008 why shouldn't he be given a team place in the NL? He has lived in the UK on a permanent basis for well over 5 years, works for the local government and as far as everyone who knows him is concerned he is "one of us". Since he is married to a Brit correct me if i'm wrong but Henning is now entitled to a UK passport and citizenship which would allow him to ride in the National league as stated in the SCB rulebook. I may be accused of being biased towards Henning but I can tell you this, There is now other rider we have worked with that is as loyal and committed as "Herman" he is the unsung Mr nice guy of Speedway and we believe he would do a good job in the National League. I know the purpose of the NL is to bring on the British kids but Henning would be the first to offer his help and advise to any youngster's. We will be fighting Henning's corner on this one until we get him a NL team

Well the curtain has come down on our second season and it has been our best so far. This year Peter Juul got a premier league contract with Redcar after some fantastic rides for us on our Easter and July tour's and we are pleased to say it looks very likely that 2 more Vikings Tommy Jorgensen and Claes Nedermark will be riding here next year. On the opposite we have also arranged for our young British rider Sam Woods to spend a season in Denmark next year where he will ride for Brovst in the 2nd division. We will carry on next year with 2 big tours at Easter and the end of September and a mini tour in July. There is now a lot of interest in the team from promoters and although we are still a small set up our profile has been risen big time this year. We would like to thank all the fans for their support especially our #1 Fan John Short. We wouls also like to thank Richard Hollingsworth from Scunthorpe for all his help and advise with the team. On the managerial side of Team Viking I (kelvin) will be stepping down as team manager next season and will appoint a more experienced person to manage the team on race nights, I will still continue to organise and promote the team and maintain an active role in the background. Finally we will be holding our annual dinner and dance at our HQ "The Clock" in Atherstone, Warwickshire on Saturday 4th December - everyone is welcome! Once again Thank you all for your support and watch this space for details of our easter tour Kelvin & Sarah Lapworth

pleased to confirm that the team viking riders taking part in this meeting will be.... Jonas Messing Robin Bergqvist Jonas B Andersen Claes Nedermark Patrick Tarp Lee Geary