PHILIPRISING

SORRY, provincial...

UPDATE on the track building at the Friends Arena here ... http://speedwaygp.com/news/article/2866/built-for-speedway Judging by the applications for media accreditation, considerable interest in this event from the Swedes. No doubt due to the venue and the fact it is taking place in their capital city. Hope that gets reflected in the crowd.

PROVISIONAL arrangements are being made by BSI for a Media Conference in Manchester on Sunday or Monday should Tai clinch the title on Saturday. Apparently there has already been quite a bit of interest. The World Championship trophy will also be at Monmore. Will be interesting to see how Sky handle it if Tai arrives as the new World Champion. The formal presentation will, of course, take place in Torun after the final SGP round.

WAS asked to do 300 words from Slovenia by the Daily Telegraph Deputy Sports Editor but, sadly, it never saw the light of day. Hopefully they will include something from Stockholm ... but national papers in general are not terribly pro motorcycle racing in general. Peter Oakes supplies copy to a host of nationals and maybe they will start to take notice but not expecting back page leads as was the case with Lee in 1980. You are right that years ago there wasn't a central source supplying papers with speedway results which I know from personal experience frustrated the Express. They were hardly going to hold back a late edition waiting for a speedway result ...

AS someone who covered speedway for the Daily Express I beg to differ. Along with Graham Baker (Daily MIrror), Keir Radnedge (Daily Mail), Dave Lanning (Sun) and Peter Oakes (Daily Star) we were actually sent to all the major speedway events at home and abroad and afforded plenty of space even though the size of the sports sections then as against today were minimal. League results were hit and miss because by the time they were available several editions were already being printed. Provisional newspapers were also much more speedway orientated. I help organised a Press trip to the 1979 World Final in Katowice (won by Ivan Mauger) and still have the list ... there were 29 authentic British journos on that trip!

WASN'T like that for Peter Collins and Michael Lee... A BIT off topic but had dinner last week with Peter Collins and two of my long time journo mates, Richard Bott (Sunday and Daily Express) and Richard Frost (Manchester Evening News). Lots of nostalgic chat about the glory days for PC and indeed Belle Vue. Great times for Peter and us journos who were given acres of space in the major newspapers of the time. Sometimes don't think PC is afforded the credit he deserves. Apart from his World title win in 1976, his three successive maximums in World Team Cup Finals ranks as a fantastic achievement. And he never lost his humility. And, judging by his performance in a Chinese restaurant in Ramsbottom on Thursday, nor his appetite! Happy memories of an era when British speedway ruled the world both internationally and domestically. If only we could turn back the clock...

LET'S not lose sight of the fact that Croatia only has this stadium because of the Pavlic family, who built it adjacent to their business (road-building) depot on land where planning permission wasn't a problem, no noise issues and as a labour of love. It is a wonderful if vastly under-used facility but would never get off the ground in the UK. Judging by the experience of my own visits there and what we saw on TV last night, I doubt whether the stadium was 10 per cent full let alone 25 per cent. It's location, while ideal in some respects, means there is very little local population to boost the attendance, which was also a major factor in crowds for the SGP.

DIRT has been at the stadium under cover for some time... believe around 16,000 tickets sold

NOT decided yet but almost certainly a Polish venue ...

The so-called 'war' between the SGP and the European Championship is actually an internal conflict within the FIM. There are high-ranking FIM officials who do not believe that riders should compete in both. You do not get the same riders competing in both World and European championships in other disciplines but that would be much harder to implement in speedway where the riders are basically freelancers and not contracted to factory teams, etc. Also BSI/IMG pay millions into the FIM coffers which the organisers of the Euros do not. An inscription fee for a Speedway Grand Prix is almost 20,000 euros. For a European Championship it's around 1,500. Over a year that works out at 240,000 against 6,000. No wonder some don't see it as a level playing field. It is a power struggle at the moment and is likely to get worse before it gets better.

IT'S possible ...

I SPOKE with Tony Steele about how Chris Harris came to be in the meeting and he explained that it is the job of the CCP Secretary at the FIM to notify the various federations when one of their riders might or would be required to step up following the withdrawal of others. He said that the ACU received an email from the FIM prior to the Challenge asking them (as the host nation) to have riders on stand-by because it was felt there might actually be a shortage on the night. The ACU (along with the BSPA) nominated a number of riders beginning, I believe, with Craig Cook but he declined. As riders withdrew and the FIM could not provide alternatives Harris first moved up to no 18, then 17 and then into the meeting itself. Tony said that the ACU and BSPA did nothing more than what was asked of them and there was no skullduggery on their part. It does appear true that the German federation was upset that they were not given the chance to send riders but their complaint is with the FIM and nothing to do with the ACU or the BSPA.

BUT both semis were won off two including Gollob's so you can see his logic.

JUST out of curiosity TWK, in what way do you think British speedway would be different today without the advent of the SGP series, which don't forget was with us even before BSI came on the scene?

YOU and others are quite entitled to that opinion which I respect.

SPOKE to Armanda Castagna this morning and he confirmed that Per has been going through a particular rough spell for a while. He suffers badly from 'bed sores' and requires periodic operations to help. Recently he had to spend a very long period on his stomach to help elevate the problem. However, he plans to be at the GP in Stockholm in two weeks when he will be guest of honour and hopefully present the winner with his trophy, etc. I am sure he will get a fantastic reception there.

I POSTED on the Emil thread that there is nothing official about his injuries but rumours that he has broken anything and that he intends riding in Stockholm. I was told that he was very close to competing here but didn't feel quite strong enough. But, I stress, these are just rumours alkthough from quite a good source.

AND do you honestly believe that is the only reason?

WE are hearing, and I stress this is unofficial because Emil's camp are keeping very quiet, that miraculously nothing is broken and he was very close to riding tonight but didn't feel strong enough. He's one tough young kid and if he does make it back for Stockholm will underline the value of being super-fit.

ANOTHER beautiful day here in Krkso so no weather worries about tonight's event. Leon Madsen and Martin Vaculik skipped yesterday's practice when some riders were complaining that the track was generating TOO much dirt. Unusually Nicki Pedersen only did three of his six runs, perhaps that was why, but Tomasz Gollob was making lots of noise in the covered pits revving the c+++ out of his bikes which is usually a sign he is interested!

UNOFFICIAL word from the Sayfutdinov camp is that he will ride in Stockholm ...

IT is not a fee but a voluntary contribution to their early season expenses. As I have stated previously, BSI pay the FIM, as do organising tracks, and payments to riders come from them. GP riders in particular earn most of their corn through sponsorship deals, which are largely built on the back on exposure at prime meetings (GPs) and on TV. It is rumoured that Gollob, for example, picks up a six figure sum from Monster.

PERHAPS you might ask the FIM what they do with the substantial sums of money that not only BSI but also every organiser of a SGP round pays to them each year? And, before you ask, yes I have and the stock answer is that it goes into the FIM coffers but is pretty well untraceable after that.

WRONG I'm afraid ... just had a text from Tony Olsson confirming that Emil has now withdrawn...

I THINK what the FIM are saying even if it is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted) is that if you have ridden for one country in the SWC (Russia in the case of the Laguta brothers) you cannot ride for another at a latter stage.