PHILIPRISING

WHY ... referee wasn't Polish and plenty of people including former riders (whose views I always think have a better perspective) thought the decision was correct.

IF anyone has the time and lost the will to live perhaps they could make up 18 hypothetical teams from those currently racing in the UK without any riders appearing twice...

AGREE with that. It has often been suggested but never actually proven that it was Sky who insisted upon the current 'double tactical' rule. Now that Sky have jettisoned speedway perhaps BT would not have the same preference.

ON one occasion I stood in for Ole Olsen (doing his Danish Strictly Come Dancing thing) as Race Director at Bydgoszcz. Tony Steele was the referee. When we arrived the track staff asked how "we" wanted the track prepared. We replied: "Just do it how your normally do it." After all, this was probably the best race track in the world. Why would we wanted to change it?

HATRED of all Germans? Where did that come from and what evidence do you have? It is unsubstantiated comments like that which too often de-values the bsf and why so many people think it is a joke and a waste of time when it could and can be a source for good. And if you think all the other riders like Smolinski then your knowledge is far worse than even I thought.

AS a certain ex footballer might say on a TV betting advert ... Unbelievable!

OR perhaps he didn't want to get splattered for the second time in the evening

TRANSLATION from our Polish guy ... HOPE the following helps... --------------------- 280 km of the Gorzow sprinkler truck. How Morris prepared the track for the SGP. In big speedway there should not be people in shorts. This year SGP boss Phil Morris screwed up four of eight SGP rounds. The guy likes pouring water. The driver of the Gorzow sprinkler truck was shocked when he had a look at the truck’s distance counter. By steaming our man meant ... making it harder 280 kilometres was the distance covered by the Gorzow sprinkler truck during the two days that Phil Morris used it. It is something unbelievable, because it covers the distance of a dozen or so kilometres when the track is prepared for a league meeting. Now it has been going crazy doing more than 800 laps. On Saturday it was going since 9 am. It was pure madness. The problem of Morris is that he has soft spot for water. Obviously 280 km covered by the truck was not only watering, but also steaming, which however does not change the fact the track was soaked as never in relatively short time. Morris was glad as he was repeating the track was to shine. And so it was. The problem was the meeting was bad. Morris’s advocates say it is unacceptable to blame him for drowning the SGP. They emphasize that he was not involved in the preparation of the track for Friday’s practice session. Jaroslaw Gala, the Gorzow track curator, was believed to be fully trusted. But Gala prepared the track in such a way it fragmented (it was too dry as it was not watered enough) and riders did not want to go. And then Morris was to take up the job and tried to save the situation. One of the officials was trying to convince me the situation was that serious that the Saturday’s round was likely to be cancelled. But I can’t see any reason why Morris should be bleached of accusations on the expense of the Gorzow staff. He is the boss at the end of the day and bears the whole responsibility. If he trusted the hosts too much on Friday, it is his problem. Anyway, he took the whole control over the track and could do anything with it. And he did what he can do the best, which is drowning the surface in water. During the race-night he was running in these shorts and was supervising the track works, but the situation was not improving. It was too hard and too wet. The funniest thing is that the boss showed an utter lack of logics. Before the meeting he ordered to “scratch” the outside part of the track in order to “turn it on”. Thanks to that we saw Michael Jepsen Jensen passing our riders in Heat 1 – Maciej Janowski and Patryk Dudek. But what was “scratched” before the first round of races Morris later order to “steam” and there was no place for charges later on. Somebody asked me what were Messrs Dariusz Cieslak and Krzysztof Galandziuk doing during the meeting. Both were following Morris. Somebody even mentioned that Galandziuk was there to make the track to suit Wroclaw riders as he is from Sparta Wroclaw club. Mind you, Cieslak was the clerk of the course, while Galndziuk was his assistant. Both however were executing Morris’s commands, so trying to blaming them for the state of the track is nonsense. The best comparison would be like saying Gala was trying to make the track for Zmarzlik. I believe the Gorzow’s track curator simply trusted his own routine too much. It made me laugh when I read one of experts’ opinion that our riders did worse in Gorzow, because there was not Polish track curator there. But in Daugavpils, where we had three on the podium and the track was even worse, there was not a Polish track curator either. Let’s not create any extra ideology. It would be fairer to say our boys could not adapt to the track conditions as well as others. Well, Patryk Dudek could. Zmarzlik struggled, but he had his mechanical problems. Two others simply did not guess right. It is over about the SGP, because now the play-offs are ahead of us. I do not dare to make beats who will make it to the final. I will only write that my original bid Wroclaw v Leszno is now under a big question mark. We will have big emotions not only this Sunday, but also on Friday when POLADA will be discussing Grigory Laguta’s case. I bet there won’t be any sentence issued and the Extraleague will be scared again.

GERMANY'S Martin Smolinski is never going to win a popularity contest amongst his fellow SGP riders and he won't have helped himself with comments about Piotr Pawlicki in particular, comparing him with "a pussy footballer" after clashing with the Polish rider in Gorzow last Saturday. He says: "It is a shame the way the sport is going and it is a shame the way referees and riders are acting. We have to be role models for young kids. "It we get touched a bit and fall over it looks like we are pussy football players. It's not the way it should be. This is a real man's sport." Now, there will be many who felt that Smolinski was unlucky to be excluded by referee Krister Gardell when he clashed with Pawlicki. It was one of those speedway incidents that splits opinion. However, by effectively calling Pawlicki a "pussy" after the young Pole had carried on riding after a particular nasty crash in his first race, which most of us thought which bring his evening to a premature conclusion, will not have gone down well. Pawlicki is a SWC winner, qualified for the SGP on merit and races at the highest level in Poland and Sweden. Not that Smolinski will be bothered. He has an arrogance that gets beneath the skin of his fellow competitors and his chances of any sympathy from within the pits is extremely unlikely.

THINK you are being a bit simplistic there. Woffinden says his bikes have been easier to ride since switching from PJR engines. Not that they are faster or more powerful.

HE probably does but hates Doyle (and most if not all Aussies) with a vengeance.

ONE of many ideas but in my opinion not feasible. As you say, that would lave the Championship looking for NL tracks to move up. One league seems the most sensible solution to ensure that all tracks and riders have enough fixtures. With little or no prospect of TV income, one hurdle has been eradicated.

WHAT you suggest is probably the exception rather than the rule. Points money is the key.

THREE successive maximums in tough World Team Cup finals on the Peter Collins c.v.

NOT for the first time in his British career, Bjerre seems to be off the pace late in the season.

THANKS ... what an anomaly those positions can be when you consider that KK resumed his racing in the UK as a reserve.

SWEDEN pretty much stick to Tuesdays and from what I am hearing, not gospel of course, Mondays and Thursday would not be affected by Poland. I understand what you are saying about part-time riders but that is easier said than done these days. As you say, one big league does appear to be the lesser of all evils although the question of team strengths will inevitably be a major bone of contention if the likes of Bjerre, Doyle, Holder and Lindgren continue to race here and some, currently racing in Sweden but possibly not wanted in 2018, wish to come over.

DOES anyone know whether BV are the only Premiership team who haven't had one of their reserves move into the 1-5 during the season? Quite often that can prove advantageous in that a 1-5 rider drops to reserve and can prove to be a match winner.

THERE seems to be a consensus that Premiership tracks could operate on Mondays and Thursdays. But, if doubling up is to stop, riders especially in the top flight will need sufficient meetings to make speedway viable. That would require at least four current Championship tracks joining the Premiership. Ipswich, Peterborough (with relatively local meetings against King's Lynn and Rye House), Sheffield (Belle Vue) and one more would do the trick. But pay scales would be key if, as expected, there is no TV money coming into the coffers in 2018. It will be a balancing act ensuring that riders can make enough money to make speedway a worthwhile occupation and what tracks can afford out of their revenue.

IN answer to an earlier question from The Dean Machine.... after his performance in Mallila, when he barely scored, Doyle had a panic and acquired at least one PJR to use in Gorzow. He rode it in his first two races, didn't fare well, and went back on his Flemming Gravesen engines for the rest of the meeting. Woffinden, now using Gravesen engines, told KT that they are much easier to ride. The PJRs had plenty of power but he (Tai) couldn't use it. Also, apparently some new material was introduced to the Gorzow track over the weekend, very sandy in nature, which didn't produce the sort of racing we have come to expect at the Edward Jancarz stadium.

THAT'S true and why Speedway Star has never indulged in technical issues about bikes, engines, etc. There is no appetite for it amongst our readers although knowing which tuner is used by which rider is a snippet worth having.

TONY won't be happy with you nicking one off him

WITH you on that one

IF some of the rumours about the 2018 SWC becoming a three man team event, essentially a pairs, and possibly at Belle Vue then Woffinden, Cook and Lambert might have a chance. OF course it is, would be boring if we all agreed on everything. But it does remind me of an Ole Olsen mantra ... "I have two rules in life. One, I am always right. And two, if not then rule one applies."

SORRY not there and just watching on TV like you. I have suggested to Kelvin that he provides more info about who tunes what but he ignores me Will keep trying.