moomin man 76

By the same margin, the Finnish SM-Liiga has been run using a 4TT format, but is a league in the truest sense of the word, as there are twelve meetings throughout the season. I would imagine this is rather more than were held in the likes of Romania and Bulgaria in the past and equally countries like Italy where the 'team' championship uses a best pairs format.

Perhaps one of the wildcards will go to Joonas Kylmakorpi given that he has been riding on a Swedish licence once more for several years and he was unable to take his place in the semi-final through injury. I don't think he would finish in the top three to qualify for the GP's next year, but wildcards have been handed out to far poorer riders over the years.

Many thanks for the links - it certainly helps fill in the 'gaps' about the development of the Soviet/Russian speedway leagues.

I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on what has happened with the Russian League, but in the relatively recent past the following teams have disappeared from it; St Petersburg - Initially to the Finnish League, but now no longer operating in League Racing. Lokomotiv Daugavpils (Latvia) - Now riding in the Polish League. Salavat + Oktyabrsky - Tracks still exist, but dropped out of the Russian League, as they couldn't compete financially with the remaining clubs. At some point, I'm fairly sure at least one of the Ukrainian clubs joined the competition, but dropped out quickly. I'm sure there are those in the forum, who have a more detailed knowledge of Russian speedway than I would be able to fill in the gaps. One thing is certain though; the league is far far smaller than in the days of the Soviet Union.

The Finnish League is still going strong. This season there are five clubs racing in the Finnish SM-Liiga namely; Sand Blowers - Hyvinkaa; Ankkurit - Varkaus; Haukat - Lahti; Porin Nopea Racing - Pori; Kotkat - Seinajoki. If in Finland, I would definitely recommend visiting a League Match. The SM- Liiga uses a four team tournament format, with a normal league fixture consisting of nineteen heats. Admission is a bargain 10 euros. In contrast to Finland, the league in Russia (as has been well documented elsewhere) is unfortunately left with only three teams standing - Turbina Balakovo, Lada Togliatti and Vostok Vladivostok.

An interesting topic of conversation. I'm not sure if there is any standard policy of allowing ex-players into rugby league matches, but my local rugby league club at Whitehaven do have a policy of allowing their ex-players in for free.

Given that Norway were essentially a one rider team (Glenn Moi), the scores recorded by the GB team with the exception of Robert Lambert were no more than par for the course. GB reached 32 points, with Lambert contributing 18 on his own and the rest 14. The experience may prove invaluable, but lets not fool ourselves. The result reveals more about the reliance on one rider and the weakness of one of the opposition teams, than anything about the ability of the rest.

Far too many weak links in Sheffield's line-up tonight. Aside from Garrity, who was always prepared to 'wind it on' and ride on the dirt line, the rest of Sheffield's line-up didn't ride to their potential. It was the first time for a while that I'd seen Kyle Howarth ride and I have to say that I am struggling to remember someone with a poorer gating technique. Nathan Greaves also needs to take a long hard look at himself. It isn't good enough to blame your lack of points on your machinery and mechanics, as occurred at the end of each heat he rode in. For Workington, it was a team effort, although Kenneth Hansen taking Stead and Berge from the back in Heat Five was a stand out moment.

Two of the teams are German 'financed' - 'City Team' and 'Trans MF Pro Race Team.' Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, both of German backers assumed that the series would be shown on Eurosport in Germany, but this proved not to be the case. I therefore can't see them wishing to be involved next year if the situation persists.

Thanks for pointing out the connection - I'd have had far less complaints if someone like Brady Kurtz had been given the first reserve place; Pawel Przedpelski was placed 10th at Belle Vue with 4pts. Even if the meeting had been run to conclusion, it would have been nearly impossible for him to have finished in the top four.

No surprises sadly - the bigger federations wield more influence and get what they want. I can understand why each of three wild cards were given places, but cannot understand why Pawel Przedpelski is the first reserve, when he was nowhere near the cut-off for qualification at Belle Vue.

As far as I am aware, the Heathens will be using rider replacement for Jack Kingston.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with your assessment of who should get a wildcard. The event is meant to be a 'World' Championship and for speedway as a sport to diversify it is too 'comfortable' to give wild cards to another Brit, another Pole and another Australian when all three countries have multiple representations in the actual event already. I know that I am biased, as my wife and her side of the family are Finnish, but Nike Lunna should be at least considered. He beat both Lambert and Kurtz last night, finished with the same total as Lambert and one more than Kurtz with arguably his easiest ride to come. It would also give the sport in Finland a much bigger shot in the arm than any further representation from Australia, Britain or Poland would give in those countries.

If they pick on reputation, Robert Lambert may well get a pick. However, with two Brits already in the final line-up and Lambert's SGP Qualifier Wild-Card, they may choose to look elsewhere. If they go merely on scores from the Belle Vue round, I think it would only be fair to give Nike Lunna a chance over the likes of Brady Kurtz. After all, Lunna outscored Kurtz and there is already Australian representation in the final line-up. On the other hand, Lunna was the only Finn in the qualifiers and did finish equal fifth tonight; plus it would add a little more diversity to the final line-up. As regards Swedish representation, none of the Swedish riders covered themselves in glory in the qualifiers. In fact, it is debatable whether Sweden have ever had a worse selection of U21 riders.

A good decision for both club and rider. If his heart is not in it, he is doing neither himself or Cradley any favours by continuing. In the short term, with Max Clegg, James Purchase and Ben Basford being able to take rider replacement rides it may actually strengthen the Heathens line-up.

Well done Adam Ellis. Here's hoping he is not the only British rider making it through to the finals!

Yes - as confirmed on the FIM's website. The riders at Lonigo line up as follows; 1) Max Fricke 2) Freddie Lindgren 3) Michael Jepsen Jensen 4) Martin Smolinski 5) Joonas Kylmakorpi 6) Nicolas Covatti 7) Bartosz Zmarzlik 8) Daniel Gappmeier 9) Patryk Dudek 10) Thomas H. Jonasson 11) Paco Castagna (WC) 12) Tomas Jedrzejak 13) Mikkel Bech 14) Brady Kurtz 15) Robert Lambert (WC) 16) Sergei Logachev 17 Craig Cook (Res) 18) Stanislav Melnychuk (Res)

The favourites are clearly those riders already mentioned. However, the track itself will in my opinion prove to be a great leveller, as not a single rider in the meeting will have any real experience of riding it apart from what they are able to gather from the practice session. I think there may well be quite a number of riders all stealing points from one another, and I would be surprised if the meeting winner went through the card with a 15 point maximum.

Nice to see the official BSPA press release, as well as the introductory page on their website, exclude Nike Lunna from all of the pre-meeting publicity for the Belle Vue qualifier; in spite of mentioning every other rider currently riding for a British club!

I don't disagree with you whatsoever. The point that I was making is that some riders, rightly or wrongly, are prepared to use their regular league earnings to subsidise their GP campaigns due to the poor prize money on offer at GP level. However, I haven't seen any evidence that would indicate that either of the Laguta brothers would be prepared to do so.

Unfortunately, I don't think that either of the Laguta brothers are motivated by anything other than money and arguably perceive SGP as a series that will cost them money to ride in.

Absolutely correct. The speedway world is becoming smaller and increasingly eurocentric. Here's hoping that any of the US based youngsters make it big in the next five-ten years and that Bradley Wilson-Dean continues to progress in the sport.

In my opinion, you could add Kai Niemi to the list. A rider with enough talent to get to the top echelons of the sport, but was arguably more motivated by financial gain than World Championship success.

It all depends upon marketing. If you are marketing the series on pure ability alone, Harris and Jonsson are well past their sell by date, but there are a paucity of options amongst the qualifiers who it could be said would categorically make the GP series stronger. Realistically, in my opinion, you could make a case for Martin Vaculik and Emil Sayfutdinov, but the latter has excluded himself by not even entering the qualifiers. On the other hand, if you were to try and market the series as a 'World' Championship involving riders from as many countries as possible, I would remove Harris and Jonsson and at least one of the four Poles (assuming Hampel is going to be fit). This would dilute standards in the short-term, but if marketed correctly it could open up other revenue streams from countries not currently represented in SGP. I would personally be comfortable with riders from any of the countries not represented in SGP - whether it was Finland, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia etc etc.

A pretty shocking day for the Brits - 4 riders in qualifying and 1 reserve place obtained. When qualifying places are allocated for next year's qualifiers, I wonder if this years and last years non-performance will result in a reduced allocation of qualifying places?