moomin man 76

If they were so determined to field a 'select' team, rather than solely a Czech team, they could have done a lot worse than asking Martin Vaculik to ride and label the team 'Czechoslovakia.'

Including Matej Zagar as part of the Czech team may make their line-up stronger, but it reduces the credibility of the event in my opinion, as one team is now a 'best of who's available line-up.' If the Czechs weren't able to field a strong enough team of their own, they shouldn't have been included in the first place.

I'm surprised no one has considered Kalle Katajisto. I know that he hardly covered himself in glory in his last season with Edinburgh, but his scores in the Swedish Allsvenskan League and in Finland in the past year would be worthy of consideration. In addition, to the best of my knowledge he lost his team place at Rospiggarna before the start of the season through team changes and no fault of his own, so aside from his Finnish commitments he should be available.

Its good to see the participation of the Estonians in the Kaupunkki Cup this year. Success should not be measured solely on points scored. Exposure to riders of a higher stature will no doubt help develop the Estonians, to the point where hopefully they can enter a team into the SM-Liiga in the years to come and individuals into the World Championship/European Championship qualifiers.

If that is case Philip and I have no reason to dispute the validity of your statement, then BSI and the FIM are poor judges, not only of rider ability/potential, but of the mood of the public. Chris Harris never convinced in all the years he was in the GPs and as I type, he doesn't even have an average sufficiently high enough to be in the Top 15 of the watered down 'Elite' League.

The gradual downgrading of the British Final over the years has simply reduced the level of interest for both fan and rider alike. Unfortunately, no rider can really hope to gain much by way of sponsorship for the title of British Champion, so prestige alone is all the riders are riding for. For most, that is simply not enough. At least the offer of the GP wildcard offered some form of short-term incentive, but at best now a good performance might get a place in the GP qualifiers for the following season, from which you cannot qualify for the GP's until the season after.

The organisers would also have to do something seriously wrong, not to attract a higher attendance than the numbers of spectators present at Ullevi last night.

Indeed, there's good racing on show, but sadly not enough spectators in the stadium, or I suspect sufficient viewers at home after the poor start to the meeting.

For all those doubters who wondered whether a GP in Tampere/Tammerfors was viable, they would have to try pretty hard to get a worse crowd than that inside Ullevi tonight!

If this is true, I for one, will be absolutely delighted! It'll be nice and easy to get a Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Tampere; take the service bus from the airport to the railway station, before walking a shot distance to the stadium. I can't wait!

The only Polish rider, in my opinion, who has deserved a testimonial for services to British Speedway was Adam Skornicki. Never the most talented rider, but someone who showed commitment to whichever British club he was contracted to. Unfortunately, the same cannot be applied to Krzysztof Kasprzak. Testimonial meetings should not simply be awarded to those who have happened to intermittently appeared in British racing over a ten year period.

On paper the Lonigo semi-final looks the easier, with a number of qualifiers from the Debrecen qualifier, which was significantly weaker than the other qualifying meetings. Is it not beyond the realms of common sense, to allocate riders equally according to known form? It is equally patently unfair that Jurica Pavlic has metaphorically 'two bites at the cherry.' Effectively, he can finish in any place in the Divisov semi-final and be guaranteed a place in the race-off at his fathers track at Gorican. If he were then to qualify for the GP Series after previously being eliminated, which is conceivable in my opinion, it makes a mockery of the whole qualifying system.

The dominance of Polish riders at U21 level is very similar to that achieved by Russian ice racers. Unfortunately, neither is healthy for the long-term future of the sport. At Under 21 level it is sad and unfortunate that riders are not even prepared to enter the qualifying rounds, as they know that they will not have sufficient backing either from sponsors or from their federation to allow them to compete. This is where the Poles have a distinct edge over everyone else.

Now that makes things interesting! Finland's hopes of qualification have taken a boost with that news.

This qualifier looks rather tight to call. Aside from Italy, who will probably end up as also rans, you could conceivably argue a case for the United States, Slovenia and Finland all qualifying. For personal reasons, I hope it is Finland! Unfortunately, whoever qualifies will end up as make weights in the Poland v Denmark v Russia round. In contrast, the quality in the other qualifier appears poorer and whoever qualifies ends up in the easier GB v Australia v Czech Republic round. Luck of the draw? It is certainly unfortunate, as the United States and Finland in my opinion could if given the chance beat the Czech around Kings Lynn.

In an age where the phrase 'legend' is banded around with unnecessary frequency, Posa really deserves such an accolade. Happy birthday and congratulations on yet another Swedish Championship success.

What a pity for Finland! An excellent performance from Antti Aakko coupled with a below-par performance from Mats Jarf. With a stronger contribution from Mats Jarf a silver medal was arguably there for the taking.

Many thanks for the informative post. I was wondering if the gap in performance was due to talent aone, or a combination of talent, backing from sponsors and available ice team? The mild winter this year has certainly not helped. For instance, I was in Espoo/Helsinki at Christmas and the weather was little different to the UK. However, do any of the western riders have sufficient financial backing to be able to compete with the Russians? Am I correct in thinking that not so long ago, Franz Zorn had backing from Red Bull, while further into the past Jarno Hirvasoja enjoyed backing from Finntech? Do such sponsorship opportunities still present themselves? I guess the reason I am asking these questions is that in my opinion for ice racing to expose itself to a wider audience it needs a greater depth of talent outside of Russia. In years past, when I was younger, one of the greatest sources of enjoyment that I gained from ice racing was the possibility of the unexpected happening and a non-Russian winner emerging; such as Jarno Hirvasoja and Posa Serenius.

I was wondering if it was just my own perception, but by looking at the results over the weekend, it almost appears as if a round of the Russian Supreme League is of a higher standard than a World Championship meeting, which I find rather saddening and disappointing. Reaslistically, at present are there any other riders aside from Antti Aakko and Harold Simon who can actually compete with the Russians?

Does anyone actually have a definitive list of who has qualified? It hardly seems credible that those who have qualified for the GP Stage seem to be decided in smoke filled rooms. In addition, if the Russians are permitted eight riders in the qualifying rounds, there should hardly be an arbitrary quoto of only six being allowed to qualify for the GP Stage. The non-Russian riders who are good enough will still qualify - e.g. Aakko, Zorn. Those who did not obtain a place by merit through the qualifying system are rather unlikely to be contenders in their own right.

Good luck to Jan O in his new role. I'm sure that his experience will help benefit each and every rider in the Heathens line-up. Ommer Em!