moomin man 76

Martin Haarahiltunen out of the European Championship final with an elbow injury.

I hope not - a flat, long, narrow and very boring racetrack.

Aki Ala-Riihimäki was a top ice racer prior to the millennium. I do not know his back story nearly as well as f-s-p, but he rode in the Nordic Championship pre-Covid and ended up the highest placed Finnish rider, so he has earned his place on merit. Atte Suolammi is very young, but showed promise last winter. At the moment, Finnish ice racing seems stuck between these two polar points, with the likes of Aakko having retired, Jarf seemingly not interested in riding abroad and others not able to make an international breakthrough.

Ok. I know some of it was in the UK in 2019, as bits and pieces were used by Jesse Mustonen at SoN at Belle Vue.

Nike Lunna has retired - he has steadily been selling off his Finnish equipment; I would assume the same has happened to his gear in the UK too.

The Bulls may well wish to go back to Odsal, but whether they do or not, will not determine if speedway is staged. The article is somewhat disingenuous, as any speedway staged will generate revenue for the RFL, rather than the Bulls, given that the former holds the lease on Odsal.

One of the best motorcycle documentaries made, by the late, great, Bruce Brown and financed by Steve McQueen. Around twenty years ago, a three disk dvd version appeared, in which there was some brief footage of Barry Briggs, with the admission from Bruce Brown that a lot of speedway footage was shot, but ended up on the cutting room floor.

Yes I do know that Kyle won a World Championship as a child; however, in the cold heart life of day, I also know that his official averages for 2018 and 2019 Championship seasons were as follows; 2018: Home - 2.49; Away 1.84; Overall 1.69. 2019: Home - 5.52; Away 3.61; Overall 4.54. Progress in 2019 undoubtedly, but he hasn't progressed beyond the reserve berths and the figures don't add up to someone, who could be labelled a top level talent either.

Not a problem - I am happy to be proven wrong, but since currently Kyle Bickley hasn't progressed beyond heat leader at NDL level and reserve at Championship level, I doubt he is likely to progress much beyond high end Championship level.

To be honest, after seeing the Finnish U21 Championship, the standard of riders tonight was little better, with huge disparities in ability within the field. There's little enjoyment to be gained watching Dan Bewley win a heat by more than the length of the straight. In truth, we have one rider (Dan Bewley) of genuine international standard; some promising riders e.g. Brennan, Kemp, Rowe and possibly Flint, but little else. It isn't the bumper crop of junior talent, others have been trying to make it out to be.

Kyle Bickley's reputation was built on his success as a junior, but as soon as he hit senior racing at sixteen, he hasn't been anything special. That said in both the British U19 and U21, he has been dire. Ultimately, he's a rider with good gear and good backing, but sadly it appears limited ability.

Good to watch some live speedway, but with huge disparities in ability within the field, there hasn't been much by way of close racing so far.

Hopefully the sentence he has received acts as some form of recompense, for the ordeals that his victims suffered. That Jason Varsity was a speedway rider should make not one iota of difference, in how people view him. He acted in an indefensible manner. People make plenty of mistakes in life, but equally have plenty of opportunities. Jason Garrity was given an opportunity in speedway, but failed to fully take it. Hopefully as his does his sentence, he will have time to reflect on his actions and leave prison a better person. In the meantime, I certainly will not miss his absence from the sport, which I hope he is not given the chance to return to.

All in all, the substitute list is Loktaev for his performance in the GP Challenge, followed by the finishing order in the World U21 Final. The latter was seeded as one rider per nation, hence there are riders now on the GP substitute list, who may not have even made it to a World U21 Final in a normal year. I have no problem with promoting young riders, so long as they are competitive. Sadly with the exception of Lidsey and possibly Kubera those nominated are no where near GP standard. In all probability, another one of Castagna's rubbish ideas...

A pity for Latvian speedway, but a reflection of the decline in quality of non-Latvian riders appearing for Daugavpils. Hopefully they can make Division Two pay, as on young talent coming through, they should be amongst the favourites for promotion in 2021.

Exactly, which is why Timo Lahti has appeared in the Swedish Championship riding on a Swedish licence, as well as riding for Finland in the SoN in the same year.

Sadly Andrejs Lebedevs hasn't done much this year, as a result of crashing into his own team mate (Robert Lambert) and breaking his leg, whilst riding for Rybnik. He missed the SEC (replaced by Timo Lahti) and GP Challenge through injury, so he won't be considered for a wild card.

GDP is a measure of total output per country, so on account of size of population, Russia will have a higher GDP than Poland, Sweden and Denmark. So does China, but I can't see any calls for SGP in China. Since 98% of the Russian population doesn't know anything about speedway adding an extra Russian, who has never shown any interest in SGP is not going to make one iota of difference to interest levels in Russia.

There's no chance Greg Laguta will get a wildcard. Two Russians in the series already and when push comes to shove, he disappears e.g at the GP Challenge. I'd like Timo Lahti to get a wildcard, but know he won't. Still he has the same chance as Kubera and Piotr Pawlicki - zero.

You obviously don't know much about cricket then, as the sport has been played in the Netherlands for over 150yrs. The Dutch have beaten the English twice at T20 cricket. Yes they have taken advantage of fielding players born outside the Netherlands on Dutch passports, but a significant core of the team grew up and learnt their cricket in the Netherlands. It is hardly as if England hasn't taken advantage of players born elsewhere on British passports...

Or alternatively field one rider in one heat on both days; hardly a major handicap when there is a semi-final and final at the end of the meeting.

To be honest, I would be happy if they ran it for what it is, which is the World Pairs Final. The compulsory U21 rider is a load of nonsense, which works against the aim of giving the smaller speedway nations a better chance of competing, as only a handful of nations have a rider of sufficient experience or ability.

The stadium and city were right for a speedway GP in Finland, with an 18,000 capacity stadium in a city where speedway was until the late 1980s a prominent sport with an inner city track. The municipality were also keen on the event. Unfortunately the first meeting from a racing point of view was a disaster on a track with long narrow straits. That pretty much killed interest in the second GP there and another venue bit the dust...

As Racers and Royals has already pointed out, it is hardly a big deal to get a single Russian U21 rider to Poland, to potentially take one ride on each day, when they don't even need their own machinery. Last year, Finland did exactly the same with Timi Salonen. They got him to Manchester to ride on Tero Aarnio's bikes. If you don't believe me, check footage of the meeting yourself. Having been in the pits as a sponsor of the Finnish team, the third pit bay was empty. When questioned what he was riding at scrutineering, the machine examiners were told they had already examined it (Tero's spare bike). If Finland can do it, it's hardly that difficult for the Russians with more riders to pick from and more resources. So please do everyone a favour and stick to the point, rather than going off at a tangent and moaning about Chuganov riding on a Polish licence. Hardly ideal, but there are other replacements available.

With a season of racing behind him, Luke Becker would have a real chance in this meeting, but it is a big ask on the basis of almost no competitive action this year.