James Carter

As far as I know... Franky Zorn will ride for shadrinsk along with Koltatov Martin Haararhten will ride for Kamensk Uralsky Ove Ledstrom I expect will also race in Russia as I've seen quite a few FB posts of him in Russia.

Gorzow Vs Czestochowa Does anyone know the condition of Matej Zagar? Will he be back for the second leg? Thanks is advance

I wasn't aware they were the only ones interested in hosting. I think the reason Poland do so well is that they get their best riders to race. If say Denmark could get Pedersen, Madsen, NKI and MJJ to race they'd certainly push Poland close. Don't agree with the guaranteed big crowd though Bydgoszcz 2014 crowd was non existent. Although plenty turned up at Leszno 2017 then rubbish crowd again in 2018.

Agree with this 100% Just because Poland are dominant (if you can count winning in 2016 & 2017) is no reason to drop the format. Its incredible that the U21s can have a proper 4 rider World Cup but not at senior level. Looking back over the last few years of the SWC you had a pretty dominant win in 2017 for Poland but also within that match you had Antonio Lindback probably putting in the best performance of his career and also you had the amazing 2017 semi final 2 in Sweden where Latvia beat Denmark into 3rd place. No one who watched that match could have thought that the format needed tweaking!! You also had a pretty decent 2016 final at the NSS and 2015 final was absolutely amazing where Sweden won, 2015 went down to the last corner It must be getting dropped for commercial reasons. As a format i still think it works. For whatever reason the organisers cant make it work commercial so they have dropped it. Seems a shame

Wroclaw is a nice place, never been to Gorzow but heard its a bit of a dump Wroclaw track has improved this year but I still dont think its up to much. Too much of a big circle. The last match of regular season against Torun was good but the play off vs Leszno as you rightly said was pretty terrible. So many close races but very few passes I for one though wouldn't let Wroclaw have it because of the less than half full (actually probably more like a quarter) attendance at the SON. Czestowchowa & Torun would be so much better. Also like Rybnik who seem to draw a big crowd

Speaking of SGP Pit guys - who's the bloke with the dyed goatee beard? I think he's part of Hancocks crew. Has he got some sort of deal with the TV company as he is shown multiple times every SGP Glad Janowski has been fined I really don't know what his beef was. It all seems pretty tame compared to some of the Stuff Pedersen has dished out and received in the past

I think the jig is up for Holder, Pawlicki and Cook. So if you consider those 3 are replaced by the SGP challenge riders Doyle I think is protected as 2017 champion. So for me the debate would be is there any rider out there that would improve on Zagar, Pedersen, & Vaculik assuming that positions stay the same., but the same thing could be said if Laguta, Hancock, Emil find themselves outside the top 8. So looking at it would you prefer Madsen or Lambert over any of the riders named above? I think dumping Pedersen would be a bad idea as he's total box office. So for me it just leaves just Vaculik (who's on fire) and Zagar who is basically doing what he did in 2017! I think a good season in the Extraliga for Lambert in 2019 would set him up for 2020

Pedersen, BZ, Magic would be a pretty sensible top 3 but I reckon Martin Vaculik as an outsider at 20/1 would be value. Been riding really well in Poland since his return from injury Agree with others I think it's going to be a cracker

Okay I may have to tweak my hypothesis. The Poles do turn out for GPs. Honestly not having a go I just find it weird that so few people attended the SON, Extraliga riders championship and the Polish Final. Would be interesting to get a Polish perspective

I've seen every match from Wroclaw this year. It's better than 2017 but it isn't great. Woffinden rides it amazingly but it's still much harder to pass than other tracks. I think it's relatively easy to ride a fast tight line in Wroclaw and you're less susceptible to riders going for the big blast around the outside. If you look at the line Woffinden rides when in front he's more or less between grids 2 and 3 down the back straight. I'll give you the Leszno 2017 world cup big crowd (perhaps cheaper tickets and Poland were just about guaranteed winners?) but generally outside league racing there is definitely less interest. A few years back now but have a look at the swc when Denmark pipped Poland on last heat when NKI came passed JK. Handful of people there at Bydgoszcz.

Some points on the PLRC (it should definitely be called that) 1. Rubbish Track. Why would the organisers choose to race at Gdansk (probably a big sack of cash). Its like that week in week out it hardly came as a surprise.Then again Wroclaw gets a lot of big meetings and is almost as bad 2. Crowd. I have a theory based on just about nothing that Polish fans just want to see their club sides win. Poland Test matches, Polish Final, Polish Golden Helmet, SON all have terrible attendances. 3. Dudek. OK fair play to him he maximises his abilities. And like all speedway riders they put their lives on the line to race. But he really is the most boring rider to watch. Big gate and straight to the inside. I'd be surprised if he could pass a unicycle if it beat him out of the gate. Week in week outs its the same old story. 4. Formula. Top 2 through and the next 8 to semi's? I mean who thought that would be a good idea? Riders were clearly taking it easy in the last few races as they cruised through to the semi. The semi final & final formula works in SGPs because every point counts to your final total. The GB / Polish final top 6 is much better Anyway I'm glad i got that off my chest. Feel a lot better.

Did Leon Madsen win this last year?

Great insight. I wonder if also they worry that a SGP could take the gloss of the Czech Golden Helmet? However in a perfect world it would be a double header - SGP on Saturday & The CGH on the Sunday!!!

I wouldn't have a GP anywhere near Wroclaw. Its one of the worst racing tracks in the Ekstraliga (along with Tarnow) and after the poor attendance at the SON I dont' think they can make a case. Czestowchow on the other hand would be awesome. What annoys me is that every time a Speedway GP is run at places such as Prague, Terrazano, Krsko, Teterow etc you get the first 8 or so heats of rubbish racing. In that time part time viewers have turned off and the speedway myth of whoever get to the first end first wins in perpetuated and any chance of Speedway increasing sits fan base has been lost Putt the series on the best racing tracks available. NSS would be awesome as would Pardubice.

Would any rider outside the current SGP series really benefit the competition? I don't see anyone who would really come in and challenge the top 6. Potentially Madsen but he hasn't done anything in the SEC that makes you think he could mix it with the very best I think JK will do well (7th to 11th place). NKI and AL its harder to make a case for based on 2018 league form but you would hope having gone through the effort to qualify they will up their game in 2019. Obviously very talented riders who have both won GP's. Also don't forget Lindback's heroic performances in the 2017 speedway world cup where he single handedly took it to the Poles. There is a good rider under there! One last point Hampel. Got to feel for the guy. So unlucky with injuries. Hopefully he might get one more shot at the SGP

Smolinski - top man. Had a horrible look like a Brucie Penhall style stitch up

Hoping Milik can get into the top 3 not been a good year so far. Felt he was hard done by not getting a sgp wildcard in 2018 given his performances in 2017 GPs, Czech GH, Polish play off etc. Kolodziej apart from been another Pole would be a good addition though. Plenty brave enough from the back but benefits from been in that super Leszno team.

Thank You

Any score updates? Thanks

Thanks for the link to the thread. I don't get time to read them all but glad it got mentioned Would like to see Czestochowa get some big matches rather than Wroclaw

not a bad line up!!

Just catching up with speedway after holidays so this might have been mentioned. This must be one if the best speedway matches I have ever seen. Just unbelievably good. I honestly can't think of a better team match Sure the video has already been posted and linked. But if you've missed this one you are in for a treat https://m.cda.pl/video/24194340c?wersja=720p

Fair points. But what is odd is that he was still racking up big scores in Poland with the duff hand at the start of the year.

Agreed. Something must be up with NP. Not the same rider who turns out and carries Tarnow every week! Hope he gets it together as he is such a spectacular rider (and also the series bad guy) Suggestion that NKI deserves a place over NP is perhaps a bit short sighted but any suggestion that Kildeman should be riding is crazy.