Ozrik

horsens gp lingren 50 less sayfutdinov 100 more

Czech GP Holder 40 more NKI 40 more

Dudek - 30 less Pedersen - 30 less

Thanks for the updates and excellent posts you blokes. Great racing for the sidecar Oceania and World Cup. There is still a slight gap between the Aussie teams and their international adversaries, but the gap is closing. Sidecar teams from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, USA and even France were competing this year. This form of speedway can be very exciting when closely contested. It will only continue to grow with the ongoing support of the overseas teams who make huge financial and logistical comittment just to compete. Go speedway sidecar racing.

I saw you ride at Wayville showground in Adelaide, bout 07. I still have the programme around here somewhere. I think i recall the announcer saying that Roel Leimburg was a dutch rider. Anyway, was good to see someone from continental Europe out here taking part. You really got that yellow beast moving, just off the pace of the Aussie teams. As a spectator, always good to see international teams involved. The safety has improved a lot, the new frames are more stable i think. Not like this thing, which looks like it has been put together from a Meccano set. Probably cheaper to run than 1000cc speedway sidecar.

The riders are: R - Dave Bottrell QLD B - Trent Headland SA W - Tyler Moon QLD Y - Justin Plaisted SA Dont know when.

Not sure of the FIM international regulation regarding sidecar passengers and licensing. However, i can tell you that the NZ rider Andrew Buchanan and his Australian swinger, Denny Cox are a permanent team. The American Brian Motis had Nathan McFadden (Aust.) as his swinger for the whole of the Australian campaign. Britain, Paul Whitelam teamed up with Damian Egan, a very experienced young passenger from Adelaide Aust. for his Oceania and WC campaign. As a cost saving measure Whitelam didn't bring his own bike or passenger and rode an Australian machine. Trent Headland and Darryl Whetstone are also a permanent team. Whetstone is a Brit. who has been living in Australia for a couple of years. There was a second British rider, Mick cave and his passenger entered in the Oceania and WC. Unfortunately he broke his hand in a crash in the first Oceania round at Undera and did not compete at Gillman. As you can see some of the teams are formed as a matter of convenience, or cost saving measure. These riders have fantastic commitment to bring a sidecar outfit, passenger and team across the world, especially when speedway sidecar racing is totally amateur. Australian teams visited the UK for many seasons in the 90s and 00 (and before), so hopefully it will gain some momentum. The FIM oversee the Oceania and WC meetings, so maybe the regulations allow for multinational teams and licensing.

Pretty sure this is Russell Mitchell from Western Australia, probably racing at Pinjar Park. Don't know when.

I don't know Leigh Adams personally, but the following is public information. A recent interview he said that he is staying busy building and servicing junior bikes, 125 and 250, in his home workshop. In which he spends a lot of time it seems. He also is still involved as ambassador to the GP, and does guest speaker appearances at sport and community functions. Was involved in a community march against 'ICE', (meth amphetamine), 2016 i think, which sadly has become a severe problem amongst some of our younger people. He also said he is heavily involved helping our junior speedway riders with their development and training, providing advice and experience along the way. Leigh thinks some of them have bright futures. His own son was riding junior speedway, but has now chosen 4 wheels instead of 2, and is enjoying racing Gokarts. I have attended meetings at several tracks this season and have seen Leigh a few times. He is looking very fit and healthy, and is continuing with rehabilitation for his injury. He said in a trackside interview, he is growing stronger all the time and doesn't let the injury slow him down. And i agree, he was very unlucky not to win a world title, especially given his professionalism and commitment, which was always obvious, not only during his European league racing, (yes, British League Speedway used to be shown on pay TV here), but everytime he returned home to race in Australia as well. I agree he did make speedway look easy, was great to watch, was well respected by other riders and always had a high regard for safety. Try looking for this clip on 'you tube' through Google, or whatever search engine you have. Sorry i couldn't get the link to work, type in direction below. "2007 australian solo title leigh adams the final gillman" It's a great race, shows Adams at his best. This was a track record time as well.

On the subject of unlucky riders, what about Jason Crump. 5 silver medals in the World Championship series. 3 times behind Tony Rickardson, 01, 02, and 05. and twice behind that man Pedersen, 03 and 08. He did manage to win it three times inbetween, with two other third places, once third behind Pedersen and Leigh Adams i think. Still remarkable achievement; podium finish 10 years running. And what could have been for Darcy Ward? So much wanted to see him, Woofinden, Sayfutdinov and the young Poles go at it.

Was looking forward to seeing DW take on Woofinden and Zmarzlik in the GPs.

Sayfutdinov is very talented and a real racer (hence the injuries), will be great for the GPs, should he return. Especially now that DW43 is out. Trick, as Mr Pinny calls him, was a truly great rider in his time.

KRSKO NKI Over - 50 Kildeman Under - 50

Thanks Gorka.

That was great.

Certainly exposes the lack of depth without DW43. Someone has to really step up now. Still will be hard fought series with the riders in that group.

It isn't Asian immigration that is the problem, for the most part Asians have assimilated quietly into Australia, bringing with them different cuisine, new festive and cultural occassions, a strong work ethic and a different approach to family that have all contributed to enhance Australian society. So long as the Chinese developers are not abusing the visa system, by flooding our workplaces with cheap foreign labour, then Chinese investment is a good short term boost for our economy. However we have to be careful in the long term about the amount of foreign ownership we allow. Look what Chinese investment and ownership has done to the mining sector in this country. Imo, Iron ore and coal prices have crashed, because they can now dictate through ownership of the process, the demand, and therefore the price. There are strong government regulations in place to control both foreign investment and ownership in Australia, and i know they have had trouble following the money trail to determine ownership, and where the money is comming from, as corruption is still a problem in Communist China. So i hope Australian finance and government agencies continue to regulate/legislate the situation where necessary to get on top of it. We don't want to sell the wheels off the train, so to speak. Good luck to you Pinny and hope you continue to get droves of work. Maybe next time with an Australian developer. Anyway, i am way off subject here and looking forward to more discussion about the current Australian speedway season.

Yes, there are similar sentiments here regarding immigration and certain visas being used in a manner for which they were not intended. So i understand the clamp down, and if i were honest it probably has not had a great effect on most speedway riders (yet). But there is a possibility this could have a big impact on those riders and British league racing in the future. Once again, thank you HA for your response, clear and informative, however it seems Brits are still looked on quite favorably in the immigration application process in this country as well, which is a good thing, and a situation that would not draw much argument from Aussies at the moment. But we are far removed from what is going on elsewhere.

My interest in speedway stems from my father and uncle racing what we called TQs (Three Quarter Midgets), which in those days shared the track and the pits with the bikes and sidecars. The only common ground being TQs ran motorcycle engines 500 cc. I grew to like the bikes better, and have been an avid supporter ever since. I work for a social research company and i am fortunate to talk to many people from all sorts of backgrounds, and so hear their opinions about many different issues. Even though i have not seen a live speedway meeting outside of Australia, as an Australian speedway supporter i am well aware of the importance of the British leagues in the professional careers of Australian riders. It is still seen in Australia as a privilege for riders to be accepted to ride in Britain. There remains a strong link between British and Australian speedway, and a relationship in which Australia remains the lesser contributor. On this site there is always a lot of talk about the sad state of British speedway, (that i read with interest), which has to be alarming for any true speedway supporter, Australian or otherwise. Naturally it is even more alarming to Aussie supporters, if access to the British leagues was made more difficult for Australian riders. Not necessarily from any selfish point, but simply because the fate of professional riders and speedway in Australia is so closely linked to the ongoing success of British speedway. I know Britain is trying to increase the depth and quality of their riders (among other things). So are the visa/points criteria placed on international riders aimed at aiding this outcome for British speedway? Imo, British speedway holds a unique position in world speedway with it's preparedness to give young international riders an opportunity to ride professionally; far more than the other major leagues in Poland, Sweden or Denmark. For me that adds to the interest and strength of British speedway, or is it in fact seen as a negative in Britain? Hope that clears a few things, and explains my slant on questioning the visa qualifications stipulated by your immigration bureau. No offence meant.

There is, ordinary short term and working visas available, which most young Brits would have no problem acquiring. Short term because we know most will return home when they have finished working here. Unless of course, they like Aussies so much, they decide to stay. Those ones can become Australian citizens.

Australian visa requirements are fairly straight forward imo. Foreign workers can be sponsored by a business, employer or State government agency for specific skills which meet a need in the Australian economy. Alternatively they can apply under independent visa requirements, same conditions without a sponsor. There is a 457 visa which enables foreigners long term employment(4 years) with a view to permanent residency. There is some debate about misuse of 457 visas. I dont think they are popular with Aussie workers. A 421 visa is for sports people (none of the complicated tier requirements like in the UK). You can train, compete, manage or judge in your chosen sport. There are no other qualifying requirements, however i dont know if particular Australian sporting groups set certain skill levels. No specific skill requirements or qualification for speedway riders. The debate in Australia, as is the case in many nations, is about refugees, illegal arrivals and others trying to circumvent the process.

Confirmed that Batchelor is out. Badly broken arm in recreational MX accident. Will not interfere with his British league commitments, but will see him out of the gp qualifiers for 2016. The first step for Australian riders being the Aussie title in early January.

Foreign riders can apply to compete in the Aussie title, but i can't find mention of Worrall on any of the websites. Maybe he is a late entry.

Start list for the Australian Title. Seeded riders T Batchelor S Masters J Grajzonek R Tungate J Sedgmen N Morris M Fricke T Proctor M Campton Qualifying Start list B Kurtz T King T Poole J Dimmock J Holder J Pickering B Waters J Coyne K Sproule D Ballantyne C Riordan J MacDonald J Ringwood A MacDonald J Stewart M Day Top seven places through to main title list, from which the top 4 go on to contest the gp Qualifiers. Title decided over four rounds; Kurri ...... Jan 2 Undera ...Jan 6 Gillman ...Jan 8 Mildura ...Jan 10

Of the confirmed signings so far, Elite League; C. Holder T. Batchelor R. Worrall S. Wozniak J. Garrity J. Sedgemen