Technik

I would not be suprised to see Mitch McDiarmid miss the Championship altogether in 2027. He seems to me to be an ambitious young man, he has shown what he can do in the Championship at Oxford over the last couple of seasons & he has won a place in Northampton's Premier league team. He already has a place in the Polish system & no doubt top league clubs in Denmark & Sweden will have an eye on him.

Whilst it makes perfect sense that the lowest two averaged riders fill the reserve positions at 6 & 7 I have never been a fan of the highest averaged rider being forced to race at number 1. I understand they are the teams top rider but sometimes riders don't like to take the first race or they prefer to race with one rider over another. Sometimes a team may benefit from having their best rider at 3 missing Ht1 & Ht13. it should be the clubs choice to race their team in the order they prefer as long as the bottom two are reserves.

There looked to be a good size crowd in Argentina for the FIM/Latin American championship but as predicted very few of the riders from the European rounds. Maybe the results might encourage some of the Argentinians to venture into Europe to contest the full series in 2027 & beyond. I have to say that the safety ellament at an FIM event looked very poor with no air fence, scaffold erections next to the fence & people hanging over the fence as there appeared to be no 2M safety zone in place had this been on a European circuit I really don't think it would have started. I also notice that some of the local riders were using full face crash helmets rather than the off road & goggles type that we are expecting to see

I know in FIM U21 events riders can only represent the country that provides them with a passport. Which is why at Rye House a few years back Ricky Wells wanted to race as an American but held a New Zealand passport & was told he must race as a New Zealand rider. But riders racing for other nations has been going on for years, Ivan Mauger & Barry Briggs both from New Zealand rode for Great Britain. Mark Loram was born in Malta. John Cook from USA was Swedish Rune Holta a Norwegian represents Poland Timo Lahti once a Finn is now Swedish & of course Artem Laguta & Emil Sayfutinov SoN champions for Russia are now Polish & the list can go on

I remember Simon Wigg having a disagreement with the ACU over his commitments to British grass track & the fact that even as the current World Long Track Champion he would need to race in a number of club events to get a spot in the qualifiers for the British Masters before they would nominate him for the FIM Championship qualifiers. Simon took the choice to take out a Dutch racing licence & raced as a Dutch rider for a while. But at one meeting Simon was the winner & they played the Dutch National anthem at which point he stepped of the podium in protest.

Nothing will happen until the clubs fail to pay the riders. It won't matter how many millions of Zloty they maybe in debt, if they can put a team of riders on track each week & those riders are paid they will come back the next week. It's only when those riders are not paid or not paid correctly then the problem will surface.

I did a little research into Tom Brennans average he has an exisiting CL average from his time at Poole in 2024 of 9.05 & last season he finished with a PL average of 5.91 for Ipswich of course he will get the 5% British reduction but as to which counts & how its calculated is another thing

And he pays a kings ransom for them because he is Russian & can't bring any gold to the table

Hypothetically if your Aunt had balls she would be your Uncle.

I hear Jody Scott is trying to win a spot in Poland & has gone over to do some practice. I think he is time served in NDL but will need to carry on in the Championship for now but weather Oxford can get him away from Redcar is another issue. Of the riders that were at Cowley in 2026 I think Sam Masters & Luke Killeen will return. Mitch McDiramid I believe will drop the Championship for the Premiership & Poland Erik Riss is to much of a risk for any BL club Anders Rowe will move on Dale Wood & Daryl Ritchings will not feature in the team either. But I could be completly wrong

There was a good size crowd in Pardubice, but I sense this was only because it was part of the Golden Helmet weekend. This is a different format & it will take time for regular speedway followers to adjust. The big issue is the racers are unknown to speedway & come from the lower end of their own discipline. But the sport of Flat Track is growing.

I wonder if many of the racers in this event are considering not making the trip to Argentina as they have little chance to be champion. These guys are all self funded even the teams such as Ducati & Triumph & there is no funding or support from the organizers with a maximum of 26 points available in each event many may look at this trip as folly.

Tom Topinka became the second winner to referee the Golden Helmet after Milan Spinka

I read on the SCB website that from 2027 any rider that requires start permission to race in another domestic league (Poland, Sweden, Denmark) & holds an ACU licence must race in a British League. So assuming I have understood this correctly. Can the British paying public expect to see the British World Champion racing on the circuits of Britain in 2027. Then theres the question of where will he go. Kings Lynn is where he started & close to his family home. Ipswich now owned by the SGP owner & an SGP circuit for 2027 or maybe Belle Vue where he has won the British Title and then theres Glasgow always rumour that they might be tempted into the top flight.

It is the modern way, social media is about to be surpassed by AI & who knows what comes next I think your taking things to the extreme. The fuel is not completly frozen it is chilled below the ambient temp in a fridge or freezer. Some riders are bringing portable chiller units into the pits where the may keep the fuel or frozen air filters.