HenryW

I think this year was probably the best chance with the crazy weak GP Challenge and him being nominated straight into the final...but he blew it pretty quickly

We know Nicki doesn't like what is in the contract, and I can understand why he doesn't like it, but that doesn't necessarily make it a restriction on trade. He is still free to compete in any league in the World that he wants to, other than a Polish one. The Polish league isn't forcing him to skip those other leagues or telling teams there that they need to pay them for his services. They are just saying that if he wants the money they are offering, he can't race in so many leagues and risk injury so many times. Maybe Nicki will choose not to sign an Ekstraliga contract for 2021. We shall see.

And as others have pointed out, the permanent riders in the SGP aren't necessarily the best 15 in the Polish league. When talking about the standard of a rider in a Polish league team, it seems more reasonable to me to consider what they actually do in the Polish league rather than individual competitions. Averages say that Laguta did much better in the Polish League than the two highlighted. I take your point about his age, but there have been a few that have kept their stadard up beyond that age in recent years. Funnily enough, Mikkel Michelsen also finished with a higher average than Doyle and Lindgren last year...So maybe Lublin have better league riders than you give them credit for.

They have a rider who finished 8th in the averages...in an 8 team league. And this makes him a better than average third heat leader? There must be a fair few teams missing a number 1 and/or number 2 if everyone below him is at 3rd heat leader level.

Not just Kasprzak but Pawlicki as well. Both of them were way down on what they are capable of this year. It's possible Grudziadz could be much better than expected if they both found their form again. I agree with R+R, though. I think ZG will be joining the battle for the basement, and I say that as a Falubaz fan. The top 5 isn't looking like it will be spectacular, and they don't really have anything too threatening in the U21 places so far...

I thought Kildemand was expected to be joining Gniezno. Has there been a suggestion this isn't happening after all?

Torun are looking to get Mark Karion to join fellow young Russian Pawel Laguta in their squad.

He has now been confirmed in Gdansk.

1,4,6,7 and 2,3,5,8 is what is used in the SGP, I think. The numbers you suggest would make the 2nd semi "easier" as everyone is lower in the standings than semi 1, and so is actually a disadvantage to the one leading the scoring into the semi finals. While I am replying here, I'll also ramble about the streaming service that was provided by Berwick for this meeting. YES, there were problems. I'm not sure how the electrical problems led to the planned youtube stream being abandoned and a new one being set up...That, obviously caused a problem for a lot of people that were waiting on the stream starting. Some of the camera work and production was far from great...The camera on the start straight was definitely placed too close to the track to really be useful mid race, and some of the camera changes seemed excessive, but that was possibly as a result of the realisation that the placement of what would normally be the "primary" camera on the start straight was sub optimal. On screen graphics showing results and scores that others have complained about weren't really a big miss for me. The commentators told me who was in the race and I could check updates sites for current scorers. As a regular "tv viewer", the only thing that I really missed was replays of major incidents....but I didn't get them from the Belle Vue stream that I paid for either, and everyone seems to have been whooping up their coverage... Ultimately, I got the chance to watch a meeting from Berwick, which didn't have the best track conditions or the most even field, that I wouldn't have been able to watch without this stream being provided, and I was grateful for this opportunity to watch despite the problems. I didn't donate before the event as I wasn't sure if I would be able to watch or not, but at the end of the night I decided to donate more than I had originally thought I would...NOT because I enjoyed the greatest speedway meeting, but just because I got the chance to watch a speedway meeting that I wouldn't otherwise have seen and with no obligation to pay for it, and I appreciated that. The general theme here seems to have been that everyone felt ripped off...I GENUINELY didn't. I'd just say thanks to Berwick Speedway for letting me watch this meeting live.

There have been many serious accidents in 6 man races over the years. There have been many serious accidents in 4 man races over the years. Not sure what your point is and how you would determine that the extra 2 riders on the track were actually the cause of the accident.

What is the reliability of these testing kits? If they are 100% accurate then it's a great idea and all is good, but I suspect that wouldn't actually be the case... What level of false positives would be acceptable at a meeting where a rider or multiple riders get prevented from racing due to the failure of the testing kits rather than anything they had done wrong?

I'm pretty sure that I am the reincarnation of someone who went to the very first speedway meeting ever held....regardless of where you define that to have been. Is the thread over?

I can confirm you missed nothing (although you've probably worked that out from the subsequent "races")

It seems a little harsh to say that he was "woeful" this year. He didn't really get a proper run this year in Poland...What did he do? 10 races across the season or something like that? He was in a team that was set up with a good number 8 and often got replaced in every race...In a different team he might have had a better season. I feel kinda sad to see him retire. As you said, he was a bright hope at one point and hasn't delivered on the expectations, but more that that, it's esentially another Country lost to the sport. Croatia basically have no-one racing now.

Indoor like the ones they did in the 80s on concrete? SoN on a tiny concrete oval....That's the sort of thing that Castagna would probably sign up to

It's just another failing of a horrible competition. To me, pairs meetings are rubbish for fans. Even if everything runs properly, as a fan of 1 Nation I am spending more time NOT watching MY team than watching them. That's rubbish. The SWC had my team involved in every race. Can we just admit that this was a flawed attempt to stop the perceived domination of one Nation, which has led to the domination of another Nation, and go back to the far better competition that we had before?

WHY are you still asking about this? Elite sports people and their support team do NOT have to self isolate in the UK.

Well done Russia.

If they don't get to heat 21 anything done after heat 14 will be ignored in the final standings, I believe.

It's fun to look back at these old videos and compare them with modern times....Lee would have been warned for the ridiculous jump start in the first race of his that they showed and then he would have been excluded with his jump in the second race of his they showed. If he had even still been in the semi final after that exclusion, he definitely would have been gone for tape charging there... Also, much as I love the old Dave Lanning commetary..."It's a very even break" he says, and then tells us Betzl has been left....How is that even when one of the two title contenders is waaay behind the other But, the main thing that I wondered about during that video, as it's something that I have often contemplated when watching these old videos...What were those people typing about behind Dickie Davies?

I'm fairly sure that Orwat is already 21.

I thought Lambert was being rumoured to be heading to Torun rather than Gorzow. If all your rumoured teams come off, there's not much left for Zielona Gora. They could be in some trouble.

That would presumably see one of the Holders become available. Unless I have misunderstood things, they can't fit all 3 Aussies in with the rules for next year.

Even with 50% allowed it seemed a strange choice.

Didn't the FIM do away with dead heats in recent years? Edit - Apparently not. The SGP rules still mention them.