HenryW

This one seems to have been about done to death, but I thought I'd put my tuppence in. For what it's worth, I think that Chris Holder should have been excluded from the semi final, and I think the ref did take the easy option of inviting all 4 back. However, I don't actually think that decision changed the destination of the title. Nicki simply wasn't on the pace on Saturday and I find it hard to imagine that he would have delivered the results in the semi and then final that he needed to take the title from Chris. It gave us a little bit of drama and controversy, which is always good, while the best man of the year still walked away with the trophy...That isn't a bad result for the sport, is it?

Nicki.

Hmmm...Let me see, 36 riders are needed for the SWC main events. 16 are needed for a SGP. It doesn't take a genius to work out that some who race in the SWC wont get a place in the SGP series. Harris is sounding more an more pathetic with every comment he makes. He had two shots at qualifying this year. He failed in both. He should bow out gracefully and sort out his pathetic mechanical setup and work on qualifying back into the SGP on merit. If IMG think that a Brit is needed in the series, they should ask Andy Smith to make a comeback. He probably has the best record of qualifying out of the Brits

It's maybe worth clarifying that despite Craig's earlier twitter update which I mentioned, he hasn't actually been to hospital yet. He just thinks he has broken ribs and will be visiting the hospital for x-rays tomorrow.

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. Craig has stated on twitter that he has broken ribs and his season is over.

Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere but, if it's not, I thought it was worth offering congratulations to Robert for his 2nd place in the German U21 championship at Gustrow. He took Marcel Helfer and Valentin Grobauer to a 3 way race off for the title, but fell just short of being the U21 champion for Germany. The race off can be seen here...

I actually just saw the news on the twitter feed from Darija Pavlic.

Don't see it mentioned already here, but Watt and Lindback have both withdrawn so Kildemand and Buczkowski take their places.

I'm not sure you could say anything for certain until after the Gorican qualifier. Those riders may be most likely. However... Would Jarek still receive a place and make it 5 Poles if Kasprzak, Miedzinski and Walasek all qualified? Would Ward still get a place and make it 5 Aussies if Watt and Batchelor both qualified? OK, both those scenarios are unlikely, but anything can happen in a one off meeting....

Indeed, all that I have been told suggests that it's just the final meeting positions that determine the league points....and that came from one of the managers at the meeting tonight, so I would hope he would know better than the TV company, but who knows

Andrei Karpov and Alex Loktaev are both Ukrainian and racing for Holstebro tonight.

My understanding of the format is that league points are awarded for tonight's match as 4-3-2-0. Heat scoring is as normal, but the winners of the meeting get 4 league points, 2nd get 3, etc. Basically that means that Esbjerg have to come last in the meeting with Fjelsted winning for anyone but Esbjerg to win the league. Hope that helps.

http://speedway-league.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Final-Four-2012.pdf

Would that be the same Leszno that lost home and away to Zielona Gora this season? A fantastic fightback from Falubaz today. It's just a shame they gave Gorzow such big lead early on.

Harsh words towards Bjarne there, but who am I to disagree

I think I agree here. AJ only got a chance to make his 2nd place last year due to 6 races at Bydgoszcz in 2010. Before that final round in 2010, I think I am safe to say that he was NOT getting a place in the 2011 series. It will be interesting to see whether his 2011 blip in form will gain him a place in 2013.

I recently made my first trip to Leicester and I think I came away with the same thoughts as you. They have got a great little setup there with fantastic facilities for a new venue....and yet the track is, erm, how to put this politely....All wrong! It just seemed like such a waste of a great opportunity to me. Everything else has been done well, but the most important thing, the track, was just all wrong for good racing. Such a shame.

Do you enjoy feeling "outraged"? It seems like you maybe do. He called the ref a "tosser"...Oh no!! What a horrendous word to use! How will civilisation ever recover from such a disgraceful word being used on live TV? I think it was clear that Nicki actually chose to keep his language relatively respectable when he was interviewed by Brando despite what he was feeling inside. He said much worse before the interview....So.... If you want him banned for his language, what about banning the TV cameras from a round? What exactly did the director expect when he got his TV camera shoved in the face of a rider who has just found out that he has been excluded and his World title challenge has suffered the loss of a point? They knew exactly what they would get, and they got it. Despite Nigel's regular apologies for language, they want that. I do agree that it was a little unsavoury of Nicki to not seem to care about the health of his fellow competitor, but I can probably excuse that when the adrenalin is running high and he has just been cheated out of a point.

I think you'll find that Edinburgh's number 1 in the averages was standing in the crowd last night, so I don't think your number 4 beat him

Be careful, Dave....I need to do something special for that birthday, and a trip to NZ might be the thing...You might find yourself buying me a beer, and you didn't put any limit on the size of that beer. so if I do make it over, I'll have a 50 liter keg, thanks

March 23rd next year? That would be my 40th birthday! Is it unreasonable to hope that the speedway community might all pitch in and pay for my flights, hotel and tickets for the GP as a birthday gift??

By leaving on Friday and not racing in Edinburgh one would assume

I thought I had seen it somewhere...Sportowefakty reported he was the choice last week. http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/306288/jonasson-z-dzika-karta-w-malilli I wonder if he is maybe the Swedish federation choice but IMG are considering someone from another Nation, and that's why it hasn't been announced by them yet.

Hasn't THJ already been confirmed as the wild card. I thought I had seen that somewhere.

He's the highest Brit in the averages of each of the 3 major leagues. I think that gives him a reasonable claim to being the top Brit.