HenryW

Really? Zero points from 3 rides and he was unhappy about being replaced?

That's a new one on me....Race stopped due to a rider hitting the tapes on the 2nd lap

That race taken by Hans was actually a double whammy tactical joker. He replaced one of their worst riders AND took double points against their bottom 2. Seems a bit of a cheap way to gain points.

Must be 10 down to use a joker. Only one can be used in a match by a team. Regular old style tac subs can be used when 6 down.

Pawlicki is indeed looking good, although he looked pretty dreadful in Sweden last night! I guess there is a bit of a difference in standard in the opposition though!

It looks to be pretty much in the middle of nowhere http://maps.google.com/maps?q=holsted,+denmark&hl=en&ll=55.465086,8.913088&spn=0.010693,0.033023&sll=35.101934,-95.712891&sspn=52.990733,68.818359&t=h&hnear=Holsted,+Denmark&z=16

Can't take credit for the original posting of that link. Wish I had taken the time to copy out the format and make a prog for today...My memory isn't good enough to remember who scored what in each race, especially not with an unfamiliar race format. Is that a vote of support for Nigel Pearson I hear there?

Not sure if anywhere has live scorecard up....but as suggested before, you can see what the format is from the result sheet of the previous match this season: http://speedway-league.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/500_05_01_2012_OSC_GSK.pdf

Don't worry, they are working hard on that as we speak. Test systems are in place for phone coversations, but natural language and accents are still causing a bit too much trouble.

If it's league you are after: Extraliga http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/enea-ekstraliga/kalendarz Liga 1 http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/i-liga/kalendarz Liga 2 http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/ii-liga/kalendarz

Very strange. You just don't see Greg making mistakes like that!

Possibly Pawlicki came in for Rosen in 4 Dudek came in for Larsson in 5

Yes, those are roughly the sums involved.

Yes, that was the singer from "My Riot" who were performing on the stage behind the back straight after the GP and being very enthusiastically greeted by the locals. I guess they were there due to the Monster tie-in and they are also scheduled to appear at the Gorzow GP.

Are you sure you are checking the train schedules for the correct Lipno? There is a town called Lipno that is South East of Torun, about 200KM from Poznan. It sounds like you might be getting train times for that, rather than the one that is just North of Leszno. Edit - I meant to say that a quick check on the train schedules suggests that you want "Lipno Nowe", which would take about 1hr 5minutes from Poznan Glowny train station. It's the last stop before Leszno on that route.

D - engine failure/retirement W - excluded U - fell

Keep Nicki and get rid of Tomek? Yeah, that would have been popular

That seems like a fairly harsh exclusion for AJ.

It's a fine question. I accepted the chat about rider number being the decider without actually checking the rules, but after checking them I can confirm that the current SGP regulations still state what Neil said....However, I do definitely recall it being said that dead heats were no longer to happen in the SGP (and I thought the same applied in the Polish league). Could it be that the refs have been instructed to NOT declare a dead heat despite the regulation still catering for them??

I couldn't quite work out from the translation whether he was or not. It seemed to suggest that he maybe wasn't going to race...Either that or the fans shouldn't expect anything from him, as he is basically starting his career over again after so many years of injuries. Online translations don't always work well though. After all, the Torun site's message for today was translated by Google to "Merry Christmas"

Exactly. That was the problem in the events that I have seen where the transponders didn't give correct results. They were placed in slightly different positions on the bikes, and obviously not on the front wheel, so they didn't quite get it right when a big slipstream pass was done coming to the line, with a significantly higher speed to the rider coming from behind. The slight difference between front wheel and transponder location was enough to have them clearly wrong when you saw the replay. I would say that close finishes are more common in speedway than most other major motorsport disciplines due to the short races. Personally, I think having proper timing systems and being able to offer lap times for comparison between riders during the race would be really interesting, but I am a bit of a statto

I think you are right, there was definitely a dead heat declared in one BSI meeting, I can't remember whether it was SGP or SWC, but t was after that season they abolished them. Clearly easier to update the rules than their graphics software Not strictly true. If a meeting reserve or a stand-in for an injured rider is racing, the wildcard has a lower number Whilst I don't disagree that they should use transponders, they aren't perfect. I have seen races that have been declared contrary to what the timing system said in either MotoGP or WSB, as it was clear from replays that the transponders didn't give the correct result.

Leszno always seem to manage to get one of their own in as the wildcard... With them having returned "home" for 2012, I would have thought that one of the Pawlicki brothers probably seems the most likely choice.

I thought I had already explained why Nicki should still be there at the moment, but maybe I wasn't clear. Nicki proves week in, week out in the toughest two leagues in the World that he is a genuine top level rider. He finished 7th in the Polish League averages with two non-GP riders above him (Sullivan and Protasiewicz. PePe opted not to compete in the series in 2012. I am unsure if Ryan was offered a place or not.) I don't have a link to the final Swedish League averages, but by August he was 5th in the averages with the only non-GP rider above him being Grigorij Laguta, who doesn't want to race in the SGP series next year. Comparatively, Janowski was 11th in Poland and 36th in Sweden. Maciej has his chance to go through the qualifying rounds to reach the GP series just now while he is struggling to match Nicki's performances week in, week out (he was eliminated at the semi final stage in 2011). IF he was to fail in those efforts again in 2012 but found himself outperforming Nicki in the league competitions, then I would expect him to be considered ahead of Nicki.

The type of riders you refer to have a chance to go through the qualifying rounds and maybe get lucky on the night and join the series even if they aren't at the top of the World. Others have done it... Without wanting to knock the guy, the issues of single match qualifying rounds were proved by young Artem in 2011. He romped through the qualifying final in Vojens defeating riders like Lindback, Lindgren, Kolodziej, Zetterstrom, Jonasson and Harris. Once he got into the series he was completely outclassed apart from one round...at Vojens. He clearly loves the track there and can compete at the top level on that track, but none of the other GP venues. It maybe wasn't so much of a problem in the one off final days if it went without a big name or two for a year due to a mid season injury or bike problems in a qualifying meeting, but a 12 round series needs the best to be there, and a rider's form across a whole season is surely a far better way to judge than one off meetings.