HenryW

If that thought even crosses his mind, I'm sure he'll dismiss it after thinking back to what happened to Jason last year! A good performance from ZG today, although Gorzow were always going to be up against it with Nicki missing.

Over the past few years Gorican has been used for a round of the GP Qualifiers. As well as the already named Harris and Holder, Kenneth Bjerre raced in a round in 2008. Gorican also gets used quite often for training, I think. For example, the Gorzow club went there for a training camp before the Polish season started this year. Tomek was definitely in attendence, and I guess Nicki probably was too.

As usual, you will be able to get links from here: http://www.soccer-live.pl/transmisje.php?id=motorsport

In all honesty, GB probably hasn't been a genuine force since about the late 70's or very early 80's, but it has got much, much worse in the last 10 years. Let's not forget that in the mid 80's we were pretty hopeless as well...84 and 85 there was only one Brit in the World Final. It got a bit better for a few years after that, but in all honesty the guys involved were not genuine contenders. Tatum and Wigg flirted with the best, but were never quite good enough. The only other one in that period that seriously got into the mix was Cross. The others, despite making World Finals were not in the top bracket...As evidence of that I offer up Thorp, Knight and Evitts to name but three... Having said that, we always had someone who could mix it with the best even if they couldn't deliver consistently over a season. The only year since the late 70's/early 80's that you could genuinely say that we had a consistent winner was 1992, and Havvy just shone for 1 year and then fizzled out. Since the early 2000's we haven't even had a contender. I actually think that I have suggested on here in the past that I would like to see something similar. The current 15 rider field with 1 wildcard is just not big enough. The short period where they used 24 man fields in the GPs was much more interesting as you got to see some different names making an impression. There are probably about 5 or 6 riders are that are truly, consistently, better than the rest. Then there is a group of maybe something like 15 or 20+ that on their day/track can match the best, but can also just as likely be hopeless. Limiting the field to 15 isn't the best. However, I can certainly see issues with the format that you suggest. Just to mention 2 issues... How do you decide who gets to race on the Friday? I can imagine about 20+ Poles wanting to be involved in that match for a Polish GP... Is it sensible to run the pre-qualifier on a different track? For example, before Leszno you hold a round at Zielona Gora and get someone like Walasek or PePe coasting through, who offer very little on the actual GP track but are a specialist on ZG track! Not 100% sure of your point here, so I am just taking a guess that you thought he was criticising this situation...I don't think he actually said that, and he may very well not have meant that...He may just have been expressing some surprise at how well the Aussies were training up their kids to get into the league. The recent success of Australia, Poland and Russia at bringing through young riders is something that British Speedway should really be looking at. Especially in the cases of Australia and Russia where the domestic scene for pros isn't exactly great, but they are finding and training the talent...

I know it's a little off topic, but looking at the current state of Brits in the SGP, how amazing is it that back in 1999, just 1 year before his title, with 22 permanent riders rather than just 15...Mark Loram DIDN'T get a regular place in the series because there were already 3 Brits in there... Oh how times have changed...

I took my figures from a Polish site. They almost agree on the details for Harris with the site you linked to, but credit him with 1 less race and quote averages including bonus points. If he has taken that extra race, his average is 7.90 including bonus points!

Care to explain what format you would like to see that take? Just a shame for Scott that no UK Elite League tracks are used in SGP, eh? However, while comparing their placing in league averages.... In Sweden...Scott 51st (5.64), Chris 17th (8.00)

Nah, surely not. If Kolodziej had scored a point there would have been no need for Antonio to have sat back and waved Zorro on to the front, so Lindback would have probably won heat 20 and the meeting

Last I checked he was 2nd in the Polish league averages, 4th in the Swedish league ones, and reached the final in his only GP this season. It's a bit harsh to say that he isn't ready. A rider from any other nation with those credentials would be an absolute guarantee for a pick.

As soon as they got on the back straight on the first lap it was clear that he had bike trouble. I'm not sure if you watched the rest of the meeting, but he only made the gate once as far as I can recall and did plenty of overtaking. Just because he was 3rd on the first lap is kind of irrelevant when you are talking about a guy who was passing people for fun round that track tonight (not to mention that the 3rd would have been enough to get him through).

I think it's harsh to say that he can't perform under pressure. He missed out in a close run-off which he would never have been in if he hadn't had mechanical troubles in his final race of the 20 heats.

Why? His bike failed in his final race. Hardly him failing under pressure.

Little Artem must be kicking himself for that crazy charge out to the fence in heat 8. 3 wins and a last behind Simon Stead of all people...

Karpov can be pretty entertaining at times from what I have seen of him, but does like to hug the inside. He races for Rybnik in Poland, Hammarby in Sweden, Holstebro in Denmark and Chervonograd in Ukraine.

I'm watching on Sopcast channel 56947 and it's been pretty good so far.

I am kinda torn here...I think that Chris has had his chances and failed far too many times to get given another gift, but I also think that he is the best that GB currently has to offer. So if BSI HAVE to give a gift to a Brit next year, then Chris should probably get one, but it's just getting ridiculous that he has needed them every year. Last year was surely particularly humiliating for him....He gets given the Final on his home UK track (where any complaints about Ole track preps are irrelevant) and still ends up 5th, when only the top 3 get a place! I REALLY hope that he can deliver in Vojens, or it will just look silly if he gets given a place again... Having said that, I think that Chris probably IS one of the top 15 in the World if you exclude Leigh Adams (which probably confirms that I think he is the 16th best rider in the World just now ) but he needs to prove that in Vojens!!! Purely based on entertainment value, I would hope that the top 3 in Vojens are Kolodziej, Harris and Laguta, with Iversen as my backup if any of them fail. Sadly, I don't think that entertainment value will come into the equation at Vojens

No great shock, but they are currently predicting rain for Saturday evening in Vojens...I wonder if they just check the speedway schedules to determine the forecast for that area

Those figures make pretty grim reading for Polish speedway. Excluding Krakow, who didn't race last year, the only club to see a rise in attendance over the same period in 2009 is Daugavpils. Admittedly it's been a bad year for Polish speedway, with the fixture list being thrown into confusion by the tragic plane crash early in the season and some dreadful weather, leading to a lot of re-arranged fixtures. However, some of the drops in attendance are quite frightening and will surely have had a massive impact on the accounts of those clubs. For example, Rybnik are down by 52%, Poznan by 50%, Bydgoszcz 45%, Torun 43%, Gdansk 43%. Even league leaders Leszno are down by 15%. In the Extraliga, Wroclaw have stayed the most consistent, going down by under 1%, but they already had pretty bad crowds last year!

You could always just watch the crash on youtube

How much more do you want? He apologised to Emil personally immediately after the incident as they left the track and then again apologised for the accident when speaking to the press.

When asked after the match about the protest, Max said that it was Hougaard's privilege to protest his engine, but his equipment has been checked several times already this season and he was confident that everything was within the regulations. It seems strange that Hougaard would say he wanted to protest and then not go through with it. That just sounds like a man who was looking to make excuses for his own failure in the match. The championship is nicely set up for the final round...Just a shame we have to wait so long for it. Is the link for part 11 correct? It doesn't seem to work for me

Strangely, this interview wasn't shown on the live coverage either, even though Pearson made mention of it...I think Sky were actually on an ad break when the interview was done.

I suspect that they haven't, as the Russian language doesn't have a "w" sound. So unless the Laguta name originally comes from outside of Russia, then it's unlikely it should be pronounced Waguta. On the meeting itself, it should be a cracker. Let's hope the rain holds off

Gafurov? Great little entertainer, but I don't see that happening somehow. For an "unexpected" qualifier, would Leon be a bad shout at Vojens? I think that they could leave him out quite easily... Honestly, what has he offered the paying public for the last 10+ years in the series? I am struggling to remember anything that he has done that excited me for many, many years. I could understand you questioning it if he represented a market that had value, but I don't think that the USA currently has any value for the series, so why would they have a problem waving him goodbye if he doesn't make the grade? Greg has given great service to the series over the years, but I really can't imagine him being someone that they would be desperate to cling on to...And, quite frankly, if he was wanting to continue after finishing outside the top 8 this year, I would lose any respect that I still have for him,,,,

I could be wrong, but I thought the ref always had the option of kicking a rider from every meeting.... However, I think it's a little harsh to say that "Gollob rode like a nutcase"....Gollob rode how he always races, but he made 1 minor misjudgement. I am maybe reading it wrong, but I think he expected Emil to go for the outside of Bjerre rather than trying to cut back to the white line. Yes, it looked like a crazy move, and could have cost him everything, but if you consider the split second that he has to make a judgement on what to do, it's not so hard to imagine getting it wrong now and then. It doesn't detract from the poor fortune for little Emil though....gutted for him. The race with Rune was surely all that Rune could have expected after racing with Tomek for years. The race with THJ was quality. Both gave and took some hard drives inside them....quality stuff from both of them.