HenryW

Yes, you are correct Iris. Next years World Under 21 Championship is scheduled to be run as a mini-GP series. There will be the normal qualifying rounds, but the final will take place over 3 rounds, provisionally listed as being in Gdansk (July 11), Daugavpils (August 7) and Pardubice (September 18).

He actually turned 18 in August but, either way, he's got a few more shots at this title!

I think Darcy has a few far more impressive scalps this season than that pair...Nicki Pedersen, Greg Hancock and Emil Saifutdinov being a few of them. He is clearly an exceptional talent and has a very bright future in the sport if he can keep on progressing at his current rate. As far as which league he races in over here next year, I don't think it makes much difference. Either way it'll just be a bit of extra track time. Returning to the Extraliga and getting a contract for the Elitserien will be far more important to his development unless there are some drastic changes to the leagues over the winter.

There hasn't been a guaranteed place for the World Under 21 Champion since the 1998 Championship when Robert Dados received a place in the 1999 SGP series. For the next few years the winner was given a place in the GP Challenge final before even this idea was abandoned around 2002 (I think). Emil had to win two titles back to back before he was offered a place in the SGP series!

If only he had learned not to touch the tapes in his first race...Two years in a row he has done that!

Well, clearly they didn't need him, or they would have signed him! The fact that they have, as you suggest, stronger squads without using the "GP star" surely tells you all you need to know about how good he is over there, so I think the original comment about him not being good enough is perfectly valid.... Bydgoszcz may have been interested if he hadn't been a GP rider, and his pay demands were relative to his scoring potential, but I'm unconvinced by the other teams you mention.....Does the fact that Wroclaw preferred to sign Nicholls not tell you exactly how good Bomber is over there? BTW: I am especially pmsl that you think Zielona Gora might have signed him!

Look at the way the match went last night and how ridiculously lucky Zorro was... Then look at how ridiculously lucky he was to even be there in the first place... Then look at how poor his league form is compared to Holder.... I'm guessing that's where the op was probably coming from....

Are you certain about that? I don't recall Leszno or Torun beating down his door, and both of them could have signed another GP rider for this season.

:blink: There is no Russian in the meeting!

Not looking good for Antonio's chances as PePe returned to the track today and delivered a sensational maximum as Falubaz ripped apart Bydgoszcz. Antonio looked far from a GP candidate with his performance in the match.

Is that really such a concern? Hans and Scott showed what it meant to drop the Elite League this year.... Yes, the very top riders can afford to ease back, but the aforementioned two gave a valuable lesson to others considering this approach!

The IPL is the Indian Premier League for Cricket. IMG definitely wanted to continue with the rights and are, I blieve, considering legal action over what they believe to be an illegal termination of their contract. The contract has been handed to Sony instead. IMG made a lot of money out of the IPL, so I'm not sure if it's this loss of revenue that Humphrey is suggesting has significance to the SGP.

Yeah, SCB....but £25 to see the legend that is PePe back on a British track is worth every single penny

From what I got from the statement, a referee is the one with the final say on whether a match goes ahead or not. For failing to take to the track when the referee declared the match was on, the riders and clubs have been punished. However, the referee failed to follow the administrative requirements in this situation, so he too has been punished.

The Poles don't hang about when it comes to something as serious as speedway. Decisions on the punishments have already been made and there are no suspensions for the riders. The punishments handed down are: 3000 PLN fine for each rider refusing to race. 3000 PLN fine for each club per rider who refused to race. 50,000 PLN fine for each club (suspended for 6 months) The managers of each club have been suspended for 1 month. Referee, Marek Wojaczek, has been suspended for 3 months.

Or maybe PePe would have won....He wasn't at home on the track during his first 4, but neither was Tomek, and look what he did in the final race. I'd agree that the Aussies lost it, tho, and I'd say that Boycey's decision not to call on Sully was the key factor, NOT anything that happened on track.

Yep. Was shown from 15:00 to 18:00....guess that doesn't help anyone that missed it tho

Answering just the title of the thread...NO. If you think Charlie is the worst ever, you have clearly forgotten about Jane Omorogbe. Personally I think that Charlie, after a shaky start, is actually one of the best, if not THE best, that Sky have used.

I think he does. It's definitely Adam Skornicki that's 8th in the Ukraine averages on the linked page!

You can search for train times in English on the Polish railways site : http://rozklad-pkp.pl/?q=en Gdansk to Bydgoszcz usually takes a little over 2 hours.

Sorry, but would that not be even more ridiculous? Imagine a situation where a rider takes ill during the match and you then have to witness the farce of a team going without a rider despite them having a reserve standing there watching!

I agree entirely. Emil knows how to ride a speedway bike to get the best out of it. You just need to look at the race with him and PUK tonight where he got the bike straight out of turn 2 and leaned back earlier despite being on a ridiculously tight line inside PUK who thought he was already on the line. However, from what I have been told he also knows exactly what he wants from his bike, and can give great information to his crew, which has to help a lot. The rest of the Russian team just lifted their game tonight. Denis, Gaffer and RoPo were doing what they do best....I don't think any of those guys looked particularly fast on the track, but they were working their strengths perfectly tonight. Sometimes it's not just about the bikes....it's about what the lump of flesh sitting atop it does with it!

That was the important part that you left out earlier. The lack of a comment like that was what seemed out of character.... As I said earlier in the thread...I was shouting at the TV for Greg to close the door and hang Nicki out, and I was kinda happy that he DID do that, but as soon as I saw the replays and it was clear that Nicki had been hurt I was feeling bad for asking for that...

Not convinced that they actually DID use their best 5 tonight. However, I would agree that Rico should be in the team for the SWC....If he isn't in at Leszno (if we make it) then Lyon deserves a slap! As for Scott...He is having a howler of a season and I don't blame the boss for leaving him out. His form in Poland suggests that he isn't worth bringing back if we reach Leszno either.

Are you drunk SCB? That seems slightly out of character from you!