HenryW

You can tell her it's actually a City in the Samarskaya region of Russia, formerly known as Stavropol-on-Volga, which was renamed Togliatti in 1964 in honour of the famous Italian communist Palmiro Togliatti, who helped to form the AutoVaz car plant in the City with assistance from Fiat. This plant is where hundreds of thousands of Lada's were made. last I read, the plant still produces around 700,000 cars a year, and was the subject of a huge takeover scandal during the 1990s privatisation years in former soviet Russia. Sorry...bit off topic

A HUGE meeting in Russia, this one. If you think the Pirates v Bess or Pirates v Eagles threads go on a bit, this one is currently at 50 pages on the Russian forum and the post match analysis is just starting It's a result that sees Togliatti stranded in thrid in the league...a rather unknown position for them recently!! In case anyone cares, a rough translation of the race details is below, although this doesn't quite tie in with the score chart shown above According to this, Havvy was hit for 5 in the brief mid-match dominant period for Oktyabrsky, when they had two 5-1s in a row. Denis Gizatullin, who admitted only racing at 90% in the team's last meeting and promised 100% tonight, seemed to deliver on that promise. He was magnificent apart from a dropped point to Havvy in heat 9 and a fall while working his way around Brhel in heat 6. The match winner was undoubtedly Tomasz Rempala who twice lost out to Havvy, but beat him once on his way to a 13 point haul. 01 Gizatullin, D.Ivanov, Brhel, Karpov 3-3 : 3-3 02 Rempala, Havelock, Bondarenko, Galeyev 3-3 : 6-6 03 Filyushin, R.Ivanov, Sidorin, M.Gatiyatov (T) 3-3 : 9-9 04 Havelock, Galeyev, R.Gitayatov, D.Ivanov 3-3 : 12-12 05 Rempala, Gomozov, Karpov, Shibankov 4-2 : 16:14 06 Brhel, Kalimullin, Bondarenko, Gizatullin (F/R) 2-4 : 18-18 07 D.Ivanov, M.Gatiyatov, Sidorin, R.Gatiyatov (X) 2-4 : 20-22 08 Brhel, Kalimullin, Galeyev, Shibankov 3-3 : 23-25 09 Havelock, Gizatullin, Karpov, R.Ivanov 3-3 : 26-28 10 R.Gatiyatov, Gomozov, Sidorin, Galeyev (X) 3-3 : 29-31 11 Rempala, M.Gatiyatov, Havelock, D.Ivanov 5-1 : 34-32 12 Gizatullin, Kalimullin, D.Ivanov, Gomozov 5-1 : 39-33 13 Havelock (T/S), Rempala, Brhel, Karpov 2-4 : 41-37 14 Gizatullin, Brhel, Kalimullin, Gomozov 4-2 : 45-39 15 Havelock, Rempala, Gatiyatov, Bondarenko 3-3 : 48-42 1 : Brhel gates first but is quickly picked off by Giza. Ivanov goes past his team mate on the final lap. 2 : Rempala gates first and spends 4 laps under heavy pressure from Havvy, but holds him off. 3 : Gatiyatov excluded for a false start. Filyushin around Ivanov on the first turn. Ivanov spent the rest of the race attacking him, but couldn't make the pass. 4 : Havvy first away from the gate. Ivanov and Gatiyatov have a good race for third. 5 : Finally the deadlock is broken. Rempala goes round Gomozova first, then Karpov follows a lap later before Karpov loses second to Gomozov again on the third lap. 6 : Gizatullin gates first, but Brhel passes him on lap two. Giza tries to come back at him but falls. He remounts and chases Bondarenko but just fails to catch him. 7 : In the first running, Ruslan Gitayatov falls and is excluded. Marat Gitayatov gates in the re-run but on lap four Ivanov sweeps around him for the win. The Lukoil boys take the lead for the first time!! 8 : Kalimullin passes Brhel on the first turn, but Brhel comes back past him on lap 3. 9 : Karpov gates but Havvy sweeps round him at the end of the first lap. Giza gives chase, but gets held up by his team mate and doesn't get a clean shot at Havvy. 10: Galeyev falls. Re-run from the gate. 11: Rempala gates first and is away. Havvy surprisingly surrenders 2nd to Gitayatov on the second lap and can't come back at him, much to the delight of the Lukoil team! 12: From the gate. 13: Karpov falls on the last turn (no mention of wheer he was!) 14: From the gate. Giza and Kalimullin wrap up the match for Lukoil. 15: Havvy gates and rempala does everything to get past, but just can't quite make it.

Indeed...Scott has clearly gained from his experience. His GP tally so far this year is ahead of his score after the same rounds last year. Gary just needs to teach him how to gate well without touching the tapes and win the races that really count....that could take a little longer

IMHO, you take a step too far when you take a pop at the legend that is Havvy, Subedei Let's be honest, there is, sadly, little chance of him actually being selected in the 5 to race for Team GB but, if he was, you couldn't ask for a more determined and talented rider to join the team. Despite currently plying his trade in the PL, I would much rather see him in the team than some of those suggested in the thread about the 5 to represent Team GB.

I'm not sure if it would be good or bad for Wroclaw to lose the GP. It certainly hasn't delivered the on track action that the series deserves over the last few years, but the City itself has a lot going for it. It's one of the few big speedway Cities in Poland that has a surplus of quality hotel rooms. Czestochowa and Leszno would both be a disaster for travelling fans given the very, very limited hotel options in both Cities. As for Togliatti...It would be great to see the series expand into Russia, just a shame that it couldn't be somewhere a little more accessible

Does anyone know if tickets are still available for the GP this weekend, and if they are, do you expect them still to be available at the stadium on the day?

OK...a little off topic as it's not Ekstraliga, but I was in Opole on Sunday* and was wondering if any of our Polish members knows of the condition of Robert Flis? He had a horrible accident in his first race when his throttle appeared to stick open out the start, and he hit the (very solid) fence straight on at full speed. I'm sure he would have wished for an air fence in that crash! I checked a couple of sites, and think that he maybe has just an ankle injury, but my Polish isn't so good, and online translators can be very unreliable! *Sorry Tommy, I hope you can one day forgive me for missing the Zielona Gora meeting, but it was just too early for me to get out of bed

I thought that would be the case, and you just weren't aware of the restrictive regulations that Ryanair put on their tickets. Still, it seems a perfect way for Fairy4ever and Nikkif to get to Wroclaw after f4e's post earlier this week saying that "despite all our great efforts we will NOT be at this one"

As this is a Stansted to Wroclaw flight, I assume it's with Ryanair. Just thought I should point out that to change name on a Ryanair flight it costs £45 per person...Are you offering these tickets for £25 per peson before or after the name change has been made? To take a loss of an extra £20 per person seems a bit crazy...and to offer them for £25 when it will cost an extra £45 per person seems a little dishonest...not that I am suggesting that you are either crazy or dishonest, just wanting to make sure that you are aware of the Ryanair flight regulations before you get yourself into a disagreement with a potential buyer!

I was going to make exactly the same reply before I read yours KJ. He gets a farewell meeting because he's saying "farewell"...It's not a testimonial where you have to have ridden for 10 years, or an anniversary meeting, it's a farewell meeting. Seeing as how old boomerang has been brought up, I would imagine that the number of meetings that he and TRick have raced in over here is probably fairly close, as Todd only did 8 or 9 seasons over here before his supposed farewell. If Rob had asked such a question at the start of the season, just after Oxford's big announcement of TRick's return to the EL, then it might have been worth taking more seriously. With it appearing at a time where him and his Oxford cronies have taken a huff with Tony, and are rubbishing him at every opportunity, it just cannot be taken seriously. Tony is one of the all time greats in speedway history, and I see no reason why he shouldn't have a farewell meeting over here if he wants.

I suspect that, unlike in the old days, BSI provide a unique trophy every year for the winner to keep. The old WC trophy always had to be handed back after a year.

Lol...It seems you were right not to trust the sportowefakty site, which was where I had seen the teamsheet. This has now been updated to show Denis racing at number 1 for Rybnik this evening. For the record, I trust subedei implicitly...

Looking at the teams for todays meetings, I see that Denis Gizatullin has been left out of the Rybnik squad again. From the few clips that I have seen of him, he looks to be one of the most exciting riders from Russia at the moment. I was really looking forward to see how he coped with the step up to EL racing. Does anyone know if Rybnik just don't rate him very highly, or does he have other commitments in Russia this weekend?

Fair enough to ignore the GPs. Wasn't aware of the switch in the Poole meeting, so it all makes more sense now. I think that a few people might be best to ignore the Oxford visit to Peterboro if recent results are anything to go by.

Do they? Sky's site list the live meetings as : Wolves - Bees. Slovenian GP. Panthers - Cheetahs. Pirates - Cheetahs Bees. Polish GP. Eagles - Bees. Bees - Panthers. Swedish GP. Cheetahs - Hammers. Aces - Bulldogs. British GP. EL Pairs.

I'm 100% convinced of your dedication towards, and belief in, Tomek's chances in the GP... Just as an aside, seeing as how I am mentioning GP riders. Someone may already have commented on this, but why was the figure of 75% of the field being GP riders being bandied around on Sky tonight? Adams, Pedersen, Crump, Hancock, Richardson, Pedersen and Nicholls don't seem to equate to 75% of the field...

Can I take this as a written caontract? I'll quite happily take you on...just send through the cash for my travel to Sweden and accomodation while I'm there...maybe expenses for some beers as well, and I'll definitely be up for it!

TBH, I'm not 100% convinced about that. The riders that did voice complaints on camera were saying that the track was just ridiculously greasy in some areas. That's surely a classic case of a little rain on an over slick surface, with nothing to soak the water up. Presumably that's was in the areas where the traditional blue groove appears around that particular track. Maybe if there was more dirt on the track there wouldn't have been so much of a problem. What was clear was that none of the riders seemed keen to sit and wait for any prolonged period of time. Given that there was dry weather all around and the meeting was started so early, waiting for 30 minutes or even an hour would have been the sensible course of action. Several people, not just Subedei, have commented on how the Swedes and Poles get these meetings on...but they also wait for the rain to stop and then start fixing the track however long it takes...There are a few GPs over the years that have been perfect examples of this, with the meetings being delayed well past start time to ensure that the tracks were ready.

Not 100% sure, as I wasn't there to see him receive it, but I think that this is a photo of Tony with his trophy from last season. If I am right and this is the trophy that Tony received...what happened to the one that was used before the GP series. The one that guys like Penhall, Gundersen, Nielsen, Havvy, etc were given? That one can be seen here in a photo with Havvy. As for the wheel...blame Ivan Mauger for "stealing" that one!

"Basic" is probably the best word to describe it. Location is quite good, very close to the town square, but I would second Rico's recommendation to check for availability at the City and Pod Orlem much closer to the date of the meeting.

I would agree that such a rule would be good to implement. As suggested in my post earlier, I would prefer to have the rule relate to experience rather than age, though. I see no need to penalise a late starter in the sport, or someone who missed a couple of seasons through injury....or simply wasn't good enough to hold down a professional team place for the first few years of their career. For example, keeping with the grading idea in the PL, a C grade in PL could be someone who has raced for less than a seasons worth of professional meetings. B grade for less than 2 seasons worth and A grade for less than 3 seasons worth. In EL a C grade could be less than 2 seasons, a B grade less than 3 and an A grade less than 4. I would suggest having a numerical figure on the number of meetings or races that roughly equates to a season, maybe 40 meetings or 160 rides per "season" rather than just saying "a season", if that makes sense. Rides might be the best way to go as then a rider doing exceptionally well and taking lots of extra races would spend less time at reserve. I would allow them to continue to race at reserve regardless of their average as long as they met the other criteria. The fact that the EL clubs would be clamouring for the best youngsters should discourage riders from staying in the PL if they were really too good for a reserve berth there. Using the rides limit would also help with this as continuing to take lots of easy races at PL level would reduce their time at reserve in EL. I expect this suggestion to be torn apart in a similar fashion to what I did to easy_tigers suggestions earlier...or jsut ignored completely cos it's too stupid to comment on

He only asked for one of the reserves to be Welsh in a Welsh side... Maybe there isn't anyone around at the moment that you rate, but such rules would encourage promoters to try and develop and invest in local young riders. That's one of the reasons that I initially liked the graded reserves idea, before they started making a mess of it with the implementation...

I'm kinda with SCB on his initial statement, but I'll cover your points one by one...admittedly rather facetiously 1: Happy to see double rides going, not so sure about the next part. Is that at any point in the meeting, regardless of scores? 2: I think you would have to look at what that did for the price being offered for the packages. If Sky didn't have an exclusive, they may not be interested in paying nearly so much, and I can't see the other big channels throwing too much cash at the sport as they don't have the airtime to give speedway live coverage during midweek prime time. 3: 45 points for the top 5! That's 9 points each! Certainly no dilution in there, as you say. 4: Is that affordable for the riders, affordable for all clubs, or an average of what's affordable for all clubs? If I want to open a club in the EL will everyone else have to pay only what I can afford...if not, it's not really affordable, is it? 5: Despite this being the one that SCB picked on, it's possibly the one I have the least objection to....It only needs one Welsh rider to be found and two Scots...not too much of an ask, surely. 6: Is that to be used over the whole season? Or can you drop riders and add riders to the squad as the season goes? If just 10 for the whole season, what happens with a team that has a bad run of injuries or make poor choices at the start of the season? Do they just suffer all year? 7: Aaggghhhh! NOOO!! This would be the first thing to go if I was in charge. No wait, double points, then this. 8: Not a very clear rule. Just heatleaders, top 5, everyone? Who gets to take the rides? Still, in principle I'm not against this. 9: 50% split right down the middle? Is that 25% for Tel and 25% for the teams? Seriously, though, surely the teams actually being covered deserve a payment for the potential hit on their crowds, no? Not sure that CL and PL deserve such a high cut of the money. If you stick with the 4 packages suggested earlier, should they not just get "what they are worth"? 10: Not convinced by this one either. I guess it goes back to the question of what is affordable. If Edinburgh had been promoted a couple of years ago when they won the league, how much of a windfall would they have needed, or how low would the "affordable" have to have gone? 11: Ahhh..There's nothing like rewarding a badly run organisation and dragging everyone down to their level. Actually, maybe I'm liking these plans, the EL club that I can run affordably will also be supported financially by every other good promoter... 12: I would rather see grades strictly determined by age and experience, rather than average. 13: LMFAO...and just how would you determine what was a bend and what was a legitimate interpretation of a rule?

Reading has hosted FIM events in the past....or at least I think it has! I have this vague recollection of seeing a WTC qualifier from there many, many years ago. Of course, the FIM rules regarding tracks could have changed drastically since then. Wasn't Ole at the track earlier in the year? Was that not to check it for suitability for the WTC...or was it just to advise on preparation for their first league meeting

I thought that it gave a good idea of just how laughably naff the former Oxford "air barrier" was....It's currently up for grabs at £5k on eBay while a proper airfence, with all the extra safety features that it has, costs £250k!