arnieg

But if Bjerre is selected to ride EVERY match that is rather academic. And Bjerre is a heat leader with a 100% appearance record in the 2015 Extraliga. Tarnow tracked exactly the same top 5 in every match last season - except for two June fixtures when Leon Madsen was out injured. So the existence of squads is academic. KB will expect to be available for Poland every Sunday when there is a fixture.

My mistake. Presumably he'll be moving up to 500cc heats in the German Team Cup in 2016.

Won't Ethan Spiller still be too young next season? In which case there is only one Spiller to draft in

Always very interested in these efforts. The big problem is that inputting all the data can be time consuming, and there are always various anomalies. Dolgin's rankings are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18wvOs1SUYAz9O50h3xcKFBNzceM7HtRnAhwaLMKHFD0/edit?hl=ru&pli=1#gid=0

Interesting article here: http://www.przegladsportowy.pl/zuzel/ekstraliga,dwa-zuzlowe-kluby-bez-milionerow,artykul,632055,1,984.html It lists 2016's top paid riders for each Extraliga club as: Unia Leszno 1.7m zl Nicki Pedersen and Emil Sayfutdinov Unia Tarnow 1.3 Janusz Kolodziej Sparta Wroclaw 1.5 Tai Woffinden, Macej Janowski KS Torun 1.4 Greg Hancock and Martin Vaculik Falubaz Zielona Góra 1.6 Jarek Hampel Stal Gorzow 1.25 Niels-Kristian Iversen? ROW Rybnik 0.95 Grigory Laguta GKM Grudziadz 0.99 Tomasz Gollob (remember just under 6zl to the pound)

I think that last year's low points limit in the NL meant a larger than usual batch of riders promoted from the MDL to the NL (some before they were ready). So it is hardly surprising that a smaller cohort of riders is ready for NL this year. Top 4 riders in 2015 MDL averages who do not have a team place or have not had substantial NL opportunities are Lee Geary, Andy Mellish, Sam Ward and Jeremy Pestell. Of those only Sam Ward is under 30 I think the slight is entirely imagined. Besides there are still a few vacancies for 3 pt riders.

So now it looks as if the question is how did Westerberg get introduced into the debate?

The Star includes a photo of the other reserve Jack Biggs, but no sign of Crutcher or Westerberg. So the big question now is what is the earliest source to mention Westerberg as reserve?

Most puzzling. All the printed sources I could find (Astorias 1958, Loaders, Dobruszek, and those already cited) show Crutcher. S Star 28 Sept 1957 actually has the following on the back page: World Final Gossip by John Hyam (!!) "Bearded Brian Crutcher, although only first reserve and not called upon to race, took a very keen interest in the racing. When Barry Briggs headed Ove Fundin in the run-off for the title, Brian was amongst the first to congratulate the New Zealander." Crutcher rode twice in the days preceding the final without suggestion of any fall or injury. Online: http://www.historyspeedway.nstrefa.pl/indms.php has Westerberg http://www.speedway.org/history/57.htm#1957 is silent but strangest of all wikipedia has Westerberg but cites Bamford and Shailes (who have Crutcher) as its source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Individual_Speedway_World_Championship In 1957 Ove Fundin (reigning champ) was seeded to the final and 5 riders qualified from each of three 'semi-finals'. Olle Nygren was absent so 6th place (in the European Final) Dan Forsberg took his place, promoting 7th place Westerberg to the reserve position. Westerberg's career highlights include twice runner-up in the Norwegian Championship, and a little bit of history, he was a participant in the first ever World Team Cup meeting (the 1960 Nordic Final at Odense) And Like Norbs I have a fully completed programme with no mention of Westerberg.

It's only a few years ago the rules were changed to allow NL teams to 'own' riders. As I recall that change was universally welcomed - I can't recall a single objection (other than those to do with the whole principle of ownership and transfers). So what has changed? What is the problem this change is seeking to rectify? What is the rationale for the suggested change? Who is behind this proposal?

I think the racing is every bit as dull as most of its critics would have you believe. Without hesitation I'd rate it 8th of the eight EL tracks for racing.

As it has been

So what happens if it rains in Poland and all the matches are rescheduled for the following Saturday when Leicester are riding? What if the pound falls against the zloty and all the Poles decide to up sticks and return home? Having any more Poles is extremely risky. But then beggars can't be choosers.

I think it is worth observing that Sweden's World Final allocation was reduced over the years as their national standing declined (by 1984 just Jan Andersson got a place). Presumably the same thing would have happened to Britain, meaning only 2 or 3 home riders at a British staged final if we were still using the same model, not 4 or 5 as suggested in the original post.

But anyone with the requisite intelligence and a knowledge of the sport would know that the position would be a poisoned chalice to be avoided at all costs. And if anybody actually wanted the job you would have to doubt their sanity.

Seems very unlikely. The top non-Danes riding regularly in the DSL this year were Karpov, North, Kylmakorpi, Lahti and Lampart. Wouldn't be Karpov as Holstebro ride all their home matches on Fridays (and in 2015 he was riding in the Allsvenskan on Thursdays).

Not sure that's true. 2013 injured missed entire season 2014 6.49 average in DSL (Kenneth Hansen (2014) and Ulrich Ostergaard (2015) are the closest comparisons) 2015 retired

That's his 2012 PL greensheet of 9.22 less the standard 8% deduction for missing an entire season due to injury.

Given that Nicki has already signed for Lejonen, Leszno and Holsted this is a perfectly reasonable line of enquiry. Just how many riders rode regularly in Sweden, Poland, Denmark AND England last year (not to mention the SGP and SEC)?

Vostock to Mega Lada is just a short stroll, over 5,000 miles (assuming no short cut through China and Mongolia!) ...and Balakovo is even further from Vostock

Looks an attractive one to me with plenty of potential for improvement.

Lakeside 13 Belle Vue 26 Leicester 38 Poole and Coventry over 100 C'mon you're letting the side down. Let's at least have some speculation...

Welcome back

Kent may not be the best place for a meeting that often has multiple re-runs and tends to over run

Do you mean the rider with a BETTER away average than Andreas Jonsson, Chris Holder and Matej Zagar? Excluding fast trackers only five riders finished above Andersen in the away rankings.