arnieg

There were no meetings Apr 25: attempts to book an NL team for a challenge fell through and the promoters didn't fancy a meaningless open meeting May 2: team away at Middlesbrough on Thursday and Edinburgh Saturday, making a trip back to Plymouth on Friday an unreasonable undertaking (Source: Plymouth programme for May 12)

I agree here - and I have seen it happen before without the slowing rider being excluded (Suchanek for Reading at Isle of Wight) 15 April 2008 - extract from match report: That was Tim Sugar’s cue to nominate Ostergaard for a tactical ride and the Dane seemed well set to collect 6 points until his bike slowed on the back straight of the final lap, allowing Phillips through for the win. The quick-thinking Suchanek then did brilliantly to almost stop, so allowing Ostergaard to finish ahead of him and at least reduce Reading’s deficit by collecting 4 points. Referee Graham Reeve

And of course it is not unique to Britain. It has spread from here to Denmark, Czech Republic and Russia. It has also been used in the Polish league.

Disagree - I can immediately think of at least 6 better meetings (Poole v Cov play-off final, Bydgoszcz GP [not sure of year], and four other World Cup rounds) Year in year out the World Cup provides brilliant speedway - season after season it is the highlight of the speedway calender. Changing it (joker apart) seems like a very low priority. PS 2001 Race-off, 2004 Final, 2009 semi-final at Vojens and 2009 semi-final at Peterboro', and there are plenty of other really good events in the last 11 years

Sorry to hear that

Basically you have to fly from one place to another as the distances are huge. For example Perth to Mildura is further than Ipswich to Daugavpils. Adelaide (where Gilman is) to Mildura is just about driveable at 250 miles (we did it). Keep an eye out for Australian Championship dates which are usually in early January. Gilman usually has the most comprehensive schedule, infact next season's is already up: http://www.gillmanspeedway.com/calendar.asp

Were there really two rides off 15m in heat 14? If so ..... oh dear! 18.9.2 For a Starting Offence (SR 15.3.4) the Team Manager may order the disqualified Rider to be replaced by a Reserve (starting in the original position) or allow the disqualified Rider, handicapped by 15 metres on the outside gate (4) in the re-run except: * If as a result of a 2nd or subsequent re-instatement it prevents the above being complied with, the Team Manager foregoes the ability to make a choice – a Reserve Replacement being the only option. * For a second offence it is a mandatory disqualification with no replacement permitted.

May 25 Reading 22 [P Morris 8+1-3, G Sweet 7-3, L Sealey 5+2-3, M Tomlin 2-2] Arena 14 [R Pollard 7-3, R Sandford 4-3, R Ledwith 2+1-3, T Giles 1-3] nb Tomlin had a 2 min exc and was not replaced KL v Reading was awarded 30-0 to Reading - in line with the 75-0 award to Reading of the senior match. The Reading v KL Reserve League match simply wasn't ridden due to end of season fixture congestion and was not awarded at all. (Reading v KL in the senior league was part of a double header on 30 October => no room for junior fixture)

I think you must have led a very sheltered life. Haven't I told you a thousand times not to exagerate

www.aktuellspeedway.se has the most comprehensive set of averages - but is not entirely accurate. Sportowefakty are good for Polish averages, but they tend to lose interest half way through the season with other leagues and so they tend to be out of date

An absurdly inaccurate statement. The majority of races contained passes - now I go to a lot of meetings, and it's not often I can say that about the meeting. Gate 1 was a big problem, and I thought Emil's exclusion in the final a little harsh, but as always a great day out and a great atmosphere

Interesting result from Belgium last Sunday Helzoldstars - 58p 1. Jannick de Jong - 13 (2,2,3,3,3) 2. Thomas Sörensen - 9 (1,2,3,3,3) 3. Nick Lourens - 15 (3,3,3,3,3) 4. David Bellego - 14 (3,3,3,2,3) 5. Sam Woods - 4 (2,0,2,R,0) MSC Diedenbergen - 41p 11. Denis Wienke - 17 (3,2,2,2,2,6) 12. Valentin Grobauer - 9 (3,2,X,2,2) 13. Mateusz Borowicz - 8 (2,2,X,1,1,2) 14. Lucas Ziegler - 5 (1,0,2,2) 15. Niclas Fichtner - 2 (F,1,0,1) Team Viking - 31p 6. Anders Vad - 13 (1,3,6,3,R) 7. Lee Geary - 3 (0,0,F,1,2) 8. Steve Jones - 6 (1,1,1,2,1) 9. Kevin Teager - 5 (2,1,1,0,1) 10. Jez Pestell - 4 (1,1,R,1,1) Team Veenoord - 28p 16. Jeffrey Woortman - 8 (0,R,2,6,0) 17. Raymon Woortman - 4 (2,1,0,1) 18. Pascal Swart - 8 (R,3,3,1,1,R) 19. Jesper Veldhuizen - 2 (0,0,2,0) 20. Lars Zandvliet - 6 (3,1,0,0,0,2) Good score for David Bellego (a rumoured PL signing according to one current thread), a rare appearance from Jannick de Jong, our friend DGT riding... and some very interesting 'young' Vikings

Reported on Sportowefakty that it has been reported in Sweden (although it isn't on Aktuellspeedway) According to Swedish newspaper Kuriren Eskilstuna Zetterstroem Magnus runs in Saturday's British Grand Prix in Cardiff. The Swede is the first reserve this year's cycle. "Zorro" is to take place in these professions Artioma Łaguty . The experienced Swede, due to start in Cardiff, will not participate in Thursday's match Allsvenskan League. Łaguty reason for absenteeism is probably the lack of a visa to Wales.

and fans... When Phil Crump and Anders Michanek both won their home legs in 1975 the deciding leg was scheduled for Poole. A coachload of Racers fans travelled down to cheer on Mighty Mich. But in the opening race both riders fell with Crump excluded. Anders couldn't take his place in the remaining races so Crump won the next two races by default and Racers fans had barely glimpsed their hero. I hope the following match was good. This was my original choice - the photo of Richard with wearing the Golden Helmet is the one photo from the book that I had printed and framed

For reference Ht 14 was won by Joe Jacobs in a time of 60.2 There were three second half races, all involving Heeps, Hopwood and Strudwick (Niall). The first two finished in that order with Hopwood beating Heeps in the final one. Robert Lambert also did two sets of demonstration laps, and was actually faster than Heeps

Leicester's fell again last Saturday Ben Barker ht 1 62.12

I should point out that as I've seen him ride (as a 13 y-old doing demo races with Shawn McConnell at Industry) I probably had an unfair advantage

Sko to rhyme with Ho or low

Sko-pell-etty?

Not quite the point I was making. The sponsorship system is one by which individuals are allowed to work in the UK at the discretion of the UK Government. They could easily change the rules (and indeed there has been much noise [largely hot air in my view] that they are being tightened).

I think the really important point is that even if we do want to see more Aussie's riding here, bending the rules for someone like Cam Heeps has a significant risk. Another Tyson Nelson style debacle could lead to the British Authorities tightening the rules further. The immigration authorities could take the view that the BSPA is incapable(!) of policing the existing rules and tighten them further preventing many riders currently here from riding. [Only EU riders have a right to work here]

Indeed, this was a long way from being the worst Grand Prix. Prague is always one of the least exciting GPs, but there seemed to be less gate bias than many of the previous gate and go fests we've seen in the Grand Prix. Biggest plus though was the addition of Jan S to the commentary team And congrats to Greg

Loktaev was listed to ride for Holstebro last night, and I was looking forward to seeing him. Still he obviously can't be in two places at once. Loktaev and Tsukanov are both Russian with Ukranian licences aren't they? Not sure what that does with work permits, but I must admit I was surprised Bondarenko got one (but he has ridden quite well). Certainly Loktaev (who is only 17) is worth keeping an eye on

And tonight he was even more impressive with 16 in the Supaliga at Grindsted, including a victory over Kenneth Bjerre Visitors Holstebro won 42-41 in a last heat decider. Needing a 3-all in ht 14 Andersen and Patrick Norgaard were heading for a 5-1 when third placed Henning Bager fell on the last bend of lap 3. Bjerre (who was last at the time of the stoppage won the rerun, thus depriving Norregard and Andersen of their second victories over Bjerre. [Norgaard beat Bjerre from the back earlier in the meeting] While Bjerre top scored it was Bager who impressed most for the home team. But Kroner was truly woeful. Andersen and Norgaard got 16 each leaving very little required of the remaining riders, which was just as well as Graversen and Gapinski [apparently an 'A' grade rider] made very modest contributions. Have to say Jonas Andersen had escaped my notice previously (I see that he rode in a couple of Vikings fixtures on British tracks). Looked very professional - good from the back on Saturday and sharp from the gate tonight. He's 18, and this was his first double figure score in the Supaliga, while Saturday's was his first maximum in Div 1 (and neither on tracks he's ridden regularly)

The C & D grade riders weren't really competetive. After a very warm day in denmark the track was heavily watered and this may have disadvantaged some of the less experienced riders. Saw Michelsen again today - he got 10 from 4 as Midtjyllands won at Vojens in a Div 1 match. Vojens' Jonas B Andersen was the star with a 15 point max - including 3 wins from the back. MSM 46 Vojens 43 Outrup 19 Holstebro 12