arnieg

But Cricket, Rugby etc only exist as team sports. In speedway the big international events are the Gp, world under-21, world cup Test matches would be held if: a) people would pay to see them - and recent experience has shown that they don't it was possible to get a credible national team in one place at the same time This is not just a British phenomenon if you look at: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/intspeedway/ which contains the complete history of speedway internationals you will see they have virtually died out everywhere (with the exception of junior internationals in Scandanavia) What we really need though is to see more GB under 21 fixtures

Long overdue win - I'm pleased for AJ. He can always pull out a couple of sensational rides using the dirt on the outside, but these often seem to be mid-meeting. He's a great rider to watch and he could easily end up in the top 3 now (he's only 11 points behind Hancock for second) Just a shame we don't see much of him in Britain these days

Loram is 27th in the Polish League averages and 24th in the Swedish averages - I fail to see how that equates with being in the best 16 in the world And Gollob has quite simply remained in the top 8 of the GP - which rather suggests that he is in the top 8 in the world (although I don't think he's going to stay there for more than another year at the most) I'd agree Loram is the second best Brit at the moment (not withstanding the fact that Lee Richardson has a higher average than him - in both Sweden and Poland!), but unless we accept the GP should not consist of the best 16 riders in the world it remains hard to argue that there should be a second Brit at all. That said if it was simply down to me to choose the 16 top riders I most enjoy watching he'd certainly be in there

Not perfect - but nothing ever is - My one reservation is the wild card. Would a Slovenian GP really still take place without Zagar as a wild card? The GP needs to make commercial sense and adding Stread or Loram to the Cardiff GP would make financial sense. Incidentally using this formula and current GP/league averages, the following would qualify: Poland: Ulamek and Hampel Sweden: Jensen and Jagus Britain: Andersen and P Karlsson Reserves would all be "Poles" too: Kolodziej (Pol), Protasiewicz (GB) and Holta (Swe) nb I 'm using sportoweFakty averages because they are all in one place and easy to find. Pepe gets the GB reserve spot ahead of Loram by 0.006. Speedway Star averages show Loram ahead of PP (because they include one more match (8 Aug @BV)

Full results at: http://www.speedwayresultat.com/2006/maste...5motala-rm.html Mellgren dropped his only point when passed by Rosen in his final ride. However by that stage a second was sufficient to guarantee him the win. It did however mean Rosen came third instead of finishing level with Godlund and Marcus Andersson. A last ride fall while leading also cost Dennis Andersson a rostrum place. Ride of the day came from Andersson first time out when he locked up on the fourth bend and dropped from second to fourth - he then proceded he pass all three of his opponents before Henrik Karlsson fell (leading to withdrawl from the meeting). Dennis Andersson also set a new 80cc track record in heat 13. Pontus Aspgren started strongly with three wins but when under pressure missed the gate very very badly - his second places in his last two rides were the result of passing opponents. Freddy Godlund won the additional prize for being the highest scoring rider under 13?/14?

I was impressed by Kling and thought he was hard done by in heat 8. I don't think I'd even heard of Jonasson before, but he made a huge impact (literally in some races given his riding style). Fast gater, aggressive racer - all he needs is a little more control and he could be sensational. Can our Swedish friends tell us any more about him?

Don't see why Jonsson NEEDS to ride in the UK. He rides against the world's best regularly in Sweden and Poland. I'd like to see him riding here but that is a different matter. Jonsson won the Swedish title on Saturday easily seeing off Lindback and beating his closest rival (Peter Karlsson) from the back in heat 20. He is clearly Sweden's top rider for now. But Lindback and Lindgren will certainly challenge him, and they have plenty of younger talent coming through (watch out for Tomas Jonasson)

am posting from Skavsta airport - wilol post more on return. But it was a fantastic meeting - 22 races, and passing in 17 of them Bet Daniel Davidsson is embarrassed Tom Jonasson was quite a sight´- one to keep an eye on. The U16 80cc meeting was fun.

However his exclusion of Jacek Krysaniek(sp) in the deciding heat of the 2001 World Cup Final at Wroclaw which snatched the title from Poland's grasp and gave it to Australia would suggest that he doesn't bow to such pressure. As it was a first bend fall it would have been so easy to go for all four back. I think it is fair to say Tony kept a low profile that evening.

How sad he produced one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen - circa 1983 guesting for Cradley @ Swindon beat Phil Crump three times mainly from the back

Yes at Lonigo MZ beat Crump, Hancock, Jonsson, N Pedersen and Gollob 3 days earlier he scored a massive 3 points conceding two 5-1s If this becomes a regular feature he won't be a popular man at Reading

And once again it has become too dangerous too use. There was even a security guard on display last night to make sure that we didn't risk life and limb by standing on the back straight!

2854 according to: http://www.zintek.net/readingspeedway/foru...p?TOPIC_ID=2570 However I have no idea whether this is accurate or not

I don't mind him being partizan, after all it hardly stopped the large Polish comntingent enjoying themselves (Poland's poor start was far more of a damper)but what annoyed me is that he kept saying tjhat: "The line-up for the next heat looks approximately like this..." No it didn't, it looked exactly like this, infact it was the line-up for the next heat

I would stick with 4 Team format (don't think that England v Finland would be much of a draw), but reduce it to 20 heats with top 4 riders riding against all opponents (that's the traditional 16 heat 4 team format) plus two reserve heats, and two nominated riders heats (one for top scorers and one at team managers discretion.. The reserves would be able to have a total of 5 rides but there would be no tac subs as it is manifestly unfair that a team in third, one point behind the team in second can use one to overtaqke the team in second as very nearly happened at Poole in 2004.

Elite League meeting at Reading costs: admission £15, prog £2.50, car park £1. Total £18.50, or £1.23 per race SWC joint ticket gives you 50 races for: admission £35, programme £5, parking £2, Total £42, or 84pence per race Given the standard of the line-ups that sounds like pretty good value for money to me. However you still can't persuade me Smallmead is a suitable venue. The 3000 capacity figure says it all, and it appears that it is the reduction in this figure which has lead to the misleading pricing change on children's tickets. My conclusion is don't blame BSI for high pricing of tickets, but do blame them for choosing such a crappy vene in the first place

So after all the hoo-hah over the back straight stand it remains exactly as it ever was. So if it was safe enough to use last night, why is it considered dangerous for a league meeting when about 28 people would stand under it?

From www.sportowefakty.pl Wyniki: 1. Matej Ferjan - Słowenia (1,3,2,3,1) 10 + 1 miejsce w finale 2. Ales Dryml - Czechy (3,3,3,3,3) 15 + 2 miejsce w finale 3. Simon Stead - Wielka Brytania (2,2,2,2,3) 11 + 3 miejsce w finale 4. Peter Karlsson - Szwecja (0,3,3,3,2) 11 + 4 miejsce w finale 5. Martin Smolinski - Niemcy (2,1,3,2,2) 10 ------------------------------------------- 6. David Ruud - Szwecja (3,1,1,2,2) 9 - rezerwowy ------------------------------------------- 7. David Howe - Wielka Brytania (3,0,1,1,3) 8 8. Mattia Carpanese - Włochy (1,0,3,3,0) 7 9. Peter Ljung - Szwecja (0,2,2,0,3) 7 10. Jernej Kolenko - Słowenia (2,1,2,1,1) 7 11. Billy Janniro - USA (2,2,0,2,0) 6 12. Laszlo Szatmari - Węgry (1,2,1,1,1) 6 13. Thomas Stange - Niemcy (0,3,d,0,2) 5 14. Izaak Santej - Słowenia (3,1,1,0,d) 5 15. Simone Terenzani - Włochy (1,0,0,1,1) 3 16. Sandor Tihanyi - Węgry (0,0,0,0,0) 0 R1. Norbert Magosi - Węgry NS R2. Zsolt Bencze - Węgry NS Bieg po biegu: 1. Howe, Smolinski, Terenzani, Ljung 2. Santej, Stead, Carpanese, Stange 3. Dryml, Janniro, Szatmari, Karlsson 4. Ruud, Kolenko, Ferjan, Tihanyi 5. Dryml, Stead, Kolenko, Howe 6. Stange, Szatmari, Smolinski, Tihanyi 7. Karlsson, Ljung, Ruud, Carpanese 8. Ferjan, Janniro, Santej, Terenzani 9. Karlsson, Ferjan, Howe, Stange (d) 10. Smolinski, Stead, Ruud, Janniro 11. Dryml, Ljung, Santej, Tihanyi 12. Carpanese, Kolenko, Szatmari, Terenzani 13. Carpanese, Janniro, Howe, Tihanyi 14. Karlsson, Smolinski, Kolenko, Santej 15. Ferjan, Stead, Szatmari, Ljung 16. Dryml, Ruud, Terenzani, Stange 17. Howe, Ruud, Szatmari, Santej (d) 18. Dryml, Smolinski, Ferjan, Carpanese 19. Ljung, Stange, Kolenko, Janniro 20. Stead, Karlsson, Terenzani, Tihanyi Finał: 21. Ferjan, Dryml, Stead, Karlsson (d/3)

Not a big fan of Middlo's (I don't think he's particularly astute tactically), but he is a good motivator and has contributed to some excellent performances in dire situations (remember Poland World Cup in 2001). Britain don't have the riders - and is that really Middlo's fault?

Because this is the standard race formula for seperating 5 tied riders. It has been used since at least the sixties (although not very often). Heat 24 is needed to produce a final ranking. Consider the position if instead of needing to find three qualifiers only one was needed.

Here's my suggestions for 2012: Current GP stars still going: Crump (if he still wants to - he's 5 years younger than Hancock who is still going strong now) Hampel Lindback Jonsson (just about) N Pedersen (ditto) Zagar 2006 wilcards: H Andersen Kolodziej Lindgren Kasprasak New young blood: Holder Saifutindov (particularly as we'll most likely be having a Russian GP) Bridger Hefenbrock Plus one from: Batchelor Simota A third Dane - Risager or Bjerre If any of the Poles fall by the wayside then I'm sure that there will be another one able to replace them (Hlib, Karol Zabik?) If there is a second Brit it will be Stead or Harris. Auty will still only be 21 and would have to do astoundingly well to be a GP regular at that age. Of course this assumes that the GP looks fairly similar to the current format - which it probably won't be.

It must have been an early experimental version of Satnav

Note the age of the 5 finalists. Youngest was Chris Manchestrer - age 32 Average age of the finalists was 41

This was a pretty jaw dropping outcome: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Presumably the host track/Belgian federation. Who got invited last year? Belgian Golden Helmet 13 August 2005 results from inspeed.de 1) Sebastian Aldén S 2) Martin Smolinski D 3) Christian Hefenbrock D 4) Zbigniew Czerwinski PL 5) Adam Pawliczek PL 6) Robert Mikolajczak PL 7) Oliver Allen GB 8) Daniel Davidsson S 9) Mathieu Tresarrieu F 10) Tobias Kroner D 11) Per-Ola Klasson S 12) Jannick de Jong NL 13) Troy Batchelor AUS 14) René van Weele NL 15) Benjamin Borgers NL 16) Eddie Turksema NL