RobMcCaffery

There has been in the past. Like watching at Berwick or Exeter., or Quibell Park, Scunthorpe if you go far back enough...

It's a shame. I've watched a few from Krosno in the past and while often spread out it wasn't this poor. Reminds me of Berwick. They used to track Stanislaw Burza which added to that.

This You Tube channel is also carrying it.

Another very impressive performance was from young Dane Jonas Seifert-Salk who not only rode at number one for Piraterna at Dackarna but put in a heat leader's performance with 11 from 6, including two heat wins, scoring almost a third of the Pirates' total. He rides for Slangerup at home and Opole in Poland's League 2 and was runner-up in the 2018 European under-19 championship. Definitely an energing talent, he scored a full maximum in Slangerup's league opener last month. Hellstrom-Bangs i certainly on his way, but just needs a little more stability. Perhaps the format this year might help develop some Swedish talent even if the balance is very awkward. I agree with r&r regarding racing. Malilla and Vastervik were good fun this week but racing was at a premium at too any tracks. Obviously this year's a compromise. Hopefully Bauhaus and CMore will respect this. The comments about CMore's graphics are very accurate. For the main match to have even fewer graphics than the one camera productions was unacceptable. The picture quality from Avesta was very poor, especially in comparison to Malilla. In all four matches the majority of the nominated heats had no graphics. Only on the televised matches is it possible to watch the nominations so for the others you do have to rely on the Swedish commentators. You soon have to learn rod, bla, hvit and gul....... It's expected though for the three support matches to be 'on the cheap', but not the main match. I've not been able to watch the Premier Sports version so I don't know how Dave coped but I can only recall a couple of races at best having a proper line up graphic. Earlier in the week when Adam Ellis stood in for Andrey Karpov for Piraterna on Tuesday, all graphics carried Karpov's name. These aren't complaints for whingeing's sake, just concerns, even if I am a payimg customer of ESS {Play. It's clear that graphics are being given up when matters become complicated. The whole production of the main match is way below the standard shown by CMore before their previous contract ended in 2018. As for the league, after the first week you are painfully aware that it is a compromise, with star riders coming and going, with bigger names in the squads not riding at all. It's a brave attempt to produce a season, and after all, it's speedway - better than most things you can do on a Tuesday or Thursday.

Should be adopted internationally, if Britain could afford it....

To use an old British saying "It's enough to send you up the pole", implying it's enough to send you crazy.

Any idea why Indianerna aren't using Fricke? Is it a case of sending a cheaper team in view of Masarna's weakness?

The more money at stake the less of a team sport speedway is.

We only get the Ekstraliga matches.

He's got that substance abuse case hanging over him. Must weigh heavily.

I thought we'd see something from Latvia ;-)

I just edited my post to cover him. I'm not so impressed by Drabik yet. Both haven't reached full consistency as yet and Smektala had a bad one at Wroclaw. Drabik started brightly with four wins in the opener and has posted some good scores along the way but seems rather more inconsistent. I'm sure both will rise to full star level. It's probably me but Drabik just hasn't caught my attention so much yet.

Bear in mind Smektala is in his first season in the seniors. The last riders to make such an impact in their debut season were the Pawlicki brothers and some guy called Zmarzlik....

Quite. That race for third when they're on the wrong end of a 5-1 is lucrative. Also, suppose a pair is holding second and third on a 3-3. If all four finish the third-placed gets the bonus. But, should the fourth-placed rider not finish the bonus isn't given, so it's best even on a 3-3 to make sure you get second, just in case. This is what happens when the points money becomes so large as in Poland. The ruthlessness adds edge to the racing but kills team riding.

The latest issue of Speedway Star (August 15th) carries a two page preview of the Swedish season.

The latest issue of Speedway Star (August 15th) carries a two page preview of the Swedish season.

I know that R&R will be posting his usual links to confirmed lineups for Thursday soon but the preliminary lineups are on SVEMO's website: https://www.svemo.se/Sporter/Speedway/tavling/preliminaralaguppstallningar/ Bear in mind there are likely to be a few changes. Looking at the lineups shows the potential volatility of rider availability this year when you see the team changes from Tuesday. DACKARNA - No change INDIANERNA - Fricke out, Jonas Jeppesen in. LEJONEN - Lambert, Klindt out, Linus Eklof and Rene Bach in. At reserve Casper Henriksson drops to seven to replace William Bjorling with Maksymilian Bogdanovic in at 6. MASARNA - Still using R/R. No change apart from Aleks Lundquist added at 7. PIRATERNA - Ellis out, replaced by Boberg whose place at 7 is left vacant. ROSPIGGARNA - Emil Millberg added at 7. VASTERVIK - Birkemose out, Sam Masters in VETLANDA - Maximilian Belsing at 7, in for Johan Jensen. Ljung will need to be replaced after Tuesday's injury. Of course many are trivial but there are high scoring riders from Tuesday not included. These are purely the preliminary teams and these changes may reverse by tomorrow night. As for tomorrow's TV match, predictably Masarna were led on Tuesday by Kim Nlsson (10) and Lindback (9). Hellstrom-Bangs rode seven times for paid 6. Indianerna saw Aspgren post an impressive 15 point maximum with support from Fricke on 11. The next highest rider scored five. I can't see Jeppesen replacing Fricke's firepower if that change sticks so it could be a better night for Masarna but I think R/R is a bit much of an 'ask' in the new formula. Over to R&R for the official story rather than idle speculation

My Tivo failed to record the Premier Sports version so I had to watch the CMore version. No, the outdoor studio with sprockets as paperweights hasn't returned. There were few interviews, including an English version with Hans Andersen. Did that make Premier's version? No it was all very low key with slightly improved graphics compared to the other three with names across the grid, not just in a box. It looked like a far lower budget production that CMore's past coverage. No, the whole ESS Play product is pretty much the same as last yearwith only the extra cameras and a couple of interviews added to the main match.

Sorry I was referring to Kurtz for D2. I'm surprised and relieved Ljung hopes to be back so soon. I certainly wouldn't be flippant about a rider who's just gone through a crash like Tuesday's.

Let's hope Ljung is fit. Any vacancies in D2 for Kurtz?

Having also watched all four CMore made emphatically the right choice, although Vetlanda served up the usual tepid racing . The six man format showed its weaknesses with RR leaving a blank ride in the nominated heats Running RR and so a five man team leaves little chance for the side operating it unless the heat leaders really are on top form. The gap in riding ability between both ends of most teams was stark and I suspect led to some over-riding by the young Swedes. The format's a necessary evil though given the clear problems in even filling a six man team and perhaps suggests the problems that we may had faced had our leagues gone ahead. Going through the fourth match the thought came to me "60 heats and not much going on". Well, the score was close at Vetlanda and Indianerna fought to overcome their weakness at home but it was mostly gate and go, apart from falls. Vastervik seemed to lose heart as soon as they went ten down while Masarna clearly lost heart on the way to Gislaved. That 58-32 scoreline does not reflect Masarna's true efforts since Lejoned dropped their heat leaders from the nominated heats. It was 56-22 after 13 heats. The uneven season format gifts two points each to the sides hosting Masarna, but then the same could be said for those visiting Avesta. The real beneficiaries are Rospiggarna who get to race them twice, although that's an advantage they clearly won't be needing. At least the Swedish season is up and running, if only for two months, It's better than no speedway. For those interested in seeing the whole story I really can't recommend ESS Play enough. I've already had my month's £16 value after just one night. Well, Thursday has to be better - maybe once I include that that value judgement will be more accurate.... Delighted to hear that Peter Ljung's appalling crash was not as damaging as it looked. Peter's been a good servant to speedway and deserves better. I hope he makes a full recovery. I've seen the consequences of a rider hitting a pole directly from the track, let alone on TV and that brought back awful memories last night. On the positive side, to see both Brits, Robert Lambert and Adam Ellis do so well was a true delight. It's a weakened league but you still have to defeat what's out there and they're not all Swedish kids. They both looked totally in control. Wonderful! I hope Adam gets some L1 rides in Poland. It might not just be breakthrough year for Robert.

Adam put in a top quality performance, and even in a severely weakened league looked like every inch a GP Challenge qualifier. . Congratulations to him. It was confusing watching the match with all the graphics showing Karpov and his name being mentioned in every race before Adam's. ESS Play's poor graphics seem to have survived the switch to CMore.

That's great. I'll look at the VPN option next year - I'm already signed up with Premier Sports for Poland and ESS Play for Sweden.

Sportkanalen's website shows all four matches! Three start at 1755 but at 1750 is Vetlanda v Dackarna which suggests that the main TV match. ESS Play lists all four simply as CMore, not distinguishing between CMore Sport's streaming service and Sportkanalen. I'd go for Vetlanda.

I'm sorry it stood out so badly. I meant no disrespect. I had much contact with riders and supporters from your country during my time travelling and I always enjoyed their company and spirit, not just in the bars of Leningrad. One fond, crazy memory is of interviewing Jarmo Hirvasoja with another Finnish rider acting as interpreter. Anyway, I asked the first question, but heard no Finnish. Instead the interpreter answered in English for him. This carried on for a while with a very bemused ice champion watching the flow like someone observing a tennis match. There was another memory. I was working at a Dutch ice racing meeting, surrounded by Finns. The meeting sponsor was handing out free samples of their product, a cherry cola. The fans took a close look. It was clear it didn't meet with approval. The next moment a brown, ribbed bottle of booze was being passed around. I asked what it was. I was told not to ask.... There are many Britons to whom a 200 km trip is extreme long-distance travel, especially if it's heading north from from London. Thankfully I'm not one of them. Now, is anyone capable of defeating Torun? That's excluding themselves of course.....