RobMcCaffery

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.....

It's a long way in Britain. Certainly not for me after several years travelling round Europe for ice racing n the 1980s. The furthest I only got though was Leningrad, as it was then. Travel 250 miles for a drink in Britain and you'd be considered crazy. Anyway, this was a case of an off the cuff remark that has grown ridiculously, and when I see the likes of iris123 posting emoticons in response I know it's about to get nasty as usual. What is a long journey differs from country to country. An away trip to Vladivostok in the Russian League might be considered a short hop for some.

Prep for both Dave. You can always carry over the unused work for when the relevant teams do appear, suitably updated of course. Right now I'd be more focussed on the new formula and rules on subjects such as reserves, tacticals, r/r. Bear in mind your viewers are likely to more confused than you.

You are quite correct that it is unlikely that NSport would subcontract the rights, and I was not suggesting it was a likelihood, just mentioning that TV coverage was happening in Daugavpils. I've seen odder outcomes than NSport hiring an outside company to provide coverage in times such as this. OHO's coverage would need to be 'beefed-up' considerably. So, I wasn't saying it was in any way likely or certain, just that there was a very outside possibility worth monitoring. The situation's not binary, i.e. certainly possible or certainly impossible. Before the production of a certain film the term "Shades of Grey" would be appropriate. It's easier just to say definitely yes or no though...... I certainly was not saying it would happen, just be aware of an outside possibility, and certainly not this week.

I actually believe that in the long term neither Britain or Sweden will be able to justify using riders who have contracts in Poland. You are not being naive but you are missing one key point. Poland have already suggested that it will be a condition of future contracts that the rider will only be allowed to ride in the Polish leagues, apart from international events. Yes the Poles are running a tight season and can do without unneccessary risk. However we have already seen them add Fridays to the Extraliga schedule with League One mainly taking Saturdays, a day worryingly referred to in a recent interview as "formerly" being reserved for international events. NSport then announced the running ofestablished non-league events such as riders' championships, pairs and Golden, Silver and Bronze Helmet events on Monday nights, thus producing a schedule of up to nine televised meetings from Friday to Monday,with two being televised by Eleven Sports rather than NSport. When the four GP weekends occur the Ekstraliga will run on the Sunday and Monday. Okay, this COULD be just for the remarkable circumstances of 2020. However there are no guarantees thaty this will indeed be the case and Poland seizing Fridays to Mondays long-term. I read a large number of articles o Sportowe Fakty's website and while that site is rather sensational and you have to rely on Google Ytanslate you get a clear feeling that Poland's economic power could well be wielded long term so they get what they need with Britain, Sweden and Denmark herded into Tuesdays to Thursdays. There is no direct evidence yet but it doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to see it happening. We shouldn't be paranoid but it would be wise to recognise the potential problem.and prepare accordingly. The first step would be to plan for the possible need to run without riders holding Polish contracts and to reshape the international priority day system that currently limits our Premiership to Mondays and Thursdays to, in good time look at regaining lucrative Fridays and Saturdays, subject to an acceptable compromise with the Championship with a view to ending doubling-up thus allowing both leagues to run on the same night, thus avoiding the farce of teams having to change leagues at great risk just to retain their race nights. Okay, that calls for extra riders. With the UK exiting the EU sureky now is the time to lobby the government to remove many of the obstacles that currently restict the number of Australians riding here. It won't be an immediate, complete solution but it would be a significant start. An Aussie committed to a season in Britain is far more effective than another rider whose focus is on Poland and will be missing frequently. Times have changed. Time for British Speedway to change. The possibility of being dictated to by the needs of Poland could be even more ruinous than our current position. It could be the same in Sweden. Let's see how many squad members with Polish contracts actually get to ride in their league which starts in two days with an ominous silence on team line-ups when I last researched it on Friday. The money in Poland and needs of saturation TV must not be allowed to further damage the sport outside Poland. As a tailpiece, with the exception of meetings in Daugavpils Polish s[peedway fans can expect TV coverage of all league matches n all three divisions, with up to ten matches per weekend, plus regular Monday programming, leaving aside BSI events. That's saturation and might be a less beneficial long-term than you might think. If they take a hit it's sure to rebound on the other major speedway nations.

The Finns are long-distance travellers. In 1986 I was sent to Leningrad to cover the World Ice Racing Team Final. We stayed in the Hotel Pribaltiskaya which was full of Finns who'd travelled nearly 400 km from Helsinki for a night on the booze. My point about OHO Live was that they had already made the massive journey to Latvia at least twice this year and if there was a slight chance of anyone televising meetings there in the absence of NSport it might be an idea just to take a look just in case. Yes it's unlikely but they have been there and this year. Just worth a quick look just in case. A lead's a lead.

But they have been filmingthere.

They're playing the long game - making sure riders they employ only race for Polish clubs, and, I suspect; breaking the allocated international race night policy so they can run whenever they want. They're abusing the current crisis to flex their muscles and I fear the Swedes are about to see just how far they will go. This isn't about 2020. It's not about 2021. I suspect it's for the much longer-term. Money talks.

Dave, take it from someone who's done the job. albeit at a much lower level, if you delivered the perfect commentary someone will always come out from under a stone to attack. Often it's motivated by simple jealousy. You're right to research and try to get it right. You're doing a great job in very difficult circumstances, so remote fro m the action. I thoroughly enjoy your work. You avoid lazy cliche for starters. Thank you. You're doing an honest job and doing it very well. It's a pleasure to have your company for a couple of hours, although five nights a week is pushing it ;-)

Next June will be the 50th anniversary of my first speedway meeting, at Rayleigh. It's taken me half a century to learn to let speedfway get on with it and do not try to help - all you get is abuse. I'll just enjoy being a supporter. It's taken a long time to learn to say no. Apologies for trying to help rescue the Rockets.

It's okay iris, thanks to people like you I won't be troubling anyone with help. It's hard enough making things happen without having to fight off so-called supporters. As in all of my other speedway work I have been asked to do it and thanks to my love of the sport I help, without pay. I do what I can with what I have. I don't force my efforts on anyone. I leave the egotism and self-promotion to others. All I wanted to do was help Rye House but having to red postings like yours does make sure that any other requests for help will be declined. It's just not worth the cynical, nasty response you get.To be honest, as I usually am many speedway fans like you get what they deserve. I have never posted anything other than the truth as I understand it in order to help the club and help inform and reassure supporters in the face of often totally ill-informed gossip. You'll have to find a new victim. Gradually people like you are weeding out the genuine people and eventually you really will only have the real "bullr peddlers" only interested in themselves. I've been ill for several years now. Thanks for the kick in teeth for daring to try to help my club while battling for my health. Why don't you take it on? You seem to know everything and you certainly have the arrogance to do it in a way that idiots will respect. R.I.P Rockets, killed by cynics.

A Finnish channel's been covering meetings at Daugavpils such as the Latvian championship and Baltic Speedway League (in which Francis Gusts impressed). You never know if they could do a deal with nSport. Unlikely but you never know. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGiXv9EkutA87cKsN1RP_Rg

Been there, avoided buying the T-Shirt. My first two trips to Wembley were in 1973 to see England/Great Britain win the Daily Mirror and World Team Cup titles that heralded our period of dominance until the Danes took over in the 80s. Having a superb racer as Peter Collins as World Champion was delightful and England's domination (as it was from 1974) eaerned a very useful amount of media attention. It also gave me England 88 Poland 19 (17 5-s and a 3-2 after Ray Wilson fell), which was an abject bore.Only the emergence of the USA saved test matches. To a supporter like me, as I was then before getting involved more seriously from 1985 this was all a bonus. What mattered to me were the fortunes of my team, Rayleigh/Rye House Rockets. We are unlikely to return to those levels of dominance, but then it's the same for Denmark and Sweden who dominated before us. The overwhelming economic might of Poland is hard to be near impossible to challenge until the bubble bursts. We once had those crowds. They can be lost. So, having GB at the top in world speedway would only ever be a pleasant bonus. Getting my team back again is far more important.

Lodz seemed to have it all last year. Great new track plus some fun presentation - all the rider photos for TV line-ups had them in similar hats, but where did they end up? It would be nice to see their ambition rewarded this year. They've had two solid home wins prior to tonight but three straight defeats away.

I think we're all aware of the relative riding standards, but as a supporter of a tier 2 team (BL2/NL/PL/CL) for most of its existence I go for quality of racing rather than riding standards. Can a loanee be loaned on to a Division 2 club over there ?