Bavarian

Thomsen is top class tonight.

Gorzow are doing much better than expected ! Very entertaining match so far.

Just now Leszno v Gorzow Heat 5 was a great race !

But even if a match ends 60:30 it does not necessarily mean that the racing wasn't any good.

I enjoyed watching the Polish League meetings tonight. Much better than having to watch Snooker or Tennis, which is shown instead of speedway on the German Eurosport. They never show Polish League speedway here in Germany. Neither do they show the SEC, not even now with so few other live sports during the Covid-19 crisis.

Nico Covatti (= Italo-Argentinean)

Tarnow is a poor team, they have no chance at all against Torun.

Przemyslaw Pawlicki is really off-form this season. But Grigory Laguta in vintage form again this year. He should be in the SGP series.

This crisis is becoming quite disastrous for most professional sports. Polish League Speedway can survive with the 25% capacity crowds plus all the tv-money, but professional speedway in the UK is doomed.

Tony Loader's International Speedway Annual of 1991 has a meeting report (written by Dave Wright) with the results and point scorers for this meeting. NORTH ISLAND SOLO CHAMPIONSHIP December 29, 1990, at Gisborne Awapuni Speedway hosted the North Island Championship with 35 of the 38 nominations contesting a series of qualifying heats staged in dusty conditions the same afternoon. The North Island title again saw David Bargh take control, while Auckland's Chris Martin appeared impressive, as did Michael Long and recent returnee Nathan Murray. Hard-riding Gary Marsh gave an entertaining Performance, in heat 2 giving Geoff Tompkins and Richard Davidson a few anxious moments as he fought a Titanic battle between himself and his machine, while in heat 13 the bike won the fight, slipping from his grasp on the pit bend. Expatriot Brit Graham Wedlake too gave Tompkins a rough time. Wedlake having a rush of blood on the pit turn and bringing the Auckland rider down heavily. Tompkins was taken from the track in the ambulance. Luckily, little more than severe bruising resulted from the incident which also ended Wedlake's night. Bargh and Martin, level on maximum points after taking four rides each, met in heat 19, and a thriller looked on the cards as all four riders entered teh first bend together. However, Bargh emerged in front, and cleared out to a big lead over Martin, taking the chequered flag, and the title with an effortless 15 point maximum. With the dust eventually settling as the meeting progressed, the track was generally regarded by most riders to be near-perfect. Scorers: 1 - David BARGH (3 3 3 3 3) 15 2 - Chris MARTIN (3 3 3 3 2) 14 3 - Michael LONG (2 3 3 2 3) 13 4 - Nathan MURRAY (3 3 2 1 3) 12 5 - John ROBERTS (2 2 3 2 2) 11 6 - Gary MARSH (2 2 2 0 3) 9 7 - Steve ETCHERS (2 2 0 1 2) 7 8 - Darrin WILSON (3 1 R 2 1) 7 9 - Greg FISHER (1 2 1 0 2) 6 10 - Michael WILSON (1 0 1 3 0) 5 11 - Phil BARAKAT (0 1 0 3 1) 5 12 - Rob CHAPMAN (1 1 2 0 1) 5 13 - Richard DAVIDSON (0 1 2 1 R) 4 14 - Barry FREE (T 0 1 2 1) 4 15 - Geoff TOMPKINS (1 0 1 F N) 2 16 - Graham WEDLAKE (R 0 R X N) 0 Res. 17 - Paul CORRIN (0 - - - - ) 0 Res. 18 - Gavin ELBERS (R - - - - ) 0

Grindsted also withdrawn from the Superliga for this year, but will be back in 2021

John Hyam has written about Antti Pajari at the Online Speedway Museum http://www.speedwaymuseumonline.co.uk/anttipajari.html

o.k., let's wait for Ghostwalkers response then

o.k.

O.k. then it will probaly be the top six in the Playoffs with 3rd to 6th in two quarter-finals, and 1st and 2nd straight into the semis. I guess with Eskilstuna already withdrawing, there would be no relegation from the Eliteserien to the Allsvenskan this year. Right?

How many teams qualify for the play-offs ? Is it four (top four straight into the semis) or six (with an additional quarter-final round) ?

That is ridiculous, especially in Sweden, to allow only 50 spectators at outdoor sports venues that could easily accomodate thousands of people. Is there any hope that more spectators will be allowed in July, August, September, or October ? Norway had an upper limit of 50 until June 15, and now they let up to 200 spectators in, and Finland already allows up to 500. Why can't the Swedes agree on a higher number?

What I don't understand is why can't a limited number of specators be allowed for Swedish Elitserien meetings ? Even only a few hundred would bring the clubs some much needed cash. I thought that Sweden are quite liberal with the Covid-19 restrictions ! But then they don't allow any spectators at speedway meetings ! Why ?

Last heat decider at Rybnik - great match !

I expect Czestochowa v Wroclaw tonight to be a real thriller. This really should be THE top match in roudn 3 of the Ekstraliga this weekend.

I have watched the same meeting on Polish TV with all the Polish commentators, reporters, re-plays and interviews, and found it highly exciting to watch (even without understanding the Polish language!), and then the same meeting with english commentary on Premier Sports felt so drawn out and rather boring to watch. So the problem seems to be the presentation of the Ekstraliga on Premier Sports, rather than the raw product, which is good quality as we get to see on nSport+ and on Eleven Sports each week. By the way, it is the same problem with speedway on TV here in Germany. Speedway has never caught on with a wider sports audience on TV here in Germany, because speedway on TV has NEVER been presented in a good enough quality to capture the casual viewer. The coverage is more often than not drawn out with lengthy spells of nothign Happening. Our commentators usually lack in-depth knowledge of the Sport, tend to talk non-sense, and never ever reach the level of excitement that we get to experience in Poland. The Polish style of commentary is so full of excitement and enthusiasm. They show us how it should be done.

The problem ist that Goddard has to do the commentary all alone. He should get a co-commentor, best some rider or ex-rider (like with Pearson & Tatum). This would make it much easier for him and more entertaining for the viewers.

Lublin v Gorzow today was a very entertaining meeting. Exciting racing at this track.

Togliatti looks rather doubtful. I don't think there will be a Russian SGP this year. With five Grand Prix's this year there could be three in Poland, one in Prague, and one in ??? (Daugavpils maybe?)

Thanks @steve roberts I'm surprised to learn that there were no "official" England / GB team managers before 1973. I wonder who managed the England teams in the famous test series against Australia and other nations during the 1930s, '40s, '50s and 60's then ?