Bavarian

Round 12 at Weedsport, New York (July 7, 2018)

Round 11 at Lima, Ohio (June 30, 2018)

Round 10 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (June 16, 2018)

Round 9 at Lexington, Kentucky (June 2, 2018)

Round 7/8 at Springfield, Illinois (May 26 & 27, 2018)

Round 6 at Sacramento, California (May 19, 2018)

Round 5 at the Turf Paradise, Phoenix, Arizona (May 12, 2018)

AFT Round 4 at Calistoga, California (May 5, 2018)

AFT Round 3 at the Texas Half-Mile, Fort Worth, Texas (April 28, 2018)

Something to watch in the Off-Season - the American Flat Track 2018 Series on NBC Sports Network, now on YouTube Round 2 at Dixie Speedway, Woodstock, near Atlanta, Georgia

Meeting at Leicester was rained-off and there seems to be no chance of a re-staging so late in the year. Anyone know now who is the British Sidecar Speedway champion of 2018?

Don't think so. Since SGP practise isn't compulsory anymore, the riders will go where the money is, and that is Polish League meetings.

Just like the Hammers have moved from Lakeside to Rye House, maybe the Robins will have to move from Swindon to Oxford one day ?

I can't understand why You need doubling-up of riders. There are loads of Young Aussies waiting to come over, who would be happy fill the teams.

Interesting that Harley-Davidson has taken steps to introduce flat-track motorycle racing to India. We have heard from Armando Casatgna this year that there is some interest to take Speedway racing there, too. https://www.drivespark.com/two-wheelers/2018/flat-track-racing-in-india-harley-davidson-brings-new-motorsport-to-india-025375.html

Great News ! I have just read that there will be an AUSTRALIA vs Rest of the WORLD speedway test match series in November/Dezember of 2018.

Taken form the Mildura Motorcycle Club's Website: INTERNATIONAL TEST MATCH SPEEDWAY RETURNS TO MILDURA Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway will burst into life on Saturday, November 24th, when International Test match Speedway returns to the Iconic venue, when an Australian Select side takes on the ATPI Travel Rest of the World side. It’s a huge coup for the Mildura Motorcycle Club to run a test match in Mildura, with the influx of international riders coming to Mildura and Gillman Speedway the opportunity to put on such a good event was to good to refuse. A team of seven Australian riders will take on a seven man Rest of the World side containing riders from Denmark, England, and New Zealand. Mildura Motorcycle Club Solo Co-Ordinator Ryan Sedgmen said it was a big coup to have test match racing back in Mildura he added ” To organise another international test match style meeting in Mildura is big. Mildura has had test matches in the past in the 70s and 80s which where a big buzz in the town, hopefully with the international flavour and riders from Denmark, England and New Zealand making up the rest of the world side it should create a bit of interest around town.” Riders from both sides will be announced in the coming days and weeks, both teams will be invited and picked by the Mildura Motorcycle club the first name for the Australian side will be announced tomorrow. Keeping with the theme during the winter months as support to the International test match there will be a young guns solo teams match, where the young solo stars of tomorrow will strut there stuff and show the improvement they have made over the winter months. To keep up to date with all the news and events at the Mildura Motorcycle Club visit our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mmccspeedway/ or visit www.milduramotorcycleclub.org.au

INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEST MATCHES 2018 01/05/2018 @ Pila (PL) . . . POLAND 53, AUSTRALIA 37 13/05/2018 @ Czestochowa (PL) . . . POLAND 59, DENMARK 31 30/05/2018 @ Poznan (PL) . . . POLAND 54, SWEDEN 36 04/08/2018 @ Glasgow (GB) . . . GREAT BRITAIN 33, AUSTRALIA 57 01/09/2018 @ Chorzow (PL) . . . POLAND 46, Rest of the WORLD 44 13/10/2018 @ Dohren (GER) . . . GERMANY 30, Rest of the WORLD 59 13/10/2018 @ Auburn (USA) . . . U.S.A. 52, The WORLD 57 2018 International Season Standings . . . wins - losses (points for-against) 1 - POLAND . . . 4 - 0 (212-148) 2 - Rest of the WORLD . . . 2 - 1 (160-128) 3 - AUSTRALIA . . . 1 - 1 (94-86) 4 - United States of AMERICA . . . 0 - 1 (52-57) 5 - SWEDEN . . . 0 - 1 (36-54) 6 - GREAT BRITAIN . . . 0 - 1 (33-57) 7 - DENMARK . . . 0 - 1 (31-59) 8 - GERMANY . . . 0 - 1 (30-57)

dudek n-pedersen madsen lambert

St.Petersburg only have a very basic dirt track oval (next to a mx course) where thy are practising, but there is no proper speeway track/stadium there to stage a meeting. They have ridden their Baltic League home meeting at Riga. Daugavpils Juniors were the best team througout and won four of the five rounds for the inaugural Baltic League Championship. The Ukrainian club Rivne only rode in the opening round but didn't show up for any of the other meetings.

Forget teh Southern hemisphere. This is not intended for that at all, as it would be exceedingly expensive and unrealistic, and could not work in the way suggested above. A Nations League in speedway would be very easy to run. Take Group A with the six nations mentioned above, make a draw of the two Groups of three. Let's say it is Poland, Sweden, and Great Britain drawn in Group 1 , and Denmark, Australia, and Russia in Group 2. (by the way, Australia would probably have to name a British track as their home ground for this competition, if they (or the FIM) will not be able to pay for the visiting team to travel to Australia. Likewise with the USA, who could easily participate in the B League. Teams of therir respective Groups would meet only once, either at home or away, decided by the luck of the draw, giving each nation one home meeting and one away meeting. Let's suppose Great Britian would face Poland in the UK, then the British team would have to travel to Sweden to meet the Swedes over there. Poland would then have their own home meeting against Sweden. To reserve three dates (plus one for the final) in the FIM international calendar, should not be impossible, even more so if this Nations League isn't held each and every year. With only three meetings per group, either first place or last place (or both) would still be undecided until the third and final match in each Group of the Nations League A. Even if one team wins the first and the second meetings and is therefore already confirmed as the Group winners, the third meeting would still decide who finishes last in the Group and gets relegated, an d be replaced by the winner of the Nation League B for the next time. I honestly believe this would be a very popular competition, and it would be taylor-made for national TV stations. The national team in almost any sport attracts the highest attention with the general sports public, that's a fact. Only in speedway there is no such showpiece event for the national teams (we once had a 4-team SWC tournament, but now we only have the F.I.M.'s rather insignificant SoN Best Pairs). It is highly likely that a big tournament with the full national speedway teams such as this supposed Nations League would create much more sponsorship for the national team, and that young riders would find a new achievable goal in their speedway career, aiming to make the national team. If someone says that Poland would nearly always win this competition, they may be right for the time being, but even then this is no different to teh total dominance the All Blacks of New Zealand in Rugby Union International Tests and the World Cup. Yet the All Blacks' dominance has not done the ever rising global popularity of Rugby any harm at all. Speedway should be prepared to take some unprecedented steps to find a new audience and such a Nations League could help it in a big way.

Maybe some riders would not want to ride, if the money is not what they expect, I don't know, but that's their own problem then. Pay rates would probably be nearer to what the FIM payed for the SWC, and not what rider get payed in the Polish Legaue. Still, I don't believe that they really would want to miss out, if such a Nations League gets off the ground. Anyway, there should be some kind of an official FIM competition for full national teams, and such a Nations League scheme would most probably work very well. It would not neccessarily have to be held each year, maybe only every other year, or even only every four years. Most other sports are able to make money with their national teams, so why shouldn't speedway? I certainly miss such a competition in speedway, especially now that we don't even have the 4-Team SWC any more ! It's a shame that we have countless individual competitons but not a single one for the national sides, except for a very limited number of international test matches.

Following the example set by the rather successful launch of the UEFA Nations League for Football last week, I believe that a scaled down version would work perfectly for Speedway ? Instead of having four Leagues (A B C D) as in fooball, there should possibly be only two (A and B, with two Groups of three teams each) to start with in Speedway. The A League would consist of the big six nations (Great Britain, Poland, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, Russia) The B League would have the next best six nations (Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, Latvia) Teams should met each other team in their respective group only once in a round robin style tournament, giving each team one home and one away meeting. This should be determined by draw. The top two from teh Group stages would go on to meet in a Grand finale (possibly two legs home and away). The bottom two from the A League would either get directly relegated and replaced with the two winners of the B League Groups, or alternatively could go into a promotion / relegaton battle against them. This would created a meaningful competition for full six- / seven- / or eight-man International Test Teams in Speedway.

What a nail biter ! Glad to see Cze'wa go through instead of Torun !

Last Heat decider ! Czestochowa needs two points from heat 15 for a 45-all draw which will be enough for tehm to reach the play-offs.