Bavarian

Very interesing question. It is high time to get a training track started in Scotland. Are there any Scottish speedway riders around in 2016 at all? Who?

At least we got to see some live pictures from Oz for once, even though most of the racing wasn't very exciting. The commentary team did o.k., until they lost it a little bit towards the end, but overall they were not too bad.

But it would not have been so controversial with a 3-2-1-0 scoring in the final. Would have been much easier to accept if Kurtz won it WITHOUT scoring a point for a tape exclusion.

First time that I see a rider win a major speedway championship by scroing a point from a tape touching exclusion in the decisive final race. Stupid rules there in Oz. Why make this so complicated, just keep the regular 3,2,1,0 point score for the final, or at least, don't award a point for a non-finisher in that final. This is ridicoulus.

Manfred Seifter is the correct name

A speedway meeting in the Arabian dessert. Now that is a surprise, but surely a bit risky for the promoters to put this on. What crowd do they expect to turn up to watch this pre-season event in the UAE?

QUEENSLAND STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Rockhampton Showground, Queensland. Final: 1st Mason Campton (NSW) 2nd Tyson Nelson (Queensland) 3rd Josh Grajczonek (Queensland) 4th Tyler King (NSW) VICTORIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Olympic Park Speedway, Mildura, Victoria. (Dec.5) Final: 1st Ty Proctor (Victoria) 2nd Brodie Waters (Victoria) 3rd Jordan Stewart (Victoria) 4th Justin Sedgmen (Victoria) NEW SOUTH WALES STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Tamworth Equestrian Center (180m Indoor Speedway), Tamworth, N.S.W. (Dec.12) Final: 1st Tyson Nelson (Queensland) 2nd Mason Campton (NSW) 3rd Jack Holder (NSW) 4th Taylor Poole (NSW) SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Gillman Speedway, Adelaide, S.A. (Dec.12, 2015) Final: 1st Rohan Tungate (NSW) 2nd Max Fricke (Victoria) 3rd Sam Masters (NSW) 4th Ty Proctor (Victoria) WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP over 2 rounds at Collie (Dec.5) and Pinjar Park (Dec.12) Overall: 1st Daniel Winchester (WA) 2nd Frank Smart (WA) 3rd Doug Scoble (WA 4th Ethan Ballantyne (WA) There is a wonderful comment written by Australian journalist Peter White in last week's Speedway Star: Quote: "And so ends one of the most farcial seasons of state title stagings in the sometimes wonky history of speedway Championships in Oz." "What a sad joke this summer's east coast Scenario became. A New South Wales rider (Mason Campton) drove up to Rockhampton and won the Queensland Championship. Seven nights later, a Queensland rider (Tyson Nelson) drove down to Tamworth and won the NSW Championship! "On the same night as the NSW Championship, two of NSW's best (Rohan Tungate and Sam Masters)turned their backs on their own state title and travelled down to Adelaide where Tungate won the South Australian crown - a Championship that contained only four home state riders, despite having one of the best speedway tracks in the country (Gillman Speedway). "The riders probably see nothing wrong with this at all, their main objective being to finish in teh top four anywhere within the main four states (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA) in order to secure/sustain their visa/work permit eligibility in the UK. And many of teh public probably see nothing wrong with it either - especially the Adelaide fans who wouldn't have had a title Meeting without the influx of visiting interstate riders. But at the end of the day, serious students of speedway must surely see it as making a mockery of the sport. "Motorcycling Australia should restrict state titles to riders from their own state - except in the case of South Australia, where they don't have enough competitive riders to create a field. However, the SA title should be held on a date that doesn't clash with the other states, so riders like Tungate or Masters HAVE to contest their home state Championships. Their Absence devalued the NSW title at Tamworth significantly. [...]

here is an interesting report about female speedway riders in Western Australia http://www.motorcyclingwa.org.au/News/TabId/7721/ArtMID/16845/ArticleID/1625/Women-lose-all-fear-when-it-comes-to-bikes-with-No-Brakes.aspx

Here are some early season solo speedway results from New Zealand Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (4 October 2015): Solo "King of Rosebank" Final: 1. Dylan Moohan 2. Chopper Bagshaw 3. Caleb Glew Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (25 October 2015): Solo "Summer Cup" Final: 1. Jason Bunyan 2. Sean Mason 3. Jamie Moohan Oreti Park Speedway, Invercargill (31 October 2015): Solo "Brian Reed Memorial" Final: 1. Jake Gillespie 2. Bradley Stockton 3. Connor Spriggs Moore Park Speedway, Christchurch (14 November 2015): Solo Final: 1. Jake Gillespie 2. Andrew Aldridge 3. Ryan Moss Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (15 November 2015): Solo "Best Pairs": 1. Sean Mason & Ryan Terry-Daily 2. Dylan Hancock & Tony Hendry 3. Bradley Andrews & Michael Patey Oreti Park Speedway, Invercargill (29 November 2015): Solo "Burt Munro Challenge" Final: 1. Grant Tregoning 2. Ryan Terry-Daley Oreti Park, Invercargill (6 December 2015) NEW ZEALAND JUNIOR U21 SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Final: 1. Jake Turner 2. Jake Gillespie 3. George Congreve 4. Billy Graham

This meeting is on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyvF0qr9y8g Not sure if it was because of the previous day's rain postponement, but there were only six riders taking part in this NZ U21 solo final, and more than half of them were not really competitive.

Without guaranteed coverage on EUROSPORT the SEC and the SBPC will have no chance of survival. Company owned pairs/teams instead of national sides hardly makes this Micky Mouse speedway series any more appealing for the tv/media and fans. A stupid move by OneSport and one that will make BSI/IMG smile.

Yes, Andrew "Bill" Barrett rode for Arena Essex, Canterbury, Oxford and Cradley during his UK speedway career, which was for a few years in the mid-1980's

He's an Aussie, isn't he? Was also known as "Bill" Barrett in his speedway career, which would have been in the 1980s or early 90s. Now an Aussie ice racer would be some novelty, I guess. There have been a few New Zealanders racing on the ice, most prominently Bruce Cribb, of course.

Who is Martin Haaralitunen? Sounds Finnish, never heard of him???

How big is Sunday Football in Sweden and Denmark?

NZ Solo and Sidecar Speedway Championships calendar 2015-16: 05.12.2015 : New Zealand U21 Solo Championship (Oreti Park, Invercargill) 04.01.2016 : South Island Sidecar Championship (Moore Park, Christchurch) 16.01.2016 : SNZ Sidecar Grand Prix (Palmerston North) 24.01.2016 : New Zealand Solo Championship (Rosebank, Auckland) 30.01.2016 : South Island Solo Championship (Moore Park, Christchurch) 06.02.2016 : New Zealand Sidecar Championship (Oreti Park, Invercargill) 27.02.2016 : SNZ Solo Grand Prix (Moore Park, Christchurch) 06.03.2016 : North Island Sidecar Championship (Rosebank, Auckland) 17.04.2016 : North Island Solo Championship (Rosebank, Auckland)

I think it is marvelous that a small speedway nation like New Zealand runs a league competiton at all. Very good thing for the sport in NZ and for the riders there. The Aussies should try to set up simliar leagues, all maybe at amateur level and regional for some of their states. Why is there no NSW Solo Speedway League, a Queensland League, or a Victoria State League, each with say three teams à la New Zealand ? The Kiwis are to be congratulated to have their New Zealand Solo Speedway League. Long may it contine, prosper and grow!

It was the same situation here in Germany some ten or twenty years ago. You could hardly find any youngsters attending the meetings, it was mostly elderly people watching the speedway and long-track racing, often sitting in their camping chairs filling in their programme. At long-track and grass track meetings this is still the case and the number of people attending these meetings have steadily decrease with the years. Long-track and grass track has a real problem, because of that. There is no younger fan base, and along with this decline, we don't have the number of riders for the long-track / grass-track solos and sidecars either anymore. Speedway in Germany somehow turned the corner. One of the major coupes was to led kids under 12 or under 14 in for just 1 Euro, if acompanied by an adult. This allows families to attend at a very low cost. It swells the crowd, betters the sales of food, drinks and merchandise at the meetings, and fosters a new generation of young fans for our sport. It took some years, but now one can see that speedway has a much younger fan base in Germany compared with the slowly dying long-track and grass track events.

Quote: "Although Buddy Fuller was quoted at the end of this 1951 tour as expressing disappointment that the tourists only won 10 of their scheduled 17 matches, losing the Test series against the Dutch, the team performed creditably, especially as they were without four of South Africa's top riders: Henry Long, Bob Serrurier (both riding for Belle Vue), Fred Wills and Doug Serrurier (unavailable). In fact, only Fuller and Toby Boshoff had any overseas experience, and then only in British Division 3." ... more and all the stats of the Springboks' 1951 tour of Northern Europe can be found here http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/extra4.htm

Last year it was Gdansk and Czestochowa. Losing a couple of clubs to bancrupcy each year is a bit much for the Ekstraliga. How much longer can this continue?

He began with speedway (Dirt track) and stunt shows à la Putt Mossman in the early/mid 1930s

Final: Holder, Batchelor, Huckenbeck, Sedgmen

apparently Torun want to sign Vaculik AND Hancock for a reported 3 Million zloty

any News from China?

Ermolenko sufferd his leg injury in a long-track accident in Germany in the late 1980s. Nicki Pedersen has never ever ridden on a long-track and was still on a 80cc youth bike back then. Don't blame Nicki for all and everything.