Bavarian

I would also go so far as to doubt the loyality of any one of my team's riders when he accepts a guest booking for one of my rival teams in the league. The conflict of interests is obvious. This can't be accepted. The rider's loyalty has to be with his OWN club.

How comes that only Britain needs this guest rider system, when Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and all the rest can do without it? Sorry, I can't agree with anyone telling me that this is a neccessary evil, it is certainly not neccessary. Guest riders could only be accepted if they do not already ride in one of the same league's other teams. That means, a guest rider could only come from another league (Premiere league) or from another country / foreign league. It is this current guest rider rule that more than anything else takes away all the credibility from the british speedway leagues in the eyes of the general sports public and media. Along with that golden double joker rule, this gives speedway the image of being just a fun event, a circus, a show, but not a real sport.

FIM Oceania organise an international sidecar speedway championship in November of 2013. This Oceania championship fills the void left by the abandonement of the FIM 1,000cc Sidecar Speedway World Championship, which is sadly discontinued. FIM Oceania, the new continental motorcycle sports federation for the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific area, make this championship an international open competition and invites sidecar drives from anywhere in the world (U.K., S.Africa, U.S.A., Canada etc) Here is a link to the press release http://www.speedwayb...ESS_RELEASE.pdf and here are the supplementary regulations http://www.speedwayb...nia_Sidecar.pdf

Thank god, it's off (for now). A champions league in speedway sounds good in theory, but would not be such a good thing in reality for our sport. As long as it isn't one man / one club as in football, this will always cause problems. Different rules in the respective nations domestic league competitions does not make it any easier (Denmark for example has five-man teams in their league). What would work is a tournament for national teams, eg. England v Sweden, Poland v Denmark, Australia v Russia. Each rider would know where he belongs. But that would generate TV money only for the national bodies in those countries, and not for the club bosses, so the BSPA would probably not be interested.

Has it been officially announced that SKY don't show the GPs anymore, or is this still only rumours?

They could make this some kind of an Overseas Championship Series in contrast to the new Continental European Championship. A UK series with the top British, Aussie and American riders would be nice.

There is a German 2012 film production called Speed, Mud & Glorie, featuring Martin Smolinski and scenes of German speedway and grass track racing. There is a short teaser on Youtube, here

I really like the Leiceister Lions set up and all, but only one little thing annoys me since their return. It is the design of their race jacket logo. Sorry, but it does look childish, reminds me so much of that ill-fated Reading Bulldogs design. Leicester Lions promoters would do themselves a favour and give teh club a better image if they'd change this into something more similar looking like they had in the old days. I particularly liked the three lions emblem they used in the early 80's. Bring that back, please!

NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP 2012/13 1. Jason Bunyan 2. Dale Finch 3. Sean Mason

T.b.h. I find it a bit worrying that there are not more teams in Poland if the sport is indeed as popular as everyone seems to think. The league struggles to get just five teams in for division 2 next year. Why are there no new clubs popping up in Poland? What about Warsaw, don't they have a speedway track there? I think so, and there are other venues, Poznan, Siwetochlowice, Chorzow, and possibly some other speedway tracks that lay dormant. I don't understand this, really.

Seems the 1000cc sidecar world championship will not be held again. There is no mention of it on the official F.I.M. fixture list for the 2013 season.

Do any British riders compete in the European championship this year? But they don't show the SGP "live" on Eurosport. All they ever do is show a highlights package weeks after the meetings have taken place. Some live coverage of the SGP and the SWC has reached Germany in 2011 and again in 2012 on another sports channel (payTV) SPORT 1 plus. But so far there has been no announcement if they will continue with their coverage in 2013. It is all quiet. Fact is that the revamped European Championship, via a Polish marekting company, has reached a deal with EUROSPORT to show all four of the EC finals in 2013 live and apparently on their free TV channel. And fact is that the European Championship promises to pay the riders much more money than what they earn in the SGP and that is why Nicki Pedersen, Tomasz Golob, etc, are eager to ride in this series. Nicki Pedersen has stated he can earn as much in a European Championship round as he earns in a Polish League meeting. Hard times for the SGP.

Congrats to Jack MacRae on his U-21 national title win last weekend.

It's all so quiet Down Under! Any news on this Western Australia vs the International All Stars ?

It would be much easier to go to St. Johann im Pongau, if You fly into and out of Salzburg, instead of Munich.

But the host nation would anyway only get a wild card for the Challenge, if no one rider of that nation qualifies. Don't You believe in Your British riders' abilitiy to reach that GP Challenge?

O.k., I understand that Olsen, Olsson and IMG/BSI (Paul Bellamy) are the ones who are consulted by the CCP when making rule changes re. the SGP and SWC. And I understand that it is Roy Otto, who is the director of that CCP, plus as regular members there are Armando Castagna, Ila Teroma and Tony Steele. And as You say there are some others, seemingly irregular or fluctuating members on this CCP committee.

Just go ahead and ask for a reduction of the minumum track length required for FIM speedway world campionship events. Easier said tahn doen, You think? I tell You, this can be done in no time, if You have the right connections, and a big MONSTER behind You. See that just a few weeks ago the world long-track championship has made a drastic change and accepted to reduce the minimum track lengths required for long-track racing. It used to be from 500m to 1,000m long tracks for world championship event, but now world champion Joonas K. suggested it would be a good idea to use some of the bigger and wider speedway tracks, such as are found in many Eastern European countries, for long-track events as well. This Joonas K. is good friends with newly appointed FIM long-track race director Thiery Bouin, and hey, just a couple of months after first suggesting it, the allowed minimum track lengths for world long-track racing has indeed been reduced to ... wait, it's true, it has been reduced to just 350 metres !!! Wow, I mean, if long-track now begins at 350m - and that's the case from 2013 on, that's a fact - so You may just as well try getting the the allowed minimum track length for a world speedway event reduced to let's say 150 metres. MIssion accomplished, the US tracks would fit and You could host the World Cup finals.

True, Steve, I forgot that with the one extra team that is seeded straight to the final it is now nine, not eight teams in the SWC events. Sorry for getting that wrong. Indeed, You guys were very unlucky to be in that Polish SWC event when it would have been much more convenient and the easier group at King's Lynn. USA had its best team in years in the 2012 SWC, they rode very well, and I would also agree with You that the future for the sport in California doesn't look that bad. Not at all. You just need to find some really committed youngsters, who want to do their speedway racing not just for the fun of it. But, wait, here is a suggestion of how you guys could easily get into the SWC proper, and soon, and without having to go through the qualifying rounds at some obscure locations in Eastern Europe. Just do what the Czechs do, apply to host the event. The FIM will seed Your team straight into the SWC final. All You have to do is convince your main sponsor MONSTER to provide the financial backbone for the USA to host the SWC race-off and final event in sunny California. Simple idea, isn't it? And at the tiny Costa Mesa or Auburn tracks, I bet that the Team USA would have a pretty good chance to do well even against the best of the rest of the world's teams. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for giving me this straight answer to my question. I find it rather surprising, that while there is a Swede (Tony Olsson), and a Brit (Tony Steele), and of course the great Dane (Ole Olsen), there is no one from Poland, but a Norwegian, a Finn and an Italian. The Nordic countries are certainly a bit over represented, aren't they?

Steve, the USA actually did finish seventh this year, they outscored Germany (last placed in the other group), while the Czech Republic reached the race-off and finished sixth overall. It is this sixth place that your team USA is chasing, since the seventh and eighth placed teams both have to go through the qualifying rounds again next year. As hosts the Czechs are seeded to the final in 2013 and can't finish worse than fourth overall, thus will definitely avoid the relegation. This is of course another unfair side effect of the seeding of the host nation's team to the final. The SWC event groups will have Denmark, Australia, Russia, Sweden, Poland and Great Britain, plus the two qualifyers, one of which might again be the USA. Tough task for the Yanks trying to kick out one of the big six. Best of luck, boys. I have one question, I hope You can answer. WHO decides changes like this? Is it BSI/IMG, is it the FIM, or a combination of the lot? In the old days there used to be a track racing commission of the FIM, the CCP, but is it still in existance? I would really like to know the names of people, who are making decisions like this new SWC rules and the change of the points for the SGP finals.

Absolutely right. WIth six points for winning he final a rider could really make up ground overall in this race, this will now be reduced with final points down to being just like all the other heat races and semi-finals. But the final of a GP is a special race and I fell it was right that the winner was rewarded with an extra bonus of double points. If it has to be, I can live with 3-2-1-0 now instead of 6-4-2-0 but I can't see any advantage in this change. It will not make much difference anyway. All it does is making the final a little less important, so if anything, makes it a little less exciting in the end. Poor change that.

Or rather about the Czech Republic team being seeded into the SWC Final, because that really is the biggest joke! No idea how the organiseres BSI/IMG/FIM reason this, it is unsportingly and should never happen. The home team may be seeded to the race-off, I could accept this, and if they are good enough they could qualify for the final from there. If not, the final will at least have the four best teams and that's how it should be. Don't tell me the final would be a financial disaster without the home team. What will the race-off be without the home team ! That meetign is held at the same track.

By the way, has anybody in NZ thougth about who will do the track announcing/commentating at the Western Springs stadium for this SGP? Will the FIM/BSI/IMG/SPG oragnisation bring someone over with inside knowlegde about Solo speedway or will the public have to cope with the track's regular race caller, who might know a hell lot about cars, but probably next to nothing about the solo bike scene. This could be an important factor to make the meetng an enjoyable event for the crowd, or spoil it altogether. Perhaps Phil Rising can give an answer or raise the question with the responsible people.

You guys in NZ should aim to achieve what the Argentineans have achieved. Are You aware of how good their International Speedway series has become?

Phantastic speedway, this is a great race track, so very wide it allows passing. What puzzles me is the fact that this track is used for midget car/sprint car racing each Friday night and for Solo Speedway each Tuesday night, and provides spectacular racing for both codes each week during the southern summer season. Why isn't this possible at the major speedway tracks in Oz and Kiwiland, when it is possible in Bahia Blanca?