Bavarian

Definitely not, only a few thousand. They had quite a large attendance when they race in Cairo the following year, but in Kuwait and the Emirates there wasn't much of a crowd. Egypt was good!

And the wild card in Lonigo goes to Nicolas Covatti, an Argentinean! (he holds an Italian racing license)

But what exactly is the problem then, if it is only the Laguta brothers who don't get a visa, and not the other Russians?

Quite true, that 2x2 Russians

What are You on? Talking speedway, Leicester has Darkin and Bondarenko? Who else do YOu know?

This is all very stange! How long does it take the UK authorities to issue a sports visit visa for a Russian athlete? How comes that Laguta can ride in other European Union countries each week in Polish and Swedish leagues, ride the GP's in Czech Republic and Denmark, and does not have any such probems? Laguta is still in with a chance for a top eight position, see his results in the Danish GP. Do not underestimate him! But this boycott from the Cardiff GP does not help his chances. I don't know who is to blame here, if he has made a mistake in applying for the visa to late, or someone has fooled him. I am very disappointed with this.

I absolutely agree with Your opinion. For Denmark to pull out now after having made the qualification for the final is a no go. They knew before where the final is this year. If they don't want to or can't affort to go to Russia, they should nevere ever have entered the competition. Britain did not enter a team for that same mentioned reason, which I fell is disappointing, but fair play to Britain, they did it the right way and pulled out before the competiton has started. Considering that even the USA has sent their national team for a U21 World Cup qualifying round to the Ukraine this year, the Danish decision is very poor. The FIM should penalise Denmark if they really pull out. I would ban them from the comeptition for at least one, perhaps two years! And the Russian organisers of the final should receive some sort of compensation. I am really angry about this. Why has it come so late, Mr. Secher???

Some information on teh UEM website here My link I only know that Hynek Stichauer is the rider of the Czech Republic

What, Elgane without the Bjerk brothers? Where are they? No Carli Raugstad for Riska either? And what about the Drammen team, did the three riders have to share one bike between them, or what? The Gunnestad brothers should have been favorites to win this meeting! What wnet wrong?

No, their first win of the season!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6owScks4U&feature=player_embedded

Does this mean that speedway is finished at Lviv? How about the SKA-Favorit Lviv team? Is the Ukraine league still on?

Good luck to Steve Worrall!

That s Paul Kasper, not Kaspar!

British youngster Steve Worrall and an as yet unnamed New Zealander are expected to make the long trek to Chervonograd in the Ukraine for this Sunday's World Under 21 qualifying round. Will they travel? Is there any NZ under-21 rider currently in Britain? Or do they send one over from half way round the globe?

And Tarnow are still winless, losing to day 42 to 47. I wonder if they will ever let Kasprzak return to Birmingham. But now for the big match of this Sunday, Stal Gorzow versus Falubaz Zielona Gora.

Now there is a little hold up. They are waiting for the doctor to return to the stadium. He has gone with the ambulance that took Pulczynski to the hospital. Lucky fellow to escape with only a concussion. It could easily have been much worse.

Kamil Pulczynski was the on who crashed and was partly hit by teh following rider. He is said to have been taken to hospital with concussion.

Katajisto fell in his fourth ride on the last corner, when he was in third place ahead of Germany's Toby Kroner. That dropped point was the beginning of Finland's downfall. Kalle was unable to take his last ride and could not be replaced because at this time Finland were only four points down with three heats to go. So with no Finn in heat 23 Frank Facher's heat win put the Germans seven up and with only two races left it was "game over" for the Finns. There is no joker (double points) in the SWC qualifying rounds, this is only for the main events, race-off and final. Kylmäkorpi's engine failure in heat 25 eventually sealed their bad luck on the night and cost the Finns even the second place overall. This the USA very deservedly took. If only Greg Hancock had scored some more points, the Yanks could have even caught the Germans. Fisher and Wells rode good, especially Fisher, and I was very impressed by Burmeister, who is a fast learner with great potential. Even Mikey Buman was never outpaced in his races. Unfortunately he over did it in his third ride, fell on the fourth bend and headed into the airfence. He escaped unhurt and was able to walk back into the pits, but took no more rides. It has to be said that the outside gate positions were not good. And there was a problem with the starting gate, which held up the racing for about 20 minutes, and needed to be replaced after s total failure at the re-start of heat 18. Oh, and let me add that the singer of the national anthem at the beginning was a total disgrace.

Correct!

Sounds intriguing, but I guess us normal fans wont ever hear the real story... If Germany qualified anyway, do you think Kevin would be invited into the team for the "real competition" or is it something that would keep him out of that too? There is no secret to it at all. The SWC meeting would interrupt his Premier League schedule and he says he has to earn a living from his speedway racing. He won't earn much from riding for Germany in this meeting, and the traveling from and back to the Uk for one day between a couple of PL meetings would be a problem, too. Wolbert has asked the German manager Rene Schafer to leave him out for this qualifying round. He would have been an automatic choice if he was available,and he will be considered for selection in the future. Thomas Stange, too, has now asked the team manager to leave him out. He was in teh originally named line-up. In his case, the call-up was always a bit controversial, since Stange has as yet not ridden a single meeting this season, since returning from Argentina in February. He has been kept out beause of work commitments of late and Schafer has dropped him on his own request. Stange'S place has now been given to the experienced Stralsund Northstars rider Mathias Schultz, a 2-times former German national champion. The German team, with Schultz, Christian Hefenbrock, Tobias Kroner, Frank Facher and captain Martin Smolinski will surely be the favorites to win this meeting. Finland should be their most dangerous rivals, captained by world long track champion Joonas Kylmäkorpi. The Ukraine would have been a force to be reckoned with, but for some injuries to key riders Andryi Karpov, Aleksandr Borodaj, Vladimir Tejgel, who are missing this meeting. Still the Ukraine has some excellent young talents, as they ably demoonstrated in last Monday's win of the under-21 SWC round. The Landshut track, at 400m length, will not suit the Americans at all, Hancock excepted. Sadly, I can't see them finishing anything but last.

Tragic news of a fatal road accident of Polish speedway manager Zdzislaw Rutecki here

Yes, You are right. There was a tug-o-war for Loktaev between Russia (where he was born and grew up) and the Ukraine (where he now lives). He has got his Ukrainian passport in March of this year, which makes him eligible to ride for the Ukraine in teh SWC. I don't know if he had to give up his Russian citizenship for that. Same situation with Tsukanov, who is also a Russian by birth, but now has got an Ukrainian passport. As far as I know the third of teh Russians currently based in teh Ukraine, Dubinin, is still Russian only, but continues to race on an Ukrainian license. He is as such eligible to represent the Ukrainian Federation in individual comeptition, but can not ride for the Ukraine Team in the SWC. His team would be Russia.

Just You wait and see, this is going to be the Norwegian's year - Rune Holta - 2011 world speedway champion!

One should rather blame his mechanics around him. Greg Laguta is a brilliant rider, one of the best in teh world and certainly superior to his little brother Artem - and the little one is a GP rider already. If only Grigory would have some reliable machinery this guy could be a world champion.