Bavarian

Yes indeed. This looks promising with a track big enough for some real speedway racing.

Now that's a cool name, Jungle Bundy!!! Never heard of that guy, but he made the final. I'm impressed!

Unfortunately the world champion, the great Gollob, has to withdraw. He has caught a fever and is not able to ride.

If no Foreign riders are allowed to ride in the NL anymore, so be it. It may open another door, to bring back international touring teams to ride against clubs or representative British/ English/Scottish/Welsh teams. In addition to the annual visits of the American Dream Team and the Nordic Vikings, invite some other country's touring teams to the UK. International tests at Junior/National League level would add spice to the NL clubs' fixture list. It is great that the Aussies want to organise an Australia v England U21 series down under next season. The English should do the same over here and invite a team of up-and-coming young Colonials to these shores.

ZARNOVICA 1. Tomas Topinka (CZ) 15 2. Gabor Roth (HUN) 14 3. Jiri Stancl jr. (CZ) 13 4. Antonin Svab jr. (CZ) 10 5. Eduard Shajkhulin (RUS) 9 6. Roman Povazhny (RUS) 9 7. Norbert Magosi (HUN) 9 8. Richard Wolff (CZ) 9 9. Renato Kuster (CRO) 6 10. Tomaz Sustersic (SLO) 6 11. Martin Litschauer (AUT) 6 12. Jiri Rafaj (SVK) 5 13. Alin Baciu (ROM) 2 14. Florin Vladuca (ROM) 1 15. Andrey Sinkovsky (UKR) 1 16. Herbert Ungersbäck (AUT) 0

Oh boy, how poor is this!

Does anyone know about a proposed "Veterans Speedway World Final" to be held somewhere in NZ this season?

This is much to radical. It would destroy the sport in the UK, if there were no more league teams racing. Just see how poorly supported the American dirt-track / flat-track or whatever they are called meetings in the UK are. Perhaps we should go way back in time and do it like they did it in the early years of the sport. A bit more variety is what is needed. Let's have league team racing in the first half of the programme, with perhaps smaller teams of only five or six riders and over a limited number of heats, say nine or so, and then follow with a "big" second half individual programme of individual senior, junior solo and even the occasional sidecar racing. Maybe that part of the prog could be done along the lines of the US speedway show meetings, with a bit of fun after the deadly earnest league match, to please the younger generation? I'd prefer the second half to be a serious competition, though, but the promoters would soon find out what the fans would like to see, clowns on bikes or serious sport. Let's have the best of both worlds! That's how they did it in the early 1930's and it worked perfectly well and attracted a wider range of people as an audience for such meetings.

Oh yes, please, please, please, bring back the Ekka for Speedway! Best News I've heard in a long long time - and that goes for Aussie Speedway and World Speedway! This stadium is the holy shrine of the speedway world, it has such a proud and long history, no other place on earth (that's for a speedway venue that is still standing) can compete with it! Go for it, make it happen and bring on the world championship grand prix! The EKKA is the place where an Australian SGP should be held!

Tyrepower Sydney Speedway General Manager, David Tapp, will leave his present role in mid January, 2011 after reaching agreement with the venue’s Board of Directors. “David Tapp was recruited earlier this year in a consultancy role and his tenure at the venue was always only going to be for a limited time,” explained TSS director Dennis Loudoun. “Sydney Speedway P/L acknowledges that David has other business interests and his Television Company, Power Productions, takes up a great deal of time and he needs to concentrate on his own activities going forward having put the foundations in place for a bright future at Tyrepower Sydney Speedway. “David has overseen a cultural change at the speedway, has grown sponsorship by forty percent and renewed Tyrepower as principal sponsor for a further three year term, among many other things. We really do appreciate the effort David has put in and only wish his stay could have been a little longer,” Mr Loudoun added. Mr Tapp’s imminent departure from the venue will lead to a re-structure and to that end former venue promoter, David Lander, will return to Tyrepower Sydney Speedway in the capacity of General Manager. Mr Lander will be assisted by current senior staff members Rod Britton, Stacey Kelly and Nathan Moreau. David Lander’s return to the venue is seen as a real coup for Sydney Speedway Pty Ltd. “We are thrilled to have a man of David’s experience involved at the venue and we are delighted he has agreed to join us,” Dennis Loudoun explained. “David has been one of Australia’s most successful speedway promoters and his vast knowledge and experience will play a significant role in taking the speedway into an exciting new era”. Meantime, David Tapp, says David Lander’s return to the venue is great news for the sport in Sydney. “There is no doubt the most successful ever era at Tyrepower Sydney Speedway was during the period David Lander was at the helm and his return is a very positive development. I wish him all the best. I have enjoyed my stint at TSS and I would like to thank the four owners; Dennis Loudoun, Brett Morris, Garry Rush and Rod Bowen for their support and assistance,” David concluded.

come on, Rory Schlein is from NT Which means there is no one from SA

Ever heard one of 1983 world speedway champion Egon Muller's pop music records? This one here was his greatest hit in the mid 70's and it is now on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2JxRwzIv4Y&feature=related

I know where in Australia and New zealand I would stage a SGP Up in Queensland and still standing since nearly a hundred years is that holy shrine of speedway racing called the EKKA, the Bribane Exhibition Ground. Here is footage of an early 1990's international meeting at the Ekka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfvsTCq4YtA And down in New Zealand the most famous of all speedway venues is the Westen Springs track in Auckland! Here is some interesting footage from Western Springs of an NZ vs Aussie solo test match of early 1980! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWcsun1FH08&feature=related

Here is a heat race (Denmark vs USA) of that 1982 world pairs final at Liverpool, NSW. AS You can see the bike track at Liverpool Raceway was situated on the infield of the car oval. Don't know how well attended this meeting was, but on the video You don't see much of a crowd! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKugLRft8jY&NR=1

It is sad that there are no longer any international touring teams visiting Australia and New Zealand. I found this Youtube clip of the riders parade at an early 1990's test match between New South Wales and the U.S.S.R. - those were the days! The venue is Newcastle, N.S.W., I believe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSiqqMjP2BQ&feature=player_embedded

Uzbekistan even had another speedway track in the late 1960's at Almalyk. Their teams rode in the USSR leagues of 1967 and 1968-1970. The Uzbekistan speedway clubs in the Soviet Union leagues were: "Uzbekistan" Almalyk (1967), "Metallurg" Almalyk (1968-1970), "Luch" Fergana (1977-1990).

Now that the Laguta bros. have left to ride for Czetochowa next year, who will replace them at Daugavpils?

Are there no AUssie solo meetings on this weekend, except the cancelled 5-team event at North Brisbane?

Not so, the problem last year was that there was not enough time (just a couple of weeks) between the previous round and the next one in Russia, and that made it difficult for many of the western Europe riders to get their visas in time. This problem has been looked at this year and between the semi-finals and the final of the U21 World Cup there are more than two months which is easily enough time for the teams/riders to apply and sort out the visas. It simply is a poor decision by the British authorities not to take part this year, when even the USA does organise a team to go all the way from a preliminary round in the Ukraine, something the British team would not have had to bother with. As finalists last year Great Britain would have been seeded for one of the semi-finals in Poland or Germany. As I see it, all teh other major and many of the minor nations take part, only the British are missing.

Australia, and more so New Zealand, don't have any great speedway venues and promoters to hold the big meetings You talk about! Gone are the days of the Sydney Showground, the Ekka or Claremont, all that is left for solo speedway are some obscure bush tracks like Mildura, Gillman, Kurri Kurri or Brandon. How on earth would the FIM select such places to stage world championship speedway. Rest asure, the SGP desperately wants to spread into AUSSIE/NZ but it is the lack of decent venues to stage a GP down under, that makes it a mission impossible. Tell me who is the greatest solo speedway promoter these days? Are there any promoters for solo speedway at all? Is it still a way to earn some dollar in Oz, or is it left to clubs that run the sport, more or less just for the fun of it? Compare this to Poland, Sweden, or even Britain, and You must admit that Australia is way behind them. It does not matter if the clubs still produce some great junior talent, as long as there isn't any senior solo speedway in Australia worth to take notice of. If there was, surely the top star Aussie riders and top level overseas riders would return and ride there, just as it was in the good old days. No promoters, no top class venues and no money, simply means no top class solo speedway for You Aussie and Kiwi fans. Forget about any FIM events, they would be too expensive and too difficult to organize. But there is another way forward for Australian solo speedway. Invite a touring team and stage Test Matches! It would be great to see an OFFICIAL solo test series between Australia and England once more. Official, because anything less would devalue the product. Get it right from the start! This would be much more appealing for the general public, and possibly TV in Aussie AND Britain, than a five round Aussie Championship, that does not have much appeal for the fans and the riders, and where the best of Australia's riders don't bother to show up anyway. Stage a five match test series instead, and a one-off Aussie Final. If YOu considder England as too weak, bring over an other nation (Poland, Sweden, Russia,etc) or a combined team (Europe, Overseas, Rest of the World). Raise funds and sign the best available Australian riders to do the test series and the Aussie final and try to get some decent tracks/venues for these big six events, that You could sell as a package to a TV producer. That would be a decent start to get things right.

Nygren was a Pretoria Eagles favorite.

No chance! It is Poland, not England!

Amazing to see Slovakia take part in the team cup. Three additional home meetings at Zarnovica is great. This track never ran more than just a couple of meetings per year in the past. Good to see that expand in 2011. But I wonder if Slovakia has enough rider to raise a full team or will they rely on guests? And isn't it sad that the Austrians show no interest in this competition, when all the nations around them take part!

Very good if it comes so. 10 teams in the Ekstraliga is fine. The top clubs in Div.1 are strong enough to hold their own in the EL. 4 Poles, incl two u21s, in the team is fantastic news. It is good for Polish Speedway and will please the Polish speedway public! You can still have three (r or isit four with eight man teams) foreigner in teh team, but those will again only be top class foreign riders, not mediocre ones. Hey, British promoters, are You listening!!!! And only one GP rider per team with ten teams and fifteen permanent GP riders it is obviously making sense for the clubs to bring the financial demands of those GP stars back to a more affordable level. With a surplus of GP riders, if one asks for too much money, another may get the job.

Wally Lloyd had made his test debut for England much earlier, but this of course in a non-official test on his tour of South Africa on December 12 of 1930 at the Ellis Park Cindrena in Johannesburg. He scored five points from three rides in England's 37-17 win over South Africa. Wally Lloyd was one of the most promient figures in pre-war South African speedway, as he was one of the first overseas riders to race there in the 1929/30 season, then came back with the first English touring team in the 1930/31 season and again rode in South Africa in 1935/36, when he and a very young Phil Bishop had plans to move there permanently and join a consortium of speedway promoters. Wally Lloyd returned to ride speedway in S.Africa shortley after the war in 1946, this time accompanied by his younger brother Jeff.