T.N.T.

Tai certainly seems to have a different persona this season. He seems more relaxed, confident and controlled and certainly seems to have a good team around him. Pete Adams is in his corner at GP's keeping an eye on things and he has been there before with a number of world champions like Ole Olsen and Bruce Penhall. At the start of the season, many Wolves fans thought it would only be a matter of time before Freddie takes the #1 race jacket back, but so far Tai looks to be in a comfortable position and has moved up to 8.92 already but Freddie is close behind on 8.79 and it will be a good battle through the season. In the GP' however, Tai has hit the ground running and is joint third with Hampel on 23 points while Freddie has just 12 points in 12th place. The most pleasing thing so far though is all those that questioned his inclusion in the series and has certainly made them take notice and long may it continue

RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1 (New scoring system) 225 Pyscho3a 195 Rico 195 Diddy 185 Beercellar 185 Homer 175 dontforgetthefueltaps 175 PTW 175 Bomber Hammer 175 Screm 165 Waikekeaces 165 Wheels In Line 165 Referee Rick 155 Iceman 145 Mark246 135 CJ69 125 Williamfj 125 Marky 125 Stilton Panther 125 Dump the Clutch 95 Pantherman 85 Full Throttle 85 Paleco 75 Gray 65 Gavan 65 Hunty 55 Spook 45 Jamie E 35 mdmc82 25 Hilly 5 TNT -45 Mike C -75 Grand Central -75 Robbie B will add round 2 results tonight ...... 25 points for posting, 10 points for each point scored over prediction.

All posts or edits before the TV start time (6pm) will be fine. Anything after will make the WHOLE post void ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS 11 Tomasz Gollob 11 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 Nicki Pedersen 10 Darcy Ward 10 Andreas Jonsson 10 Chris Holder 10 Jarek Hampel 8 Greg Hancock 6 Antonio Lindback 6 Fredrik Lindgren 6 Krzystof Kasprzak 5 Tai Woffinden 5 Neils K Iversen 4 Martin Vaculik 4 Matej Zagar 3 Krzysztof Buczkowski I'm switching Darcy Ward for TOMASZ GOLLOB Scores with the new scoring will be updated as soon as possible ..... hopefully by the morning

Wish him well in his bid to race pver here asap but I think I speak fo most Wolves fans in saying WE WANT LUDVIG

The old Wembley with Hans Nielsen off gate one, Dave Jessup off gate two, Sam Ermolenko off gate three and on the outside waiting for the cut back, Ronnie Correy. Riders that actually could have rode together, swap Jessup for Gollob at Odsal Monmore Green = Ermolenko, Correy, PK, Lindgren

I have been thinking that too much rests on the spread bet bonus to those that started before New Zealand. Therefore I am thinking of making it 10 points (or 5) for each point you are correct in the prediction game rather than just one. So for example, if you pick Antonio Lindback on 6 points for round two and he scores 9, you would get 30 points (or 15) rather than just 3. Is that fair to everyone as you could score 330 points this season but lose because someone that finished on 155 points did better at the spread betting. This way would mean you finished on 3,300 points compared to their 1,550.

Great to see the Adam of old at Monmore last night. With Tai and Freddie both looking fast, the rest of the team are doing enough to win nicely at home and at least keep it close away. No doubt we will drop some points at home but I'm pretty confident we can pick up a fair few more away still, so 36 at home with roughly 14 away (got 4 already) gives us 50 points and in the play off zone ..... hopefully. Just hope they sign Ludvig full time A S A P

11 Emil Sayfutdinov 10 Darcy Ward 8 Greg Hancock 3 Krzysztof Buczkowski

Tai has got off to a good start in round one, but in his line up anyone can have a good meeting as they are all capable and personally think the next round may be a bit of a tougher round for him. Overall I think there wont be too much seperating Tai from Zagar, KK, Iversen, Vaculik, Lindback, AJ and Lindgren through the season, So it's going to be tough, but he could finish anywhere from 8th-15th, but will predict he finishes around 11th. HELP TAI Letter from TAI. Hello I’m Tai Woffinden, a professional speedway athlete from the UK. I race in the British Elite League for Wolverhampton Wolves as well as racing in the FIM World Championships. I will be cycling 138 miles to raise money for Cancer Research UK. I will be racing at Wolverhampton on Monday the 27th of May and at the British Grand Prix in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday the 1st of June, I will be leaving Wolverhampton on Tuesday the 28th of May and making the 138 mile cycle to Cardiff ready for the British Grand Prix. My route for the cycle will start in Wolverhampton then go via, Birmingham, Redditch, Gloucester, Severn Bridge, Newport and Finish in Cardiff. The reason for me wanting to do this cycle to raise money for Cancer Research UK is due to the loss of my father Robert Woffinden to cancer in January 2010. According to Cancer Research UK, more than one in three people in the UK will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime. This means almost everyone in the UK will at some point in their life be affected by the disease either by developing the disease themselves or knowing someone who will. My aim is to complete this cycle in memory of my father and in memory of every other person who has been lost to this disease, by the 1st of June I would like to have raised £20,000 to donate to Cancer Research UK. I will be collecting donations through Just Giving via my page at www.justgiving.com/taiwoffinden01008 as well as doing collections at UK speedway meetings. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and I hope you are able to get involved in any way possible. Tai Woffinden

8th July 2010 - Ipswich 44 Wolverhampton 46 That was the last time Wolves won away from home in a league meeting with a team including Fredrik Lindgren, Tai Woffinden, Ludvig Lindgren, Ty Proctor and R/R for Adam Skornicki ..... loyalty pays off after 32 months ....... in the Ipswich team that day was Ales Dryml Looking forward to Tuesday and pleased to see Ludvig back in the Old Gold N Black at reserve where he deserves to be

NEW ZEALAND RESULTS 30 Pyscho3a 27 Rico 27 Diddy 26 Beercellar 26 Homer 25 dontforgetthefueltaps 25 PTW 25 Bomber Hammer 25 Screm 24 Waikekeaces 24 Wheels In Line 24 Referee Rick 23 Iceman 22 Mark246 21 CJ69 20 Williamfj 20 Marky 20 Stilton Panther 20 Dump the Clutch 17 Pantherman 16 Full Throttle 16 Paleco 15 Gray 14 Gavan 14 Hunty 13 Spook 12 Jamie E 11 mdmc82 10 Hilly 8 TNT 7 Mike C 0 Grand Central 0 Robbie B ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS 11 Tomasz Gollob 11 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 Nicki Pedersen 10 Darcy Ward 10 Andreas Jonsson 10 Chris Holder 10 Jarek Hampel 8 Greg Hancock 6 Antonio Lindback 6 Fredrik Lindgren 6 Krzystof Kasprzak 5 Tai Woffinden 5 Neils K Iversen 4 Martin Vaculik 4 Matej Zagar 3 Krzysztof Buczkowski

The National League doesn't really pay unless you are doing it for a hobby and willing to lose money. As for your second point ..... same can be said of many foreign riders that were bought over on highe averages than they now carry !!

Adam actually rode in 47 meetings in 2011 and 47 meetings in 2012, but the problem to me maybe is that he has done less than 30 meetings in the top leagues in Sweden, Poland and Britain during the last two seasons and struggled in each one while the rest of the meetings are either in lower divisions, open meetings or individuals where he has been against weaker opposition. At Wolves, Adam always seems to up his game and hopefully this will be the case again as he can be a real match winner. However I have a horrible feeling that we may never see the old Adam again and riding alongside Ricky may not be the best option and at present I would take the gamble of riding with Adam at #2 alongside Tai where he can hopefully pick up vital third places and do well in heat 8. I would have also kept the strong pairing of Ty Proctor and Freddie together, leaving Ricky Wells at #5 for the first few meetings at Belle Vue and Eastbourne where he has done reasonably well before. ..... 1 Tai ... 2 Adam ... 3 Freddie ... 4 Ty ... 5 Ricky ... 6 Ludvig ... 7 Jacob Should there be two changes, it sadly looks odds on that Adam would be the most likely rider to be sacrificed and then you have to look at an option of getting in a strong reserve rider like Stuart Robson who loves Wolverhampton or if available get Mikkel Michelsen who is signed up at Leszno in Poland alongside Freddie.. Problem then iswhich 5.5 rider would you be able to get in ?

Many of you seem to be missing the point. The list I put up of riders in the NL and not in the PL was an eample and while some have been in the PL before without much sucess, the issue is, why shouldn't they be there riding and maybe struggling at reserve rather than a 3 point foreign rider taking up the place and costing more money. If Henry Cecil had 5 horses running in a race of 12, then he has a decent chance of winning, but if he can only enter one or two horses because Sheik Mohammed has entered 7 future burgers, then the chances of fining the next Frankel has gone down hill. ...... Why should we be saying to young British riders ..... You have tried in the past to make the grade but sorry you have no job in the country you were born in because Pierre Luigi Hitzelberg can look better on the programme !! It's not just giving them a chance to make the grade ..... it's about giving them a job also !!!

Maybe most foreign rders do have a different attitude towards their career in the sport and that shows in numerous riders that have graced the circuits over here during the years. However that's not the case in a number of riders and it is the foreign riders that don't have the skill and ability to make it anywhee near the top that are the main concern. When you look at the Premier League for 2013, you have 16 foreign riders starting the season on an average below 6.00 and that's not including the numerous Australians. Many of these riders came over on an assessed average much higher than the figure they are going to start 2013 with, so despite proving they are not of the standard they should be, they are invited back year after year. Meanwhile there are young British riders being funded by their parents struggling to make ends meet in the National League that could do just as good a job and have more chance of progressing to at least a 6+ rider in the PL in the next few years. Quite frankly I feel that the National League is still not thought of as a proper league and even when you look at the Speedway Star 2013 review, it goes Elite League, Premier League, GP's, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Russia and Germany before you come across the very good review of the National League. Even reviews on Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Hungary, Latvia, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, USA, Norway, Ukraine, South Africa, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia and Canada are put before the NL review ....... Why ? ...... This may only be a small issue to many, but why the NL review shouldn't follow the PL review is to me a show of disrespect to the league where one day we hope this country will develop a rider or team that can take on the world as the did 25 years ago. So what can be done to help these British riders out and hopefully give them more desire to develop in the sport. EASY ..... Give them more chances and spaces in the Premier League. SOLUTION; When a rider comes over here on an assessed average, be it 5.00 or 7.00 or 8.00, they should stay on that figure until they reach that standard. If the fail to reach that average, then please let them back the following year to try again ..... but they must still carry that assessed average and if they miss any meeting only their REAL average is used to determine where R/R or a replacement fits in Would PL teams still pay to fly over a German, Hungarian, Dane etc etc that will start as a heat leader when they have proved they cant do that job and only average virtually half of the figure they carry. Or would they turn to riders sitting and waiting in the National League dying to be given a chance to prove themselves and try and make a living so they can re pay the trust put in them by their parents. Charles Wright 8.53, Adam McKinna 6.74 (Buxton). James Sargeant 7.87, Oliver Greenwood 6.57, Brendan Johnson 5.25 (Coventry), Dan Greenwood 5.90, Paul Starke 5.70 (Dudley), Byron Bekker 7.44 Ben Hopwood 6.16, Darryl Ritching 5.84 (IOW), Steve Boxall 11.38, Ben Morley 7.82, David Mason 7.32 (Kent), Darren Mallett 7.48, Tom Young 7.04 (Kings Lynn), Jon Armstrong 8.11, Dan Halsey 6.57 (Mildenhall), Lee Smart 9.50, Kyle Hughes 6.12, Luke Priest 5.67 (Stoke). ...... All sitting in the National League while foreign riders return onlow averages to fill a team spot I'm sure a few of these could do just as well. I they are good enough, fine. But if they don't reach their assessed average ..... they keep it until they do !!

It is going to be hard for any rider this year as these are possibly the best 15 riders around today and I admit it was set at 155 forgetting that double points had been removed. However, I dont think Holder will have rounds where he scores just 4 points like he did last year in New Zealand RULES were no posts, changes or edits after the NZ GP had started ...... that remains for EVERYONE ... Sorry NOTE; Leaderboard will be done as soon as possible but my laptop has died and have to borrow my kids when I can.

What the riders scored in New Zealand 12 Chris Holder ......... -4 12 Nicki Pedersen ....... 0 11 Darcy Ward ......... 1 10 Greg Hancock ......... 1 10 Emil Sayfutdinov ........ -4 9 Antonio Lindback ........... -3 8 Tomasz Gollob ........... 7 6 Fredrik Lindgren ........... 2 6 Jarek Hampel ........... 9 6 Krysztof Kasprzak ........ 0 6 Andreas Jonsson ........... 5 6 Matej Zagar ............ -1 6 Niels K Iversen ......... 1 6 Martin Vaculik .......... -1 5 Tai Woffinden .......... 4 1 Jason Bunyan .......... 0 So the best four picks would have been Hampel, Gollob, Jonsson and Woffinden which would have netted 35 points. ..... pyscho3a had three of those but trusted Vaculik rather than Tai ..... Dohhhhh !! results posted tonight

Those that thought Tai was going to be nowhere in this Series ...... Well Done TAI

3 minutes to go Grand Central and Robbie B have NOT posted their picks for tonights meeting Seems I'm the only one that thinks Hampel is not the rider he was as everyone is buying him !! Good Luck everyone and Enjoy

Pedersen 12--- 14 Holder 12--- 14 Gollob 10--- 12 Hancock 10--- 12 Sayfutdinov 10--- 12 Hampel 9------11 Lindback 9----- 11 Jonsson 8---- 10 Ward 8----- 10 NKI 7----- 9 Vaculik 7----- 9 Lindgren 6------8 Kasprzak 5-----7 Zagar 5----- 7 Woffinden 3----- 5 Bunyan 1----- 3 £50 Hampel less than 9 £15 Jonsson less than 8 £15 Ward more than 10 £10 Gollob less than 10 £10 Woffinden more than 5

There were a few problems with the old 13 heat format. 1 - Reserves only had 3 programmed rides (and they could be replaced in one of those back then) 2 - Reserves often got false averages as they had heat 2 then just two more heats, often against an opposing reserve. Therefore a home reserve could get 3 1 1 from his 3 rides which is a 6.67 average and all he has beaten is the visiting reserves. 3 - 15 heats are better than 13 On the plus side, the last two races were often a heat leader and a solid second string and not just one heat with 4 top riders in Although the second half Rider of the Night heats were fun when I watched as a child, I preffered the junior meetings over six heats more after the meeting. Always remember in the 80's it was ften heard by the Wolves fans singing "Weve only come for the Juniors" after watching the main team get thrashed but the juniors would win most meetings. .

Not long to go now. All posts MUST be in by 3am ..... ANY posts edited or posted after this time will be VOID EUROSPORT Channel 410 on SKY at 3am ..... Those that have written off Tai ..... get ready

At Freddie's meeting, there was one bit of good news for Wolves going into the season. Doubling up riders will have guests from the Premier League upto their ELITE average. So Wolves can replace Ricky Wells with a rider up to 5.79 and not his 6.49 PL average while Ty Proctor is up to 5.53. Now here is a quesion ....... Jason Doyle has a 6.50 EL average, but his converted PL average is lower than Ty's EL average ...... can he be used as a guest for Ty ? Probably not as JD actually has an official EL average ....... So Wolves could use Joe Screen as a guest for Ricky in the EL while Glasgow can use Ricky as in the PL as a guest for Joe !!

12 Chris Holder 11 Darcy Ward 9 Antonio Lindback 5 Tai Woffinden

ONE WEEK TO GO !!! Don't forget the spread bet as well as the predictions