T.N.T.

Crumpy will be riding but he is not happy with the track and is struggling with his injury. Meanwhile Emil and Greg are flying on it and if Emil gets a big score here, the final at Bydgoszcz will be interesting as Emil is possibly better there than Gollob C'Mon Emil !!

The difference is that if it was a one day World Final, Zorro would have come through the Swedish Final consisting of Lindgren, Jonsson etc ..... then the Scandanavian/Nordic Final featuring the Swedes plus Nicki P, Andersen, Bjerre, Iversen etc etc .... then he would have ridden in an Inter-Continental Final featuring the riders already listed plus Woffinden, Nichools, Crump, Adams, Holder and all the nig Aussies and Brits Szackiel in '73 only had to go through the Continental Qualifiers but these days the Poles would have to compete in new rounds featuring the riders already list from Scandanavia and the Commonwealth. As for Zorro not disgracing himself in the GP;s .... He may have the odd one or two heat wins during the season ..... but to think he would heat over 50 points from 15 meetings would be very hard to see !

GP's ..... Oh yes thats the under minded night where people pay silly money to watch bikes follow each other around a white line on a circuit not too different to concrete .....

I would be suprised if PK had turned down the chance to ride in this and even if he had ... his place should be taken by the next highest Wolf available .... Adam Skornicki !

Saturday 10th July The British Speedway GP @ Cardiff The British F1 Qualifying Day The 3rd/4th play off World Cup match As soon as they named the date for Cardiff I thought it was a bit weird clashing with the World Cup finals, with it also clashing with the F1 makes it crazy. I have a few mates that go to the F1 and spend the weekend there .... I'm sure a few speedway fans do the same!

QUALIFYING RIDERS: Jonas Davidsson (Lakeside), Davey Watt (Eastbourne), Scott Nicholls (Ipswich), Niels-Kristian Iversen (Peterborough), Chris Holder (Poole), Kenneth Bjerre (Peterborough), Lee Richardson (Lakeside), Matej Zagar (Swindon), Edward Kennett (Coventry), Freddie Lindgren (Wolverhampton), Krsyzstof Kasprzak (Belle Vue), Robert Miskowiak (Ipswich), Hans Andersen (Poole), Jason Crump (Belle Vue), Chris Harris (Coventry), Leigh Adams (Swindon). Reserves: Lukas Dryml (Eastbourne), Adam Skornicki (Wolverhampton). 1 ~ Why should Jason Crump be allowed to enter this meeting, he has only just turned up to the league and gets a chance of being named the top rider ! ..... weird how heat 20 is with Holder and the 2 Belle Vue riders ! 2 ~ Why is Adam Skornicki named as reserve ? ..... Peter Karlsson should be named in the line up having a near 9 average and IF he was unavailable then Adam should take his place (as Tai is in the WU21) ..... Should for example Holder not ride .... will Bjarne or Screen be asked to cover ? ..... or will they give Dryml a place .... even though his average is way below Skornicki's !!! ..... Swindon and Wolves are the top 2 teams this year ... but Wolves have 1 rider in the line up

Isn't this the meeting Richardson pulled out of ? Was he injured ? ...... well he wasn't 2 days prior to it .... 24th June 2009 Lakeside = 42 1. Lee Richardson.......0 3 11 3 2 = 9+1 2. Kauko Nieminen......2 0 1 2 = 5 3. Adam Shields..........3 1 3 3 0 = 10 4. Jonas Davidsson.....21 3 1 3 = 9+1 5. Joonas Kylmakorpi..1 3 0 0 = 4 6. Phil Morris...............2 0 1 1 = 4 7. Stuart Robson.........11 0 0 0 = 1+1 Wolves = 48 1. Freddie Lindgren.....3 2 3 11 3 = 12+1 2. Nicolai Klindt............X 0 21 21 = 4+2 3. Tai Woffinden..........1 11 3 2 = 7+1 4. Adam Skornicki........0 2 0 2 = 4 5. Peter Karlsson.........3 11 2 2 1 = 9 +1 6. Jesper Kristiansen...0 WITHDRAWN 7. Ty Proctor................1 3 21 2 3 11 0 = 12+2 Tai however ended up in a qualifier at Lonigo with Sebastian Ulamek, Jesper B and Bjarne Pedersen taking the top three places but lost out in a 3 man run-off for the last two places with Rory Schlein and T H Johansson On averages, Richardson 8.66, Harris 8.44, Kennett 8.03, Nicholls 7.88 and Woffinden 7.47 are the top five, but next season, will Tai be 1.19 behind Richardson in the averages .... or 1.19 ahead of him !! Emil at 19 is not too young and Tai is the outstanding British talent that should be given the chance ahead of the others.

So Wolves could track Nicki Pedersen, Fredrik Lindgren and Peter Karlsson while Poole could track Hans Andersen, Kryzstof Kasprzak and Chris Holder ...... However teams like Ipswich would have a top 3 of Miskowiak, Nicholls and King !! If there was to be a grading, it would have to be more balanced out. GRADE 7 = 9.00+ GRADE 6 = 8.00 - 8.99 GRADE 5 = 7.00 - 7.99 GRADE 4 = 6.00 - 6.99 GRADE 3 = 5.00 - 5.99 GRADE 2 = 4.00 - 4.99 GRADE 1 = 3.00 - 3.99 Each team would then be allowed to have seven riders with a combined grade of say 25 so for Example, Wolves could track Lindgren, Karlsson, Woffinden, Klindt, Proctor, Lawson, Stichauer .... Coventry ~ Harris, Nicholls, Kennett, Barker, Allen and Auty Sounds good, but would there be the riders to go around ? Why would a track like Belle Vue, Ipswich or Eastbourne want to join the Elite League if there are three teams that have all the top riders in there. Could you imagine a Wolves v Belle Vue match Pedersen, Lindgren, Karlsson, Woffinden, Max, Skornicki and Klindt v Hougaard, Gjedde, Wright, Ostergaard, Forsberg etc etc ..... Bet that would really get the fans queing at the gates. Grading can work, but the smart promoters will then know that a rider is best to finish on a 6.99 average rather than 7.01 and will make sure this happens each year. That way their team could be 6.93 stronger than most other teams

So is Darcy Ward .... with Holder and Crump in next year, they may leave Darcy to one side and favour Zagar and Lindback more ... but Darcy would be a good publicity roll for the GP's ..... Emil 20, Tai 19, Darcy 17 .... those three with Lindgren 24 and Holder 22 could be the top 5 for years to come soon.

Above all his impressive scores, great riding ability and organisation, this year Tai has impressed me more with the fact he can really handle pressure as he just gets his head down and gets on with it. I understand it could be a difficult time for him, but for me on ability alone, Tai deserves the spot more than any of the others. Lets cut it down as really there can only be the choice between Nicholls, Harris, Richardson, Woffinden and Kennett. Kennett ~ Done well and qualified for Cardiff, but hasn't got that extra spark. 10/1 Nicholls ~ Has looked uniterested all season and now its all but over he is starting to get a few points. 6/1 Harris ~ Has always been a 5 point scorer in the GP's apart from the odd meeting and has had his chances. Time to take a year out. 3/1 Richardson ~ How can you give it to a rider that backed out of the qualifiers. At least Tai gave it a shot and despite a shoulder injury and a crash, he still battled on. Maybe favourite but can't see them giving it to a rider that has failed in past seasons. 6/4 Woffinden ~ BSI and Sky will see him at the English version of Emil and give him the one wild card place for a Brit. 7/4 This years top 9 should be secure, add Zorro, Holder and Hampel and then there are 3 wild card places. Zagar should be one, Woffinden another and the last place could go to Leigh Adams (or they may at least offer him the chance)

Any updates ?

1. Chris Holder 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 14 2. Jarek Hampel 2, 3, 3, 2, 3 = 13 3. Kauko Nieminen 1, 1, 0, X, 1 = 3 4. Chris Harris 0, 2, 2, 3, 3 = 10 5. Lukas Dryml 2, 0, 0, X, 2 = 4 6. Jonas Davidsson 1, 0, 2, 0, 0 = 3 7. Piotr Protasiewicz 3, 3, X, 2, 2 = 10 8. Grzegorz Walasek 0, 3, 1 = 4 9. Kenneth Bjerre R, 1, 2, 2, 1 = 6 10. Magnus Zetterstrom 3, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 14 11. Jurica Pavlic 2, 0, 0, 0, 1 = 3 12. Martin Smolinski 1, 1, 2, 0, 2 = 6 13. Fredrik Lindgren 3, 2, 1, 3, 3 = 12 14. Davey Watt 1, 1, 3, 1, 0 = 6 15. Adrian Miedzinski 2, 2, 1, 1, 0 = 6 16. Maksims Bogdanovs 0, Fx, 1, 2, 0 = 3 Track Reserves 17. Ales Dryml 1 18. Morten Risager 1 How many next season will wish that Darcy was in the Series instead of Zorro. Fair play to the guy, last year he won the Swedish title and now wins a meeting including some top riders. Lindgren may have missed out tonight, but he is at present in the top 8 and even if he was to drop to 9th, he should be noiminated next season. 2010 = Crump, Sayfutdinov, Gollob, Hancock, Jonsson, Holta, Pedersen, Andersen, Lindgren, Zetterstrom, Holder, Hampel ..... 3 places left Adams ~ Think he will bow out after this year Zagar ~ Has to be one of the favourites to be nominated Harris ~ Think the GPC was his last chance Woffinden ~ The in form Brit and better than the rest in conjtention. Richardson ~ Has always failed to qualify and backed out of the Challenge this year .... Unless there has to be 2 Brits ..... No Ward ~ Yes he is young, but it would be a great talking point and he would not finish last !

Heard reports that Jason Crump has suffered nasty burns to his arm after getting it caught in Troy Batchelor's back wheel at Kirky Lane. Also heard he dislocated his shoulder. Now if this is correct, with the next GP just 12 days away and Emil just 26 points behind Crump ... Could Emil sneak it this year ? Not too sure of the odds, but likely to be around 6/1 before they find out how badly injured Crump is

He already has enough qualifications to be in there next season British U18 Champion, British U21 Champion, PLRC Champion, Average 7.47 in his first EL season (8.36 with BP) and unlike Harris, Nicholls and Richardson, he hasn't tried and tried and tried and failed virtually every GP ! Tai for me should be the only British GP rider in 2010 with Bomber as the Cardiff Wild Card.

Jumping ahead a little bit 1981 Bruce Penhall 1982 Bruce Penhall 1983 ... ? (Hans Nielsen) 1984 Hans Nielsen 1985 Hans Nielsen 1986 Hans Nielsen 1987 Hans Nielsen 1988 Hans Nielsen 1989 Hans Nielsen 1990 Hans Nielsen 1991 Hans Nielsen 1992 Sam Ermolenko 1993 Sam Ermolenko 1994 Hans Nielsen 1995 Hans Nielsen Anyone disagree

1 Chris Holder (Australia) 2 Jarek Hampel (Poland) 3 Kauko Nieminen (Finland) 4 Chris Harris (GB) 5 Lukas Dryml (Czech Rep) 6 Jonas Davidsson (Sweden) 7 Piotr Protasiewicz (Poland) 8 Grzegorz Walasek (Poland) 9 Kenneth Bjerre (Denmark) 10 Magnus Zetterstrom (Sweden) 11 Jurica Pavlic (Croatia) 12 Martin Smolinski (Germany) 13 Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 14 Davey Watt (Australia) 15 Adrian Miedzinski (Poland) 16 Maksims Bogdanovs (Latvia) 17 Antonio Lindback (Sweden) 18 Tobias Kroner (Germany) The Format 16 riders, 20 heats, five rides for each competitor with 3-2-1-0 scoring Top three riders gain places in 2010 Grand Prix series. Reserves/stand-by riders for 2010 GP determined by finishing order below 3rd place. Run-offs will be staged if required for any of the top four places. For the sake of the series, I really hope Hampel, Holder and Lindgren are the top three in this. Lindgren I think will miss out on the top 8 due to Nicky and Holta likely to score better in the last two, especially Poland. With Holder and Hampel qualifying, that would give you 11 starters for next season and then give the Wild Cards to Hans Andersen, Tai Woffinden, Darcy Ward and if he wishes to stay in, Leigh Adams, if not then Lindback or Zagar. Woffinden is by far the best English prospect around today and we have seen Nicholls, Harris and Richardson fail too many times to see them do it all over again while Darcy Ward may be a bit young at 17 in 2010 .... but werent they saying that about a certain 19 year-old Russian this time last year !

Any updates on scores for this competition around please ? Whoops

I would seriously consider putting these three in next season regardless of age. They are all racers and would be a kick in the ass for the series instead of some of the ageing riders that are taking up space at the moment. The current top 10 of Crump, Emil, Gollob, Hancock, Jonsson, Bjerre, Lindgren, Pedersen and Andersen along with the top three from Coventry (Holder could be one) and two from Holder, Woffinden and Ward would make a much better 15 line up and start bringing in new faces who like Emil go full out for every point. Agree The riders from the GP Challenge should be given the 9-11 race jackets and the next four given 12-15 relating to where they finished in the previous series (if they were in) with new riders taking the lower numbers. Quite frankly that should be taken out and a run-off would have been much better way of deciding it. I'm no Nicki fan to say the least, but he was the rider that should have been excluded but when Gollob cut across them both, Nicki couldn't shut off because Emil was inside him and only lifting at that split second caused the accident. As for crap riding from Emil ... is that the same Emil that was thanked by both Hancock and Gollob for avoiding them when falling and the same Emil that was so crap it affected his scores ... 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 ... Shockingly crap

11 of the first 12 races were won from gate one .... the only rider than managed to win off another gate before the interval was Emil Sayfutdinov who went unbeaten all night to score 24 points. Had Emil been missing from this meeting it would have been really bad, but I think Sam Ermolenko hit upon one of the problems in the Sky Studio. He was saying how Olsen does a great job with the GP's but maybe the track preperation should be left to the usual track men who know how to prepare a race track.

I answered this in General Speedway section already

Apart from the brilliant Sayfutdinov, the meeting was a complete joke really. Where they gated they virtually stayed and only bold moves like Gollob on Emil and Nicki in the final was going to get you anywhere. Emil was brilliant again, doesn't matter where the line is, he went for it and deserved a 24 point maximum. Heats 1 - 12 ..... all won from gate one ... except heat 4 when Emil (yellow) passsed Lindgren (red) down the back straight After the interval, the inside lane wasn't working and only heats 17 + 18 provided winners with heat 18 a race with four riders that were already out anyway. Then the semi-finals take place and again gate one wins both and suprisingly, Emil chooses Blue for the final !!! Holta (red) was winning until the big clash with Nicki / Gollob and Emil got a second chance. Ole Olsen has done a brilliant job with the GP's but if he is race director, surely that more like Clerk of the Course who at tracks ensures this are running right, but the trackmen are the ones entrusted to do the track .... so why should Olsen get involved. If the weathers bad, you can understand sometimes the track being a bit different, but when there is no excuse, the track should be prepared to provide racing on and this season they may as well have Scaletrix sponsor some of the meetings. Get Doc Bridgett and a few good track men together, get the tracks sorted and speedway may just be exciting to watch on TV and not have to rely on a 19 year-old paper boy going hell for leather to provide any real racing at all.

LEADERBOARD UPDATED AFTER SLOVENIAN GP

For those that cant get a feed, these are the scores at the interval 9 = Emil Sayfutdinov 3 3 3 7 = Rune Holta 2 3 2 6 = Tomasz Gollob 3 2 1 5 = Scott Nicholls 0 3 2 5 = Jason Crump 3 2 0 5 = Leigh Adams 2 0 3 5 = Matej Zagar 0 3 2 5 = Nicki Pedersen 0 2 3 5 = Greg Walasek 3 1 1 5 = Fredrik Lindgren 2 1 2 5 = Greg Hancock 2 2 1 3 = Kenneth Bjerre 0 0 3 3 = Andreas Jonsson 1 1 1 2 = Chris Harris 1 1 F 1 = Sebastian Ulamek 1 0 0 1 = Hans Andersen 1 0 0

1 J.Crump (2) AUS 2 C.Harris (11) GBR 3 G.Hancock (4) USA 4 S.Nicholls (9) GBR 5 G.Walasek (13) POL 6 L.Adams (6) AUS 7 S.Ulamek (14) POL 8 N.Pedersen (1) DEN 9 H.Andersen (5) DEN 10 T.Gollob (3) POL 11 R.Holta (8) POL 12 K.Bjerre (12) DEN 13 E.Sayfutdinov (15) RUS 14 M.Zagar (16) SLO 15 F.Lindgren (10) SWE 16 A.Jonsson (7) SWE 17 I.Santej (17) SLO 18 A.Conda (18) SLO 1 J.Crump (2) C.Harris (11) G.Hancock (4) S.Nicholls (9) 2 G.Walasek (13) S.Ulamek (14) L.Adams (6) N.Pedersen (1) 3 T.Gollob (3) R.Holta (8) H.Andersen (5) K.Bjerre (12) 4 F.Lindgren (10) M.Zagar (16) A.Jonsson (7) E.Sayfutdinov (15) 5 E.Sayfutdinov (15) J.Crump (2) G.Walasek (13) H.Andersen (5) 6 M.Zagar (16) T.Gollob (3) C.Harris (11) L.Adams (6) 7 R.Holta (8) F.Lindgren (10) S.Ulamek (14) G.Hancock (4) 8 S.Nicholls (9) N.Pedersen (1) K.Bjerre (12) A.Jonsson (7) 9 L.Adams (6) A.Jonsson (7) J.Crump (2) R.Holta (8) 10 K.Bjerre (12) G.Walasek (13) F.Lindgren (10) C.Harris (11) 11 N.Pedersen (1) H.Andersen (5) G.Hancock (4) M.Zagar (16) 12 E.Sayfutdinov (15) S.Nicholls (9) T.Gollob (3) S.Ulamek (14) 13 S.Ulamek (14) K.Bjerre (12) M.Zagar (16) J.Crump (2) 14 C.Harris (11) E.Sayfutdinov (15) N.Pedersen (1) R.Holta (8) 15 A.Jonsson (7) G.Hancock (4) T.Gollob (3) G.Walasek (13) 16 H.Andersen (5) L.Adams (6) S.Nicholls (9) F.Lindgren (10) 17 J.Crump (2) N.Pedersen (1) F.Lindgren (10) T.Gollob (3) 18 H.Andersen (5) C.Harris (11) S.Ulamek (14) A.Jonsson (7) 19 G.Hancock (4) K.Bjerre (12) E.Sayfutdinov (15) L.Adams (6) 20 G.Walasek (13) M.Zagar (16) R.Holta (8) S.Nicholls (9) Heats 4, 11 and 17 look very tight races 1st Jason Crump 134 2nd Tomasz Gollob 98 3rd Greg Hancock 97 4th Emil Sayfutdinov 96 5th Andreas Jonsson 87 6th Kenneth Bjerre 78 7th Fredrik Lindgren 76 8th Nicki Pedersen 70 9th Hans Andersen 65 10th Rune Holta 58 11th Leigh Adams 54 12th Sebastian Ulamek 54 13th Chris Harris 44 14th Grzegorz Walasek 44 15th Scott Nicholls 28 16th Antonio Lindback 27

Great confidence booster for Chris ..... lets hope he keeps that bike for the play-offs. If you were to pick the top 10 from this line up before it started, I dont think anyone would have picked Chris, let alone to even get on the rostrum, so this is some achievement. Well Done Chris.