T.N.T.

If you click on Leszno from the link on the side, it says rain is due in the afternoon and should be dry in the morning, so here's hoping. Cant see the track would have dried off much, so they will probably take the top layer off, then lay down some fresh material just before the meeting starts.

Poland are 4/9 to win the final but Australia at 2/1 may be a good bet if Adams, Crump and Holder are on form. Batchelor can pick up points at Leszno and Watt will fight for everything, so I may have a small bet on them. Just been on facebook and went to add Leigh Adams as a friend, underneath it said ... Leigh only shares certain information with everyone. To learn more about Leigh, add her as a friend. Is he really a Shiela !!

Any updates after Cardiff ?

Judging by these pictures from a Danish paper, Nicki wont be riding http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/multimedia/d...sen_973695l.jpg

If you name a top rider like Hans at reserve, you can go through the first 15 heats to work out who the weak link is. Then come the final 10 heats, in Denmarks case the other night, Bjerre would have 2 rides, Klindt and 1, Iversen 1, Bjarne 1 and Hans would take 5 of which one could be a tactical. That would make it a bit stupid, but could happen unless they put a restriction on the reserve rider or not allow a GP rider to be at reserve

Russia = 51 1. Roman Povazhny - 2, 1, 3, 3, 1 = 10 2. Denis Gizatullin (Captain) - 3, 0, 1, 2, 3 = 9 3. Renat Gafurov - 2, 3, 2, 2, 1 = 10 4. Emil Sayfutdinov - 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 14 5. Grigory Laguta - 2, 2, F/X, 3, 1= 8 Sweden = 47 1. Antonio Lindback - 0, 1, 2, 0, 3 = 6 2. Freddie Lindgren - 2, 1, 3, 3, 2 = 11 3. David Ruud - 3, 1, 1, 2, 0 = 7 4. Andreas Jonsson (Captain) - 1, 3, 3, 2, 4^ = 13 5. Jonas Davidsson - 3, 3, 1, 2, 1 = 10 Denmark = 45 1. Nicki Pedersen - 3, 2, 0 = 5 2. Brjane Pedersen - 1, 2, 2, 1, 0 = 5 3. Nicolat Klindt (Captain) - 1, 2, 2, 1, 2 = 8 4. Kenneth Bjeere - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 6^= 21 5. Niels Kristian Iversen- F, 2, 1, 1, 2 = 6 Czech Republic = 12 1. Ales Dryml (Captain) - 1, 0, 0, 0, 2^ = 3 2. Adrian Rymel - X, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 0 3. Lukas Dryml - 0, F, 2, 1, 2 = 5 4. Josef Franc - 0, 1, 0, 0, 0 = 1 5. Matej Kus - 1, 1, 0, 1, 0 = 3 Any bet on Russia would have been a winner. Can't see them doing it again in Leszno but Emil will be the big scorer for them again while Laguta may be his biggest threat there.

Will be shocked if Australia dont win this by at least 6 points from Poland while England (not Team GB) are way back in third.

Would fans prefer two riders from each country in one heat ?

Riders getting injured during meetings can spoil a team chances and the meeting. Changes are needed and they should look at other options. OPTION ONE Each team consists of 4 riders and 1 reserve. The 4 riders have 1 programmed ride each (16 heats) plus a nominated heat each (20 heats). The reserve can come in at anytime but can not take more than 5 rides through the meeting, including only one nominated race. OPTION TWO Each team consists of 4 riders and 2 reserves. The four riders are in pairs and have 6 programmed rides each. The 2 reserves can come in at anytime but can only have a maximum of six rides during the meeting. OPTION THREE Same format as now but have a reserve on standby who can take any 5 rides during the meeting. One concern is the JOKER being played. Lets say going into the final heat of the race off, Team A are 4 points clear of TEAM B, while TEAM C are just two points behind. Team C can use a tactical ride and qualify for the final. Why not just have a tactical ride where you can bring in your top rider for normal points or a reserve. Forget the Joker cards.

With the old Team Rickardsson behind them its no shock, but to do it against Sweden ... nice Because he is a one off !

His front wheel got hit by Laguta's footrest and thats the only reason for the wobble, quite frankly it was a hard race and I'm suprised Nicki wasn't excluded as he could have shut off being behind and may have done better cutting back under Laguta. Overall, a great display by the Russians and the race off meeting should be tight with Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain and Poland or Australia in.

If Team GB dont have a few impressive rides, Matej Zagar may get close to their total on his own with a tactical ride. Think GB should be too good to miss out on the race off, but cant see them being in the final at all.

I have been going on about this subject for a number of years now and the big stumbling block as regards the one big league is getting EL promoters to put on a meeting without the big names and the PL promoters to help out as they are happy with what they have now. My suggestion has been to have an Elite League (8-10 teams), a British League (all tracks) and a National League (all but the EL tracks) where the young juniors develop. Its no good saying "You want to ride here, you fly yourself over", it doesnt work like that and it wont, the best way I have always said is to simply stick with the assessed averages of foreign riders. Lets take Hynek Stichauer at Wolves for example. He has been very poor at the start of the season and despite now showing some vast improvement, he will not reach a 3.00 average. So come 2010 and Should Wolves wish to give him another chance, then fine, bring him in, but still on his 4.00 average, just like Ricky Wells at Coventry. Premier League (British League) teams could then realistically only track thre or four foreign riders at best as all would have at least 8.00 averages. This would mean all second strings and reserves in the second tier of racing would be British riders and no under achieving foreigners that couldn't hold down a main body place at Stoke or Newport for instance. The Elite League would have to be run on one night though, just as it is in Poland and Sweden which would suit the top riders, suit Sky and give the lower riders 6 nights free to ride in the lower leagues and / or Sweden or Poland. This can easily be done in the fixtures. Elite League teams wouldnt have points limits as these tracks would have a British League team. In my example I will use Wolves who could have Tai Woffinden 7.00, Nicolai Klindt 5.50, Ty Proctor 4.50, Hynek Stichauer 4.00, Joe Haines 3.00, a 3.00 junior and two juniors doubling up from the National League. Thats a team average of 30. For Elite League matches, they would use Woffinden, Klindt, Proctor, Stichauer and Haines alongside any two top liners they have to pick from like Fredrik Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Emil Sayfutdinov and Adam Skornicki. Should Woffinden get injured during the season, Skornicki could come in to replace him during EL and BL matches, giving them the option to use PK and Lindgren as the two picks in EL matches. Should Sticky or Haines be injured, then they already have the 3.00 junior and the doubling up pair to use as replacements. Current PL riders would have their averages divided by 1.5 so a 9.00 Premier League rider would be a 6.00 BL rider. All this creates a squad system, cuts costs by not using the big money earners as much and gives British riders the chance to progress in the sport.

It costs too much to lay the track at Cardiff and the venue is used quite a lot for many things apart from Speedway, so dates may also be a problem. As for the GP's, we seem to forget we are ENGLAND and I cant see any reason why they cant hold the British GP at Cardiff and hold an English GP at somwehere like Coventry. The Poles and Danes have 2 GP's, so why cant England have one and a British one ?

I used to love the Golden Greats meetings run by Barry Briggs but they dont appear anymore. Could they still be run or was it a case of the insurance ? Would be great to have a meeting with the likes of Sam Ermolenko, Ronnie Correy, Tony Rickardsson, Jeremy Doncaster and many many more in that have retired in more recent years plus riders from a bit further back.

Australia to go straight through, Poland a comfortable second and Team GB some way back in third, scoring about 10 more than Zagar ! Can see Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson being bought in for the final alongside Bomber, Eddie and Tai

Sweden - Lindback, Bjerre, Zagar, Davidsson, Harris, Ulamek and one more 1-Jesper B. Monberg -DMU-Denmark 2-Lukáš Dryml-ACCR-Czech Rep. 3-Antonio Lindback -SVEMO-Sweden 4-Kenneth Bjerre-DMU-Denmark 5-Magnus Zetterström-SVEMO-Sweden 6-Piotr Swiderski -PZM-Poland 7-Christian Hefenbrock -DMSB-Germany 8-Matej Žagar -AMZS-Slovenia 9-Sebastian Ulamek -PZM-Poland 10-Morten Risager -DMU-Denmark 11-Kauko Nieminen -SML-Finland 12-Dave Watt -AUS-Australia 13-Renat Gafurov-MFR-Russia 14-Jonas Davidsson -SVEMO-Sweden 15-Chris Harris -ACU-Great Britain 16-Grzegorz Walasek-PZM-Poland 17-Tai Woffinden -ACU-Great Britain (Track reserve rider) 18-Joonas Kylmäkorpi-SML-Finland (Track reserve rider) Latvia - Protasiewicz, Holder, Lindgren, Hampel, Vaculik, Miedzinski and Laguta(wc) 1-Leon Madson -DMU-Denmark 2-Patrick Hougaard -DMU-Denmark 3-Ales Dryml -ACCR-Czech Rep. 4-Thomas H. Jonasson -SVEMO-Sweden 5-Piotr Protasiewicz-PZM-Poland 6-Martin Vaculík-SMF-Slovakia 7-Rory Schlein -MA-Australia 8-Bjarne Pedersen -DMU-Denmark 9-Adrian Miedzinski -PZM-Poland 10-TBA-LaMSF-Latvia 11-Jaroslav Hampel -PZM-Poland 12-Fredrik Lindgren -SVEMO-Sweden 13-Martin Smolinski -DMSB-Germany 14-Jurica Pavlic -HMS-Croatia 15-Chris Holder -MA-Australia 16-Matej Ferjan -MAMS-Hungary 17-Andriy Karpov -FMU-Ukraine (Track reserve rider) 18-Kroner Tobias-DMSB-Germany (Track reserve rider Sweden - Lindback, Bjerre, Zagar, Davidsson, Harris, Ulamek and one more Latvia - Protasiewicz, Holder, Lindgren, Hampel, Vaculik, Miedzinski and Laguta(wc) Any of these riders could be in the top 3 for the GP Challenge final but being at Coventry, I will go for Zagar, Lindgren and Holder. Lindgren will gain a top 8 place anyway and Holder would have been seeded even if he fails to qualify. Think Protasiewicz will be the dark horse and 2010 will see just one British rider in the series .... if they are lucky !

Brave move naming a young team, but lets face it, even being held at Peternorough, Team GB wont beat Poland and Coventry even with Scott and Lee in. The only worry in this must be the fact the team finishing fourth go out straight away and Slovenia will have Zagar and Vaculik in the team who could easily score 25 between them at EoES. However, should they qualify for the race-off, the team can be renamed with Nicholls and Richardson in to replace most likely, King and Bridger. Maybe the team is based upon riders that can fight for every point and not just gate !

Its what goes on in the middle bit thats a concern Shazzy Well I will as usual travel down in the morning, arrive in Cardiff around 10 and then leave for home roughly one hour after the meeting. Cant be arsed with all this hotel business and being nearly motorway back to the midlands, it takes me just two hours to travel the 130 miles and get home just in time to watch the replay on Sky Wonder if the Mrs wants to come again ?

Their averages are near enough the same but Tai rides with Skornicki and picks up quite a few bonus points but in realitty, we all know Ti is the big prospect out of the two. Scott Nicholls, Chris Harris, Lee Richardson, Edward Kennett, Lewis Bridger and Tai Woffinden ~ but not in any order

Nicholls lean left and guided Emil into the fence. The pit gate was to Scotts right and Emil would have had to cut across Scott to get through the gate but Scott was by now well cheesed off. First physical move was by Scott but Emil was at fault as Scott had ridden a good race.

Scott did start to ride back but after a few words were said, Scott pushed Emil away first, thats a fact and a turn to the right for Scott would have seen him head back into the pits, not leaning left ! Emil was fined $100 more for approaching Scott and starting the whole incident and both were fined the same amount for the fighting

Make this a Sticky Please

They ended up in the air fence to the left of the pit gate due to Scott leaning into him to stop them heading towards the gate, so if any rider did the pushing to the fence it was Scott Do many want to stay in the City before and after the meeting ....... Yes and thousands prove that every year As for £100+ guest houses, true quite a few hotels are expensive, but arent they all in most big cities and quite frankly I looked up accomodation a few days before and could get a double room with breakfast for £50, so next time look harder and get into town earlier for a few at the PoW We have heard about the $600 and $500 fines imposed, but if you look at the leader board, you may notice that Emil's and Scott's total points have still to be confirmed so more punishment might follow. I am a big Emil fan and think he was in the wrong as Scott rode a good race, but Scott did do the first of the pushing and that would in a court of law state that Scott started the fight.

Havent they had the live entertainment in the break before ? I came in late so all I saw all night in the way of entertainment was that Paul Childs who did the National Anthems ok, but the rest was a glorified kareoke. There are a number of celebrities that like to watch speedway, maybe next year they could get Tim Lovejoy, Graham Stuart, Richard Wright etc to have a penalty shoot out against former riders ? Think it may be cheaper too as many would just be happy to be there free of charge. The White Start Girl last night can always do dancing next year, I will be glad to polish the pole