T.N.T.

Gollob did miss the cut in the 90's and was used in every round as one of the wild cards. If the best riders are drafted in, Peter Karlsson, Mark Loram and Rune Holta would be bought in, although this would be hard on Hans.

I read alot of your comments and know you are a very bright person in speedway matters, but this is crazy. How you can say Scott Nicholls is over rated. He is without doubt one of the worlds top riders and has made a number of semi-finals and always shown up well. He will make the top 8 in 2006 without fail. Hampel failed to make the top 8 this year for ther same reasons Scott didnt last season - injuries forced him out of vital rounds Lindback is up and down - 12 one night, 0 the next. Scott alot better rider than Antonio any day.

2) Rzeszow are about to sign with Max Max unlikley to ride anywhere in 2006 due to his injuries 4) Bydgoszcz have already 5 riders for 2006: Jonsson, PePe, Buczkowski (19), Jedrzejewski (18), Lopaczewski (16 but very gifted; passed his speedway licence exam five weeks ago). Sawina and Klecha are to stay as well but Krzyzaniak's and Robacki's situation is very uncertain after a poor season of them. Polonia's eye is kept on Miskowiak, Chrzanowski, Kosciecha and at least one of them should be signed... There's also a rumour about Hampel (!) but honestly I don't believe it much. Krzysztof Pecyna will be signing for Bydgoszcz for 2006

OLYMPIC STADIUM BARCELONA Home of Espanyol FC who use the stadium from August to May and otherwise is left empty. This I believe has been looked at to hold the European GP in 2007.

I have a few lying around including one on an old husky in the late 60's doing a scrambling event at hawkstone park i think. Will try and find out if Roger Harvey or Rob Hooper have any old snaps or items aswell. You obviously live quite close to me then aswell. I live in Rugeley.

Tom Leadbitter was a Bristol rider for a time. Tiger Tom as he was known had a good career and upon retiring he went back to Moto X and Grasstrack. He appeared in numerous pre75 events and won most of them. A builder by trade who lived in Rugeley then Lichfield. Tom sadly died of a heart attack in 1995. He was still riding on the Grass even then in his 50's and was always known for his cheerful smile and pipe. A great character who I knew very well and often helped him clean his bikes after a meeting the next day while he was at our farm we lived on then.

ANDERSEN - KASPRZAK - ZAGAR will be the last three now Richardson has got in. No PK or Loram

Nicholls, Hampel and Lindback are all going to be put back in without doubt. Hans Andersen should also get a place as Iversen isnt yet to that standard and Gjedde and Bjerre both look destined to miss the start of next season with injuries, especially Bjerre. Its sure that Chrzanowski and Sullivan will be chopped and to me it seems the only doubt would be with Lee Richardson who has really had a great series and his only real help in there will be two Brits in. Loram it appears is keen to get back in and he is regarded by BSI, SKY and the FIM as one of the sports best entertainers. This I believe would push him ahead of Lee R. If Mark doesnt want to rejoin, then Lee R will be safe. Looks an odds on bet that Matej (score 2 from 3 rides. . . ooh I feel sick. . i will go home?) Zagar will be drafted in first and that leaves just one more place. So who will replace Chrzanowski ? Well with Gollob and Hampel in and two rounds always held in Poland, it would be a suprise if its not another Pole replacing the Poole reject. If Kasprzak gets the nod, I hope its not due to his so-called under 21 success, but more for his league form and WTC squad pick for Poland. Rune Holta should be his main rival, but will they really count him as a Pole or not ? I'll say that KK will now get the final place. NICHOLLS - LINDBACK - HAMPEL - ANDERSEN - Loram/Richardson - ZAGAR - KASPRZAK STANDBY; Richardson/Loram - Iversen - Holta - Stead - Lindgren

1 4/5 19.00 Holsted - Outrup 53 - 44 Holsted 2 11/5 19.00 Slangerup - Outrup 48 - 46 Slangerup 3 11/5 19.00 Fredericia - Brovst 54 - 43 Fjelsted 4 18/5 19.00 Brovst - Fredericia 48 - 47 Brovst 5 18/5 19.00 Holsted - Slangerup 50 - 46 Holsted 6 25/5 19.00 Outrup - Fredericia 44 - 46 Outrup 7 1/6 19.00 Holsted - Brovst 56 - 41 Holsted 8 8/6 19.00 Fredericia - Slangerup 48 - 44 Fjelsted 9 8/6 19.00 Brovst - Outrup 57 - 41 Brovst 10 15/6 19.00 Slangerup - Fredericia 45 - 46 Slangerup 11 15/6 19.00 Outrup - Holsted 42 - 50 Outrup 12 22/6 19.00 Fredericia - Outrup 67 - 25 Fjelsted 13 22/6 19.00 Brovst - Slangerup 37 - 61 Brovst 14 26/6 14.00 Slangerup - Holsted 45 - 50 Slangerup 15 3/8 19.00 Outrup - Brovst 48 - 47 Outrup 16 10/8 19.00 Slangerup - Brovst 58 - 41 Slangerup 17 10/8 19.00 Fredericia - Holsted 46 - 44 Fjelsted 18 17/8 19.00 Brovst - Holsted 51 - 48 Brovst 19 17/8 19.00 Outrup - Slangerup 50 - 49 Outrup 20 24/8 19.00 Holsted - Fredericia 48 - 41 Holsted 21 31/8 18.30 Fredericia - Slangerup - Brovst - Holsted 40p - 28p - 21p - 19p Fjelsted 22 24/9 14.00 Fredericia - Holsted - Slangerup - Brovst Holsted More than 10 weeks this season isnt it and that doesnt include Danish Championships. As for let them choose, look at the list you are asking Nicki Pedersen, Hans Andersen, Bjarne Pedersen, Charlie Gjedde, Neils K Iversen, Kenneth Bjerre, Jesper B Jensen, Morten Risager, Mads Korneiulssen, Tom P Madsen, Claus Kristensen, Kristian Lund, Steen Jensen. plus - Robert Koseicha, Roman Povazhny, Karol Zabik, Marcin Rempala. As for Germany, Italy and other minnow countries, the list is alot smaller and riders like Steve Johnston, Roman Povazhny etc will take just a few seconds to decide. The one rule that needs to come in is the Points Limit in the PL be reduced to something like 38 or 40 which would enhance the oppourtunites for young British riders to fill the reserve berths. In fact, the reserves births in the PL should be kept to British riders under the age of 23, with averages not effected unless a team tracks three and the lowest two must be at 6+7.

Or switcth to my previous suggestion when Crump would have 2 programmed rides at Swindon. First against Richardson and second against Adams. Depending where he is nominated in his other two, he could meet the same riders again or even Adams three times ! Wont get an 11+ average on this format !

Denmark ride on Wednesdays so it couldnt be Wednesday and Thursday while the weekend has too many FIM meetings so it would have to be Monday and Thursday.

RACE NIGHTS SUN = POLAND MON = ENGLAND TUE = SWEDEN WED = DENMARK THU = ENGLAND FRI = Open SAT = GP's - FIM Events etc With British Speedway riding double what they ride in any other country, I see England having to ride on 2 nights in the Elite League. The Premier League carry on as normal and should any rider miss a fixture due to riding in another countries league, no guest facility will be allowed and the rider will be banned for 8 days. Teams would be able to fluctuate their race nights a bit (mon or thu) but each week each team would ride one home and one away match. All 10 teams would therefore be no guest facility, but there is another option.(see below) MONDAYS; Belle Vue, Eastbourne, Poole, Swindon, Wolverhampton. THURSDAYS; Arena Essex, Coventry, Ipswich, Oxford, Peterborough. GUESTS; Top riders would no longer have the guest facility and a manager/promoter has these options to replace a missing top man. 1= r/r 2= Replace a 9 point rider and your weakest rider, say 3.00 with 2 PL riders like Stoney, Wilson, Bird etc. 3= Redeclare the 1-7 with new signing(s) Any reserve missing should be replaced by a PL rider averaging under 7 points a match while other riders (2-5) can have r/r or a PL rider replace them. TACTICAL MOVES; TAPES; If a team is 6 or more points behind, they can swap gate positions with the opposing team hoping to gain a better gate position. This cannot be used in conjuction with any other rule. TAC RIDE and TAC SUBS; The TAC SUB can still be used if a team is 8 points or more behind while a TAC RIDE can only be used if a team is 12 points behind. Three TAC RIDES/SUBS can be used in a meeting with riders limited to ONE only. SILLY OPTION; Instead of putting in a TAC SUB, a team can nominate one of the opposing team to go off 15 metres (without double points.) Imagine your team (example= Belle Vue) is winning by 8 going into heat 13 against Eastbourne for Example. Norris takes gate one, Pedersen gate 3 with Bjerre off two and Crump switched to 15 metres back by Jon Cook. May seem a little silly, but what a race this would be ! RACE FORMAT; This does need changing a bit and reverting back towards the older system. Near the end of the meeting it used to be 1 + 4 v 3 + 5 and vica versa, now heats 13 and 15 are very simular and helps top heavy teams. I listed one option in a previous post which could be used in the KO Cup to try out or even the Craven Shield at the end of the season.

Jimmy McMillan - Involved at Coventry as Engine examiner I think and easy to get hold of. Bruce Cribb - Dont know where he has gone as he was at Wolves every week until a few years back. He would have some great stories ! Hasse Danielsson - A swede at Birmingham who was one of my favourites. Sam Nikolajsen - Never thought much of him until he rode for Wolves and was a real entertainer. Battled for every point and possibly the shortest rider to have ridden.

That was Jamie Habbin

WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN 2006 NEW FORMAT Name the riders according to their averages and list them in the programme in order. Should a rider be replaced, the new rider takes up the number according to his average in the team. Wolves v Ipswich 2005 as example Mikael Max 1 Piotr Protasiewicz David Howe 2 Hans Andersen Steve Johnston 3 Chris Louis Fredrik Lindgren 4 Kim Jansson Ronnie Correy 5 Karol Baran Krzysztof Pecyna 6 Robert Miskowiak Magnus Karlsson 7 Daniel King Riders in Red and Green are programmed rides while the team manager must give each of his team a nominated ride (Blue and Yellow) in each half. Heat 15 is the usual nominated ride. HT01; Howe ? Protasiewicz ? HT02; Karlsson ? King ? HT03; Max ? Andersen ? HT04; Correy ? Miskowiak ? HT05; Lindgren ? Louis ? HT06; Pecyna ? Baran ? HT07; Johnston ? Jansson ? HT08; Karlsson ? King ? HT09; Correy ? Baran ? HT10; Johnston ? Louis ? HT11; Pecyna ? Miskowiak ? HT12; Howe ? Andersen ? HT13; Max ? Protasiewicz ? HT14; Lindgren ? Jansson ? HT15; TACTICAL BENEFITS This will bring out the best in tactical moves by a team manager. Does he put a heat leader in with his number 7 or does he put out his number 5 ? Does he leave his number one till heat 14 to give him the last three heats, thus ensuring a strong finish and possibly a tactical ride in 13 or 14. Does he give the available inside gates to the lower numbers and leave the top riders with an outside gate, or vica-versa ? FOREIGN RIDERS Riders will be bought in on a 5.00 average instead of 4.50 and should a foreign rider have a 4.27 average, he must return on a 5.00 average. If he fails to reach this average after two seasons, he will not be granted a permit for the following season. If they are not good enough, dont let them in ! eg; Kroner, Swist, Smolinski, Baran, Alden, Johansson etc BANS Should a rider miss a League match for any reason other than an FIM meeting on the same day or injury, they will be banned for 8 days, thus missing the following weeks home match. Reserves can only be replaced by a number 8 while main body riders can only be replaced by any PL rider or EL reserve riders, averages applicable. FIXTURES All A fixtures must be completed by a set date. This is when a month is set by for the KO Cup and then the B fixtures are done by September 15th. ELRC Replaced by the British League Riders Championship where each EL team has ONE rider put foward and 6 Premier League riders make up the field from six teams.

Chris Morton Chris wasnt riding in the meeting, but was possibly there. Many times he used to sign Chris M very quickly and I have a few signatures of his very much like this one.

DOUG WYRE With his tassles flying, he was always a sight that you remembered. ADAM SHIELDS Came over from Australia looking for a team spot and needed to get noticed. So he invests in a new set of Kevlars which were the design of the SPIDERMAN outfit. It worked aswell. IVAN MAUGER Thos White with Green trim and lettering

OUT Lee Richardson - One good round isnt enough to gain entry to next years competition and his only real hope is the number of English riders in 2006. Ryan Sullivan - Looking for a new team in 2006 and a new weekend hobby. Tomasz Chrzanowski - Out paced, out classed and out forever. IN World Under 21 Champion - If Lindgren, Kasprzak or Hlib can lift the title, they will gain one of the places. Lindback should be in again already, so 2nd place may be enough aswell. Matej Zagar - Odds on to take up a spot for 2006 Mark Loram - Sky will be keen to bring back Mark as he is one of the best entertainers and one of their pundits. Will be the Second brit alongside Scotty. STANDBY Lee Richardson Kasprzak or Lindgren - the other likley to be W-u21 CHAMP or 2nd to Lindback. Rune Holta Peter Karlsson Simon Stead Neils K Iversen