uk_martin

Mickey Mouse ought to be looking at racking up at least 60 against the out of form and under strength Stal team. They will be motivated by their humiliation in last year's play-off's and will be smelling blood. Getting to 31 points will be a moral victory of sorts for Gorzow.

If Kelsey has a problem with his name then it's due to being called Kelsey. Who the hell calls their kids Kelsey? Wasn't Keith or John good enough? Kids at school like to pick on those who are different so I bet he had a great time growing up with a name like that. Does Dugard Snr have another offspring called Jayzee as well?

Hope you've got tickets. I think I read somewhere that the Falubaz v Stal match is already a sell out. It'll be my first experience of seeing a meeting "in the cage" with the Stal fans. Can't wait :-)

A 20 point lead probably wouldn't be enough, not at Eastbourne...but really, who cares? What matters is that everyone who went, in their own way, left the stadium as happy as Sommelier did, and that they come back again. I don't quite understand though why the match report on Facebook featured the Kings Lynn logo in the accompanying graphic... Did you get someone in the end? Seems that unbeknown to many, the BBC were covering the meeting - one to remember for the future?

Good racing is what's most important. Not particularly bothered if the Brummies lose on aggregate bearing in mind that the home track advantage that the Sparrows will have will be decisive. What's most important is that the riders put on a good show and make for an entertaining evening for the spectators, hopefully converting any newbies amongst them and retaining the interest of the old hard core. A boring meeting and/or a defeat is not what's needed with the visit of Buxton on the horizon.

Facebook and Twitter timestamps are from 9hrs and 10hrs ago...compared to this thread which started life over 12 hours ago...still nice that they are also out a bit earllier than usual. Sorry that I missed the wonderful Great Barr Observer article...that and the BirminghamFail sites are not websites I visit. Anything on the official Brummies site yet? One day, the promotion of the NEXT fixture will start the day after the last fixture to maximise publicity exposure. Well we can hope! Maybe you can discuss this on your radio show, see if you can ever have too much time to sell the next fixture?

The delights of Google / Bing translations...I was led to believe that they were "suspended from" rather than "until" the Zielona Gora fixture. The team manager has been removed from first team duties too. Should be interesting to see who takes their place. Seems that the choice lies between the other squad members - Craig Cook, Piotr Swiderski and Peter Karlsson. One wonders also if this may reignite the rumours about Stal being interested in taking Darcy Ward off Torun's hands when he comes back from suspension.

It just won't be the same without Neil Middleditch to boo on the night...lol

It just needs a "plumbing malfunction" at the track and the pantomime will be complete. (Oh no it won't. ..oh yes it will...etc)

Just thought I'd buck the trend and let everyone know with more than 24 hours notice, that there will be a fixture, weather permitting, at Perry Barr on Wednesday evening. Am I right in thinking that this will be Birmingham's chance for revenge? OK so the Brummies beat the Sparrows in that epic BL Division 2 KOC Final in 1974, but didn't the Eagles beat the Brummies back in 1975? So.40 years on, this is our chance for the Brummies to gain revenge again! Strewth, is this the best (but only) bit of hype that there is for this fixture?

With BSI shooting itself in the foot with a howitzer again, I bet FIM Europe and OneSport must be rubbing their hands with glee at the chance to show that the SEC could become a superior championship to the SGP series. Warsaw was bad, Tampere was boring, Prague offers up little hope for much better, and the SWC will be an inevitable disappointment at Borejens. What the hell is going through BSI's minds? They have a serious contender in the wings with the SEC series about to start and they are handing it all on a plate to them.

I said something similar to this some years ago...let's say 4 EL teams (Belle Vue, Wolverhampton, Kings Lynn & Poole to represent north south east and west) bringing meaning back to the term "Elite" and the rest of the "old EL" teams plus the PL teams (and maybe some NL teams) combining to form a 2 division professional British League. The NL may then have to merge with the MDL etc and then go semi-pro / amateur. HOWEVER we will then have a real European League, with British representation, one race night, and one rider per team. Pan-European television rights are now a viability now that EuroSport are in the game. The problem is that if the FIM don't control it themselves as a neutral body (which they don't like doing) then the control will probably pass to where the money is coming from, namely Poland...and we can guess how the British authorities will react to that prospect.

What's the point of doing that? They have the SWC for National teams...unless you are suggesting a revamp of the SWC format?

Not a great showing by the riders from the English speaking parts of the world at Gorican

It was almost a 5 hour drive from Gorzow to Grudziadz, and about 4 hours back (Dilithium crystals had been fully recharged by then) and it was worth every minute to see this meeting, not to mention this race in particular. Quality riders, tons of talent, 100% commitment, and utmost unpredictability made this a race to remember. Thank you Mr Gollob for that swansong to remember. Glad that we went against the prevailing advice to take the shorter trip to Mickey Mouse Land for the Flaubaz v Torun meeting and went to Grudziadz. Great racing, sell out crowd (7,500?) enthusiasm in overdrive and the chance to see Tomasz Gollob for what would probably be our last time. What it won't be though is our last trip to Grudziadz. We'll fly into Gdansk next time and take it from there, but this is a track with several worthy racing lines that guarantees great racing the same as Czestochowa does, and is well worthy of a place in a speedway tourists hit list of tracks to visit. We'll be back! The OP referred to the best race in 2015. Your link is to a great race but it's not 2015.

Riders can't dictate how many clubs they ride for. They don't do the hiring. They have to rely on clubs offering them a contract. That's where the FIM through the governing bodies have the power, in regulating who can offer jobs to who, and if a team signs a rider who already has 2 jobs in other countries, then the governing body could refuse to ratify that team's line-up until they revoke the contract with the "offending" rider.

Indeed. That will be the interesting area to watch. I wonder what the stance of the British authorities will be? Imagine if the likes of the Pawlicki's, Janowski, etc could choose only one other country to ply their trade in. What chance would the EL (let alone the PL) stand against the likes of the Swedish league to recruit Polish talent? So therefore, the quality of the British leagues is not going to be enhanced by this is it? And from the British riders point of view, if they are good enough, will they be able to afford to carry on racing in their home country, or will they have to consider doing a "Tai"? Of course the riders will oppose this restriction. It'll affect their earnings potential. This will be interesting to see how it pans out. "Player Power" had a big impact in Warsaw. I can see the FIM rebounding from that by trying to re-establish thier authority even harder now, and at the end of the day, they who issue the licenses, can determine what the terms and conditions of those licenses are. And when the EL / PL have been watered down by the withdrawal of the foreign riders and we find our true level in this country, maybe we can re-build?? ... Starting off with bringing back test matches against teams from countries on a similar level to ourselves...like Germany. Interesting that the Germans have a 14 heat formula for their matches and we use a 15 heat formula. Maybe we could arrange a compromise...14 heats but if the scores are level then Heat 15 can be decided on penalties...oh wait a minute... maybe not such a good idea lol

Continental commitments...just when you thought you were safe in the NL... Anyway, I think that "Tomasz" Wilson will be blasting round the boards and racking up big points to mitigate that blow.

It won't be all that bad...My lasting memory of this meeting is of the announcer comparing Alex Wilson to Tomasz Gollob, so if that's right, then the team will be alright.

Not me...but there may be people looking for a cheap option or "easy out"...I just think that we make it too easy for people to not bother making the effort any more. I have to admit to a year ago, being in "shall I - shan't I" mode, and in the end watching the Bet365 coverage...To use the election analogy...it's too easy for the "floating voter" not to put their cross in the speedway box these days.

And Rob Lambert to be left out because he rode first in Germany??? Makes about as much sense to me.

Good idea. Let's stay at home and watch it...

Just seen that a notice about the meeting was placed on Facebook at about 9am this morning. That's almost 10 hours notice. What could possibly be wrong with that?

You'd get 2000 scribes describing the test series as a Mickey Mouse event, 2000 people complaining about the price, 2000 excuses for why people wouldn't be able to go, 2000 downloads of the free racecard off here and at least 2000 people "watching" on the updates site for free...but 2000 turning up at the track???

Ahhh, the long lost oriental martial art of "Pro-Moh-Shun" Just isn't the British way of doing things is it?