manchesterpaul

Just been following the latest on the floods in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. Parts of the Czech Republic declared a state of emergency. Whilst Prague itself isn't (yet) in the same situation, it looks like there is a potential for an even wetter GP than Sweden. Lots of Central Europe on flood alerts. Czech Republic has had days and days of heaviest rain in 40 years causing deaths. 8 inches in 24 hours in parts. 2 months of rain fell in one day! I've looked at weather sites specific for Prague and it's forecast rain every single day through to Sunday (probably beyond if covered that far lol). Those forecasts fit in with what the tv coverage has just said as well. Only positive i've seen is one report on Reuters saying the rains will die away on Thursday. Let's hope the other forecasts fall into line sharply.

I wish this could be moved to the more appropiate 'Grand Prix' section of the forum, i so keep forgetting it is here and it's a subject i want to keep up with. Sincerely hope it comes to bear that we could have over two weekends in March(ish) a GP in both Australia and New Zealand. Hope it's not going to be an emabarassing country hick style venue though. I'm sure there are many excellent stadiums in both countries, however, that would imply the use of a dreaded temporary track lol. Ideally, an established speedway track could be used so long as removable seating is brought in - always presuming there are enough posteriors forthcoming to fill the seats. Apart from the one GP a few years back, i can't even think when i've ever seen a speedway meeting on tv from down under. I must get You Tubing as one is spoilt for choice when it comes to internet accessed european coverage, so i hope there are plenty of antipodean clips online. Fingers crossed for both New Zealand and Australia.

You need to adapt the formula for extracting a polish speedway riders name which is as follows..... 1. Get a bag and place all the letters of the alphabet in it. 2. Thrown in lots and lots of extra 'z' 'x' and 'j' 3. Give it a right old shake. 4. For the first name withdraw between 5 and 9 letters. 5. Throw in lots more 'z' 'x' 'j'. 6. For the surname draw around 35 letters from the bag. OK joking aside, the spelling from the superb main Latvian speedway site gives the names as 1. Vjacheslav Gieruckij 2. Maksim Bogdanov 3. Jeugenij Karavackij 4. Leonid Paura 5. Kjastas Puodzuks

Looks like 'SGP 2010 - Best Series Ever' could indeed be so? The first GP was one of the best staged regarding the quality of racing. Hell! even the quagmire of a rain magnet that is Gothenburg produced a storming finish once conditions imporved. Nicki Pedersen is likely to improve. As mentioned in the original post Chris Holder and Jarek Hampel are proving good entertainment. Kenneth Bjerre one of the 'younger' brigade a big bonus. Gollob doesn't look to be about to do a 'Leigh Adams' (was going to refer to 'Leigh Adams/Greg Hancock' however the latter showed sparks of life in Sweden lol). There are about 7 or 8 riders challenging strongly and one wouldn't like to write off current cellar dwellers such as Hans Andersen mixing it up on any given day. Hmmmm! this week's Speedway Star quoting our BRIT Tai 'The semi at Sheffield was rained off after 12 heats with Woffy failing to make the cut. “There was meant to be a ballot to decide which riders went where, but I could have gone to King’s Lynn,” said Tai, referring to the other semi-final venue. “It makes me wonder why I chose to race for Britain. I still can ride for Australia I guess, there’s nothing stopping me.” '

Ouch! very bad timing, the meeting impoved greatly as the night went on, as does pretty much any speedway staged anywhere. Agree 100% with yourself and the Sky studio panel. I was very surprised when i came on here to see it being debated.

errrm.....what rivers? there aren't any those are big wide roads! Ok things not quite that bad (yet)

Thanks for the excellent detailed info in reply. Incidentally, a few years back, i strongly made the same point as yourself with regards to the (non)affordability of taking up speedway racing for the general population. The whole basis of speedway used to be a motorcycle stripped down to it's rawest elements. Unfortunately, along came a dastardly knave and introduced the Weslake engine to the sport. Overnight those riders with the dosh were winning races by the proverbial mile. Wasn't long before access wise speedway became a sport similar to motor racing as everyone needed to purchase the more expensive engines in order to compete.

As shown by the National League over here a speedway club can be set up with relatively small capital. Relative to the world of motor sports or indeed professional sports generally. I was just curious as to whether the sport has ever been staged on any level in China. Surey with a population of 1.3 Billion people there must be a market for the sport to be introduced? Also, how about India a nation that uses motorcycles as a means of transport heavily. Before i'm cited disposable income being too low to fund the sport, one should bear in mind the SGP/SWC/FIM International meetings will get a few thousand spectators at a venue where normal league racing gets double that. Why? well SGP seem to at times ignore the local economy income levels. If introducing the sport into mass population (yet lower income) nations one could try the £5 a head approach of attracting 20,000 bargain grabbers yielding (£100,000) instead of going the route of 3,000 spectators at £20 a head (£60,000). Feasibility studies of introducing the sport nowadays aside, anyone know of speedway ever being staged in such vast continents as mentioned? And yes i do appreciate that a vast percentage of the population in China and India live in extreme poverty., however, there are still millions who don't.

LOL! errrm i meant his girlfriend, wife or mother of course It did cross my mind to check before i posted but was in a rush to go out. Should i dare mention that 'Iris' is a woman's name throughout 99% of the world, however, i'm sure someone said you were a bloke? UPDATE Ok i just cheated.....went and clicked on profile and indeed you are male so at least my memory is working.

Initially so did i and thought it was going to lead me to expect lots of blonde bikini clad swedish girls in the crowd on saturday. However, let's be honest........i''m certain i'd fare pretty poorly in writing a thread in italian. As an example, even with the help of Google translate, Nicola, spero che vi piace guardare il Gran Premio OK, guess right now there is a lady in a far away land rollling around the floor laughing. Update I fear the worst as running the above phrase back again through various translators gives the following; Nicola, I hope you enjoy watching the Grand Prix (yep, that the Google one) Nicola, I hope that pleases to look at yourselves the Big Prize Nicotine spero what there pleased lay eyes on does the stop at Gran Trading Nicola, i hope you like to watch the greatprize

Anyone watching this online can also access an updated live in real time heat by heat results, line-ups and report on each race as well as team score charts http://live.sportowefakty.pl/launch_speedway_1978.html The site does the same for every match being staged.

??? That's just the general sports pages. For the speedway section you'll need http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/ A translated into english preview from those pages is at preview A Finnish preview in english Finland preview Detailed results will appear in the link i gave earlier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Speedway...fying_Round_One I'm off out tonight but if i have a chance before the meeting starts i'll post a link for updates. It starts at 8pm UK time.

LMF(lipping)A(rm)O

Another excellent link with scorecards for the qualifiers; SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFICATION http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Speedway...p_Qualification Presented in the usual Wikipedia visually excellent style are further comprehensive details for the current competition, detailed history, and links to information and regulations etc SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Speedway_World_Cup SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedway_World_Cup

The semi-finals and final were reminiscent of previous GP's, however, i agree with the vast majority on here it was a fantastic meeting. Anyone belittling this fare must surely be a life long dyed in the wool moaner You know the sort, they find a fiver in the street and instead of being full of joy they shuffle off moaning 'i know of someone who once found a tenner in the street'. Gee whizz i despair lol, deep breath in, chin up and enjoy life - most of the meeting was plain to sight excellent racing. Ok, i know one shouldn't feed the miserable ones who try drag everyone to thier depths but seeeing i'm still joyed after last night's GP and feeling generous i'll give the unhappy ones some crumbs to digest, twas indeed a shame that the broadcast was stuck out on SS4 and presumably wouldn't have got respectable audience figures? Not sure why it ever matters what channel it is on (one just presses a different digit on the RC), however, viewing figures are significantly lower for SS4. I guess the reason may be that the sports events on the other channels are of higher interest and status on that particular day? Hopefully, the word will spread of a superb night's racing and the next GP is just as good, uh oh!........cue the doomsayers

Guess not a good idea to continue to hold my breath? Oh well wait and see i guess, i won't automatically presume we got drag racing tomorrow. I certainly will fire off complaints to Sky and SGP if we are going to be in for processional trash. Good night all, i'm off to bed perchance to dream of a raceable track.

Noooooo! TV money talks so if we are faced with the status quo (yeah the group as well lol) let's all phone up Sky to complain about a season devoid of entertainment ahead of us and we'll be switching off. Plus have a moaning scribble to Speedway Star, maybe to the SGP themselves. I must check out their website for contact details. If it is slick, let's just hope it will be one of those rare-ish occasions that a slick track can provide some racing. Certainly doesn't happen that often i know. Does anyone on here know how Leszno preforms when slick?

He always was inserted into number 6 in my own spreadsheet that i use once i saw the blank place appear. At first with the long delay after the drawing of number 5 i presumed someone had dropped a ball!, however, even then i soon realised the reason. Although, not until after thinking maybe they can't spell one of those polish names with 'c' 'z' and 's' all over the joint. I got the hang of that now as well mind I was sadly misled though It was seeing a video on the site from last year that i had on my mind, i just presumed it meant the draw was fed live as well. Don't get me wrong i was disappointed from a speedway point of view as well lol, honestly i was. Draw Update Edit OK....i know i was wrong but.....girlfriend at work so i'm all alone this evening....yep i just gone and watched the video lol. Points to be noted post video viewing......wow wow some things ARE worth waiting for......is the old guy doing the draw not interested in women any longer? only why so quick? forget riders being delayed by volcanic ash, i would have took forever......i also would have dropped the cubes they used many times and naturally asked whichever four people should be standing besides me to bend down and pick them up please......a genuine observation, it can't be easy to stand there mute and smiling for five minutes, the girls are actually very good at their 'job'......have you ever seen the horror that is the NASCAR girl after one of their races?.......believe me you'll never fear Jack Nicholson and his axe chopping through your door again.......she has the most horrifying fixed rigid american beauty queen type smile.......pure stepford wives style - fearsome! Touching on a few other things pre-GP I mentioned the end of last season that this year's series should be one of the best with at least three in contention, also other good racers in the line up. I wait with bated breath to see if the biggest boost to the GP's occurs. I refer to the departure of Ole Olsen from the post of race director and a significant change in the preparation of the tracks under the new holder of the post Tony Olsson. Most people last season after seeing him be interviewed (and i remember reading an article a short while after) took it that there was to be an instant wholesale change. However, at the time i thought he worringly avoided stating that would be the case out and out. Hopefully, he was just trying not to offend or sleight Ole Olsen's previous work? Certainly the Speedway Star are also adopting a wait and see stance judging from their article 'The Leszno Question'. On the plus side, i think it was on Sky Sports, this week someone stated the track had been given permission to prepare a 'league match' type surface. So can't wait and fingers crossed that Chris Harris doesn't turn out to be a TOTAL bust (or if he gets injured) or it will be a long year without british representation in the series*. Now that he is a Belle Vue rider let's hope that Hans Andersen returns to his top form and becomes yet another genuine contender for the title. *Apologies i just realised that Tai Woffinden is technically representing Britain. I just can't get used to the australian accent , no more than i could ever accept a heavily south african accented cricketer being claimed as english when interviewed on tv. Or does he actually live in the UK now, as in, has been here since a very small child? I seem to remember a thread a while ago which touched upon the fact he doesn't reside here and every single cultural favourite 'this that and the other' on his website is australian. Having said that, i guess quite understandable if he was brought up in Australia. If he, on the whole, is a permanent resident over here since a child (although as i say worryingly strong accent would tend to suggest not?) then all is fine and dandy. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to go (non)home after the season ends to grab the beautiful weather over there. Anyways, whichever flag he decides to bear publicly and in his heart - the two aren't always the same, look at the increasing number of polish flags of convenience that are carried - i strongly wish him all the best in the series. He definitiely is one of my favourite riders and should do the GP's proud. Further to the last point, surely we will not get the farce of a polish anthem being played if Emil Sayfutdinov wins? Whilst appreciating he is riding on a polish licence, he is russian of birth etc. If someone takes up a profession in a different country to their birth, they have a licence to work which is under the flag of that country, however, it doesn't change their nationality to that of the licence. I mean do we have factory workers, shelf stackers, fruit pickers etc from abroad who are part of a union over here, and in effect have a british licence to work here temporarily, claim full british nationality?

Good point from the draw Heat 10 Emil SAYFUTDINOV Nicki PEDERSEN Jason CRUMP Jaroslaw HAMPEL Bad point from the 'see the draw live here' as trumpted by the SGP website.........nooooooo.......no video feed meaning i never got to see the hot hot start girls Plus rider number 6 is apparently the invisible man (at time of the draw and right now).

Regarding the polish confusion check the following updates to the thread Nameless GP's still

22nd April and the official site still boldly emblazons varying titles on the GP's. On the events page SGP Events Page the three polish GP's are labelled 24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN 19.06.10 Torun~~~~~TORUN (although of the three it is the only one without a GP name above the venue name) 09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~POLISH On the same events page to the right hand side is the main inset that also appears on several pages. Each venue link has detailed info about venue, tickets, travel etc. This names them as 24.04.10 Leszno~~~~EUROPEAN GP 19.06.10 Torun~~~~~TORUN GP 09.10.10 Bydgoszcz~~BYDGOSZCZ GP!!!

It's live on the official website 12 midday friday!

Just a belated further thought on this topic. I've been watching videos from Duagavpils matches and it reminded me of this topic. It appears the average crowd is 5,000. Surely they would get a full house for the GP's if tickets were not out of reach of the local populations economic levels. Anyone from Latvia can confirm that as the likely cause?. I'm still very surprised that this season's penultimate GP is to be held at the 4,000 capacity venue of Teranzano in Italy.

To confuse matters further, i now recall where i strongly remember the quotation of 120,000. It was the 1976 (lol) final, i recall it because i can still visualise the left hand side of the front page of the Daily Mirror reporting Peter Collins triumph. Oh well, maybe they always got 120,000 for the world finals That in turn brings back another memory, i like many others (one hell of a lot in those days for Belle Vue) were tuning in to the local tv news programme the next day at teatime awaiting some sort of coverage. It got nearer and nearer to the end of the 30 minutes without a single mention and then hurriedly, just as the credits were starting to roll, one of the presenters blurted out 'congratulations to the speedway DRIVER Peter Collins who won the world title yesterday'. It turns out their switchboard was being bombarded with an ever increasing number of irate calls the closer to the end of the programme.

The recent publication of the photograph of Kelly Moran standing on the parade against a backdrop of an immense crowd at the 1979 World Final seeks me to try and get confirmation of something i have always held as fact. Namely, was the attendance at that meeting as high as the oft mentioned 120,000 (or even higher! i remember at the time 130,000 being quoted). Can anybody form Poland or elsewhere confirm the crowd size?. If i can ascertain that it was indeed the case, i will certainly be editing the Wikipedia page that lists the highest attendances for sporting events in the world. Although a Wiki page regarding the actual stadium does say 'Silesian Stadium also known as the National Stadium (Polish: Stadion Śląski or Stadion Narodowy) is a sport stadium located between Chorzów and Katowice, Silesia, Poland. It opened on 22 July 1956 and has since hosted crowds of over 120,000 for both football matches and motorcycle speedway world championships. It also hosts music festivals.' the meeting is strikingly absent from the aforementioned all time biggest attendances list page.