manchesterpaul

Welcome, i caught sight of your solo appearance in the 'Marie Celeste' that was the Danish match thread the other night, too funny lol. But as Vastervik also are glad to have such a thing, heyyyy we got a crowd going on here.

What's the reason for his non-appearance? I was going to keep an eye out on the riders who are participating in this weekend's biggest GP of the season at Cardiff and how hard they ride today in Sweden. In our televised fixture we have Hancock, Holder and Harris. By rights those races should be very tasty indeed, but will they? Incidentally, Ghostwalker do you think they've picked the best meeting to show? I'm quite happy with the choice with what's at stake for both teams.

Ouch hadn't realized that before now so totally agree it's an awful advert. The fact that speedway is such a visually exciting sport makes the omission all the worst. I wouldn't mind but most of the general sporting public simply are not familiar with the riders, their characters or their history so that weakens the 'drama' of the personal statement aspect of it all. Whilst unlike a decade ago most people now are aware of what speedway is, mainly thanks to Sky, i notice that a lot of websites including the very large official ones do feel the need to have a section invariably called 'What Is Speedway'. Admittedly they are usually well worded and do make the sport sound exciting. Even though we hear it ad nauseum i still love the phrase 'No brakes, no gears, no fear'. Many outsiders to the sport even though they know what speedway is are unaware that the bikes have no brakes and such a fact invariably raises an eyebrow and interest.

Let's not forget the exciting double edge to the televised match* (18:10 BST, 17:10 GMT/UTC) is that Piraterna are fighting to keep their semi-final spot and even hoping to gain the number one seed of being the regular season winner. Pick of which side to face and whether to race first leg at home etc in the play-offs are not small prizes regards to finishing positions in the final table. The 'silly' situation of having the vast majority of teams (75%) qualifying for the play-offs leads to today's situation where for example Västervik and Valsarna can be relegated or qualify for the play-offs! It seems silly but i guess it's driven by economic neccessity for club's survival to have something to race for all season. The play-off system seems to have been imported into all sports worldwide from American pro sports where money is overlord. Whilst undoubtedly it does provide in prolonging competitive action to a season and with it the crowds, i always feel the regular season winners should get a trophy and considerable prize money. That way you get the best of both worlds. Anyways......enough i digress too much lol. Standings 1.Elit Vetlanda 13 26 2.Piraterna 13 24 -------------------------- 3.Dackarna 13 23 4.Hammarby 13 15 5.Indianerna 13 13 6.Vargarna 13 10 -------------------------- 7.Västervik 13 9 -------------------------- 8.Valsarna 13 8 Top two seeded to play-off semi-finals. Places 3-6 play-off quarter finalists. 8th place is relegated. AVAILABLE NOW FREE MiniMax Racecard MiniMax Racecard Elitserien Västervik Vs Piraterna Any late changes to the teams will as usual be updated. PS. Thanks to Ghostwalker for an early start to the thread on this crucial last week of the regular season. UPDATE In addition to being live on the Premier Sports tv channel it is also available on their official high quality streaming service. However, i note they now have it tagged 'available in the UK only' which might explain why our overseas friends could not get to purchase previous transmissions.

Just noticed during the Monday Sky Sports speedway broadcast that they showed Martin Vaculik as placed 14th in the GP standings. I went to check that according to regulations that this isn't so and i see the official SGP site having him in 14th place too with his 42 points! That's a little puzzling as i notice Speedway Star have taken to 'rightfully' separating the Wild Card and Substitute riders from the permanent SGP riders in their standings. Also, it's something i've always done on the MiniMax racecards. As far as i am aware, in the GP classification it is only the 15 riders who begin the series whose points count. Can someone confirm this is so and that there has not been a change to the standard regulation which is included in the 2012 regulations; 077.8.5 FIM Speedway World Championship Grand Prix Qualifying System The total Grand Prix points scored by each rider having taken part in the FIM Speedway World Championship Grand Prix Series during the season shall be shown on the Final Overall Grand Prix Classification of that year. The current year’s Final Overall Grand Prix Classification, after removing the Wild Card riders, the Qualified Substitute riders, the Track Reserve riders and any substitute riders who have participated in the year’s Championship, as they are not taken into consideration, shall determine the riders’ qualifications for the next year’s Championship as follows

Cool very nice to hear. A lot of sports post-olympics pick up floating spectators especially with an international flavour to the competition. I guess sometimes even Jingoism and Patriotism has it's uses lol.

Well it's your own fault as you will keep giving wrong answers. It's not the organizers fault you don't know who the current world champion is lol. Actually, i think next year i'm going to do a weekly Google and apply for every competition i can find. Maybe i'll hit lucky and find myself the only entrant in one of them. I'll Google or Wiki to see who the current champion is though, because i'm smart lol. With the greatest respect to Caerphilly library that's a strange outlet, bordering on the stuff of Twilight Zone, but hey good for Caerphilly library and i'll spend the evening figuring out IMG's marketing strategy. On a serious note, very nice to hear indeed. I am impressed if they are doing such promotions across the UK. Speedway so has to take the painstaking drip, drip, drip into the national conciousness as the football/cricket etc closed shop of the national press doesn't want us there.

I hadn't ever thought of that, however, pretty certain you don't have to be. Going on the Manchester Evening News and their competitions they refer to 'our readers'. Now if you are in South Wales and buy a local newspaper, be it you are a resident or merely passing through, you ARE a reader lol. I can't recall ever seeing a prize in a newspaper competition saying it's restricted to local or regional residents.

I've noticed this year there seems to be an increase in all forms of media outlets for competitions to win tickets for the British Grand Prix. It's quite a laudable move by the organizers as in effect they get a free advert in magazines and on websites accessing markets they wouldn't otherwise reach. Only thing i worry about though is do many/any! fans enter these competitions?. A high response would attract the attention of these outlets which could lead to more coverage or even sponsorship down the line. So do we as speedway fans have an obligation to enter these draws to help our sport in every way that we can? - they are all free.

I think Suchecki up against Nicki Pedersen and Karlsson means no draw via a string of 5-1's Anyone know what the TV match for next week is? Likely they are waiting to see how this penultimate round's results pan out regards play-off implications. A quiet night in for me tonight and relaxed day tomorrow should mean i make it for the Danish meeting tomorrow. NIcki got NIcki'd

Ouch! Google Translated Swedish makes more sense than a typical sentence of mine lol. Gapinski heading home with a hefty pay packet.

After heat 8 is it a comeback match? Nahhhhhh!

Watching heat 1 i do often think Nicki Pedersen would have been a Chariot Champion in the days of Bodicea. Uh oh hope he doesn't see that comment, he'll be all spiked up next GP.

You're welcome and after the changes throughout the day and conflicting line-ups on the usually reliable major websites i'm stunned to hear the line-ups match the card. Well at least according to the telly, we await with bated breath the first few heats to see f it is indeed so lol.

How big? go on make us feel inferior. Ahhhh the wonders of the modern age.

Very nice way to spend a Tuesday evening, enjoy your meeting. I jealous. Have you managed to discern any repetitive phrases yet? I'm sure commentators the world over have their catchphrases be they loved or hated.

No sweat. Let's just hope any more changes yet to come are minimal lol.

The televised match isn't exactly the dead duck it may appear as they are both fighting for the last play-off slot. Additionally, there is great disgruntlement at the absence of Grigory Laguta from the Valsarna side and even the opposing team are unhappy! He has, on Saturday apparently, produced a sick note for the Swedish Tuesday meeting despite riding in Poland yesterday and will be riding in Russia on Thursday. Quite a few changes to the official provisional line-ups declared on Sunday. Scott Nicholls will be absent for Vargarna. As for Valsarna, i've been trawling the Swedish media (via Google Translate) and it would appear Rider Replacement will be in operation for Grigory Laguta, despite the fact he is riding in Poland on Monday night and Russia on Thursday. Added to that Krzysztof Buczkowski didn't ride in England this evening due to back pain. So i guess he could be questionable too. For those who download the MiniMax racecards direct from the webpage, i can make changes late in the day once confirmations are published. I will be checking frequently in the morning (and afternoon) Swedish and Polish sports media and speedway sites. UPDATE Tuesday 10:20 For Vargarna Peter Kildemand moves up into the team proper replacing Scott Nicholls* and Adam Skornicki comes in at reserve. *Just noticed Ghostwalker reckons Scott Nicholls may be a case of R/R this is in contrast to the source i quote below. Gee Whizz complications all over lol. For Valsarna, as expected, Rider Replacement operating for Grigory Laguta and Krzystof Buczkowski is currently listed as starting. It's amazing how once commitments to Elite League matches have passed riders recover to race in other leagues Source http://www.nt.se/nyh...ticleid=7870207 UPDATE Tuesday 16:10 Krzysztof Buczkowski has now been replaced by Zbigniew Suchecki. Source http://nwt.se/sport/speedway/article1152233.ece Oh well using the above....... AVAILABLE NOW FREE MiniMax Racecard MiniMax Racecard Elitserien Vargarna Vs Valsarna

Thank you very much, excellent info Peter S, i'm sure it helps a lot of people, likely including the riders lol.

Many thanks for the info, all getting put into the diary as i hate missing our International speedway. I see the second leg of the Danish Championship is listed which prompts a question.......can anyone definitely confirm the points that riders carry into this meeting?. I searched far and wide last time and lots of official speedway sources, websites and media reports in Denmark, Poland and the UK gave varying permutations. Rushing off out now but if i get time later i'll go Googling for DMU regulations and see what Google Translate comes up with. Obviously though i'd prefer someone who knows the language to enlighten us all.

Looks like there will be a few changes to the official provisional line-ups declared on Sunday. Scott Nicholls will be absent for Vargarna. As for Valsarna, i've been trawling the Swedish media (via Google Translate) and it would appear Rider Replacement will be in operation for Grigory Laguta, despite the fact he is riding in Poland on Monday night and Russia on Thursday. Added to that Krzysztof Buczkowski didn't ride in England this evening due to back pain. So i guess he could be questionable too. For those who download the MiniMax racecards direct from the webpage, i can make changes late in the day once confirmations are published. I will be checking frequently in the morning (and afternoon) Swedish and Polish sports media and speedway sites. UPDATE Tuesday 10:20 For Vargarna Peter Kildemand moves up into the team proper replacing Scott Nicholls and Adam Skornicki comes in at reserve. For Valsarna, as expected, Rider Replacement operating for Grigory Laguta and Krzystof Buczkowski is currently listed as starting. It's amazing how once commitments to Elite League matches have passed riders recover to race in other leagues Source http://www.nt.se/nyh...ticleid=7870207 The televised match isn't exactly a dead duck though in that they are both fighting for the last play-off slot.

Cool that all told it was a 'nice little meeting'. Cool 7 different winners out of 8. Not cool GP winner does not have most points in the meeting. Cool off out to town for about four hours. Cool getting back home in time for MIxed Martial Arts at 3am! Not cool it's on to about 6am eeeek lol. Wow Cardiff next.

Has a referee ever changed their decision after speaking to an aggrieved rider on the phone? Are they allowed to change their decision after talking to an excluded rider? Would we then get another rider speaking about the change!

There has certainly been far more 'racing' than i expected in advance of the meeting. What a shame for Vaculik and the meeting a nasty fall.

It would say OMG! OMG! lol. Obviously i was speaking outside of freak results. Geez! a very pedantic offering by yourself. If Sam is a friend of yours i did point out i wasn't knocking other spreadsheets.