World Cup - Wroclaw July 2023

[Col]

14 minutes ago, Colinspeedway said:

Track not as slick as some make out. Dirt line seemed to move towards the outside as the night went on and wasn't all around the inside like previous rounds. I thought there was a couple of good races Chris Holder coming from third to first and Lindgren coming from the back to win were my favourite races of the night. The final should be much more competitive than tonight and also much larger crowd and better atmosphere. 

Both of those hears were just after the spiky tractor was deployed.

Spiky tractor needs to be deployed allot tomorrow!!

[Hackett]

Better meeting tonight but as a competitive spectacle that was over by heat 7 . Track had improved but many riders have said track is different from Wroclaw league meetings. The Final will be more competitive as all teams can take points off each other rather than 2 competitive teams and 2 teams of 1or2 riders. 

Meeting tomorrow should be in front of a decent crowd. SWC was curtailed because Poland were winning it regularly since 2005 -2017 (8 victories in 12 years) - I would be very surprised if they don't win tomorrow on home shale but should be a decent meeting. 

[arnieg]

1 hour ago, Col said:

I assume Kolodziej isn't as good at Wroclaw as he is at Leszno?

15 from 6 this year, and 13+1 from 5 last  in Ekstraliga so not bad.

[szkocjasid]

At first I thought it would only be worth GB putting one of their top riders (i.e Lambert) at 5 if they were going to share rides between Ellis & Brennan. Otherwise all Lambert would be doing is replacing Brennan (or Ellis) 5 times. 

But I realised a second reason for doing it in the final. As things stand putting Brennan at 5, if GB fall 6 behind there's only a 1 in 4 chance they can use a tac sub in the next heat. By putting Lambert at reserve (even if replacing the same rider each time) there would be a 1 in 2 chance of having a weaker rider in the following heat (when 6 down). Whoever replaced Brennan / Ellis as a tac sub doesn't really matter - but what it would mean, is in the next block of 4 heats Lambert could replace both weaker riders!

[chunky]

3 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

in reality the only the Poles who are streets ahead and team GB stand any chance of winning 

While they may be justifiable favourites, I certainly don't feel that they are "streets ahead". Zmarzlik, yes (and yes, he is beatable), but Janowski and Dudek have both been remarkably inconsistent this year, and it all depends on who shows up tomorrow.

Also, I would say that the Danes are the only ones who don't stand a realistic chance of winning.

[Col]

4 hours ago, chunky said:

Also, I would say that the Danes are the only ones who don't stand a realistic chance of winning.

Why? Denmar bear Australia convincing enough in the semi final.

[racers and royals]

The teams for Saturday’s Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup Final have also been confirmed.

DENMARK 

1. Leon Madsen 

2. Rasmus Jensen

3. Mikkel Michelsen ©

4. Nicki Pedersen

5. Anders Thomsen

Team Manager: Nicki Pedersen 

 POLAND 

1. Bartosz Zmarzlik ©

2. Patryk Dudek

3. Maciej Janowski

4. Dominik Kubera

5. Janusz Kolodziej

Team Manager: Rafal Dobrucki 

GREAT BRITAIN 

1. Tom Brennan

2. Robert Lambert

3. Tai Woffinden ©

4. Adam Ellis

5. Dan Bewley

Team Managers: Oliver Allen and Simon Stead

 AUSTRALIA 

1. Max Fricke

2. Jack Holder

3. Jason Doyle ©

4. Jaimon Lidsey

5. Chris Holder

Team Manager: Mark Lemon

[OveFundinFan]

Will the track be prepared differently tonight???…….. to take away the advantage the 3 non Polish teams have, especially Australia (having had 2 meetings).

[racers and royals]

12 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

Will the track be prepared differently tonight???…….. to take away the advantage the 3 non Polish teams have, especially Australia (having had 2 meetings).

Who knows - full final practice is on the track at 2pm local time, so track will take a bit of a battering !!

[SPEEDY69]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

Will the track be prepared differently tonight???…….. to take away the advantage the 3 non Polish teams have, especially Australia (having had 2 meetings).

I'm expecting it to be as they shouldn't be scared of a rain off as they could go again tomorrow. 

[racers and royals]

Eurosport 1 on air at 6.45pm

Links

http://video.ucoz.lv/index/live_stream/0-5?fbclid=IwAR3GBD24ycNEX1uH3QUSREiQxcnD9RHAhHAcp1WHq7svfS7e_VHYfRbHg68  

alternative http://kergel.ucoz.lv/index/live_stream_2/0-12?fbclid=IwAR3VhUjKMTiAWVp9hnoJ55v5l4YLSDgCx3k6IBfv2shCfqCxJ8GFkuYYIzg

VK links  just before 7pm

[foreverblue]

3 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I'm expecting it to be as they shouldn't be scared of a rain off as they could go again tomorrow. 

Glasgow will be scared of a rain off!

[racers and royals]

JK`s excellent SWC final racecard 

.https://www.speedwayservice.at/images/racecards/2023/SWC2023-Final.pdf

[Grachan]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

Will the track be prepared differently tonight???…….. to take away the advantage the 3 non Polish teams have, especially Australia (having had 2 meetings).

I was wondering that too. Otherwise Australia are on a roll.

[foreverblue]

5 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I was wondering that too. Otherwise Australia are on a roll.

If the track is the same tonight Australia have a massive advantage, they seemed to struggle in the first match but rode much better in the race off albeit against lesser opposition. Poland should win but Australia second favourites in my opinion. 

[szkocjasid]

If I was GB I'd leave Ellis & Brennan in their first ride to give GB a better chance of being "artificially" 6 points down & allow tac subs. I also would have put them at 1&2 so they'd be in heats 5&6 - if GB aren't 6 points down after only using their top riders in 2 of the first 5 heats then they're fighting for the title anyway!

[DazS]

where they have put Brennan and Ellis, gives them gates 1 & 2 in there 1st 2 rides.

[False dawn]

This possibility of putting a good rider, even your best guy, at 5 and shuffling the team according to their allotted gates, is new and maybe not fully exploited facility as yet. The Czech Republic showed us the way on Wednesday with Vaclav Milik at 5. The gates analysis is more subtle. Do you replace early, wait to see if the gates go the way we all "know" they are going to be and what about the possibility of TS rides? And don't forget the 6 ride maximum. 

At last, team managers have something to do. Unless, of course, they put the whole thing into ChatGPT

[PotteringAround]

7 minutes ago, False dawn said:

The Czech Republic showed us the way on Wednesday with Vaclav Milik at 5.

The Czechs were aiming for third place to get into the Race-off.   They were always going to quickly fall 6 or more behind the top two, and could then juggle their resources to pinpoint defeating the Germans.  They didn't have to worry about trying to catch up to GB and Sweden, just maximising the chances of outscoring Germany.  In that way it's a legitimate tactic.

In the race-off and final it's only about winning.  There's no damage limitation exercise to target just one team.  So the "put the best rider at No.5" thing offers no advantage.

[False dawn]

1 minute ago, PotteringAround said:

The Czechs were aiming for third place to get into the Race-off.   They were always going to quickly fall 6 or more behind the top two, and could then juggle their resources to pinpoint defeating the Germans.  They didn't have to worry about trying to catch up to GB and Sweden, just maximising the chances of outscoring Germany.  In that way it's a legitimate tactic.

In the race-off and final it's only about winning.  There's no damage limitation exercise to target just one team.  So the "put the best rider at No.5" thing offers no advantage.

Dan Bewley at No.5 tonight?