PolskiZuzel

I am ever so grateful. Thank you very much That's marvellous.

I am told that one of the best known Polish clubs, GORZOW, in early 1977 were visiting British tracks. They lost all the matches: against King's Lynn (52:28), Reading (47:31), Leicester (59:19), Hackney (56:22) and Exeter (57:21). I was wondering. Is there anyone who (perhaps) could shed more light on these challenge matches. Scorer's names would be most appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Yes, they have !

That's a very good idea....and a better one still would be that BSI/FIM should raise and train their own riders.

Why mincing words ? It is SHOCKING !!! Has Mr Bellamy seen this before accepting the place as SGP venue? I am more outraged to know that when it comes to Polish venues, he expects, and what's more, demands, this and that..and yet when it comes to other SGP venues (except Cardiff and Copenhagen) they are nothing else than dumps.

Gdansk, at the end of this season (2013) won Polish League ONE and as a result gained promotion to the Polish top flight division, i.e. Polish Speedway ExtraLeague

If I was rude, I would say - stuff you !, but obviously - I won't :-) The point isn't whether, or not, Poles are good at speedway. Although if you've looked at the winners in the SWC of recent years, you might think otherwise. The point is that ENEA Polish Speedway Ekstra Liga provides all SGP riders for GP rounds that are held on Saturdays. After that they (the riders) , tired, exhausted, or even injured have to rush across Europe for their engagement in Sunday's fixtures in Poland. It needs to be changed. It would not be "just out of spite". You might as well recall that in the years gone by British promoters were calling the same tune, because the British League was constantly ( in their opinion) interfered with by absences/excuses of SGP riders, who instead of riding Thursday's and Friday's fixtures in England. Not to mention Saturday's one had rush for official practice day of BSI event. The same is happening in Poland right now. After Saturday's GP rounds all GP participants have to rush for Sunday's fixture in Poland. Often they are tired, exhausted, deflated, or even injured. They are paid well there, so promoters and the fans expect them to perform accordingly. And often, on more occasion than one, it doesn't happens. Fans and promoters are frustrated, if not openly fed up. It can't go on. He who pays calls the tune. That's all what's to it.

Not bad ? Anti BSI/SGP feelings of Polish fans have been known for some years . It's nothing new, and the last move of BSI/FIM looks like a last straw. There are already voices calling for 'twit for tat'. If BSI/FIM wants to play dirty, let them, but they will be paid back by the same tactics. Sundays matches in the Polish Ekstra Liga are likely to be switched to Saturdays. Which means that unless BSI will pay more than Polish League, SGP riders will ride on Saturdays in Poland. That's one option already mentioned. There are many more to be considered.

How do they get a look-in now ?

Try this transaltion Polonia Bydgoszcz speedway club have signed a new rider. Josh Auty, who is barely 22 years of age comes from the UK and rides this season for Birmingham Brummies in the British Elite League and Scunthorpe Scorpions in the British Premier League. He has recorded this season some very good results on the British tracks. In addition, the Bydgoszcz team manager, Robert Sawina, had a chance to meet him when he worked for Gdańsk. - We are bringing in another rider to the team in order to increase competition. Josh is a young, promising rider who is fully professional in his sports duties. We agreed that in early June he will come to Bydgoszcz and show himself on our track. Then we evaluate his usefulness to our team. Depending on the results achieved we will decide his future with us – said Robert Sawina, Bydgoszcz’s manager The agreement we have signed this afternoon will not burden our budget, because the new rider will be paid only for the points scored on the track.

I can only echo your sentiments. Rafal and Krzysztof were the only two who behaved as everyone should...pay respect. My thoughts and deepest condolences goes to Rico nearest and dearest. RIP Rico

How the time flies. It is already 13 years since the tragic death of Poland's and Wimbledon's Eddie Jancarz. The anniversary of the exact date, 11th January 1992, passed just few days ago, but the memory of his life and achievement is being kept alive in Poland and especially his home town, Gorzow, where one of its streets and a stadium with its speedway track bears the name of Edward Jancarz. Recently a proposal for a stone monument honouring Jancarz has been put forward, and no doubt will be constructed in due time. Thirteen years ago, much missed London's "Speedway Mail International" published his obituary. Without much bragging about it :-), I am reproducing it here in full. I hope younger members of this list will benefit from it. SPEEDWAY MAIL INTERNATIONAL week ending January 18, 1992 By ROMAN CHYLA and TONY McDONALD EDWARD JANCARZ, the most successful rider in Polish speedway history, was tragically killed on Saturday evening. The 45 year-old former Wimbledon number one died following a stabbing incident at his Gorzow flat. His wife of two years, Katarzyna, 30, has been charged with the killing and is likely to appear in court. It was reported in the daily Bydgoszcz newspaper, 'Gazeta Pomorska' earlier this week, that Jancarz and his second wife were involved in a furious row that turned into tragedy. Jancarz, who was reported under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, suffered three knife wounds to his upper body. It was the third which severed a main artery in his shoulder, causing extensive bleeding and his death at around 8 pm. News of Jancarz's death shook Poland, where he is a speedway legend, and will also stun Britain ', He was always one of the most popular imports and fans at Wimbledon, his only British League club from 1977 until 1983, will be deeply saddened by what has happened. Polish superstar Edward Roman Jancarz, began his illustrious speedway career in 1965, when he signed for his local Gorzow club. Just seven days after receiving his racing licence, Jancarz made his debut for Stal Gorzow in a Polish League match at Gdansk. He scored just one point but it was the start of a brilliant career that would blossom on the national and international stage. In 1967 Jancarz won the Polish Under-23 Championship but the highlight of his career came the following season. Jancarz scored eight points in the European Final at Wroclaw to quality for his first World Final. Just less than two weeks past his 22nd birthday, he took on the world's finest at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg. The meeting was dominated by the two Kiwi greats, Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs, but the stylish Pole grabbed third place with 11 points. He clinched the bronze medal by defeating Russian Kurilenko In a run-off. In 1969 Jancarz made history by reaching the World Final again. As In Sweden, Mauger and Briggs ruled supreme. But Jancarz won his last two races to scramble into sixth place with nine points. There was more glory for the young man they called 'Steady Eddie' before the end of the 1969 season. A few days after Wembley, Jancarz romped to 11 out of 12 points - making him joint top scorer - as Poland won the World Team Cup at Rybnik. A magnificent 1969 season was capped by his victory in the prestige Golden Helmet and Stal Gorzow's Polish League championship success. Those achievements earned Eddie Poland's Sports Personality of the Year award - a great honour for a speedway rider. Britain saw the impressive Jancarz for the first time in 1970, when he came with the touring Stal Gorzow team, but serious shoulder and collar bone injuries ruled him out of his country's first-ever World Final staging, at Wroclaw, later that year, when Mauger completed his hat-trick. Jancarz added a new dimension to his career in 1973 when, at the age of only 27, he became Stal Gorzow's new rider/coach ... and celebrated with another league title that same season. A year later Jancarz and Zenon Plech broke new ground by touring Australia, New Zealand and USA with the Mauger/Briggs World Champions' Troupe. They pulled in massive crowds and the fans went wild at the sight of these East Europeans racing flat out. In 1974 Jancerz was the senior member of the Polish Test team that toured England (he holds the record number of international caps for Poland). The following summer Jancarz scored 15 points in the World Pairs Final at Wroclaw, but he and Piotr Bruzda were pipped by a point by Sweden. In his homeland, Jancarz remained a powerful force. The1975 season saw the first of his two individual Polish Championship victories, although he had to wait until 1983 for his second, and only other, success in his country's premier event of the year. By then Jancarz had finished a British League career with Wimbledon that began in 1977. He made his debut for the Dons against Sheffield at Plough Lane on March 17,1977 and went on to enjoy a highly successful debut season, averaging (cma) 10.44 in home matches and winning the prestige Embassy Internationale - the only East European ever to achieve the feat. Although Eddie's BL commitments were occasionally interrupted by Continental recalls, he remained a very popular and - as his nickname indicates - steady performer for Wimbledon, right up until 1982, when he also made his last World Final appearance, in Los Angeles. In all, Edward Jancarz qualified for 11 individual World Finals, although injury prevented him from competing in one. He has 11 World Championship medals. Since his retirement from racing five years ago, Jancarz has been coaching young Polish riders at Gorzow - where his life began and, tragically, where it came to such an awful end. ...

Thank you very much for such a prompt response.

Could you please be more specific. Unfortunately I don't speak German :-(

above is the link to the whole video, not just 7 seconds. See and judge for yourself what did happen. Please notice all those concrete stairs around the track. Lethal.

What pressure, Mr Rising ? You like keeping us in suspense, don't you? I repeat again, what pressure he was put under by Torun? If there was any pressure, then - in my opinion - that pressure arose from the fact that he had a choice. To ride for Torun, or to ride for BSI/IMG. Personally speaking - he made the right decision. Perhaps the BSI/IMG will finally wake up and rejuvenate the whole system and pay decent wages to riders.

Go on, tell us more. What's going to happen on Monday?

Perhaps :-) But when you allow yourself to look at it objectively then you must realize that speedway is an INDIVIDUAL sport. It is like running, jumping, throwing, boxing, etc. One individual against another, sometimes more than another. Teams have been created later. Not only in speedway, but also athletics...and even boxing.

But there is a doubt, Mr. Rising, there is !!. Just look at Darcy Ward. He is young, he is aspiring...but he doesn't want to ride in SGP. And there are many more like him. In the present format SGP is a 'dead duck'. The future lies with European Speedway League, and the World Cup like the Daily Mirror Championship back in the 70's. As far as individual World Championship is concerned let's go back to proven formula on one day World Final.

(copied from yahoo speedway group) This year, the Polish national speedway team won the World Cup for the third time in a row . For several years the Polish riders have been among the best in the world. Given the unique atmosphere at the events with Polish representatives, the Polish Automobile Association in partnership with Sports Marketing One decided to organize on 16 October 2011 a speedway match featuring Poland vs Rest of the World. The Poland - Rest of the World match will be an excellent opportunity to test the strength of Polish riders and prove that it was not by chance that there is no better speedway team in the world. It won't be easy. Before the Polish team lays a difficult challenge - this time the Poles will have to face the star-studded team of world Speedway. Place and the date of this match was not chosen by chance. Torun's Moto-Arena is the most modern speedway stadium in the world. Torun is an ideal venue for organization of competitions at the highest level. There is a perfect viewing of the track from any the spot in the stands. The Marian Rose stadium was designed in such a way that the riders have opportunity to pass each other and as often as they can throughout the entire length of a track. Moreover, recently built roof over Moto-Arena ensures that the organizers do not have to worry about interruption of the meeting because of rain. The match at Torun against the rest of the world is to sum up very exciting and successful season for the Polish speedway. In Torun there will be opportunity to applaud the New Individual World Champion as well as the New U-21 Individual World Champion. The Match will be held according to rules prevailing in the Polish Speedway Ekstra-Liga, some say - the best in the world. Teams will consist of five seniors and two juniors, who will compete in fifteen races. What is new is the fact that in case of eight or more points ahead of one of the teams, it will be possible to use "The Joker", by a team manager. His points will count double, so the whole show should be even more attractive. The line-ups Rest of the world 01 GREG HANCOCK - USA 02 ANDREAS JONSSON - SWEDEN 03 CHRIS HOLDER - AUSTRALIA 04 NICKI PEDERSEN - DENMARK 05 ANTONIO LINDBAECK - SWEDEN (replacing Ryan Sullivan /injured/) 06 DARCY WARD - AUSTRALIA 07 MARTIN VACULIK - SLOVAKIA Poland 09 TOMASZ GOLLOB 10 ADRIAN MIEDZINSKI 11 PIOTR PROTASIEWICZ 12 JANUSZ KOLODZIEJ 13 JAROSLAW HAMPEL 14 MACIEJ JANOWSKI 15 PRZEMYSLAW PAWLICKI

Per Jonsson, The 1990 individual speedway world champion whose riding career was abruptly interrupted in Poland by a spine injury has always been fondly remembered in this speedway mad country, and in Torun, the club he rode for, he is simply adored until this day. He was given an honoray citezenpship of this town and they even named a street after him, the street leading directly to the most modern speedway stadium in the world. When Polish Motor Union (PZM) came up with an idea of staging a challenge match featuring three time team world champions in a row Poland vs Rest of the World, Per Jonsson was the natural choice as "the world" team manager. Jonsson is extremely pleased with the Poles choice and is looking forward to coming to Torun once again. I am incredibly excited every time I come to Torun. Whenever I'm here I am being met with fans' phenomenal kindness - it is something indescribable. It's very edifying to know that so many people remember me, even though I don't ride enymore. I know that there are now new idols, new heroes, and yet the whole time everyone welcome me here even so warm.. I look forward to the next meeting with these wonderful fans! - admits Jonsson. Former World Champion, this time is coming to Torun in an entirely new role. - I have received a proposal to manage the Rest of the World speedway team in this event and I made the decision without hesitation. This is a huge honour for me, but also a challenge and a robust test. I must admit that I feel a slight stress before this match. After all, I shall lead world's top riders gathered in one team against the World team champions, who will have the support of thousands of Polish fans. It won't be an easy task, but I am very pleased to be able to take part in this spectacle - he says. He is happy with the selection of the team that he is to lead. - I have at my disposal riders that every team manager must be dreaming of. It took me some time to determine the riding order as to optimally exploit the true potential of this "dream team". This will be an exciting duel. - says Per Jonsson. Here's is the final line-up of his team: 1st Greg Hancock 2nd Nicki Pedersen 3rd Andreas Jonsson 4th Antonio Lindbaeck 5th Chris Holder 6th Martin Vaculik 7th Darcy Ward The newly crowned World Champion - Greg Hancock will ride in pair with Nicki Pedersen, who with his spectacular rides always provides plenty of excitement for every fan.- I am counting on the experience of these riders. Greg just had a fantastic season and for the second time in his career won the world title, and Nicki did this three times in his career. The last performance of the Dane in Torun tells me that, together with Greg he will make a strong pair. I'm very curious how the two will work together - Rest of the World manager explains. The two compatriots of Per Jonsson, world no. 2, Andreas Jonsson and Antonio Lindbaeck , who takes place of injured Australian Ryan Sullivan will make the second pair.. - I am sure they will do their best at Torun's track. I have no doubt that the choice of Antonio, who did a great Grand Prix in Torun was a good move - says the Swede. Rest of the World team manager counts on a spectacular and effective ride from his third pairing of Chris Holder and Darcy Ward. - When it came to Chris and Darcy the decision was easy The two young Australians understand each other perfectly on and off the track. They have proved that, not once, not twice, starting in the Elite League for Poole Pirates. Their opponents will have many problems with this pair. Both are also very familiar with Torun's Moto Arena; Chris races on the Torun's track in the Polish ExtraLiga, while Darcy also on the Torun's books, took third place at the recent Polish Grand Prix in Torun and had fantastic season on loan to Gdansk. Topping the 1st Division's averages, ahead of Emil Sayfutdinov. I am convinced that they won't disappoint me, and this go also for Slovakian U-21 Martin Vaculik who in the Polish League is very effective. ... sportowefakty.pl

I doubt it. Polish ExtraLiga starts (most probably) next day, Sunday April 1st. Do do see a way of shifting 10 GP stars back to Poland in 24h? regards PolskiZuzel

Thanks for posting. Being traditionalist myself, your spreadsheet is just what I need! Thanks.

Bagpuss, so what that the Poles have three GP and a quarter of the field are Polish. You, i.e. Britain can have as many as you wish (or can afford) so why don't you have more than one Cardiff? Who is stopping you ? Answer me this, please. As for a quarter of the field being Polish, again, who is stopping you having more riders than one Harris? Who, or what is stopping you having riders who are winning SWC three times in a row. Answer me, and yourself this, please

Read all about her here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urszula_Dudziak