racers and royals

I don`t normally say too many complimentary things about the Aussies, but fair play to MA for doing this and a great picture to boot

Now on

If anyone has a blank 16 rider 20 heat score chart- this should be the draw(from Albury Wodonga speedway facebook page) 1 Ben Cook 2 Zane Keleher 3 Kye Thomsom 4 Jordan Stewart 5 Rohan Tungate 6 Ryan Douglas 7 Jack Holder 8 Chris Holder 9 Nick Morris 10 Todd Kurtz 11 Brady Kurtz 12 Justin Sedgmen 13 Max Fricke 14 Zach Cook 15 Sam Masters 16 Jaimon Lidsey

What could be nicer than Manchester in May ??

Tomorrow`s live internet coverage link- starts at 8am UK time they say https://www.australianspeedwaychampionships.com.au/live/

Just seen that Czech international rider Miloslav Verner died on December 18th aged 80.

3 rounds gone 2 to go and a reminder that round 4 on Wednesday and round 5 on Saturday are both being streamed live(link to follow) - see OP for times. Leaderboard after 3 rounds 1st Fricke 48 2nd C Holder 45 3rd Tungate 41 4th J Holder 31 5th= B Kurtz 29 5th= Masters 29 7th Lidsey 28 8th Morris 26 9th Stewart 23 10th Douglas 19 11th T Kurtz 17 12th Sedgemen 14 13th B Cook 12 14th Keleher 11 15th Thomson 8 16th Z Cook 6

Result from round 3 today in Undera - Australian speedway championships, live updates and Sportowefakty between them don`t list the result and points scored correctly so i hope what i have worked out is correct 1st Fricke 18 2nd C Holder 15 3rd Lidsey 13 4th Tungate 11 5th J Holder 10 6th Morris 11 7th Sedgemen 9 8th B Kurtz 9 9th Masters 9 10th Stewart 6 11th T Kurtz 5 12th keleher 5 13th Douglas 3 14th Thomson 2 15th Z Cook 2 16th B Cook 1

The PZM are desperately trying to get another team out of Div 2 to join the Nice Polska league to replace the non- licence Rzeszow team.The clubs have until mid Jan to accept the invitation. Maybe Bydgoszcz will take the plunge under their new management.

Not strictly true - it’s more Daugavpils have not agreed to the Extraleague requirements which amongest others is Polish U21 riders at reserve.

If only they did Don`t they have Chris Holder scoring 14 today ?? and where have they posted the accumulated scores for the 2 rounds ??

Accumulated score after 2 rounds- courtesy of my arithmetic 1st= C Holder 30 1st= Tungate 30 1st= Fricke 30 4thJ Holder 21 5th= B Kurtz 20 5th= Masters 20 7th Stewart 17 8th Douglas 16 9th= Morris 15 9th= lidsey 15 11th T Kurtz 12 12th B Cook 11 13th= Thomson 6 13th= Keleher 6 15th Sedgemen 5 16th Z Cook 4

Result from the 2nd round today in Mildura- courtesy of Australian speedway championships facebook 1st C holder 18 2nd Tungate 14 3rd Fricke 13 4th B Kurtz 12 5th J Holder 10 6th Masters 10 7th Douglas 10 8th Morris 8 9th Stewart 6 10th T Kurtz 6 11th B Cook 6 12th Lidsey 5 13th Sedgemen 5 14th Thomson 5 15th Z cook 1 16th Keleher 1

Over 43,000 now sold.

It was funny Sadly the stadium needs so much spent on it i can`t see the local authority stumping up enough cash https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/796161/stadion-bez-trybuny-i-parku-maszyn-remont-polonii-coraz-bardziej-smierdzi .

Result and points scored in 1st round today- courtesy of Australian speedway championship facebook page 1st Fricke 17 2nd Tungate 16 3rd C Holder 12 4th Stewart 11 5th Lidsey 10 6th Masters 10 7th J Holder 11 8th B Kurtz 8 9th Morris 7 10th Douglas 6 11th T Kurtz 6 12th B Cook 5 13th Keleher 5 14th Z Cook 3 15th Thomson 1 16th J Sedgmen 0

New regime in place for 2019 - Jerzy Kanclerz is the new president.

After 16 heats

Sportowefakty are reporting that the Nice Polska and div 2 leagues 1st round matches will be on the last weekend of March- 1 week before the Extraleague get underway. They are also saying that the round dates are known(not published) but no news on when the fixtures will be released.

Round 1 live updates from Gillman tomorrow from 8.30am https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/relacja/94958/i-runda-im-australii-w-gillman

The qualification meeting at Gillman was held today - scorechart https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/relacja/94912/kwalifikacje-do-im-australii-w-gillman and the 8 riders who made it through to the final 5 round series starting tomorrow are Ryan Douglas, Jordan Stewart, Justin Sedgmen, Kye Thomson, Todd Kurtz, Nick Morris, Zach Cook and Ben Cook

No doubt the Extraleague, the clubs and the riders will all be benefiting- this is from my post in the OP. This new contract for coverage of the Extraleague from 2019 to 2021 is reportedly worth 60 million PLN as against 25 million PLN for the period 2016-18.

What we can agree on is that the new TV deal is behind this !! All 4 matches per round televised between 2 companies - and i suppose with N Sport wanting to keep the prime Sunday slots, for continuity over the 14 rounds,Friday`s were the only day for Eleven sport TV fixtures.

Yes 2 but could be between 2 and 8 Friday`s. Not sure the Polish league AGREE to cancel their matches- more like the postponement day is next day for the GP`s and Poland decide to cancel if riders become unavailable for league duty- which is also what they do if riders become unavailable because of postponements to SEC comps, U21 and UEM comp`s etc. The Extraleague in my opinion on this matter have gone to far- there are many other Friday`s or Saturday`s they can use- however i would agree that it would split the round up which would lead to a disjointed league table.

I`m not sure there is anything positive regarding the Extraleague wanting to tie riders to racing on 10 Fridays- 24 hours before a round of the biggest competition in world speedway. If riders want to practice(and most do) they should be allowed to. The Extraleague was very lucky with the weather in 2018- might not be the same as regards postponements in 2019. In total there are in addition to the 2 definite Friday`s another 6 are reserve dates. Poland could, if the will is there , use other free Friday`s and Saturday`s instead.