2ndbendbeerhut

Strange decesions but hey its speedway, and where Ole Olsen has a say then you sort of come to expect it! It was rumoured that Matej Zager would be there along with a Dane and a Pole but the two they have chosen is debatable....... Bjerre - was 1st reserve this year but is curently injured, which shouldn't be a factor in 2006. Andersen - has won a Gp before but failed to qualify for this year after being given a wild card for 2005. 1 strike and you are out it seems. Iversen - Done ok in the past when a wild card but struggled in the UK KK / Kolodziej / Miskowiak - All have time on their sides but not too consistant at present. Kosciecha / Walasek / Holta / Ulamek / Pepe - The "old school" so anyone could have got the nod. I would have thought that if it was due to sponsorship the Hans and Pepe would have been picked due to their deals with Meridan Lifts and Pentel. So one question, What sponsor will Iversen bring to the GP this year? Karl Ps this now makes Hans a more sort after property in the UK but maybe he will now want a better deal?

taken from: click here POLAND (red) 1 - Grzegorz Walasek 2 - Rune Holta 3 - Piotr Protasiewicz 4 - Jarek Hampel 5 - Tomasz Gollob SWEDEN (blue) 1 - Tony Rickardsson 2 - Peter Karlsson 3 - Andreas Jonsson 4 - Antonio Lindback 5 - Fredrik Lindgren DENMARK (white) 1 - Hans Andersen 2 - Bjarne Pedersen 3 - Kenneth Bjerre 4 - Nicki Pedersen 5 - Niels-Kristian Iversen GREAT BRITAIN (yellow) 1 - Joe Screen 2 - Simon Stead 3 - Lee Richardson 4 - Scott Nicholls 5 - Chris Harris Good luck to the British boys on Saturday, heat 25 looks a bit familiar Karl

Seems strange that only Simon Stead, Chris Harris and Joe Screen are attending tonight. Very unprofessional IMO. Scott Nicholls is flying in tommorow and Lee Richardson cannot find his way there! They should ALL be there like the Swedish team are, taking in the meeting and observing how the track looks etc first hand. Anyone else agree? Karl

Some bloke from the great speedway nation of....... Hungary! Karl

hmm i've just clicked again and its changed. might just have to wait and see...... Karl update: i've now checked the speedwayworld.tv site and its changed again!!!!

taken from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl Denmark 1. N Pedersen 2. B Pedersen 3. H Andersen 4. N-K Iversen 5. K Bjerre Poland 1. G Walasek 2. P Protasiewicz 3. R Holta 4. J Hampel 5. T Gollob Czech Rep 1. A Rymel 2. A Dryml 3. L Dryml 4. T Topinka 5. T Suchanek Australia 1. L Adams 2. R Sullivan 3. J Crump 4. A Shields 5. S Johnston Cheers Karl hmm so heat 6 sees: Gollob, Crump, Topinka, N Pedersen.

What?!!! i suppose a decent track in your eyes would be slick with no grip at all? Shows if we have a track with a dirt line then the Brits can do it........ Karl

Well done to the lads tonight. About time we gave the young guys the chance and they didn't let us down. Interesting to see what happens if Mark is fit for saturday. Joe to step down again? Karl

Oh dear its raining............................. where's Ronnie Russell when you need him? Karl

It was watching riders like him and John Cook at Foxhall that made me become hooked to the sport. Yes he should have done more with his career but how many others can we say that about? Gollob, Sanders, Moran brothers etc Karl

"replaced one polish muppet with another one" great qoute from Havvy

The points in the final would not change, 25, 20, 18, 16 unless i rider scores more in the qualifiers, eg ONLY if a rider gets 6 wins. Karl

So the semi finals are worthless then apart from getting a final place. Didn't BSI state something along the lines of "every race will be worth something". Why not give points to the semi finals aswell but the 1st 2 qualifying for the final still eg heat 21 1st Tony 11 +3 for semi win =14 2nd Bjarne 13 +2 = 15 3rd Antonio 8 +1 =9 GP points 4th Kenneth 8+ 0 = 8 GP points heat 22 1st Nicki 13+3 = 16 2nd Jason 10 + 2 =12 3rd Hans 8+1 =9 GP points 4th Leigh 13+0 = 13 GP points So the final pickings would have been: Nicki, Bjarne, Tony, Jason. It would have rewarded Nicki for the extra race win. Also the 2 semi-finalists that came 3rd would get an extra point. Ok so a rider could have 6 wins and a last in the final but only get 16 instead of 18 but his 18 points would count. Just a thought..... Karl

Add me to the list of travellers from Stansted tomorrow. Karl

yeah it poured with rain Steve, but that then normally makes the track better! As for the tracks, better to be on "natural" tracks instead of "man made" ones. Only though if Ole has less to do with them, leave them to the locals so we can go back to some racing, if not why not have 1 lap races! Cya Karl

just been watching the 1999 GP from Linkopping, what a superb meeting. Hows about another GP from there. (And another Brit winner). how the racing has changed in 5 years! Karl

taken from speedwayworld.tv........ The FIM Speedway Grand Prix Commission has today nominated the following riders for the 2005 FIM Speedway Grand Prix Series (SGP). Ryan Sullivan Australia Hans Andersen Denmark Bjarne Pedersen Denmark Lee Richardson Great Britain Scott Nicholls Great Britain Commenting on the announcement, John Postlethwaite, Chief Executive, BSI, said: “The five permanent riders picked themselves. Both Hans Andersen and Bjarne Pedersen won GP’s this year and Lee Richardson has also been on the podium. Scott Nicholls had a torrid year of injuries yet still managed to finish twelfth. Ryan Sullivan did not find his form that saw him finish inside the top ten last year and third in 2002. This is why we have the permanent wild cards so that riders like Sullivan have a second chance to make their mark on the championship. “All of these riders have also shown their commitment, drive and determination to be part of the world championship.” FIM Race Director Ole Olsen added: “Congratulations to the riders who have made the 2005 Series. All 15 riders for the 2005 season are capable of winning a Grand Prix or the world championship. With this line-up we will see hugely exciting racing next year.” The provisional calendar has also been announced today and confirmation of the provisional dates and venues is expected before the end of November. The 2005 Draw will be as follows: 2005 INDIVIDUAL SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX RIDER LINE-UP QUALIFIED RIDERS Riding N° Name Country 1 JASON CRUMP AUSTRALIA 2 TONY RICKARDSSON SWEDEN 3 GREG HANCOCK USA 4 LEIGH ADAMS AUSTRALIA 5 NICKI PEDERSEN DENMARK 6 TOMASZ GOLLOB POLAND 7 ANDREAS JONSSON SWEDEN 8 JAROSLAW HAMPEL POLAND 9 HANS ANDERSEN DENMARK 10 BJARNE PEDERSEN DENMARK 11 LEE RICHARDSON GREAT BRITAIN 12 SCOTT NICHOLLS GREAT BRITAIN 13 RYAN SULLIVAN AUSTRALIA 14 ANTONIO LINDBÄCK SWEDEN 15 TOMASZ CHRZANOWSKI POLAND 16 WILD CARD TRACK RESERVES 17 TRACK RESERVE 18 TRACK RESERVE QUALIFIED RESERVES 19 KENNETH BJERRE DENMARK 20 PETER KARLSSON SWEDEN 21 STEFAN ANDERSSON SWEDEN 22 DAMIAN BALINSKI POLAND 23 ROMAN POVAZHNY RUSSIA 24 BOHUMIL BRHEL CZECH REPUBLIC If a permanent rider of the Grand Prix Series is injured and cannot compete in a round of the Series their place will be taken by one of the Track Reserves. Consideration for this place will be give to former Grand Prix riders who have missed out on a place in 2005 or to a local rider. Countries represented: Australia 3 competitors; Denmark 3 ;Poland 3; Sweden 3; Great Britain 2; USA 1

Qualified as top 8 1: Crump 2: Rickardsson 3: Hancock 4 :Adams 5: Nicki Pedersen 6: Gollob 7: Jonsson 8: Hampel Qualified through WC meetings 9: Lindback 10 :Chrzanowski i think that the "picks" will be 2 out of these 4. Hans Andersen - only 1 point off 8th and unlucky in WC at Vojens Bjarne Pedersen - won a GP this year so should be enough Lee Richardson - best Brit this year Scott Nicholls - unlucky to miss 1st 2 GP's, so should count for something. the other 2 battling for 3 places with the list below: Ryan Sullivan - former GP winner, not at best this year. Rune Holta - Will Norway insist on 1 rider in the series....... Lukas Dryml - Will Czech Rep insist on a rider....... Matej Zager - One for the future. 3rd in u21 wc. Kenneth Bjerre - finished 3rd in wc and 2nd in u21 wc. Mark Loram - Ex-World champ might be looked favourably upon As for the others from this years series i think we have seen the last of them for at least a year. Karl

Will have to see regarding the guests(if needed) but with Sky involved, theres always special dispensation !! Karl

well done to Jason, but hard on Sullivan, thought Nicki had left him with no where to go. Great piece when he fell off his bike, but should the ref exclude him for not "racing"........ Karl

send me a email at karl.thorpe1@btinternet.com and i'll try and send ya a copy, its an mpeg. like i said 1st lap is ok but then its a blur!!! btw i was opposite the start/finish on the back straight. behind all the "mad" poles, right at the top. 1 Polish guy was behind me up a flagpole! Karl

my outward flight was simliar, or could have been the same flight, went out on friday from stansted at 14.40. I thought it was strange when everyone clapped when we got to Warsaw. i was on your flight on the way back though, i was behind Scott and Mark in the queue aswell..... but then sat with them in the bar thats to the left of the terminal. Food was a bit like the flight though, what a great landing again, was it just me or did you think we would never land, and as for the abrupt left turn at the end of the runway!! oh well heres to next year! Karl

i recorded the final with my digital camera from the back straight....can't see much after Gollob goes past though, apart from waving arms and heads bobbing up and down! does that help? Cya Karl

has anyone got their tickets yet? first my bank deceided to send £262 instead of Polish money. now they have had my payment returned! sent the wrong iban number! so finally they are trying again, and will not charge me for the pleasure. waiting to hear now...... so if i do go get to Poland i'll be in warsaw for the friday, via air polonia and travelling up to Bydgosczcz somehow on the saturday, coming back on sunday. so if there are any listee's who are in the same boat i'll see ya there. i am thinking about hiring a car and driving up, could be a minibus if there's enough........ Karl

did anyone else think that Kelvin was struggling with his words???? Karl