HenryW

You mean...pin yourself right on the white line (but not over it) and don't even think of moving away from it?? From what I saw, the worst offender for not noticing that seemed to be Nicki....

Yeah, but dropping back down to the Premier League with Kings Lynn in 2007 seems a bit too soon for him.

Totally agree. Scott takes a load of criticism on here for not wanting it enough, yet when he forces his way past an opponent he is castigated for his efforts.

I realise that you have lost your own team, but to become a Coventry fan...shame on you!!! Still, better than a Wolves fan, I suppose

chose If that's the way you read the situation then fair enough. It seems rather sad that you suggest a complete impartiality of one of the best referees in the world... The way that I saw it, Scotty hit Matej going down the straight as Matej took a very slow and unusual line. I think Matej could easily have held on to the bike, but chose to lay it down. I guess I must be wrong because all the experts disagreed with me, but that's the way I saw it. What did you make of Crump's move on Bjarne in the other semi??

Funny, I thought Tony got both of those decisions right. Nicki held his line in the race with NKI and Iversen tried to go where Nicki already was. To exclude Nicki for just holding his line would have been very ahrsh in such a situation. As for the Scotty/Zagar incident...as I said on the other thread, Zagar got a relatively small hit on the straight and bailed out. If he can't hold on to the bike in such a situation he shouldn't be in the GP. Bjarne took much worse in the other semi final and still stayed on his bike! The one decision I thought Tony got wrong was the race to the line between Nicki and Bjarne...

Totally disagree. I'm a big fan of Zagar, but he got a relatively small bump going down the straight...If he can't handle that then he doesn't deserve to be in a GP final. Several riders took much worse hits on the straight during the meeting and didn't flop to the floor, the worst of them probably being Bjarne in the other semi final. I have to say that the track really didn't deliver the goods tonight. Pinning yourself to the white line seemed to be the only way to go for most of the night!

Seems a bit harsh on your boys there! Wroclaw have been pretty impressive this year and even if they are better than you, it surely doesn't mean you can't be second best! Have Czestochowa and Rzeszow not both lost at home to Wroclaw this season? Do they not deserve to be in the top 4 either?

Looks a tough one for Polonia. Do you think that they can do it, Matt? I guess the fitness of both PePe and Jason could be key to this result...

I don't disagree that Middlo has limited resources, but to suggest that the Poles had more to choose from is a little unfair. Considering who the Polish manager actually had to choose from, I think that the two nations were fairly equal....possibly even things were in Middlos favour....The Poles used two riders who were clearly unfit in the race-off, which probably backs up this argument... What is clear is that on a track like Reading, the Brits and the Poles were always fighting a losing battle....

Maybe one year Britain will host the World Cup and hold the final at a track that works for our boys? Who didn't bet on the Danes as soon as the Final was announced as being held at Reading? We need to look at the way the Poles worked things last year and learn some lessons....

It wasn't about the win, but it was about a medal for the nation. It wasn't between 2nd and 3rd, it was about 2nd and nothing. Maybe aussies really are win or nothing, but if I was Trav, I'd be pretty p***** off that Jason threw away my FIM silver medal in an attempt to get himself some personal glory...

The problem here is that Jason forgot he was racing for a TEAM (or even NATION) and NOT for himself. He chose his personal glory ahead of the glory of his entire nation. Would you be happy if he was in second but winning the league for the Aces then decided to go for a personal Max and lost the title for the team??? I think he made a wrong choice there.

Not seen anything mentioned on here yet about the Polish Semi Final results, so thought I would post the following, courtesy of sportowefakty.pl : Rawicz 1. Jarosław Hampel - 13 (1,3,3,3,3) 2. Sebastian Ułamek - 13 (2,2,3,3,3) 3. Piotr Protasiewicz - 10 (3,3,2,2,0) 4. Krzysztof Jabłoński - 10 (3,2,1,2,2) 5. Jacek Gollob - 9 (0,3,2,1,3) 6. Adrian Miedziński - 9 (3,1,3,1,1) 7. Zbigniew Suchecki - 9 (2,2,1,3,1) 8. Janusz Kołodziej - 9 (1,3,2,2,1) ------------------------------------- 9. Rafał Dobrucki - 7+3 (2,1,1,1,2) ------------------------------------- 10. Jacek Krzyżaniak - 7+2 (3,0,1,1,2) 11. Karol Ząbik - 7+t (0,0,3,2,2) 12. Sławomir Drabik - 6 (1,2,0,0,3) 13. Andrzej Huszcza - 5 (2,1,2,0,0) 14. Mariusz Węgrzyk - 4 (0,0,0,3,1) 15. Zbigniew Czerwiński - 1 (1,0,0,0,0) 16. Robert Sawina - 1 (d,1,0,0,0) 1. Krzyżaniak, Dobrucki, Drabik, Węgrzyk 2. Miedziński, Suchecki, Kołodziej, Ząbik 3. Protasiewicz, Ułamek, Czerwiński, Sawina (d) 4. Jabłoński, Huszcza, Hampel, Gollob 5. Hampel, Ułamek, Miedziński, Krzyżaniak 6. Protasiewicz, Jabłoński, Dobrucki, Ząbik 7. Gollob, Suchecki, Sawina, Węgrzyk 8. Kołodziej, Drabik, Huszcza, Czerwiński 9. Ząbik, Huszcza, Krzyżaniak, Sawina 10. Miedziński, Gollob, Dobrucki, Czerwiński 11. Ułamek, Kołodziej, Jabłoński, Węgrzyk 12. Hampel, Protasiewicz, Suchecki, Drabik 13. Suchecki, Jabłoński, Krzyżaniak, Czerwiński 14. Hampel, Kołodziej, Dobrucki, Sawina 15. Węgrzyk, Protasiewicz, Miedziński, Huszcza 16. Ułamek, Ząbik, Gollob, Drabik 17. Gollob, Krzyżaniak, Kołodziej, Protasiewicz 18. Ułamek, Dobrucki, Suchecki, Huszcza 19. Hampel, Ząbik, Węgrzyk, Czerwiński 20. Drabik, Jabłoński, Miedziński, Sawina 21. Dobrucki, Krzyżaniak, Ząbik (t) Lublin 1. Wiesław Jaguś - 12 (3,3,3,3,-) 2. Damian Baliński - 12 (2,3,1,3,3) 3. Adam Skórnicki - 11 (3,3,2,1,2) 4. Krzysztof Słaboń - 10 (0,3,3,1,3) 5. Tomasz Gollob - 10 (1,2,1,3,3) 6. Tomasz Chrzanowski - 10 (2,2,3,2,1) 7. Tomasz Jędrzejak - 9 (2,1,1,3,2) 8. Jacek Rempała - 8+3 (3,1,3,0,1) ---------------------------------- 9. Krzysztof Buczkowski - 8+2 (1,1,2,2,2) ---------------------------------- 10. Robert Kościecha - 8+1 (0,1,2,2,3) 11. Marcin Rempała - 7 (2,0,1,2,2) 12. Piotr Paluch - 5 (3,2,w,0,0) 13. Maciej Kuciapa - 4 (1,d,2,1,d) 14. Artur Pietrzyk - 3 (0,2,d,1,d) 15. Robert Wardzała - 2 (1,0,0,d,1) 16. Mateusz Szczepaniak (R1) - 1 (1) 17. Ronnie Jamroży - 0 (0,0,0,0,w) 1. J.Rempała, M.Rempała, Buczkowski, Kościecha 2. Skórnicki, Baliński, Gollob, Słaboń 3. Jaguś, Jędrzejak, Kuciapa, Pietrzyk 4. Paluch, Chrzanowski, Wardzała, Jamroży 5. Baliński, Chrzanowski, Jędrzejak, M.Rempała 6. Skórnicki, Pietrzyk, J.Rempała, Jamroży 7. Jaguś, Gollob, Kościecha, Wardzała 8. Słaboń, Paluch, Buczkowski, Kuciapa (d) 9. Jaguś, Skórnicki, M.Rempała, Paluch (w) 10. J.Rempała, Kuciapa, Baliński, Wardzała 11. Słaboń, Kościecha, Jędrzejak, Jamroży 12. Chrzanowski, Buczkowski, Gollob, Pietrzyk (d) 13. Gollob, M.Rempała, Kuciapa, Jamroży 14. Jaguś, Chrzanowski, Słaboń, J.Rempała 15. Baliński, Kościecha, Pietrzyk, Paluch 16. Jędrzejak, Buczkowski, Skórnicki, Wardzała (d) 17. Słaboń, M.Rempała, Wardzała, Pietrzyk 18. Gollob, Jędrzejak, J.Rempała, Paluch 19. Kościecha, Skórnicki, Chrzanowski, Kuciapa (d) 20. Baliński, Buczkowski, Szczepaniak, Jamroży (w) 21. J.Rempała, Buczkowski, Kościecha

I could be wrong, but I think that this is the first time a British rider has raced in the Russian League, although not the first time a Brit has raced for a Russian team. Lee Richardsson certainly raced for Togliatti in the Champions Cup Final last season and scored 19 points out of 20 as they demolished the opposition.

You can tell her it's actually a City in the Samarskaya region of Russia, formerly known as Stavropol-on-Volga, which was renamed Togliatti in 1964 in honour of the famous Italian communist Palmiro Togliatti, who helped to form the AutoVaz car plant in the City with assistance from Fiat. This plant is where hundreds of thousands of Lada's were made. last I read, the plant still produces around 700,000 cars a year, and was the subject of a huge takeover scandal during the 1990s privatisation years in former soviet Russia. Sorry...bit off topic

A HUGE meeting in Russia, this one. If you think the Pirates v Bess or Pirates v Eagles threads go on a bit, this one is currently at 50 pages on the Russian forum and the post match analysis is just starting It's a result that sees Togliatti stranded in thrid in the league...a rather unknown position for them recently!! In case anyone cares, a rough translation of the race details is below, although this doesn't quite tie in with the score chart shown above According to this, Havvy was hit for 5 in the brief mid-match dominant period for Oktyabrsky, when they had two 5-1s in a row. Denis Gizatullin, who admitted only racing at 90% in the team's last meeting and promised 100% tonight, seemed to deliver on that promise. He was magnificent apart from a dropped point to Havvy in heat 9 and a fall while working his way around Brhel in heat 6. The match winner was undoubtedly Tomasz Rempala who twice lost out to Havvy, but beat him once on his way to a 13 point haul. 01 Gizatullin, D.Ivanov, Brhel, Karpov 3-3 : 3-3 02 Rempala, Havelock, Bondarenko, Galeyev 3-3 : 6-6 03 Filyushin, R.Ivanov, Sidorin, M.Gatiyatov (T) 3-3 : 9-9 04 Havelock, Galeyev, R.Gitayatov, D.Ivanov 3-3 : 12-12 05 Rempala, Gomozov, Karpov, Shibankov 4-2 : 16:14 06 Brhel, Kalimullin, Bondarenko, Gizatullin (F/R) 2-4 : 18-18 07 D.Ivanov, M.Gatiyatov, Sidorin, R.Gatiyatov (X) 2-4 : 20-22 08 Brhel, Kalimullin, Galeyev, Shibankov 3-3 : 23-25 09 Havelock, Gizatullin, Karpov, R.Ivanov 3-3 : 26-28 10 R.Gatiyatov, Gomozov, Sidorin, Galeyev (X) 3-3 : 29-31 11 Rempala, M.Gatiyatov, Havelock, D.Ivanov 5-1 : 34-32 12 Gizatullin, Kalimullin, D.Ivanov, Gomozov 5-1 : 39-33 13 Havelock (T/S), Rempala, Brhel, Karpov 2-4 : 41-37 14 Gizatullin, Brhel, Kalimullin, Gomozov 4-2 : 45-39 15 Havelock, Rempala, Gatiyatov, Bondarenko 3-3 : 48-42 1 : Brhel gates first but is quickly picked off by Giza. Ivanov goes past his team mate on the final lap. 2 : Rempala gates first and spends 4 laps under heavy pressure from Havvy, but holds him off. 3 : Gatiyatov excluded for a false start. Filyushin around Ivanov on the first turn. Ivanov spent the rest of the race attacking him, but couldn't make the pass. 4 : Havvy first away from the gate. Ivanov and Gatiyatov have a good race for third. 5 : Finally the deadlock is broken. Rempala goes round Gomozova first, then Karpov follows a lap later before Karpov loses second to Gomozov again on the third lap. 6 : Gizatullin gates first, but Brhel passes him on lap two. Giza tries to come back at him but falls. He remounts and chases Bondarenko but just fails to catch him. 7 : In the first running, Ruslan Gitayatov falls and is excluded. Marat Gitayatov gates in the re-run but on lap four Ivanov sweeps around him for the win. The Lukoil boys take the lead for the first time!! 8 : Kalimullin passes Brhel on the first turn, but Brhel comes back past him on lap 3. 9 : Karpov gates but Havvy sweeps round him at the end of the first lap. Giza gives chase, but gets held up by his team mate and doesn't get a clean shot at Havvy. 10: Galeyev falls. Re-run from the gate. 11: Rempala gates first and is away. Havvy surprisingly surrenders 2nd to Gitayatov on the second lap and can't come back at him, much to the delight of the Lukoil team! 12: From the gate. 13: Karpov falls on the last turn (no mention of wheer he was!) 14: From the gate. Giza and Kalimullin wrap up the match for Lukoil. 15: Havvy gates and rempala does everything to get past, but just can't quite make it.

Indeed...Scott has clearly gained from his experience. His GP tally so far this year is ahead of his score after the same rounds last year. Gary just needs to teach him how to gate well without touching the tapes and win the races that really count....that could take a little longer

IMHO, you take a step too far when you take a pop at the legend that is Havvy, Subedei Let's be honest, there is, sadly, little chance of him actually being selected in the 5 to race for Team GB but, if he was, you couldn't ask for a more determined and talented rider to join the team. Despite currently plying his trade in the PL, I would much rather see him in the team than some of those suggested in the thread about the 5 to represent Team GB.

I'm not sure if it would be good or bad for Wroclaw to lose the GP. It certainly hasn't delivered the on track action that the series deserves over the last few years, but the City itself has a lot going for it. It's one of the few big speedway Cities in Poland that has a surplus of quality hotel rooms. Czestochowa and Leszno would both be a disaster for travelling fans given the very, very limited hotel options in both Cities. As for Togliatti...It would be great to see the series expand into Russia, just a shame that it couldn't be somewhere a little more accessible

Does anyone know if tickets are still available for the GP this weekend, and if they are, do you expect them still to be available at the stadium on the day?

OK...a little off topic as it's not Ekstraliga, but I was in Opole on Sunday* and was wondering if any of our Polish members knows of the condition of Robert Flis? He had a horrible accident in his first race when his throttle appeared to stick open out the start, and he hit the (very solid) fence straight on at full speed. I'm sure he would have wished for an air fence in that crash! I checked a couple of sites, and think that he maybe has just an ankle injury, but my Polish isn't so good, and online translators can be very unreliable! *Sorry Tommy, I hope you can one day forgive me for missing the Zielona Gora meeting, but it was just too early for me to get out of bed

I thought that would be the case, and you just weren't aware of the restrictive regulations that Ryanair put on their tickets. Still, it seems a perfect way for Fairy4ever and Nikkif to get to Wroclaw after f4e's post earlier this week saying that "despite all our great efforts we will NOT be at this one"

As this is a Stansted to Wroclaw flight, I assume it's with Ryanair. Just thought I should point out that to change name on a Ryanair flight it costs £45 per person...Are you offering these tickets for £25 per peson before or after the name change has been made? To take a loss of an extra £20 per person seems a bit crazy...and to offer them for £25 when it will cost an extra £45 per person seems a little dishonest...not that I am suggesting that you are either crazy or dishonest, just wanting to make sure that you are aware of the Ryanair flight regulations before you get yourself into a disagreement with a potential buyer!

I was going to make exactly the same reply before I read yours KJ. He gets a farewell meeting because he's saying "farewell"...It's not a testimonial where you have to have ridden for 10 years, or an anniversary meeting, it's a farewell meeting. Seeing as how old boomerang has been brought up, I would imagine that the number of meetings that he and TRick have raced in over here is probably fairly close, as Todd only did 8 or 9 seasons over here before his supposed farewell. If Rob had asked such a question at the start of the season, just after Oxford's big announcement of TRick's return to the EL, then it might have been worth taking more seriously. With it appearing at a time where him and his Oxford cronies have taken a huff with Tony, and are rubbishing him at every opportunity, it just cannot be taken seriously. Tony is one of the all time greats in speedway history, and I see no reason why he shouldn't have a farewell meeting over here if he wants.