Anders

Not been on the forum very much at all this season, but thought I might check the thread for the Swedish Championship. You would've been lucky to spot me during the broadcast. Originallly I was scheduled to be clerk of the course, but some late staff re-shuffling got me to the referee´s box being the DJ for the night, as well as doing the live updates on www.speedwaysm.se. (Just in Swedish this time...)

A quick and detailed answer. Thank you!

Is that for the European Junior Team Semifinal? Heard that Sweden will be going to Chervonograd for a team semifinal in the end of April. In that case, has it been changed from Rivne? Which are the teams for that meeting? Many questions, but I think you have some answers.

Thank you!

As the search function (oh, well, the entire forum) is working really sloooow at the moment, and I therefore can't find the Polish "Silly Season" thread which I would assume contains the rules (written in English) for the 2012 season, I'll start a new one with a specific question; In Ekstraliga, the maximum CMA for team building is 41,00 and should be counted on 6 of the riders. Is the figure of 41,00 based on riders 1-6 in the LINE-UP or the top six riders in AVERAGE? If it's the former, some teams could/must benefit by putting a high scoring junior at number 7, and I've previously noted that a line-up is usually written with only six names initially. To list an example below: LESZNO 1. Troy Batchelor 6,92 2. Tobiasz Musielak 2,98 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 10,71 4. Damian Balinski 6,25 5. Jurica Pavlic 6,50 6. Piotr Pawlicki 6,16 ( 7. Przemyslaw Pawlicki 7,19 ) What would the CMA be for this line-up? 39,52 excluding Przemyslaw Pawlicki as he's listed as the number 7 or... 43,73 excluding Tobiasz Musielak with the lowest average. (43,73 would be too high then...)

Not in here quite as often as usual, but as Ghostwalker says, the dates are set. It's unfortunate that the meetings are on consecutive nights, as we (Vetlanda) as hosts would have preferred a league meeting away from home on that Tuesday, but the choices were limited so...

Would the income come from only attendence, that would never be possible. Sponsorship is a major factor, of course. Lucky for Poole and Eastbourne as Elit Vetlanda weren't good enough to qualify for that then. However, with Piraterna and Indianerna instead, it won't get easier. Both have awesome looking line-ups! As an Elit Vetlanda fan, I can't see that squad as a problem. In 2012, Crump will start his 8th season with the club, Hampel his 7th and Vaculik his 4th. Jonasson will ride his 8th 500cc season with Elit Vetlanda, after stepping up from the club's 80cc scene. Thorssell (guest rider in the 2012 season) and Lindqvist have also stepped up from the Elit Vetlanda 80cc team and guest rider Ruud, who is fairly local, spent three seasons with the club in 2004-06, winning two league titles. With Kolodziej opting out of Sweden in 2012, Sayfutdinov was an excellent choice by the management. I've not been his biggest fan over the years, I must admit, but he will create a buzz around the team, which also should crave for revenge after missing out on a medal this season. Being a high profile scorer, his new fans will soon forget his mischiefs in the earlier parts of his career. Fans are fickle, because if a new rider does a good job for their team, they'll soon forget how he used to score heavily against their own team in previous seasons. Hey, Rune Holta was the arch-villain in Målilla when he rode for us (Elit Vetlanda), but the Dackarna fans quickly accepted him when he started winning meetings for them upon his arrival, and the same fans who hated him seasons before, they loved him to death when riding in the "right" colours, and scoring points. There are always riders who gets caught in the numbers game of the maximum average limit, and Patrick Hougaard and Damian Balinski are the ones to go this off season. It's always a shame if you want to continue with the same riders as the year before, but we've been down this road before (having to release riders due to the limit), and riders know it will happen. Madsen and Proctor are new to us, but they fit within some potential line-ups, so welcome to them! Perhaps they can be mainstays in Vetlanda for years to come, you'll never know... Within the current rules, their line-ups will probably look something like this; INDIANERNA: Bjerre, Kylmäkorpi, Protasiewicz, Lindbäck, Holta, Andersen, Thörnblom (junior) PIRATERNA: Hancock, Sundström, Prz. Pawlicki, Janowski, Holder, Pi. Pawlicki, Rosén (junior) As you say; "Two incredible lineups!" Yes. For the regular season, it's a cap of 2,900,000 SEK for the club to cover riders' wages (points money) and travel expenses. Signing-on isn't included. Of course, a company can still provide direct sponsorship to a rider in a club, but the positive thing is that it's kept out of the club's finances. AFAIK, not a penny.

Just thought of the "general" opinion about the track when I made that comment. The arena name will be different but the track will be the same. (Also, I wrote something else than "rubbish", but I guessed the forum would have none of it...!) One should remember that two Swedes must be included in the line-up, and at least one of them being an U21. Also, there's a maximum average limit to consider. To make a a general comment, Elit Vetlanda's line-up would look something like: Base: Hampel, Crump, Sayfutdinov, Jonasson Option 1: Vaculik/Ruud/Madsen + Proctor and Thorssell at reserve Option 2: Two of Vaculik/Ruud/Madsen + Lindqvist It's a good line-up, but Elitserien of 2012 will consist of several ultra strong teams.

Yes, Bosse said that on yesterday's press conference (which I attended). Also, meetings will no longer take place at Vetlanda Motorstadion, but Elitfönster Arena, as Elitfönster have bought the naming rights for the arena. The window company will be the main sponsor for Elit Vetlanda for another two seasons, according to Elit Vetlanda's website. (However, the track will be the same, so many will consider this news with the "same rubbish, different name" mentality).

The squad of Elit Vetlanda is complete for 2012. The press conference ended 10 minutes ago, and the following riders were presented in the 7 rider squad: Jaroslaw Hampel Jason Crump Emil Sayfutdinov (new, Piraterna) Thomas H Jonasson Martin Vaculik Leon Madsen (new, Lejonen) Ty Proctor (new, Avantia) Henric Lindqvist will also belong to the club, but doesn't take a place as his average is 0,500. David Ruud (Lejonen) will be one of the guest riders. Jacob Thorssell goes to Masarna on a loan deal, but will still be available for Elit Vetlanda as a guest rider.

The original score was 28-62, but Bartosz Zmarzlik had been used as a tactical substitution in both heats 6 and 8, which obviously was wrong. I can't understand how the referee missed it (by allowing a tactical by Zmarzlik again in heat 8), or why the away team manager didn't object either, but SVEMO amended the result to 26-62 in their protocol from 2011-07-01, by simply removing the two points scored by Zmarzlik in heat 8, making the result of heat 8 a 0-4 to the away team. Strange? Sure, but that's the way it is. It's speedway...

It sure would be great with a Champions League of Speedway, but as you say, there are problem. Elit Vetlanda vs Leszno would have been even more troublesome this season (2011), with Hampel, Kolodziej and Balinski riding for both teams.

Nope, how could I? I'm being told over and over again how God awful horrible it is in Vetlanda, which obviously must mean that every other track produce incredible racing in e-v-e-r-y heat on e-v-e-r-y race day. However, as I'm building up those expectations of 15 heats of world class speedway, those expectations can never hold up, and I would end up disappointed. Can't be worth it. (Or possible it was because of the fact that I don't have the channel at home and can't be bothered to visit someone who does, because it's late on the season and I'm pretty fed up with speedway. I'm not watching the final GP on Saturday either, as I'll be going to ice hockey instead, at the Ericsson Globe Arena BTW) On the subject of track conditions, our track staff don't need instructions how to prepare a track. We are NOT one of those clubs who have had to postponed/abandone a meeting this year because of bad track conditions (in good weather). A ploughed field doesn't necessary mean good speedway (the best meeting I've seen this year was at a slick track), and I highly suspect it would make the speedway look more like roadracing around Vetlanda than anything else. I would suggest that the shape of the track is our biggest problem, but it's not that easy/cheap to alter, considering drainage and such. We are looking into it, and have done for years, but we don't have endless pockets to dig from, despite what everyone thinks.

So, hats off to Zielona Gora for the title! I didn't see it actually, because this time of the year, I'm a bit fed up with it all. And by that, I don't mean Polish speedway, but speedway in general (I've made other plans for Saturday as an example). However, I'm interested about the Polish league system for next season. As I can understand it, Ekstraliga and Liga 1 will comprise of 10 teams each, but to you Polish members out here, what will happen to Liga 2? With Poznan in that league alongside the five remanining teams of 2011, I find it to be only 6 teams in Liga 2. Are there any news/rumours of other teams joining the third-tier?

Gotta be "one brake, still no fear" I guess. With the risk of going a bit off topic, there are some other interesting names in the speedway community, at least from a Swedish point of view. Czech rider Pavol Pucko and Polish youth rider Oskar Polis are two of them. I would love to do a live update coverage from a meeting with those two, and hopefully being able to write "Polis slog Pucko" (=Police beats Dumbass).