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i'm not a fan of these riders and I am glad that there isn't one as such in the series now ,that said most of the GP rider's are exceptional just one is far better than the rest .As to the soft passes etc IMO BZ creates them by putting riders in a position that he can take advantage of( he can enter bends far quicker ) . His ability to read a race ,reactions ,bravery and self belief all play apart in making just that bit more special than the rest. Make no mistake Holder for one is neither a friend or ally of BZ that's obvious and Krutz won't even look at him so I don't think he's going to give him a pass in anyway shape or form. We can't all like BZ but we can marvel at his ability after five world titles he is hungry for more never giving up and setting the benchmark for the rest . We have all seen how cruel the sport can be career's are ended in a blink of an eye so let's admire this brilliant young man,I for one would be devasted if some idiot sending him to the airfence deprived the sport of his unique talent .

Don’t know if you noticed but the poles are not usually trying to blow us up, flares are banned but 30 FT away from supporters there are flame throwers shooting flames up in the air, it’s just health and safety crap spoiling people’s enjoyment, some pole brought one to the Birmingham v Ipswich match at Perry Barr, it livened up the meeting seeing the staff having a meltdown, life is too short, might take some myself when I’m next at belle vue

Well there was a little band of us attended the Friday meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the racing,and the result of course👍.As has been said though the downside was the organisation.We were in the East stand we got in ok,although my daughter and her friend had their bags tagged not checked though🤔.I was ok with the food no problem.There was no signs or information where to get programmes.Went to our seats,thought we were in the wrong section as the seats we thought we were in were taken.They were our seats but the people were told to sit there by stewards as there seats didn't exist.Could not hear the annoy whatsoever.My daughter witnessed stewards pushing people back trying to get into the East stand.Lessons to be learnt,hopefully Saturday went a bit more smoothly. We stayed over in the City centre and couldn't fault that whatsoever, lovely city with loads to do,China town,museums, galleries, trams,trains, bars,restaurants all on our doorstep,so much to do.Only a 10min train ride to the speedway,£4 return. All in all we will definitely be back next year👍

Given that King's Lynn had already booked / announced a guest before Cook "re-injured" his wrist, the whole thing absolutely stinks! Also as Leszno won 60-30, if Cook was struggling with his wrist why did he go out in the nominated races?

Not sure if it is etiquette to quote myself! However, last night the organisation was much, much better. Credit to Belle Vue management for listening and reacting. In the East stand there were double the amount of ticket checkers so everyone was in easily by start time. Food outlets were still busy but the queue moved quickly - it looked to me tgat they had lots cooking in readiness for orders coming in Extra bar facility added overnight. The PA was better, but still needs to be louder, and there will never be enough toilets - but queues manageable. For next time I hooe tgey will improve PA, get more food and drink outlets ( maybe get them in the Fan Zone and make that available during the meeting to East Stand ticket holders). Overall, a fabulous weekend with brilliant speedway.

He truly "flies in" to a bend, cutting the apex, and can still keep the bike moving forwards, rather than locking it up, and getting "under passed"... Not seen too many able to do that to that level down the years... Also, I don't understand why some fans of Speedway complain about his domination... If he was a "gate and go" winner then I could maybe understand it, but he is far from that, and delivers some truly stand out moments almost every meeting he is in... For me, a unique talent that the sport has never seen the like of before...

My Flabber has never been less ghasted!!

Ben Cook returned from his wrist injury which has kept him on the sidelines for 2 months on Sunday 15th June for his Polish Metalkas 2 Ekstraliga club Leszno scoring 12 points from his 5 rides, however immediately after the fixture Mr Cook complained of further wrist pain and was examined by his club’s medical staff. Mr Cook is to receive further intensive rehabilitation in order to identify the problem and has been medically withdrawn from any further racing for a further 7 days. The Speedway Control Bureau have received a medical certificate for Mr Cook ruling him out for a further 7 days as from the 15th June 2025. Mr Cook’s Premiership Club Kings Lynn will be granted a facility for his absence during this period.

Blimey, there's some entitled fans on this forum... Try finding any live speedway if you live in Brighton...Either Poole 🤮 or Oxford closest at over 100 miles away! Belle Vue was brilliant, great track, great racing and lovely friendly people... Can't wait till next year

I've been chatting to my ai friend again this morning: Approximate Current Standings Based ONLY on Qualifying Heat Points (after 5 rounds): (Note: There may be slight variations due to conflicting numbers in source results for individual heat points, but this provides a very close approximation) * Bartosz Zmarzlik: 13 + 9 + 12 + 12 + 13 = \textbf{59 points} * Brady Kurtz: 13 + 13 + 7 + 12 + 11 = \textbf{56 points} * Jack Holder: 8 + 14 + 9 + 11 + 9 = \textbf{51 points} * Fredrik Lindgren: 8 + 10 + 11 + 8 + 10 = \textbf{47 points} * Max Fricke: 8 + 9 + 6 + 12 + 9 = \textbf{44 points} * Andzejs Lebedevs: 10 + 11 + 10 + 1 + 6 = \textbf{38 points} * Dan Bewley: 9 + 4 + 10 + 11 + 6 = \textbf{40 points} (Updated for better accuracy) * Mikkel Michelsen: 4 + 8 + 6 + 8 + 9 = \textbf{35 points} * Robert Lambert: 8 + 9 + 5 + 7 + 6 = \textbf{35 points} * Martin Vaculik: 7 + 4 + 10 + 10 + 7 = \textbf{38 points} (Updated for better accuracy) * Anders Thomsen: 9 + 7 + 9 + 3 + 6 = \textbf{34 points} * Dominik Kubera: 8 + 6 + 3 + 5 + 6 = \textbf{28 points} * Kai Huckenbeck: 2 + 1 + 6 + 5 + 11 = \textbf{25 points} * Jan Kvech: 6 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 5 = \textbf{27 points} * Jason Doyle: 4 + 5 + N/A + 4 + 3 = \textbf{16 points} (Note: Doyle may have missed a round or had very low heat scores in one, contributing to a lower total) Key Takeaways: * Zmarzlik still leads, showing his consistency in heat racing. * Kurtz is very close behind, also demonstrating strong heat form. * The standings are much tighter under this "heat points only" system compared to the official SGP points, which award significant bonus points for making and winning semi-finals and finals. * Riders who consistently win heats but sometimes miss the final (e.g., Lebedevs) might be higher here than in the official standings. * Riders who may have a few lower heat scores but then pull off big wins in the final (like Bewley in Cardiff, though that was a 2024 example, it illustrates the point) would be relatively lower in this system. This calculation gives you a good sense of who is consistently performing well throughout the main body of each Grand Prix event.

Didn't know flares were making a comeback... reckon I might still have a pair in my wardrobe.

I agree i love em, the poles with the flares were stood near me last night and it was great to see, no issues, no safety concerns from me. The Poles really do make a fantastic atmosphere at meetings. Long live the flares

It is a great racetrack i always enjoy my visits.

all things considered I was extremely proud of the racing dished up over the last two days at Belle Vue. For me the two most entertaining GP's so far this season and by far the most entertaining British GP for many a year. There will be some that will say the crowd figures were down on Cardiff but, and its a huge but the losses made by the organisers would of been drastically down if any. Well done to all concerned.

Belle Vue fans had flares at our last two play offs wins, I see flares at Man City games on a regular basis, banned or not people find a way of getting them in, and it's not hiding them in bags 🤣

As flares are banned in stadia in the UK, i'm not surprised. If you are found using or carrying one at a football match it generally means imprisonment or suspended sentence along with a ban from attending matches for 3yrs after. So its poor security checking people on the way in. Say instead of flares it had been a bomb, Speedway would be making headlines all over the World for the next week. If you need to take a bag you should expect to be emptying it for checks at a seperate entrance, people will then learn not to bring the bloody things. I go to a lot of gigs and the amount of people who try and get in with a rucksack like they're heading for a week in the Lake District is incredible, also at most 500 or more capacity venues you get frisked and the metal detecting wand. Some big Stadium gigs they have airport style security, everything out of pockets etc and walk through detectors. I felt like Derek Smalls from Spinal Tap when they found it was the pulltab on my fly zip setting the machine off.

Maybe yes, maybe no, but I think the point the chap was making is that he, and I, would be more confident of a good race with Emil and laguta next to Zmarzlik than seeing kvech or huckenbeck.

If you can ride in one place your can ride anywhere, ban deserved if it happens.

Bottom line is that he is a lot better than the rest.They certainly can't produce the passing skills he has.Especially his straight line inside one and still get the bike turned.You only have to watch last night when Lambert gave him some of his own treatment, he read it every time and retook him.Brilliant skills.Others just can’t do that.

Is there anyone who doesn’t admire Zmarzlik?? Maybe like myself, it's more of a frustration with everyone else. As I've said many times, everyone seems too soft on the guy. 9 out 10 times he passes without being challenged. When he misses a gate he'll get up the inside of someone & force his way past. Often squeezing opposition up against the fence. Absolutely nobody ever seems to return the favour on him. Absolutely, 100%, if Zmarzlik was in the era of Crump, Pedersen, Gollob etc they'd make sure he would be chewing on airfence occasionally. He is a gifted lad, but all everyone wants is a challenger &/or a rivalry. May be we force a reduction in the age of rider's in the series, if you're over 35 & not top 6 they can't get a wildcard?? Top 3 of the SGP2 series qualify?? Top 5 U25's from the Polish Ekstraliga automatically qualify for the SGP?? There must be some young, fast, loose cannons out there that can shake up the series?? Absolutely need to shake up the system in some way. We're just getting to much same old, same old qualifying from the GP Challenge, & wildcard picks. Think most fans want to see a complete shake up of the SGP Series in some way, shape or form.

They even let Chris "Bomber" Harris into the stadium... shocking!

And we could all step out the house tomorrow and get run over by a bus but statistically that ain’t going to happen just like the chance of you getting blown up by a bomber ain’t going to happen, you can’t live life on what if

Why ? GP points are not race points. They want meetings to finish in a final and i know it was confusing when the winner of the final didn’t go home with the most points. The riders understand the system and in my opinion it’s good for TV.

But scoring 12pts means nothing as Max Fricke found out to his cost. A ridiculous scoring system when a rider scores 12pts and one bad ride in LCQ and its over. fair enough, but to take 4pts off his score and give Lambert 11pts, who to be fair struggled to get 7pts is not right. If you have scored 12pts then surely thats what you should end up with. Like wise, if you score 7pts then thats is what you should get.

Didn't get that at Cardiff.....

When you are serious about being world champion there is no having meetings like bewley last night, track conditions are irrelevant

Start times 1pm and 3.30pm both UK times

How would you know? You love to make sweeping statements without any evidence. Absolutely nobody knows if they would make any difference or not. League form is no marker when it comes to GPs - as 2021 proved.

In the grand scheme of things, for our premier event that embarrassing, Bydgoszcz will get more than that in their 2nd division match against tarnow this afternoon

I went to a Katie Hopkins stand up show last month, not really a fan but it was very funny and very offensive but on the way in we were searched and there was an old guy infront of me well into his 70s who when searched had a large flick knife, when the security asked him about it he just said in a matter of fact way well you never know what nutters are out there, anyway they took it off him much to his displeasure

Laguta & sayfutinov wouldn’t make any difference sadly 🙈

Barring injury, it's all over. It's hardly a surprise though, he's different gravy to everyone else in the field. Sadly, the only rider who is capable of challenging him is not even in it...

Couldn't agree more, the drone is terrible.

Spot on... Never ever, watched a rider so "full on" in every single race... Regardless of position... He is, you could argue, borderline "reckless" at times, but that is due, I would think, to his inherent belief in himself to emerge out of very dicey situations, in front... Truly magnificent to watch if you are a proper Speedway fan..

Keith Huen does a brilliant podcast, it’s on YouTube somewhere, where he is talking about road racing way back but it was the same in speedway, where the greats like Sheene or Robert’s or whoever had far superior factory equipment to the rest of the the field and this was the same for mauger Olsen briggs or whoever where as today all the top riders are have access to the best equipment so it’s harder to be so dominant today as it was way back when, zmarzlik’s bikes are no faster than anyone in world speedway, he uses same frames, same carbs, same clutches, often even same tuners as everyone else, he is simply a better rider that has no advantage at all where as you didnt have that situation with Olsen or mauger and particularly briggs who anyone will tell you about his Jawa deals, Olsen even brought the rights to weslake in 1983 which backfired because it as the year the first GM came out,way back riders were cheating with fuel additives etc which was wide spread but today it’s too strict and nobody can get away with it, I’m sure they try, like madsen when he suddenly burst on to the GP scene and people were asking questions and then when they started doing more checks he not been the same since, was he cheating ? Well he got form, remember silencer gate ? Oversize engines are pretty much a thing of the past at top level and they eliminated the fuel cheating by riders filling up from one tank before race but not in uk where it’s open to cheating, upshot of this post is zmarzlik is the greatest rider this sport has ever had and likely to have, he is exciting, calculated, brave, fast, he is the complete rider of which we have had flashes of in others but never to this degree, but unlike in other sports he is beaten regularly but until you do it everytime he will always be at the top and eventually the statistics will back this up and it’s not cause he has the best equipment because he doesn’t

Ben Cook will probably do a Musielak now, I wouldn’t be surprised… Musie got booed by us and a few others at the Flux last week when we faced the Brummies 🤷🏻‍♂️ well deserved

Then by that he won’t be riding for leszno away at Łódź next Saturday?

and apart from "what happened to Bewley last night", what happened to Holder and Lambert both nights? And what happened to gate 3, why was it giving such bad results? It's not usually that bad if I recall correctly. Was the track prepared differently last night? Same riders, but the racing didn't seem quite as good as Friday.

Additionally for Bydgoszcz v Tarnów: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242248

Laguta would be top 6 at best, same as sayfutinow but they should still be there

Agree regarding the same old,riders in GP should not be allowed in Qualifiers same season that way if your not in Top 7 you get a year out at least and have to qualify again. Lagata,Madsen,Dudek and Emil should still be in GP’s given their current form There are plenty others could shake it up but it’s finding a way of arranging Qualifying. 1 wildcard would be a good start.IMO Main trouble is there would be a lot of Poles in contention.Thats fine by me,but not everyone would want that.Dont really think Nationally really matters in Speedway would not affect the crowds in other Countries Points system is a joke and needs serious rethink.Think majority of fans would agree.

Yeah, hessian, who uses that these days.

Spot on... It's not BZ's responsibility to give UK Speedway some profile... We had Woffy for over a decade being ultra succesful and the mainstream media still didn't give a toss.. The same when Havvy and Loram won... BZ sells the sport in Poland, which is why he earns several hundred thousand in sponsorship deals with major companies... Enjoy watching a true genius on a Speedway bike...

Hahahahaahahhaaha Zmarzlik is unreal get a grip

No need to apologise. Your post was easy enough to understand. Unfortunately the forum is plagued with clever cnuts who think that their superior grasp of spelling or grammar make their opinions more valid. Unfortunately the grammar police don't have the intelligence to realise how boring they are, or that their attempts to demean others contribute nothing to the discussion.

The big question of the night... Is anybody going to remind Shovvy?!?

Half the problem is at these events the organisers want the lion share of any takings third parties take at food or other outlets . They could flood the NSS( assuming their lease allows it) with food oulets but you can bet your life BV ,The council or somebody will want a rediculous cut

https://www.bigredbook.info/barry_briggs.html

Looking forward to seeing young Jordy right over here for the first time tomorrow. Not expecting much from him but if he picks up a solid score will be more than happy.

Ben Cook returns to the Leszno team on Sunday