salty

Unless there is no Swedish qualifier for the Final, in which case only 5 go through from Zarnovica and the Swedes seed 1 through.

Agree that is part of the reason, but I also think there were a lot of evenly matched riders who took points off each other. Don't forget the GP's have had Pepe perfoming poorly all year not to mention Richardson.

Holta and now Laukkanen. Gutted for Gafurov and Lukas, fancy getting 10 points and only finishing 7th!

Kolodziej won the 2nd and joins him. The gaffer, Lukas and Kai for the 5th and final spot.

Apparently Heat 21 has Lukas in red and blue, the Gaffer in white! beat me to it.

Yes, but this is Speedway isn't it, where as we know rules are there to be changed at a whim.

3 extra heats shown on the Polish updates site. Don't know the riders line up yet. Come on The Gaffer!!!!

Holta and Andersen finish on 11, Laukkanen, Gafurov, Dryml, Kolodziej and Jagus finish on 10. Anyone know what happens now to split them?

Last heat - Holta, Dryml and Gizatullin all on 8. Winner qualifies 2nd goes level with 4 others on 10 points.

Don't know what happened but he got no points. Still 11 should be enough to qualify, gonna be a big scramble though with a lot of riders in a bunch.

Unfortunately Andy has not been picked for the next round. He was obviously under the impression he would be next in line, but as usual he has been shafted by the powers that be.

Totally agree. Surely Andy Smith should have been asked as he outscored them at Kirky Lane and his after meeting quotes seemed to indicate that he was willing to continue in the qualifiers.

Know what you mean Iris, I think he had some pretty dull black ones with a bit of yellow on them for most of his time at Wimbledon. Just out of interest who would your fave Dons have been in the last years of top flight Speedway in the early 80's?

Got the book last weekend and as yet have only flicked though it, to be honest Simmo doesn't really make much of his time at Plough Lane, concentrating more on his Lynn, Poole and England days. I started attending Wimbledon regularly at the end of the '81 season and for the next couple of years for the most part it was a pleasure to watch Simmo in action. One of the few who could regularly come from the back on a track where passing was difficult. Retro Speedway seem to be raising the bar ever higher with the quality of their publications, looking forward to seeing the Booey book and the next instalment of John Berry's revelations. Well Done Tony Mc.

Any reason why you took exception to the flyer? Have to say it did the job in our household, leaving it near the kettle for a day resulting in my better half picking up on the hint and arranging it to be presented by the kids on Sunday morning.(the book that is, not the flyer)

Having got this book yet, I'm hoping it might find its way to me for Fathers Day. Personally I would much rather read a book that told the truth warts and all than a bland, ghosted autobiography. I think Simmo should be applauded for having the guts to be so honest.

Well Done Danny King, qualified in 4th place!!! Good to see Holder get through as well.

One and the same. But it is his home track though. Wonder if he will be the wild card for the GP.

I've always been a fan of Rune and supported his riding for Poland in World Cup last year. My understanding was that he felt it would improve his standing with the GP organisers if he rode well in such an event. If he now reverts back to being Norwegian, I think most people will see it as a cynical move and he would lose a lot of goodwill. Having said that I do feel he is one of the top 15 in the world and is worthy of GP status.

Difficult situation when 3 riders who could have easily qualified missed the meeting (Kolodziej and Kasper through injury, Holta being sick). Maybe Holta will revert to being Norwegian as I understand they get 2 slots in the Tarnow round!!! Seriously, it seems a bit daft that riders of this quality will miss out this year whilst we will have 3 Hungarians, 2 Italians, 2 French, a Croat, an Austrian and a Slovakian in the next round of qualifiers.

I suspected as much, but thanks for confirming it. Would love to see some action taken against the offending promotions, maybe not being picked as hosts for any shared events. Kennett and Bridger should not have been allowed to ride for their clubs tonight. Find it even more amazing that Kennett got the nod for Cardiff. Then they wonder why Britain is a fading force on the world stage.

Why weren't they picked? Seems strange that Kennett gets picked in front of Danny King for the Cardiff reserve position but doesn't get picked for this.

That's true but crucially he did finish ahead of Richardson who got a seeded spot. From what I remember Pepe's sponsors (Pentel) were a factor in him getting a seeded place. Obviously this farce should not be repeated as the qualifiers are back this year. I still think there are some seeded spots though, could someone clarify.

Really thought the Russians would win this, looks like the absence of Renat in the latter heats cost them. Looks like it was a pretty close meeting though.

Thought the fact he got the wild card at Krsko meant he had settled his differences with the Slovenian authorities.