Ghostwalker

The same could be said for Sweden/Denmark (Kalmarunionen)

I have only read the head line since the article is behind a pay wall but the headline says "Smederna might get the SWC final": "https://www.ekuriren.se/sport/smederna-kan-fa-finalen-i-lag-vm/" on the news paper's FB page it says that Smedernas club president Håkan Ringkvist says that they are waiting for a definite answer. https://www.facebook.com/eksporten/posts/1745688802169008

Filbyterna claims that they were asked pretty late in the process if they were interested. Filbyterna realized pretty early on that they wouldn't be able to get the track in order since there was allot of things that needed to be fixed. New airfence, new outer fence (spectator fence) as well as move all of the flood lights from the area between the inner and outer fence. Filbyterna says that these necessary changes are way too much for them to manage on such a short notice since they wouldn't be able to afford it. I don't know all the details but there was a conflict between Filbyterna and the rest of Linköpings MS last year I think. Filbyterna had managed to get enough money to be able to buy a new airfence but somehow Linköpings MS took the money for themselves claiming that it wasn't Filbyterna's money or something like that so a new airfence didn't happen. There are several other more or less dormant tracks like Örebro and Karlstad but I don't know the status of them more then that Kalvholmen in Karlstad were pretty ruined by a man named Roland and the club Solkatterna which he hijacked in the name of speedway för alla (or something like that). Anyway here is Filbyterna's statement regarding their decline to ride in Allsvenskan. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1518980358184296&id=496486130433729 Full statement in the spoiler below:

Hans Andersen to Dackarna. https://twitter.com/Rindis57/status/934047743852589056

Well sort of but not quite. All teams decided and agreed to that the southern teams would support one team (Nässjö) and that the nothern teams would support one team which initially were supposed to have been Filbyterna in Linköping or SMK Gävle but neither of those track would be possible to get into shape for the 2018 season. The northern teams then decided to form a joint team. As you can see F-S-P, lots of "have decided".

Four teams, Rospiggarna, Masarna, Indianerna samt Eskilstuna Smederna have decided to form a joint team called Norra Speedwayalliansen (Northern speedway alliance). which will participate in Allsvenskan next season. The team will alternate between the four parental teams' home tracks during the season. The joint venture is to add a 6th team to Allsvenskan. Västervik, Vetlanda, Dackarna and Lejonen supports Nässjö. NSA's squad will look like this: Rafal Konopka – 2,000 (född 1993) Timo Salonen – 2,000 (född 2001) Nike Lunna – 2,000 (född 1996) Freddie Eriksson – 1,114 (född 1981) Daniel Henderson – 1,111 (född 1991) John Lindman – 1,083 (född 1994) Rasmus Broberg – 0,903 (född 1994) Robin Norman – 0,500 (född 1997) Jonatan Grahn – 0,500 (född 2000) Alexander Liljekvist – 0,500 (född 1993) Andreas Lindblom – 0,500 (född 1999) Team manager will be Emma Nyrén who have worked some with Vargarna before. She will be assisted by alternating team managers from the four parental clubs. http://eskilstunasmederna.se/norra-speedwayalliansen-blir-nytt-allsvenskt-lag/

It isn't him. The Rikard Wolff who died is a Swedish actor and singer. https://www.svt.se/kultur/rikard-wolff-ar-dod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikard_Wolff

Motala city council had a vote on whether or not Motala city should buy Piraterna's arena for 4.2 million SEK; The vote ended 27-27 and the chairman of the board had the final say and he voted for. To complicate the matter, the arena is owned by the incorporated part of Piraterna and not the regular club (förening). This means that the matter is a violation of kommullagen in which it says that a city is not allowed to support individual companies. Piraterna AB (Ltd) will therefore sell the arena to the club to circumvent the law. http://mvt.se/nyheter/motala/piraterna-raddas-men-fortfarande-stora-oklarheter-om4890800.aspx

Jimmy is Swedish but it's a Norwegian/Danish name.

There are Petersén and af Petersens which are Swedish names. I don't know if there are any Danish -sson names.

Swedish names are rarely spelled with kk but rather ck. so as a rule of thumb, you can assume that a person with a double k in the name is Danish, Norwegian or possibly Finnish. Another example is Mikkel Michelsen.

Kasper Lykke Nielsen and Rasmus Jensen are both Danish.

I think it'll be about the same as this year. Individual placings will depend on form and injuries.

Nässjö have announced that they will take the step up to Allsvenskan for 2018. They will get support by Dackarna, Elit Vetlanda and Lejonen. They will also have a Div 1 team called Brassarna. https://www.facebook.com/nassjospeedwayklubb/posts/1451858808264343 http://www.aktuellspeedway.se/sverige/allsvenskan/nassjo-tar-klivet-upp-i-allsvenskan/

Well I think Zagar doesn't have any choice since he is without a Swedish contract as well.

That's not relevant. Reserves are picked just like the wild cards. Reserves are 1.NKI 2.Milik 3. Linus Sundström.

@CHR well that is something that regularly keeps being suggested. I don't think it would work because of it having to be staged after the season. Some / many of the riders wouldn't have done a meeting in 1-2 months which means that they would be very rusty. Those who qualify also needs to have enough time to find sponsors as well as sorting out their team and equipment prior to the GP-season which sort excludes anything later than late October.

Well it's not like it have happened before.... politics and sponsor demands have nothing to do with performance. If he have another bad year and Monster wants him in, he'll get a wild card for 2019 as well.

FIM have the formal authority but in reality it's FIM, BSI/IMG and Monster Joe.

Disgraceful that Holder gets a pick and that Lebedevs isn't even a reserve.

wild cards will be revealed at 12.00 CET today (45 minutes from now).

Drabik and Woryna? we'll see about them but they are still young and not established reliable heatleaders yet. "ell there was an article earlier in the year saying that Zmarlik uses Sweden to test his equipment." perhaps but he is doing a very good job with his testing then: http://www.svemo.se/sv/Grenar/Speedway/Elitserien2017/Rankinglista/

IMO, very few of them actually add any value to the league. Janowski, Dudek, Zmarzlik, Wozniak and Pawlickis and Protasiewicz fine, they add something to the league but the rest no not really. Swedish teams and many fans usually claim that Elitserien is not a place to develop talents but at the same time they have no problem bringing in any foreign talent they can find, pretty much a perfect definition of double standards or of throwing stones in a glass house.

Correct and they didn't choose to abandon national teams either but was not allowed to continue to use them. I think the problem with pairs competitions is that the pair riding skill is more or less extinct among today's riders. Sometimes they can pull it off but usually they aren't able to.

I don't have a link but wild cards are supposedly Greg, Nicki, Holder and one of Iversen / Kildemand according to claims in Polish media.