ladyluck

There you go manchesterpaul, don't listen to idle speculation in the UK, Polish rumours are far more accurate.

Quite right, I wasn't paying attention.

Only the juniors have mandatory rides, so my guess is that he was replaced by better riders after his first heat failure. Janowski twice (although he touched the tapes second time around) and Bjerre were better options. It's a harsh world in the Ekstraliga. And it ended 51-39 in favour of the homesters, which isn't a terrible result for the team from Lower Silesia, although they were heavily reliant on Bjerre and Janowski for points.

At the huge risk of a "whoosh" response, it means "no sportsman".

He is, quite simply, speedway's last true hero. You truly haven't experienced the wonders of speedway until you've witnessed the weirdness of Jacek Rempała. Of course, not everyone recognises or appreciates the true genius of His Holiness the Weirdity, largely because they're constrained by mundane and insignificant things, such as wanting their team to win meetings, but those of us on a higher plain of existence can wallow in the wonder and glory of the weirdness. There were indications of it in his first outing for Berwick, but his second appearance left no doubt. Pointless after His first couple of tries on the tricky Brough Park track and a gift point in His third outing, when his team mate failed to last the distance, gave little indication of what was to come in Ht 13. Traditionally the hardest race of the meeting, Ht 13 was to be raced after a downpour had left the track in a lamentable state. The visiting fans were downcast, but He absolutely destroyed the competition to win by a distance, repeating the trick in Ht 15 in a time two seconds faster than the winner of Ht 14, a mere mortal, had managed. From then on he was "The Weirdity" and as with such things, he's progressed to being "His Holiness the Weirdity". If you haven't seen him in action, well, you're just letting the best things in life pass you by.

All sorted out, sort of, in the Green Mountain: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/22/mecz-stelmet-falubaz-wlokniarz-z-udzialem-publicznosci/&usg=ALkJrhi0TGibouFcTSp5Q77iS7LlXSI30Q It looks as if the necessary "mass event" permission is only for the Czestochowa meeting, but I guess that's the only meeting that counts in this instance.

The new roof at Torun's Marion Rose Motoarena in all its glory: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/22/motoarena-przygotowana-do-zawodow-zdjecia/

It appears that the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office has decided to start an investigation into the allegations of Grzegorz Ślak, the lawyer representing world champion Tomasz Gollob in the on-going silencer dispute: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/22/prokuratura-wszczela-postepowanie-wyjasniajace-ws-doniesieni/&usg=ALkJrhiQK4ApnRUunnIvVuwJI8ndpmFk6Q

The coach of Zielona Gora and Poland Marek Cieślak has added his voice to the controversy surrounding mandatory starts for juniors in the Ekstraliga. Whereas in previous seasons the No 7 (No 15) had only one mandatory heat (Ht 1) against five for the No 6 (No 14), now the six heats are split between the two, meaning one rider races in Ht 1 and is then inactive until Ht 7. This is being blamed for the failure of juniors such as Patryk Dudek to make an impact and Cieślak has spoken out: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/22/marek-cieslak-o-startach-juniorow-nowy-regulamin-bije-w-najl/&usg=ALkJrhiJPsWJsJT2XEajC2cxk0XNoZYodA Of course, there are others who feel that riders such as Maciej Janowski should be elevated into the "senior" positions even though they are junior riders and consider that the Polish system, while helping riders at the "junior" stage of their career has a negative impact once they pass the age of twenty-one. It is the case that while Poland has been dominant when it comes to juniors in recent times, very few have made an impact once they become seniors.

There is an Under-21 round scheduled for Chervonograd on 15 May, 2011. There will be three Polish riders present: Bartosz Zmarzlik, Szymon Wozniak and Dawid Lampart. Is that the one you mean? In other news, the Ukrainian season got underway today in Chervonograd with an individual meeting: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/21/cukanow-im-ukrainy/

No, I believe it's next weekend that he's off to Poland.

The hectic Polish schedule of Wroclaw's Piotr Swiderski looks like impacting on the British scene as the club refuse to allow him to race for Lakeside on Good Friday: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/21/swiderski-dostal-zakaz-startow-na-wyspach/

And Poland's "big three" are granted permission to start in Sweden: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/21/polacy-w-ligach-zagranicznych-gollob-kolodziej-i-hampel-beda/ So, even as his lawyer tried to prevent the European Grand Prix taking place with the new silencer Tomasz Gollob gets permission to start on the new silencer in Sweden. All rather pathetic.

Something about it at the following: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/20/schlein-klubowym-kolega-golloba/

Whatever happened to the spirit of Jozef Poniatowski? Certainly no sign of it being present in Jarosław Hampel or Janusz Kołodziej as they desert Tomasz Gollob on the silencer affair. Oh, they're still against the new silencer, but they ride for Leszno, hosts of the European Grand Prix, so aren't going to rock the boat: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/20/krzysztof-cegielski-jarek-i-janusz-zrobia-wszystko-zeby-pomo/&usg= Rather pitiful, if you ask me.

Well, Leszno's president Józef Dworakowski doesn't think much of Ślak either and he insists that Ślak is only acting on behalf of world champion Tomasz Gollob and not Unia Leszno's Jarosław Hampel or Janusz Kołodziej: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/20/jozef-dworakowski-dla-sportowefaktypl-grand-prix-w-lesznie-o/&usg=ALkJrhgvi4rBTZB0kEfcby3v1J0VC8L7Jg Which is all very well, but as far as I can tell, Janusz Kołodziej has been the most outspoken of the Polish riders regarding the new silencers.

No Desperate Damian as far as I can see: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/18/lista-startowa-finalu-zlotego-kasku/ And the reason for that is that the former winner dropped out at the Rawicz semi-final: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/15/michal-szczepaniak-show-relacja-z-polfinalu-zlotego-kasku-w-/

By the way, before all that happens on Monday, there's a real festival of speedway in the city of Copernicus over the weekend as the newly roofed Marion Rose Motoarena hosts the outstanding Round II clash between Unibax and Sparta Wroclaw on Saturday, followed by the final of the Golden Helmet on Sunday (where His Holiness will look to confound the local Teutons with his weirdness).

It would appear unlikely that Gorzow will have Hans Andersen in their line-up at Leszno, so one would expect Artur Mroczka to come into the equation, unless Gorzow decide on Rider Replacement (I think they'd be eligible). It also appears that the highly rated sixteen-year-old Bartosz Zmarzlik will make his Ekstraliga debut for Stal. A baptism of fire, if he does. Much discussion on Polish websites about the relative failure of Polish juniors to make an impact so far in the Ekstraliga this season. Maybe the younger Zmarzlik will set the ball rolling.

Gollob fights on: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/20/kwestia-tlumikow-nie-jest-rozstrzygnieta-rozmowa-z-zuzlowym-/&usg=ALkJrhjlm4gyH1VfuyFo1jamoY3zqq3euQ

I've no doubt you are right. I'll still admire his gifts as a speedway rider, but less of him as a person. That won't bother him, of course, and people will make fun of me.

I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but what does it say about the riders he is representing? Gollob, Hampel and Kolodziej have to be prepared to see this through all the way, even if it means withdrawing from the GP series.

Cripes. It would appear that Gollob, Hampel and Kolodziej are getting themselves into quite a hole, if I read it right.

Whether you'll get into the stadium could be another matter, as it appears a dispute between Falubaz president Robert Dowhan and the municipal authorities in Zielona Gora could see the crowd limited to 999 people: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/19/mecz-stelmet-falubazu-z-wlokniarzem-bez-publicznosci/ It seems Mr Dowhan is resistant to writing out a "silly statement" in order to get permission for a "mass event" from the city. It appears that Zielona Gora's first home meeting this season went ahead sans the necessary permission and "theorectically" the club wants to be "in order" for subsequent meetings. It just seems they want it to granted without having to go through the formalities. Meanwhile, it looks as if the Leszno GP will see talks between officials from Bydgoszcz and BSI Speedway regarding future co-operation between the two parties. Bydgoszcz, of course, lost its treasured place in the GP calendar to Gorzow for this season and BSI's deals with Gorzow, Leszno and Torun would seem to count against a GP in 2012, but a SWC meeting could be on the cards: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/04/19/przyszloroczny-dps-w-bydgoszczy/

Being realistic, when it comes to speedway, the FIM are happy enough being in BSI's pocket. It's secure, long term and makes minimal demands on the FIM.