ladyluck

I'd change the first one, if I were you.

Tomasz Gollob and Tomasz Gollob, one would hope.

The SWC is my favourite speedway competition and yet this coming season it looks like being a non-event. Poland are just too strong. Three of the world's top four riders and the final staged in Poland, where last season they destroyed Denmark in the first round. Denmark, lest we forget, then finished runners-up to the Poles in the final at Vojens.

If her bubble burst, eventually yours will too. The GPs could hardly survive if they had to start coughing over the going rate to the stars.

I guess jockeys have been doing it for years and their races often last a bit longer than a minute. There was a reasonably successful jockey (Cheltenham Gold Cup-winner) lived down the road from me and he took up smoking to keep his weight under control when the march of time and injuries made it harder by other means. Judging from that article they're expecting slimmer versions of Nicki P, Zagar and Iversen to turn up at Gorzow this season.

Thought provoking column on sportowefakty.pl: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/03/05/sandra-rakiej-babskim-okiem-syndrom-kolodzieja/ It appears there is some concern regarding Kołodziej's weight loss and whispers that he could be suffering from Anorexia.

Chris Harris won't be the sole Briton on duty in Leszno as Craig Ackroyd will be refereeing. Likely to be controversy in Gothenburg as Wojciech Grodzki is the referee, while it's scheduled to be Frank Ziegler in Prague and Krister Gardell in Copenhagen. And speaking of Copenhagen, Michael Jepsen Jensen is hoping to show enough to warrant a "wild card" in one of the Danish-staged GPs, although one would imagine that Hans Andersen would be favourite: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/02/27/michael-jepsen-jensen-chcialbym-wywalczyc-dzika-karte-na-gp-/ Janusz Kołodziej will have former Poole favourite Krzysztof Cegielski in his pit crew for the GPs: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/02/23/krzysztof-cegielski-bede-obecny-na-kazdym-grand-prix/ Meanwhile, over in cloud cuckoo land, Scott Nicholls still dreams of winning the Cardiff GP: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/03/02/scott-nicholls-marzy-o-zwyciestwie-w-grand-prix-w-cardiff/ Well, I guess if everyone else bows out due to the new silencers, you never know.

I can only see Gollob or Crump being crowned. People can hammer on about the dying days of the so-called "Old Guard", but year after year they're still there. Gollob was being written off as a "one track pony" a few years ago, but last season he was dominant. Hancock was being dismissed early on last season and yet at the end of it all he was fifth. I've heard it said that this is one of the strongest GP line-ups, but to me it looks fairly weak. Was last year's really as strong as people made out? Harris sixth? I expect Kolodziej to do well and Hampel too, although I feel Hampel lacks the nerve to be a genuine contender. It will be interesting to see how Sayfutdinov gets along.

The qualifying rounds will take place at the following locations in May and June: Krsko (Slovenia) Abensberg (Germany) Esbjerg (Denmark) Divisov (Czech Republic) Terenzano (Italy) After that there comes three "race-off" meetings at the following locations in July: Lonigo (Italy) Daugavpils (Latvia) Gorican (Croatia) And finally, after all that, the Grand Final is held at the following location in August: Vetlanda (Sweden) Rather interestingly, Hans Andersen will be doing the qualifiers this time around and the last time he did that the final was held in Vetlanda. He qualified along with Wieslaw Jagus and Rune Holta.

The knees of the fifteen GP regulars start trembling as Damian Balinski dreams of the Leszno "wild card", with the emphasis on "wild": http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/02/17/balinski-marzy-o-dzikiej-karcie-na-grand-prix-w-lesznie/

Still no team place for the "oppressed" Pawlickis: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/02/17/piotr-pawlicki-senior-wedlug-mnie-jawne-gnebienie-chlopakow/ A new logo for Wrocław as the club reverts to its old Sparta Wrocław name: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/02/17/klub-z-wroclawia-z-nowym-logotypem/

I like Egon Muller. Great rider. But Wolbert's already a better rider than Smolinski.

Why not suggest a merger to f-s-p and have combined Finnish and German news on this thread? A quick change of the title and away we go.

Looking at the averages GP riders are entering the new season on: T Gollob..10.93 J Kołodziej..10.22 N Pedersen..9.95 J Hampel..9.66 R Holta..8.64 G Hancock..8.63 A jonsson..8.30 J Crump..8.28 K Bjerre..7.73 C Holder..7.04 A Laguta..6.63 (coverted from Liga I) F Lindgren..6.54 C Harris..6.52 (converted from Liga I) Already there are two GPers who'll ply their trade outside the Ekstraliga in 2011 and they are, of course: E Sayfutdinov..9.52 (Liga I starting average converted from Esktraliga) A Lindback..6.68 (Liga I starting average converted from Ekstraliga)

It seems that Falubaz president Robert Dowhan intends stepping down from his role at the club at the end of the coming season. Be a huge loss to the Green Mountain club if he does.

A tragic figure, no longer with us. It should be remembered that the European Junior Championship (held, from memory in Rovno in 1986) has since morphed into the World Junior Championship and was essentially a world championship in 1986.

Footage is, or at least was, available on youtube. Personally, having viewed the footage extensively, I think Plech was at fault - he went too wide exiting turn 2 while the Ukrainian simply held a natural line. It is worth remembering that Khlynovsky missed out on a world title that day, as his victory in Ht 19 placed him in the race-off with Szczakiel and Mauger until the referee made his extraordinary final decision on the matter. The race-off between Szczakiel and Mauger is on youtube as well and the start is fantastic. Brilliant. Talk about a "rolling start". Szczakiel rolls out of the pits and doesn't stop, with the tapes rising as he rolls to about a foot behind the tapes. It's magic.

Interesting developments, no doubt. Are riders paid a premium simply for being in the GPs? I mean, for example, does Fredrik Lindgren command a higher wedge from his Polish club by virtue of his presence in the GPs? If so, that's a nonsense. For all his dominance in the British Elite League, Lindgren is second rate in Poland (and the GPs, by the way) at best. What will become of Lindgren if he fails again at GP level and continues to drift around the mid-order of Ekstraliga riders? He'll simply have a choice between earning his corn in the Ekstraliga or squandering lesser earnings from Liga I chasing a dream in the GPs. Sounds as much a challenge to the GPs as to the Ekstraliga clubs.

It looks like it's going to be a bit better: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/01/27/gorzowski-stadion-pnie-sie-w-gore-zdjecia/

Does the bell toll for Przemyslaw Pawlicki's speedway career? http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2011/01/26/przemyslaw-pawlicki-jezeli-nie-znajdziemy-klubu-bedzie-ciezk/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsportowefakty%2Bzuzel%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26rlz%3D1G1TSEA_ENUK335%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&usg=ALkJrhihTzVYIr5fU_ljQC5zqpKOUd11uA

They're too busy bickering.