ladyluck

Not as far as Hans Andersen is concerned, according to quotes attributed to the Dane in the Speedway Star. Andersen, it seems, believes Kołodziej's failure to get through the qualifiers means the Polish champion isn't worthy. Guess who Andersen thinks is worthy. Yes, he thinks Hans Andersen is worthy, despite his failure to qualify for a second season running. Andersen, of course, believes the qualifiers are beneath him. He has done ever since the last time he needed them, back in 2006.

That is a very good point. The problem is that people bang on about Woffinden being a huge talent, which is true enough, but the GPs are about so much more than raw talent. It's as much about your infrastructure and team as talent. Look at how people in the press and on Sky have commented about Gollob's never-changing team. Nicki Pedersen seemed invincible and then John Jorgensen departed and the wheels came off. Pedersen seems to have got it back together over the last couple of GPs, but it's taken him a while. Sayfutdinov was sensational, but he had recruited much of Tony Rickardsson's GP team. On the other hand, Scott Nicholls seemed to have a different mentor every season, with Middlo, Havvy and Tatum all showing up at one stage or another. He dismissed his mechanic and then did even worse than he did before. The same old faces dominate because they have teams around them that have grown into the GPs. Two riders (Hancock and Gollob) have been there from the start, while Crump arrived on the scene shortly afterwards. So to Woffinden, who has already chopped and changed his team. This has been a "lost" year for Woffinden, who should really have been up against Darcy Ward (who could also find it as tough to get into the GPs as Woffinden could getting back into them) in the Under-21s.

Most people tend to think Sky have leverage over BSI. Anyway, nothing I have read leads me to believe Woffinden thinks the decision is not in his hands. He talked after Terenzano of being "fifty-fifty" regarding doing the GPs next season. The Speedway Star, whose managing editor is part of the circus, never mentions Woffinden in their various nomination articles, while discussing freely the possible consequences of failure for Andersen and Jonsson. In addition, when has a British rider ever been left out after a single season? Richardson was given a few, Nicholls and Harris have enjoyed many.

The step into the GPs is massive. The SWC just doesn't compare. In reality, the decision to nominate Woffinden for 2010 was nonsense, but the [british] alternatives weren't as acceptable as "Wuffy, Wuffy, Wuffy" and the similarly aged Emil Sayfutdinov had been a sensation in 2009. Who were the British alternatives? Nicholls, who had finished stone last in 2009, had finally had enough and ruled himself out before BSI did the ruling for him. Few fans really like Lee Richardson and he hadn't really covered himself in glory when he was in the GPs. Edward Kennett was mentioned, but the ridicule heaped upon that probably ended that one. On the back of Sayfutdinov's remarkable first season, Woffinden looked a decent choice (from a BSI perspective). The problem is, of course, that, as Darcy Ward has pointed out, Emil Sayfutdinov is a one-off and Sayfutdinov managed to congregate around him an established GP team, consisting of some that had worked with Tony Rickardsson.

I think Andrzej Witkowski could be "jumping the gun" here. Looking on sportowefakty.pl it seems he is taking his cue from discussions with FIM officials, while Janusz Kolodziej sensibly is waiting for BSI to make their decision. We all should recall a couple of seasons ago when it looked as if the FIM were going to propose Matej Zagar only for BSI to rule against it. Anyway, according to Witkowski three riders are "virtually certain" of nominations for 2011: Emil Sayfutdinov, Nicki Pedersen and Janusz Kolodziej.

According to the lady herself, Jason Crump is the top target for Rzeszow after initial target Jaroslaw Hampel extended his contract with Leszno. Poltorak's biggest concern seems to be a lack of strong Polish juniors at Rzeszow and with clubs now seemingly obliged to track Polish juniors that could be a huge problem.

Lots of things don't make much sense and I wouldn't be surprised if Woffinden was given assurances regarding next season. After all, when Nigel Pearson first mentioned "Wuffy for the GPs" his sidekick Kelvin Tatum was adamant that Woffinden had to be given a two year gig and not just thrown to the sharks for a season. Woffinden last even with Artem Laguta in the field?

The different spellings of Sayfutdinov can be explained away by transliteration. Sayfutdinov is Russian and the Russians use the Cyrillic alphabet. So Sayfutdinov's name in Cyrillic then has to be transferred to "our" alphabet. As far as I'm aware, there is no familial relationship between Grzegorz Walasek and Pawel Waloszek.

During her time at the club, Rzeszow have tracked riders such as Nicki Pedersen, Rune Holta and Matej Zagar. Indeed, when Nicki Pedersen was in dispute with Czestochowa at the start of last season Poltorak tried to get him back at Rzeszow.

Boss lady. Rzeszow are chaired by Marta Poltorak.

It's no great surprise to me that Sweden are starting to struggle. Their league is just as dominated by "foreign" riders as the British leagues.

The problem with nominating Woffinden for next season is that the second season is often much harder than the first. In the first season you're something of an "unknown quantity" and can produce the unexpected. Take a look at Chris Harris, Matej Zagar, or, at the extreme, Emil Sayfutdinov. In reality, Woffinden should never have accepted his nomination for this season. There was nothing at all to suggest that he was worth the nomination. He was no second Emil Sayfutdinov. Sky need to cease with their "Wuffy, Wuffy, Wuffy" mania. While it may be a huge laugh for Nigel Pearson and Kelvin Tatum, it could be doing untold and permanent damage to Woffinden's career.

The only rider in the top nine not to win a GP this season. He didn't warrant the nomination he received for this season, but fair play to him on making a decent fist of things and finally getting around to qualifying. He should now be able to go back to scratching around and dining on this for a few seasons of nominations. He dined on Cardiff 2007 for long enough.

I agree completely, but the sad truth seems to be that BSI runs the show and BSI is run by British people. It will, however, get progressively harder for BSI to base nominations on nationality. The Poles are dominant; the Russians a rising force and other "minor" nations have their stars rising. There's Bogdanovs in Latvia, Vaculik in Slovakia. Britain is getting left behind.

The more I think about it, the more I consider last night's result to have been a bit of a spanner in the BSI works. Jonsson's Bydgoszcz victory makes kicking him out all but impossible. In an ideal BSI world I imagine that Andersen and Jonsson would both be left out, with the nominations going to Sayfutdinov, Nicki Pedersen, Janusz Kolodziej and Tai Woffinden. That would leave national representation as follows: Poland 4 Russia 2 Denmark 2 Sweden 2 Great Britain 2 Australia 2 United States 1 Jonsson's victory and almost certain nomination upsets the equilbrium. Will BSI really accept a situation where Russia has a greater GP representation than Great Britain? In view of this, I would imagine the nominations will be Sayfutdinov, Nicki Pedersen, Jonsson and Woffinden. This would give a national representation of: Poland 3 Sweden 3 Russia 2 Denmark 2 Great Britain 2 Australia 2 United States 1

He was quoted in the Speedway Star saying something similar after Terenzano. However, such quotes indicate that he feels the decision is his.

It's not just about a "second Brit". It's also about a "third Dane" and a "fourth Pole". It could get very political between now and the announcement. The Poles obviously want Kolodziej in the series and most fair-minded people would agree that he deserves it ahead of Woffinden and Andersen. It might be just as easy to pick Kolodziej and leave the British and Danes unhappy, but I wouldn't be surprised if Woffinden gets the nod to preserve Britain's quota. I'd be astonished if Andersen gets a spot.

As expected, Chris Harris is no longer in the nomination equation as he finally manages to make it into the top eight. He's done well this season, but now needs to repeat the trick. Andreas Jonsson's win will surely have guaranteed him a nomination and you can't argue with the nomination of a rider who has just won a GP. Hans Andersen, on the other hand, could easily to pushed aside for the second time. Janusz Kolodziej's second final must give BSI something to think about, but it might not be enough. My guess is that Emil Sayfutdinov, Nicki Pedersen and Andreas Jonsson are certainties, while the final spot is between Andersen, Kolodziej and Woffinden.

Not connected to this meeting, but I note that Darcy Ward's second Under-21 title hasn't cut much ice in Torun, where the president seems to have decided that Ward (contracted to the Angels until 2012) will be loaned to another club for 2011. The president feels Ward's attitude is wrong and that the youngster needs a lesson in humility.

If Lindgren hadn't already qualified via the Grand Final, I wouldn't be arguing for him to receive a fourth nomination. I fully expect Harris to claim a top eight place this evening, although Nicki Pedersen has a very good GP record at Bydgoszcz and Harris only managed three points last season.

Top eight is good enough. Hopefully Harris will manage that at his fourth attempt. Only his nationality has given him those four chances. He wouldn't have been selected initially but for his nationality. He wouldn't have been nominated for 2009 or 2010 but for his nationality. You bang on about his three finals this season, but what about no finals in 2008 and 2009? If Harris throws this away tomorrow then he will not deserve a fifth nomination.

I think you need a change of forum name. Yet another failure to qualify, despite the travails of Nicki Pedersen, the exclusion of Walasek and Ulamek (both of whom made finals last season, finished ahead of Harris and yet weren't considered good enough), together with the injuries to Sayfutdinov mean that Harris simply isn't up to it. He's never qualified for the GPs.

The point is that Harris didn't fight to get into the top eight last season. In fact, he finished fourteenth out of fifteen. Therefore, he didn't deserve his place for this season, unlike Holta who has always had to fight for his GP place.

The last couple of nominations for Harris have been a disgrace, in all honesty. Okay, he's had his moments this season, but he should not have been there and if he fouls up in Bydgoszcz and misses out on the top eight his next nomination will be the disgrace to end all disgraces. That said, however, it's hardly "one bad season" for Hans Andersen. Andersen required a nomination for this season.

Billy Hamill springs to mind. Regarding Holta and Hancock, the only comments I've seen attributed to both suggest an intention to carry on the GPs It's all very well for you to suggest that Sayfutdinov was picked for performances other than his two World Under-21s, but those were the outstanding achievements. Furthermore, Woffinden was nominated without ANY comparable achievement to Sayfutdinov and Woffinden.