ladyluck

That is assuming the Polish portals have transliterated it into Polish correctly.

I don't think it makes much difference whether the track is in Poland, Britain or Surinam. If Harris has a good gate position and a pops out of the start he stands a decent enough chance. It's not necessarily the "head-to-head" races that count, it's the aggregate of five races. If we look back to 1986, everyone looked at the "head-to-head" between Gundersen and Nielsen. Gundersen won it; Nielsen was champion.

You can certainly laugh, but I have noticed that the Polish portals generally have the "L" that starts the surname with a dash across it, which is the Polish equivalent of the English "W", here, for example: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2010/08/15/australijska-niespodzianka-relacja-z-2-finalu-imsj-w-daugavp/ Under such circumstances it is entirely possible that we should pronounce Laguta as Waguta, since their names are transliterated from the original Cyrillic.

That will be why Gollob and Hampel were top scorers after twenty heats at Cardiff and Harris didn't record a single race win. As far as I can recall, in the Under-21 events staged at Rye House the occasional Pole did very well. Your 100% for Harris in Britain conveniently forgets his failure to qualify for the GPs from his home British track in 2009, while Hampel did.

Probably not a great deal, but more than the FIM were paying Hougaard for being there.

Would they? Let's take three British tracks that are FIM approved: Coventry, Peterborough snd King's Lynn. Hampel qualified from the GP challenge at Coventry last season; Harris didn't. Poland won the SWC round at Peterborough last season; Britain didn't. I can't imagine things would be greatly different at King's Lynn, where this season a full-strength British team defeated under-strength teams from Australia and Sweden.

Not so. As things stand in the here and now, Denmark have two GPs, with one on a permanent track; Vojens. The British and Danish GPs are promoted by BSI themselves and as far as anyone can gather BSI won't sanction a second GP in Britain until Cardiff is a sell-out, or some promoter coughs over the dosh in the way Polish clubs do. Hasn't Terry Russell the financial clout to being a GP to Swindon? No point blaming the Poles; it's BSI's party.

Your point is well made, although I thought Czestochowa had two Britons: Woffinden and Bridger. The thing is a little foresight, or dashed good fortune, on the part of the Poles has brought them to the fore. A few years ago the Polish leagues had set limits on the number of non-Polish riders at their clubs (one of the reasons, if not the primary reason, Holta finds himself a Polish citizen, since being a Pole guaranteed him a place and freed up a non-Pole position at Czestochowa). What that meant is that Polish clubs had to find riders from within their own country. This led directly to the Kolodziejs, Miedzinskis, Kasprzaks and Hampels coming through. To be sure many have fallen by the wayside, sometimes tragically so, but if you find twenty young riders then at least a handful are going to do well enough.

Woffinden, in my opinion, represents a bit of a problem for BSI. They nominated him for 2010 when most halfway sensible speedway supporters knew that he wasn't really ready and hadn't really achieved anything that could warrant a nomination. Now, to cast him aside after one season would appear harsh, possibly even cruel. It might not go down to well in Sky HQ either, since they have pushed Woffinden's merits hard. Bellamy, like Postlethwaite before him, likes appearing on Sky. Another interesting scenario could be played out in Pardubice during the Golden Helmet meeting, where Darcy Ward is handily placed in the World Under 21 series. Sayfutdinov was nominated after twice winning the Under 21 championship, Woffinden was nominated after finishing second last year. Could BSI ignore Ward's credentials if he gained a second title?

Okay, you were one of the few, as most seemed content to put it down to professionalism and attention to detail, allied with great skill and ability. What about Crump in 2006, when he was just as dominant, until he eased off when the championship was assured? That season came after his switch from Jawa to GM. Or what about Nicki Pedersen in 2007 when he was similarly dominant? You question Holta's engines and yet when they met earlier in the meeting Gollob easily overhauled Holta. What does that say about Gollob's engines? What does it say about Jonasson's engines? After all, in an earlier heat Jonasson was all over Gollob and only a yard or so separated them as the chequered flag fell?

True, but I believe Sir Jasper was talking more generally regarding averages for the Swedish leagues. However, as your statistics point out, he's at least third, maybe fourth (depending on Bjerre), in the Dackarna averages after Holta and Jonsson.

Holta is top of the Swedish averages, according to Chris Louis.

I don't recall anyone questioning Rickardsson's engines during 2005 when he won six of the nine GPs. It was all put down to the brilliance of the man on the machine. I believed that then and I believe it now. Holta is in a very rich vein of form, as are Gollob and Hampel. It's a combination of skill and professionalism. Rickardsson had that then, the Poles have it at the minute.

Nearly time for one of the more eagerly anticipated meetings of the season when we find out three of the qualifiers for the 2011 SGP series. Last season's qualifiers from Coventry were Magnus Zetterstrom, Chris Holder and Jaroslaw Hampel, two of whom currently find themselves in the top eight, while the third (Zetterstrom) has had his moments. The contenders this season, as far as I can tell are as follows: Tomasz Gapinski (POL) Grigory Waguta (RUS) Andrey Karpov (UKR) Janusz Kolodziej (POL) Artem Waguta (RUS) Roman Povazhny (RUS) Chris Harris (GBR) Fredrik Lindgren (SWE) Leon Madsen (DEN) Niels-Kristian Iversen (DEN) Simon Stead (GBR) Antonio Lindback (SWE) Thomas H Jonasson (SWE) Magnus Zetterstrom (SWE) Grzegorz Walasek (POL) Sebastian Ulamek (POL) Fingers will be no doubt crossed in the offices of BSI hoping that the result gives them more scope when it comes to the nomination process later in the season. A Polish qualifier would be a spanner in the works, while a couple of Poles would be a bit of a disaster for BSI, since the three Poles already in the series are more or less assured of places in the top eight. Ideally for BSI the top three in Vojens will be free of Poles. However, all of the Poles will go into the meeting in the knowledge that they have to qualify if they want a place in the GPs. That's a powerful motivation. In an ideal world for BSI a Briton, a Dane and a Swede will emerge from Vojens, but how likely is that? Iversen qualified the last time the final was staged at Vojens and the recent SWC showed he still knows how to get around Ole Olsen's track to good effect. Chris Harris also showed to good effect in the SWC final, although Simon Stead was rather abject and the same can be said about Sweden's (and Wolverhampton's) big hope Fredrik Lindgren. Antonio Lindback, on the other hand, showed some good promise in Vojens, but he's likely to find himself on the wrong end of a tapes exclusion at some stage or another. Jonasson was good value in the GP at Malilla and is likely to put himself about a bit. I don't tend to think Jonasson is as good as some people, but after last night it's possible he could be the surprise qualifier. That could also present a problem for BSI, especially if Lindgren and Andreas Jonsson find themselves outside of the top eight after Bydgoszcz. I wouldn't totally discount one of the Wagutas getting amongst the qualifiers. It should be a fascinating meeting.

Quite correct, mae culpa. I guess I should really have checked the qualifiers for Vojens, but just assumed Gafurov would've been one of the qualifiers from Togliatti (he probably wasn't even in the Togliatti meeting). Looking at the qualifiers for Vojens it's tricky to see a surprise rider coming through. I wouldn't discount Walasek, who has displayed an ability to get around Vojens in the past. I expect Iversen to progress, would like to see Kolodziej make it through and then maybe a Laguta. I don't think the British riders will make it. Why Lindgren? Is this just some "little West-Midlander" thing? Okay, Lindgren's a big fish in the Elite League, but he's hardly produced a thing in the SGP and was poor in the SWC Final, nor is he any great shakes in the tougher Polish league. Gollob is hardly the first and won't be the last rider to give a television camera a shove. Crump has done it, even Tony Rickardsson has done it (I think, although maybe he got one of his crew to do the deed on his behalf) and I'd be surprised if Nicki Pedersen hasn't done it.

Whether you like it or not (and I know you don't), Maksim Bogdanovs won the truncated first round. That's what the record books will show. If the meeting hadn't been concluded as far as the FIM are concerned it would have been re-staged. So if Ward gets a premium for winning in Daugavpils, Bogdanovs should get one for his win in Gdansk.

Bogdanovs would have to be given the bonus you advocate for winning the first round, of course, unless this bonus merely comes into play in a race-off situation. That would be unfair, I'm sure you would agree. It doesn't look like you get any bonus, just the honour of having won the meeting and congratulations to Ward on his win.

Woffinden was knocked out earlier in the season. Harris and Stead will be at Vojens next Saturday. The recent SWC final should give Harris some hopes of qualifying, although he didn't manage to qualify from Coventry last year. The Challenge Final usually throws up an unexpected qualifier, such as Lukas Dryml or Magnus Zetterstrom. How about Renat Gafurov this time around? He showed up well at Vojens in the SWC. I expect to see Iversen qualify from Vojens, although he will bring little to the GPs. As I intimated earlier, I think this could be the season where BSI's much-loved, although totally unofficial "quota" system falls apart. How would they leave an ex-world champion and multiple GP-winner like Hancock out if he decided he fancied another season and wasn't in the top eight?

Nicki Pedersen will certainly be nominated if he doesn't make the top eight, but what about Andersen if he falls out of the top eight and Iversen qualifies from Vojens, as he did last time? What about the two main Swedes, neither of whom looks totally secure in the GPs at the minute? Jonsson appears to be going through the motions. The big issue will be what becomes of the British representation if things go totally pear-shaped?

I don't think he was worried about Sayfutdinov, who represents no great threat to his world title ambitions. I think it was more along the lines of what the studio pundits were saying: he's in such fine form that he developed a mind-set where he could do little wrong and could do whatever he liked and it would come off. Unfortunately, he discovered that wasn't the case and the unfortunate Russian paid the price. Anyway, with a confirmed broken wrist I guess that is Sayfutdinov done for the season and, looking at it realistically, that's one of the 2011 nominations tied up, narrowing the options for BSI later in the year. It should be fascinating to see what combination of riders qualify from Vojens next Saturday. Could be some controversial choices to make when it comes to nominations. Nicki Pedersen out of the top eight as it stands.

Not too sure about the GPs, but certainly there have been examples of riders being thrown out of league meetings, both over here and in Poland. I think Zetterstrom was thrown out of a meeting at Newcastle a few year's ago.

If ever I see him I'll be sure to ask.

It could be said that Holta is somewhat undersize. There isn't a great deal to him, but he has a big heart, as is evidenced by his continual presence in the top eight year-on-year. It's good to see him finally having a "big" season. He could yet make the podium in the world championship. It really could be Poland's year.

In the end his moment of crass stupidity didn't end up costing Gollob too much. A few cuts and bruises, perhaps, but he takes the lead in the championship and - significantly - increased his lead over Crump. The real loser was, of course, Emil Sayfutdinov, who fell victim to a move as reckless as anything he has pulled. Great showing from Thomas H Jonasson, who was always in the thick of the action. It's a shame he didn't quite make the semi-finals, but Chris Harris hit lucky with a very easy last ride. Jonsson was, once again, abject, although Nicki Pedersen's travails means that he's back in the top eight. He'll have to buck his ideas up if he wants to stay there. Splendid performance from Holta and intelligent too. Gollob should perhaps reflect on Holta's pragmatic approach in their earlier race when Holta deferred to Gollob's inside move rather than risk a coming together with the air fence.

Crass stupidity from Tomasz Gollob, I'm afraid. Such a shame for Sayfutdinov if he has a broken wrist and it would be a dreadful shame if Gollob throws away this world championship.