moomin man 76

There aren't a great deal of fresh markets they can tap into - I guess they are hoping they can make a success of the GP Challenge at Togliatti, as a Russian GP would be one of the few new alternatives open to them. If memory serves me correctly, at one time or another, they have already tried Austria, Croatia, Finland, Italy, New Zealand and Norway, as well as the countries currently staging GPs.

As Joonas Kylmakorpi has now retired, I wonder who will be the next Swedish rider in line for a place in the qualifiers?

As a footnote to Joonas' retirement, there is now a GP Qualifier and World Longtrack Championship place going spare. i wonder who is next in line for both?

Yes - it has been posted on Facebook in the past half hour. He has sought medical advice regarding the injuries he suffered in his training crash in December and as a result has decided to retire. Thanks for the memories, from both speedway and longtrack racing, whilst representing at different times Sweden and Finland. My personal highlight - a classy maximum representing Eastbourne at Birmingham a few years ago. Joonas was unbeatable that night, winning races both from the gate and from the back.

The allocations for the qualification meetings are as follows; Eskilstuna, Sweden – 2 GB; 2 Denmark; 1 France; 2 Latvia; 1 Russia; 2 Norway; 1 Poland; 2 Finland; 3 Sweden. Pardubice, Czech Republic – 1 Sweden; 1 Ukraine; 3 Czech Republic; 2 Germany; 1 Russia; 1 Slovenia; 2 Poland; 1 Argentina; 1 Slovakia; 1 Denmark; 1 New Zealand. Badia Calavena, Italy – 2 Australia; 1 Czech Republic; 1 GB; 1 America; 2 Germany; 1 Denmark; 2 France; 2 Italy; 1 Austria; 2 Poland; 1 Sweden. Totals: 5 Poland; 5 Sweden; 4 Denmark; 4 Czech Republic; 4 Germany; 3 GB; 3 France; 2 Latvia; 2 Russia; 2 Norway; 2 Finland; 2 Australia; 2 Italy; 1 Ukraine; 1 Slovenia; 1 Argentina; 1 Slovakia; 1 New Zealand; 1 USA; 1 Austria.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of how many places Britain has been allocated, it does have to be said that the vast majority of British riders in the GP Qualifiers have in recent years hardly covered themselves in glory. Aside from Chris Harris, in the past three years no rider has reached the GP Challenge of their own making; two years ago every British rider apart from Chris Harris was eliminated in the First Qualifying Round and last year every British rider was knocked out in the First Qualifying Round. Robert Lambert was then given a Wild Card to the Lonigo Semi-Final (after being eliminated at Kings Lynn) and reached the GP Challenge in a rain curtailed meeting. In the GP Challenge he finished stone last. The allocations are unfair, but lets not delude ourselves that British riders have been pushing for GP Qualification.

Dear me. A sign of where Swedish speedway currently stands. Six qualification slots and the majority won't even get to the GP qualifier, let alone stand a chance of qualifying for the GPs in 2018.

I'd be surprised to see a Finnish rider in the series this season, as to be honest, who would be willing to spend a small fortune competing in the Ice Gladiators series and in all likelihood finishing in the lower reaches in each and every round?

The 1961 programme is rare, as it was the first World Final not at Wembley and the original print run was small. Depending on circumstances, I have seen copies of the 1936 World Final programme go for between £150 upto nearly £300 on Ebay; dependent on period listed and condition. The £300 price bracket was 6-8yrs ago, when programme prices were higher on average than they are now.

Sad to hear of the passing of Fred Brand - I passed on a significant number of spare programmes that I'd collected of meetings that Fred had ridden in for Yarmouth and Norwich to his grandson, as part of his surprise 90th birthday celebrations. A good team rider and a World Finalist to boot. He will be missed by many, myself included. Sincerest condolences to his family.

Another mediocre doubling up signing announced with Robert Branford doubling up/down for Rye House and Sheffield.

I don't have a particular objection to young British riders such as Max Clegg 'doubling up' as a way and means of gaining experience, but the situation has got out of hand when the likes of Craig Cook are doubling up and the likes of Lewis Bridger and Chris Harris are looking for doubling up places. Equally there is no reason whatsoever why any non-British rider should be doubling up at all. The likes of Jack Holder and Lasse Bjerre should be riding in one league only. If they can't make it pay riding in one league in Britain, so be it. I'm not convinced that the 'rider shortage' argument is valid argument for 'doubling up' either. I personally know of at least two non-British riders who are desperate for team places in the Uk this year but have received no offers, in part due to 'doubling up' and the reduction in the points limit at Championship level.

The reality of Dudley is this - the town centre consists of a mixture of charity and pound shops, while the bypass conveninetly allows you to avoid the centre as you travel on your way to the out of town Merry Hill Shopping Centre, which was built on the former Round Oak Steel Works in the late 1980s. In terms of sporting attractions, there is not a single major sporting team playing within the boundaries of the borough of Dudley that are competing on a national level. There is Stourbridge FC, who are playing the 2nd Round of the FA Cup today, who play in the Northern Premier League and two rugby clubs, Dudley-Kingswinford and Stourbridge who play in Midlands 1 West and National 2 North respectively. That is pretty much as good as it gets. As I said in my earlier post, it would be difficult to find a borough council with a less proactive attitude to sport within the borough. Any free land that is earmarked for development is invariably for housing and nothing else.

No sadly - Dudley Council are probably the least proactive council in the UK when it comes to leisure activities and amenities.

If my memory serves me correctly, it ran from 1995-97.

I wouldn't claim to know what budget Speedway Star operates from, but given the profile of the sport in the country now, I think that as fans we are lucky to have such a magazine published weekly. There are some features I would do away with, such as coverage of the domestic grasstrack scene and I skim through the track by track news, but I'm sure other fans have their gripes too. All in all, I'm glad I took out a subscription once again, but I actually get more pleasure from the other speedway magazine that I subscribe to - Speedway Sanomat from Finland, which is a true labour of love to compile and a magazine I would heartedly recommend to other speedway fans.

Two weak reserves - I can't see either Phillips (again) or Coles pulling up too many trees at Championship level. The top five are going to have to score big to minimise the points lost at reserve.

He might be, but over a number of seasons, he hasn't demonstrated nearly enough to be considered a top rider in the league, which makes me wonder why he is going to suddenly make a big jump forward this season. At best, he is a good second/third heat leader, rather than an out and out number one rider.

Sadly there's nothing to excite me so far in the signings announced by Workington...a pity as it's my nearest track and I was looking forward to attending more meetings next year now that my son is a little older. If the other signings are in the same vein another season of mid-table mediocrity awaits.

The perils of typing with a two year old next to me! 'Face fitness' - doh! At the end of the day, Tero isn't going to be scoring maximums each week, but can be relied upon to score steading home and away. I think he'd be good for a 7 point average in the league this year.

Indeed, Tero hasn't retired. He spent most of last season recuperating from his operation, but since then he has been extensively testing in Finland, to build up his face fitness. Given that the league has been watered down this season, I would be more than surprised if he couldn't retain, if not add, to his starting average.

I'd love to be able to offer an objective analysis, but I am apparently on Mr Putin's blacklist, so I wouldn't be issued with a visa anyway!

I know it hasn't proved to be a problem so far with the SEC rounds at Togliatti, but a potential issue with staging the GP Challenge at Togliatti may well be getting Russian visas for certain riders.

My point exactly - three strong heat leaders and a long tail didn't work this season. If there's a 40 point limit, the team cannot afford to have more than two strong heat leaders. The notional third heat leader plus second strings and reserves need to have plenty of improvement in them.

I certainly wouldn't disagree about your thoughts regarding Atkins, but I'm not sure how much further improvement the likes of Dwyer, Bowtell and Basford have in them, as they have ridden at National League level for some time in obtaining the averages they have.