moomin man 76

Many thanks for posting the update. Just curious as to who the four Kazakh riders are likely to be; let alone how they are going to be making the journey to Kauhajoki or Örnsköldsvik? Alternatively are they Russians riding on Kazakh licenses?

When I logged on yesterday, there were relatively few seats left in the grandstand; the family then decided they wanted to come, so I ended up booking the family ticket, for two adults and two children on the back straight for £85. Even with the booking fee, it still worked out at less than £11 per person for each meeting, which I thought was a bargain. In due course, I can well imagine that they will release additional standing/seating tickets on the 1st/2nd and/or 3rd/4th bends, as I would imagine that a fairly sizeable proportion of tickets that were made initially made available have already gone.

Tero Aarnio signs for Opole after spending last season at Krakow.

At Allsvensken level, Valsarna have announced the following signings; Tomas Jonasson - 2.421; Jesse Mustonen - 2.0 (assessed average); Kenneth Hansen 1.75; Jonathan Ejnermark 1.515; Lasse Fredriksen 1.303; Glenn Moi 1.154; Adrian Bergqvist 0.667; Benny Johansson 0.5; Emil Larsson Karlsson 0.5 and Oscar Larsson Karlsson 0.5.

I hope I am proved wrong, but I suspect it will be super hard to get hold of a copy from the 2014 event in Blagoveshchensk.

As has Kenneth Hansen.

For the record (if anyone is interested) none of those who bought a season ticket for Workington Comets were ever compensated directly by the promotion. I know of one season ticket holder, who received a refund because he bought it through PayPal. On the other hand, my wife paid by cheque. The cheque was cashed and no doubt disappeared in the miriad debts of the promotion. After speaking to a solicitor, we were told that the only likelihood of receiving any sort of refund was likely by persuing a small claim at county court level.

To get the topic back on track, I went out and bought a copy of the book on Friday evening in Asda in Carlisle (cost £9). Surprisingly it was in the best selling book lists; perhaps due to advance sales. After reading the book cover to cover, I found the opening three or four chapters interesting, but my interest started to wane with the meeting by meeting account of the 2013 World Championship win. Later on, the book picked up, as he discussed his working relationship with Peter Adams and his approach to representing 'Team GB.' Others may think differently; either it is very good or a pile of rubbish, but at least do so from the objective position of having read some of the book!

Good to see Jesse Mustonen qualify outright for 2020, rather than having to rely on the place gained through the World Long Track Challenge. A good end to the season after a tough start coming back from serious injury at Bielefeld in 2018.

No copies in Sainsbury's in Carlisle, but copies available in Asda for £9. I've read through the first half of the book so far and at £9 it is reasonable value for money, but I would have been more reticent if asked to pay the full cover price.

No Finland in the World Long Track of Nations this year -

Indeed, but it was largely a flag of convenience, which led to Chris Slabon was riding under a Canadian flag. As far as I am aware, he grew up in Canada, but learnt his speedway in Poland. To be fair, if I was in his position, I would have done the same, as it would have been far easier to gain a nomination as a Canadian U21 rider, rather than go through the Polish qualifying procedures.

The Estonians have been concentrating on youth development for a few years now, and in time, they will have some good prospects coming through. It will be interesting to see how Viljam Lappi goes too, after scoring 17 points from 7 rides in his SM-Liiga debut.

Smektala will have to ride an awful lot better than he did at Glasgow in the GP Qualifier, where in his first couple of races, he would not have been out of place in a NDL race. He came across as another Polish gating tart.

I thought so until I saw Bartosz Smektala at Glasgow the other week...

I've seen plenty of Klindt's meetings at both Monmore Green and Derwent Park over the years and can recall literally a handful of times, where he passed an opponent after the second turn. When he first signed for Workington, I pointed out to a number of friends that he was the type of rider, who would probably a near identical average in any division, due to quick equipment and strength from the gate, plus deficiency in doing pretty much anything else.

My impression was that his bikes didn't look quick enough (perhaps using his brother's bikes as was the case at SoN), rather than him looking uncomfortable.

I don't think that Timo Lahti would have been out of place at Glasgow and would have finished close to qualifying; after all it was generally considered that Pontus Aspgren was a surprise qualifier ahead of the likes of Chris Holder.

I would be surprised in the Abensberg qualifier if Timo Lahti wasn't in contention for a qualifying place.

As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track. It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio. My impression of the riders; Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One. Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said. Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw. Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front. Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart? Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats. Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers. Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen. Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen. Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress. Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify. Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three. Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio. Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN? Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing. Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen. Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

Once the riders have signed on for the meeting, the GP Qualifier takes precedence. If the riders tried to ride in Poland on Sunday in preference to the GP Qualifier, the FIM could simply suspend their licence, to ensure that they couldn't ride in Poland anyway. Hopefully, it won't come to that. If the weather Gods play fair, we should get an excellent meeting on Saturday.

I suspect that unfortunately I am not alone in not having received the promised refund... A pity really - I only bought a season ticket, as I sponsor a rider who was named in Workington's line-up for the 2019 season. With hindsight, it would have been better to have provided some additional sponsorship to that rider or someone else.

Unfortunately the speedway promotion lost the moral high ground some time ago...over five months ago when the decision was made not to run, those of us who had bought season tickets were assured that our money would be refunded. So far I have received not a single penny of my promised refund... My wife and I have left numerous messages asking when the refund would be forthcoming. Initially, we were told that it would be paid in a couple of weeks once other payments owed the promotion were received, then the message became 'shortly' and eventually those connected to the promotion simply stopped responding. I'm not holding out my breath to suddenly be recompensed and in reality the only likely way I am ever likely to see my money again is to issue legal proceedings against the promotion.

The probable end of speedway at Derwent Park - I was informed that the work was starting at 1pm, with the speedway track being ripped up, to make way for the wider pitch required by Workington Reds to meet FA regulations. No winners in this sorry tale; especially as there is no certainty politically in Allerdale at present. Unlike the rest of the country, where the Tories took a kicking at the council elections, in Allerdale it appears we are left in a state of gridlock, with the council likely to be led by a Tory/Independent coalition. The new leader of the Tories is ex-UKIP, who spent most of his time pre-election decrying the cost of the new stadium. Personally, I think we have seen the end of speedway at Derwent Park, regardless of whether the new Allerdale stadium is built or not.

I can see the merits, in introducing 'qualifying' on Friday, as it adds an extra element to the GP weekend with the benefit of extra television coverage. However, the concept becomes flawed, when riders are unavailable due to Polish League commitments. If the FIM/CCP were that committed to the concept of 'qualifying,' they should have made attendance mandatory with no conflicting league fixtures arranged on that evening. The riders will always opt to ride for their league clubs, due to the terms of their contracts and the relative earnings that can be made at league and GP level.