moomin man 76

Yes - it does look amateurish. All they needed to do was alter the camera angle, so that the speedway backdrop was prominent, rather than a television set in a pub/bar. I spent as much time trying to figure out what action was showing on the television set, as I was listening to what Nigel Pearson had to say. In my opinion, the content of the video was also questionable. There has been justifiable criticism on here and elsewhere about the conference in Tenerife being a 'jolly.' To present a professional image, you don't directly address such criticisms, you should just stick to the message that the conference started on Friday and ended on Sunday, as well as the decisions reached

I guess I like many locally based speedway fans need to answer the question of how much we want to see Workington continue. Unfortunately, too many fans have dwindled away over the course of this season and seasons past. In comparison to many other tracks, the promotion have been pro-active in trying to promote the sport but the Comets have consistently fielded (in my opinion) unattractive teams. On paper, the side assembled at the start of this season was always going to be mid-table at best, as the likes of Jorgensen, Proctor and Roynon were unlikely to improve much beyond their starting average leaving Workington over-reliant on Craig Cook to score a maximum (or close to) week in week out. Since then, Roynon has been replaced by Sargeant, which has proved to be a pretty disastrous signing and with Rob Shuttleworth deciding that reserve pay rates did make ends meet the Comets have been left fielding an unattached reserve week in week out. Both moves have taken further scoring power out of the team leading to poor results and a further diminishment of interest. With Craig Cook being absent on occasions, the Comets have been left without a big hitter further reducing the likelihood of victory and dare I say it interest. The weather has equally been pretty disastrous with rain-off upon rain-off leaving big gaps on occasions between home meetings with further diminishment of interest.

As it is the national championship, I believe that the British Masters is the only domestic grasstrack meeting, for which a facility is permitted for riders who would have domestic speedway fixtures on the same day. Chris Harris is not the first, nor I would imagine be the last rider to be absent for this reason.

The entertainment level so far has been so low, it even makes me nostalgic for the GP Rounds at the Ratina Stadium in Tampere, which Teterow effectively replaced on the GP circuit. Both were gate and go tracks, but at least the rounds at Tampere were in a proper stadium, rather than a track in a field in the middle of nowhere.

The Finnish League does indeed run on a four riders per team basis, with five teams currently operating in the league (one team sits out each round). I'm not sure what format is used in other countries but the SM-Liiga has a race format where pairs ride against other pairs. It isn't a bad format and is certainly the best option for league speedway in Finland at the moment, as it would be unlikely that any club could afford to pay (or indeed have enough riders available) to run a full team of seven riders. If the current decline in riders taking up the sport continues in the UK and indeed around the World, I think that in all likelihood we will eventually see a four riders per team format in the UK; unless we accept the inevitability of less tracks operating.

I fail to see how signing Timo Lahti on his current average is anything other than a good signing for Poole. He's on a false 'lowish' average and his scores for both Rospiggarna and Daugavpils are more than credible. His scores will also be far more consistent that Klindt's, which vary from very high to very low with little in between depending on whether he's got his gating shoes on.

All to sadly true!

Scunthorpe need a big score from Tero Aarnio at reserve to keep this meeting close.

The lineup at Eskilstuna is at least in my opinion stronger than those for the other qualifiers. If there are only four qualifiers for each qualifying round and three wild cards, it seems certain that some good riders will miss out at Eskilstuna. For instance, it is conceivable that Dimitri Berge the winner of the final at Pardubice last year and fifth overall may not make the cut at Eskilstuna.

If the initial allocation still holds true, the other four representatives should be coming from New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina.

As I have said previously, it is a glorified open meeting. I wouldn't have picked Tai Woffinden, as there is little to gain from taking part in the meeting apart from international experience. Select two riders needing international experience, as the result won't be remembered by anyone in the years to come.

Tero's coming in on a 28 day contract to cover for Stefan Nielsen. It is a win-win for both parties. It helps Scunthorpe put out a team without having to rely on guests, while it gives Tero a foot in the door, as he's been chasing a contract in England throughout the winter and the start of the season.

Confirmed on One Sport's website that the first Under 21 Final Round has been moved to Poznan on 23rd July. This is also the case on FIM Live.

How many riders qualify outright to the European Championship rounds?

The draw for the semis will not be made until the Abensberg qualifier has been run.

That was what I was told as well. My contact criptically told me that it wasn't a well known collector, but rather someone who had been seen at Kent Kings matches now and then.

I was under the impression that Jurica Pavlic was the only licensed speedway rider in Croatia now anyway, so there isn't much Croatian competition for the Wild Card!

Here's hoping for a repeat performance in the SEC Challenge at Gorican and in the GP Qualifier at Esjberg.

Probably the sensible thing to do, as his career was on a downward trajectory. It would be better to remember Davey Watt positively for his earlier career, rather than for his struggles of the past couple of the seasons.

I take your point. My personal preference would be to pick two younger riders with limited international experience, as they may gain something from the event and the result in itself will not really matter.

At the end of the day, it is a glorified intenational best pairs meeting, rather similar to the ones run by One Sport, except this time it involves 'national teams,' rather than 'trade teams.' It won't matter one bit who represents Great Britain in it as the result will count for little and will be soon forgotten.

This has the makings of a cracking meeting; especially with Dan Bewley now guesting for Mildenhall. I would be surprised if there was more than two-four points in it.

Nike Lunna's definitely progressing if early season results are anything to measure progress by. Sadly, as they are both ex-Heathens riders, Max Clegg and Nathan Greaves have struggled.

Unfortunately, I just don't think there is enough spectator interest, or venues willing to pay for the cost of a GP weekend. The ice speedway scene sadly appears to become smaller with each year that passes. The only way that I can see the trend being broken is for a couple of non-Russian riders, to break through and consistently challenge the Russians. Apart from Franz Zorn, as the results this year indicate, there is no one who can give the Russians a run for their money.

The pre-season edition was an excellent read once again. Luckily I get my copy on subscription these days, as all the usual outlets in Carlisle appeared to have sold out.