moomin man 76

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.

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.