James Carter

Excuse my ignorance but does that mean that Freesports wont be showing Polish Speedway this year?

It's an odd question. For me he comes across really well in this interview. I never really thought of magic as been 'too soft' interesting that he gets this accusation. I think it's his inconsistent gating that lets him down if anything Thanks for the translation. Top man

I like MJJ as a rider but I always feel he's short on power. Super brave rider. So will ZG have Vacuulik, Dudek, Pedersen, MJJ ? That's a quality line up if it's right

I have no idea why Gorzow would want Kildeman. He has been absolutely terrible in Ekstraliga. He seems to have an amazing gift of not only getting beat by the opposition but also messing up his team mates lines during races. Shane there use to be a good rider in there. Wonder what happened?

Where is the Australian SGP likely to be held? Or are they trying to source the biggest possible stadium to fill with the fewest supporters. Perhaps the MCG that holds 100,000. Seem ideal. See vojens is back on the calender - what's it like these days?

Agree that does seem like a poor choice. As a poster has mentioned Brady Kurtz is a great example of a young rider who has really grown into top level racing in Poland and I think RL would be at about the same level. Gleb Chugunov started to look good at the end of the year and obviously Smeketa, Drabik etc are well established. Hope RL doesnt get left behind

Not easy to get an Ekstraliga ride. I think going to Lublinbin 2018 was a smart move. He still has time on his side Hopefully Lublin retain him for 2019 in the Ekstraliga - any news on this?

I've watched just about every polish league match this year so my thoughts are: Madsen is definitely more than just a gater. Unfortunately link for match for Czestochowa Vs Grudziadz is not working. Anyway Madsen in this match was on inspired form, probably best I've seen hin ride all year coming from the back numerous times and ultimately taking the points they needed to get through to the knock outs. He does seem to have the odd very bad meeting. I have a soft spot for Laguta as his Grudziadz side were absolutely shocking mid season and it felt like it was Laguta Vs everyone. (They got trounced at home by leszno who racked up 66 ish points) So Laguta has a superb gate and it's his biggest asset. I think he took every inside grid in the SON so I think that speaks for itself. However he isn't bad from the back (certainly better than Dudek) particular at Grudziadz or on the bigger tracks. He seems to pass most riders by winding it on down the back straight and then then dropping under. He doesn't have the bravery of Lindgren, Sayfutiniv, Janowaki, Bz etc and I think can get bullied out a bit in SGP when he's up against a full grid if quality riders. I'm not sure you can ever become a braver rider and ultimately this might stop him getting to the very top. Agree that Laguta was poor in the final. He couldn't even get close to Tai to put some pressure on. Anyway that's my thoughts. Haven't been able to watch much Swedish league this year but I think both are well up in the averages.

Fair enough you seem to well up on it. I'm just glad he's in for 2019 I think he's a quality rider

Or a more accurate way to look at it would be that in the old one of world final if you had one bad race the jig was up and you might as well start packing up your van. In SGP every point counts so riders race hard through the whole meeting.

I reckon FIM have got the picks right. I would have had Pedersen in as he's box office but can't really argue with with the choices. I reckon Madsen might have been given the nod last year that he was getting a pick in 2019 thats why he didn't ride the challenge

Agree 100% You can't really compare these multi world champions but I think they all share a common mindset that sets them apart. Tai has been so composed all the way through and scored some important points when he wasn't ib top form. Love to see him win a few more

I don't think a one off appearance on breakfast TV will have much of an effect on the sport. My dad said the same thing last night. It's just a good excuse for a moan. If he doesnt get invited on you can get upset. Or if he does get invited on for a brief interview with no real insight then you get another moan. I think the days if Kenny Carter on TV-AM have passed

For me it would be Dudek Vaculik Pedersen Madsen Whilst Poland have great strength in depth I don't think there is a stand out Pole who is missing out due to nationality that would add a great deal. Maybe in a years time Drabik or Smektela will be too good not to get a pick. Hampel can consider himself a bit unlucky if he's overlooked (in fact his whole career has been pretty unlucky) but I don't see him bringing that much to SGP. KK would be the other pole who again might have a case but I don't see him troubling the top 8

Its really easy to have a go at the commentator as its not as easy job. However the guy is just awful and hasn't really improved over the course of the year. I understand he is knew to Speedway and might not have the depth of knowledge. I can live with that. The screaming i can just about live with but its not knowing the rules that annoys the hell out of me. Tape exclusions / warnings, reserve replacements, tacticals etc. Its really not hard to understand but he seems to have no idea what is going on. I have to watch it with the sound off or catch up later with Polish commentary if someone uploads to YouTube. I think ZG will have too much in hand for Rybnik. Like an earlier poster said you have to give them credit for their efforts so far. In my opinion they were very unlucky in the play off final with the engine failure on heat 13? or 14? Not to take anything away from Lublin who who were superb and I hop they sign some good riders to make a decent fist of it in 2019.

Reckon any bookmakers take bets on the team final? I have a sneaky suspicion that Russia may edge it this year!

There's not a huge amount of differences in those averages is there? I still think he would have won the sgp in 92. I understand why people didn't warm to him as he did seem to have a but of a fan club around him. Also he relied on a big gate at the peak of his career whilst in his early days he was actually a really good rider from the back. I remember seeing him beat Erik Gunderson 3 times in one match at Odsal which was probably 88 which was at the time unheard of!!!

Slightly biased but as a Bradford supported but in my opinion Havelock would have won a GP series in 1992 as he was on absolute fire and Nielsen wasnt riding at his best that year. The back injury scuppered Havelock as he was never quite the same rider when he came back. Loram again was brilliant and I don't think there was anyone around at the time who could win so many races from 4th place (possibly Screen) Speaking to my Dad (who's watched speedway since 1965) and he rates Peter Collins as the best GB rider of the 'past' but TW must be right up there. Fantastic all round rider and seems to have the absolute right temperament

You are certainly right on the evidence yesterday. When AJ was interviewed at Rybnik after his tremendous races early on he did say that the track was 'super-slick' which I thought was very odd given how good the racing was

Gorzow Vs Leszno What an utterly crud meeting. Does anyone know what has happened to the Gorzow track ? Its got steadily worse through the season. Had high hopes for this one but gave up watching on free sport after heat 9 and had to come back for a second sitting on Monday. Rybnik Vs Lublin Faith in humanity restored! What a meeting! Score possibly flattered Rybnik a little so i think they'll edge it over 2 legs. Couple of races from AJ at the start were sensational stuff. Rolling back the years. Massive crowd as well. Just 10/10 for everything

I don't think there is much wrong either. I think people are getting into a flap about the starting procedure. If you look back at the starts now to what you had in up to the mid 80s its so much better now. Its not perfect but i think its good enough. OK you oet the start marshall getting a bit involved but it doesn't really matter. Its exactly the same in Poland so all the riders would have experienced this The biggest problem for SGP is going to terrible tracks. The on-screen product is the most important thing if speedway wants to attract a larger audience. So regardless of the terrible decision on the night i think it would be safe to assume that it would have put off no speedway newbies as they would have had to sit through 15 races of garbage to get to that point By the way i thought the way Tai Woffinden conducted his interview after the exclusion was commendable. Top man.

Ahh I'm only kidding. Sure he's a nice guy He's just the rider who makes you hate speedway. Big blast from the start and then hog the inside. If the tracks rubbish then it's 3 in n the bag for Patryk if not then you never know. Think of riders like Zmarzlik, FF, Tai, Gollob, Loram, Screen etc and they get you off your feet as they come from the back. All that said I did hate his tashe. I think we can all agree on that.

What a shocking SGP. Made worse by effing Patryk Dudek winning. Nothing against him personally but I do personally hate him. National radio earlier this week and the presenter mentioned that he watched a bit of speedway to see if his theory of whoever gets to the first corner first wins. His theory held up so he didn't watch the rest of the meeting and was generally dismissive of speedway. We know he's wrong and then you get 23 heats of crap from Krsko.

I picked Vaculik last SGP and he looks to be going even better now (Full max at Czestochowa last week) So perhaps BZ, Magic and Pedersen making up the rest of the final. Tai seems to be struggling a bit lately. I reckon if he can restrict BZ to making say 5-6 points up he'll be happy with that. A crud track might actually suit Tai as it will be harder for any of the chasing pack to build a big score

Thanks for the update. What a shame. Looked like oneof those crashes that was more awkward than anything else.