f-s-p

It felt good to read that A. Aakko had rode so well, and had beaten Frank Zorn. Last year if I remember correctly he not once beat N. Krasnikov, and since FZ seems like the man man to beat this year, it's good to get it over with this early in the season. I sincereally hope that AA makes his mark in the world champ's this year, and cant wait to see in the national champ's on 29. of January. On other issues, how on earth can Zorn really be professional ice racer???? Season is 4 months with less than 20 meetings... Doesnt add up in my head!

We sat near the tapes last time on the bottom tier, I felt they were the best in the house. Only minus was the big screens that we didn't see at all, instead we had our own tv monitor a couple of meters in front of us. Last time I found a sketch of the stadium, cut from the side and I was able to count the rows that were gonna be on, but I've lost it by now. Think it was 22 or something. Wouldn't mind taking the Methanol Club ticket with the overnight stay, but I think I'll get a better value for my money (37£) from L33... "Nobody would be able to see if you did." You are so right! And sitting back row would also make it easier to get seconds and going to the toilet. The long wait for the beer was the reason why my friend missed the "naked runner" the last time.

Can anyone remember how far up are the seats covered on the lower level? At the moment the on-line ticket service is giving me row 17 as the best possible... Wouldn't want to sit on the 1st row =(

Anyone have any better info on the crash that ended Tero Aarnios night of indoor speedway on friday. The word is that Smolinski ran into him exiting a corner or something..? Anyway Tero woke up in the hospital wondering why doctors speak german. He hit the fence so hard that the last thing he remembers is going out for the heat.

You can always get a taxi from Riga to Wroclaw. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Leaving Torun to get to Warsaw this year we decided to take taxi also, it sort of became the theme of the trip. So of to the taxi stand and to get a price. I walked along the street looking for a better car of the lot, and decided on a MB station wagon from the pack of some mailboxes on wheels . Got a good deal and put the gear in the back. Tallest of us all I sit in the front and as I open the front door I notice that someone has hit the front end of the car earlier... Doing some 80-120 km/h the whole 200+km, everytime the car hit a rut, the tire touched the body of the car, made a nasty sound and burned rubber started to smell! Not very funny!! And try to imagine the road from torun to warsaw, its not like the M1. Especially since we had no idea about the condition of the tire. And in the middle nowhere, but still in Poland, we stopped for gas, as in propane, and the driver lights up and heads for the pump... Sorry, but a taxi ride from Riga to Wroclaw is out of the question.

I think I'm booked for a weekend in Riga, Latvia with the ms's and the inlaws for the Wroclaw weekend. Since no Rye House, it's off to Swindon and Somerset. Alltough if Oxford decide to race on thursdays we are going there, since Swindon is already on the beentheredonethat-list. Somerset was great on our last visit, looking forward to being there again, and keeping my fingers crossed that there's a bar open this time! We are flying to stansted on a wednesday evening, and back on sunday afternoon. That limits the amount of "afterspeedway" in Cardiff, but I think we'll have enough time for a chat anyway.

I'm coming to Cardiff as well, hoping to add some other meetings as well. Thursday and friday racing are open to offers, remember Splatty praising Rye House speedway, anyone know whats their racenight and where's it at? Eskilstuna is also confirmed, Målilla is on the table at the moment. Copenhagen is too expensive, Prague has too much tourists and I dont want to add the number, Krsko and Lonigo both seem too far away. Bydgoszs was fun and would very much like to see it again.

We stayed at the Europejski near the train station. Double room for 3 nights was around 90€, with good breakfast. Like the Krystal in Prague, Europejski is a relic from the 70's, but for the occasional speedway traveller who's more interested in the "after speedway" then the wallpapers in the room its the perfect place for the 4 hrs of sleep every night. Also practicly all the trams stop 100m from the hotel entrance and the main square is on a walking distance. Tip for anyone whos interested, check out "Jahrhundert-halle" in Wroclaw, and the park area surrounding it. They are a couple of miles southeast from the stadium, amazing site. No big surprise that we found it while trying to get to the stadium. I wont admit that we were lost...

We stayed at the Krystal last year. I remember there was some swedes also, and of course the germans we went there with. We walked to the stadium from the hotel. Would have been a 20 minute trek if we wouldnt have got sort of lost. Ended up making a nice number 8 on nearby streets of the stadium. Theres a tram stop 100m from the hotel entrance, so thats covered. I think a double room would have been around 40€ with breakfast, which by the way was practically non-excistent!

Seen the stadium, very nice. Problem is the road leading there, cant see 5000 cars getting in / out of there saturday night . Now is that capacity with the extra stands probably fitted for the gp, or the capacity now? (Would be..?) No finnish calendar this year Ola, didn't have the time to get anyone to pay for it with school and work taking their toll on me... I'll get back on it next year

Thats the only way Finland is ever going to make it in football. We played against Albania or Romania, and won 2-0 or something. Goals scored for Finland Shefki Kugi, originally from Kosovo, and Alexei Eremenko jr, from somewhere. His father came to Finland in the 80's to play, and his son got finnish passport.

Great Britain won the Olympics twice? in the thirties in ice hockey, thats not bad =) What comes to british hockey being third rate in world ice hockey, now that would give me every right to say finnish speedway is second only to SGP! 4th rate and 40 year old hasbeen's finnish players come to UK to play... and get pretty good money. I think Manhcester Storm played in the now dead and buried European Hockey League. If I remember right they played in a 15000+ capacity ice rink, for reasonable crowds. The current European Cup for ice hockey isn't too respected in ice hockey countries. I'm also quite proud to say that Finland is currently number two in world ice hockey after losing against Canada in the World Cup final a month ago.

I was told earlier today that the big guns actually liked the track at Hamar. This means Leigh, Trick and the lot. Why wouldn't they, because the watering and hardening (whats the word for making the track harder?) started when their heats were coming. Point was that it wasn't as slick as in Bydgos and Krsko. Too small though with tight bends. Bjarne ended his GP career on a pile of talcum powder in the middle of the track, Joonas suffered from the yellow gate and the soft material as did the others. It was the worst GP I've ever seen live or on tv.

As you probably remember, last year Crump & co were always saying that in the long run the draw will make justice, no complaints. This year the s#¤t has landed on tRick, and like the business with the airfence after Wroclaw, tRick has made his opinions heard, and the draw of gates will disappear. Next year the rider will get his rewards of riding well in the prelis. Now this is a reliable source, but then again Rune Holta himself told me after Bydgoz that his season is over, and went on to win the Swedish league a week after...

Scotty Lee Hans Andersen A czheck, maybe Lukas because U21 champ Rune Holta if they are, which they probably are, riding in Hamar No way they'll give it to Bjarne and Hans both. Check your SS front pages and think which one would be better for speedway, Bjarne or Hans? Which gives better topics?

Well, I dont... Wonder why??? My head was so full of new spw info, that it seemed long into sunday afternoon that any beer found its place. During the weekend I had the chance of speaking about speedway under influence for 72hrs, which is about the same that I get this "quality time" in Finland for a year. I made an interview with Olli Tyrväinen, spoke with all you people, Middlo, Mr. Posselw, Scotty, Havvy (thanks to someone for sorting it out!), Rune, Kaj and his mechanics and dad, and my own friends also, who gave loads to remember for B&T Briggs!!! Thanks again! EDIT: forgot Tony Steele

I watched a video yesterday, where Förland took a couple of heat wins, needed to win his last one but became second, so missing the grand final. The meeting was the Ullevi Open, back in 1987... I think one WC should have gone to Joonas like it did last year. If Sola really is some youngster on his way up, fine, but this other one is just !!

Mine either, anymore... Got back to Finland late monday evening, home today afternoon. Just like our SAS from Copenhagen friday morning We started getting the facts straight the minute we came back to Finland, and I was actually a little bit disappointed not (really) seeing our group in it, because Splatty was on it every five minutes with his RH flag, and Papa with his wig. Good for you! It was really nice to meet you all, see you again next year!

no s##t m8. still going strong.........

Thanks, seems like I had S insted of Z. Alltough it was copied from a fax that was written on City hotel stationery. Like you said, all very strange...

How did you find this out? Because I cant find an email adress to City that works. And by the way, you are already paying for the first night...

We are eating at Spinx, they have menu in English. At Wroclaw we had to draw what we wanted at our hotels restaurant, not this time...

Now that I'm almost ready sorting out our travels, one last question remains. Do they have sell out meetings in Poland? Meaning is it 100% sure that we can get tickets for the Torun -Tarnow match on sunday..?

The speedway party is on friday night, starting at 18pm, in somesort of indoor arena called "Luscnizja" or something. The brochure from Gothenburg says there will be disco with fireworks, famous dj's, rider parade, autographs... Dont mean to dampen the party at Brda, but what about your fireworks...? We'll see what the weekend has to offer for the occasional speedway traveller, probably loads of Zywieczs and Piast!

It's settled then!! My "man" came trough, and we are booked in the City as well. I thought the hotels would be full, so I gave the task to someone who has connections. Apparently they are not, but at least we have a place to stay (a bit more high profile than the Europejski in Wroclaw though ...) We are arriving friday evening, on sunday morning we'll leave for the Torun meeting, and stay there overnight. Compensation tickets are arriving late this or early next week, we'll know about seats better by then. Probably backstraight...