PersonalResponsibility

I can't tell if Pawelczak wins every SGP2/SGP title for the next 15 years or he doesn't win a single one. It's a pretty scary thought if he's only getting started.

Not a great update. Fingers crossed. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/1212975/zuzel-stal-dostala-ultimatum-trudne-do-spelnienia-pokerowy-ruch-pge-ekstraliga

Dan Thompson, Luke Harrison + Luke Killeen.

I never said we should just use averages, but they provide a very good indicator. Are you really saying that Brady Kurtz finishing within a point of the world title this year wasn't a "surprise packet"? Out of curiosity, who would you pick as a WC and why? Anyway, every single rider in the competition has been awarded a future place on previous performance, how else could they do it?

Cristian Zubillaga leading for 2.5 laps was probably the highlight of this meeting.

It's an average score across a season in the best league in the world, why wouldn't you base a lot of your decision on it? Ben Cook managed to finish 17th once (from only 8 meetings) and I'm not sure why Kolodziej is mentioned, he won a GP in 2019, he wasn't some no-hoper. I think you've also made the point perfectly above: when Kurtz qualified. He was good enough, so he qualified. If there are any other youngsters good enough then they can qualify too. Everyone wants to see new faces and new battles, but nobody ever suggests any realistic names. There are no youngsters now that would provide a genuine challenge. Parnitskyi and Przyjemski will doubtless get there in years to come, but they would struggle next year.

Never a dull day in Polish speedway. The president and co-owner of Fogo Unia Leszno, Piotr R., was detained by the police in connection with an investigation conducted by the National Prosecutor's Office concerning the so-called garbage mafia. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/1212627/prezes-znanego-klubu-zatrzymany-przez-policje-byl-powiazany-z-mafia-smieciowa

You can say, with c.90% certainty, whether a young rider is good enough for the GPs. It's not like football where a player can bang them in against the U21s or lower league teams and you're never sure if they'll do it at the top level, we see these young riders every week in Poland/Sweden/Denmark/GB vs the same riders as they'd face in the GP. The only rider in the top 20 of the Ekstraliga averages who you could argue is young and could/should be given a chance is Przyjemski, but even then he's racing as a junior, so his average doesn't tell the full story. Cierniak...maybe? He's sat between Woryna and Janowski in the averages, so it's difficult to see him being any better than Vaculik/Doyle/etc. I'd love to see new faces in the GPs too, but the long and short of it is, there isn't anyone good enough. Even if you had the very best 15 riders in the world (Emil, Artem back, etc), someone is still going to be last. The one thing I do think it lacks is some genuine jeopardy beyond mid-season. If you can't win the title, and are a few too many points off the top 7, what is your motivation? You'll either be handed a wildcard or you'll just drop out anyway. Same as having the GP Challenge before the end of the GPs - Kubera scored 6 race points in 2 GPs after winning the GP Challenge, why does he need to risk anything?

I agree that would help matters, but equally it's the year 2025. If TMs are making changes to the line-up then there's no reason it can't be done digitally, with almost instant notification to appropriate people (commentators), regardless of whether they're in the stadium, London, or Timbuktu. Alas.

That's almost certainly one of the worst SON/SWC meetings I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Dreadful. My main takeaways from that were: a) don't host anything in Poland that doesn't directly involve Poland - who knew? b) don't host one of the flagship international meetings of the season in October - who knew? c) if you're going to televise a meeting in a 20,000 seat arena when there are 14 people in attendance, maybe don't continually show drone shots of said arena, highlighting the 19,986 empty seats. d) if the rules allow team managers to chop and change riders and gate positions at the drop of a hat, for christ's sake let the commentator know. I don't need to hear Kelvin telling us he "thinks" it's rider X or he's "fairly sure" Rider Y is on gate 1 - it's amateurish. Other than that, it wasn't bad, some decent racing.

I'll have you know Harry Redknapp is a huge speedway fan, and has been since he saw Bartosz Zmarzlik score his first century at Poole. Told me so himself.

Oh dear, so that rules him out of the...*checks notes* Premiership PO final. The guy has explicitly told everyone his season is over and they've responded by banning him for 28 days. Shambles.

Personally, I don't see the point of them. I'm not bothered about the points they can add or anything, I just don't really think they add anything in the current format. We went to the one in Wroclaw and it was just 30mins of a pair of riders going around followed by one race. Aside from a quick flash of the times now and again, there was no build up towards anything. It wasn't bad but I wouldn't rush back. Also, does qualifying really matter in speedway? I know some tracks will have their gate bias, but it's not like you're starting 15m behind, you're still getting 5 rides the same as everyone else.

Is Przyjemski likely to finally return to Bydgoszcz if they don't get promoted?

I totally agree with the general point you're making, and there are far too many who think a Championship team place or higher = made it, but having said that, what jobs are we expecting riders to get? The world is a very different place to 30 years ago, it's hard for young people to get any job now, let alone one that'll be flexible enough to let them fulfill a full speedway calendar. The clubs do need to take a stance and call the riders' bluff to some extent, and make them realise it's either take it or don't ride speedway. The tail cannot wag the dog. However, it's very difficult to see how that would actually work in the current climate. I wish I had the answers.

His brother has had his moments but always seems a decent enough bloke tbf. Agree with you re. Jack though.

I reckon you could copy and paste this for virtually every Kubera meeting.

It's early days but it's been a good start for Bydgoszcz. As good as they all are, I'm not sure a top 3 of Thomsen/Vaculik/Lebedevs is completely infallible. Interesting times ahead.

Can't wait to watch Pawelczak over the next few years. Some talent for his age.

They ride together at Poznan. I'm surprised Smektala is 27yo, I remember him being a highly rated youngster at a similar time to Kubera.

In all honesty, we should be thankful it's Poland who's calling the shots. What did we actually manage in the late 90s/00s when GB was in control? Everything Poland has now should've been GB, with the Sky deal, the top riders, the money, etc., etc. We ended up with green helmet covers, pissing money up the wall on one rider, and zero investment in fundamental parts of the sport.

I think you could scrap the playoffs, the KO Cup, the Premier Trophy (or whatever it is now) and you'd still have fixture congestion - it's the one thing speedway does best! We'll agree to disagree on the playoffs. Enjoy your speedway 👌

Absolutely mental. Let's be honest here, Bowes is a bang average speedway rider, it absolutely beggars belief that he'd behave like that. I think it's symptomatic of Poland finding every youngster that shows any kind of talent and giving them a team place. Some of these young kids think they've made it and are above the UK. I can see the changes to the Polish U24 league in '26 being a big reality check for a few of them.

You just knew it'd all build up towards another 'amazing' Harris performance in heat 15.

He needs to be careful. I can't imagine he'll be flooded with offers in Poland in a couple of years when he's no longer an U24.