HenryW

The Polish team lost...At home. That probably put them off hosting again From the scorechart you posted above, it looks like at least Kings Lynn were using a guest, presumably due to a clash of teams...PePe wasn't racing for you guys in 2015. Who was he replacing? Would it have been Iversen that was your number 1 back then? Edit - I see from Arnie's link above that it was held in ZG in 2014 as well. World Speedway League (Zielona Gora) 18/10/2014 5pm | Speedway Updates (proboards.com) So the Poles hosted it two years in a row and lost at home to the Swedes 2 years in a row...I can see why their enthusiasm might have faded, a bit like their enthusiasm for the SoN is fading

Probably because they are both racing at Edinburgh the same day.

I'm fairly sure there used to be an option for a visa if you had averaged over X (can't remember what X was...might have been 6) in one of the professional leagues on the Continent. That wasn't normally one used by Aussies in the past as they came here first, but now it's getting more common to go to Poland or Denmark first. Knowing what the rules are for EU nations now that we are out of the EU would be useful as well...I don't think it was ever made clear what Goret's qualifying criteria was.

Are the current requirements for a visa published anywhere online?

Yes.

Watching the different angles of the final, which I didn't see on the UK coverage, it was a fairly strange fall for Maciej. It really looked like something you would have expected him to be able to save.

Zmarzlik did the World Cup back in 2016. Don't think Janowski was at that one, though...

Lebedevs and Mihailovs both raced at SoN qualifier at Manchester back in 2019. Gusts hasn't been there before, I don't think.

Leon did today.

Agreed...The one that upsets me most, as a huge fan of his from back in the day, is "Eric" Gundersen. It's a K, not a C....I know it's a trivial thing, but he's one of the absolute greats of the sport...It's not hard to get his name right

If that's the case, it's finally a nice example of speedway doing the right thing, rather than a strict "rulebook" thing. The Swedes started well and got destroyed in their 2nd race. No-one wants to see 3 rider races through day 2, so it's great if they can have 2 riders on track on Sunday.

Was Berntzon in the Swedish "squad"? The SoN website doesn't have him listed in the squad. Is their website just rubbish and didn't update to include a squad change when Freddie withdrew, or have they been given some special permission to use him?

I've just watched it as well, and I am wondering what you consider a pass. 6 passes in that race? Really? As an aside, I am suprised by the number of posts writing Smarzlik...The boy is a double World Champ and absolutely on top of his game. Is it so hard to get his name right when it's shown on the TV so many times? Or am I missing some joke?

That is a horrible mistake for him to have made. It's not like he isn't used to the rules requiring you to be ready when the clock hits zero as they are the same in the GPs and the Ekstraliga.

You have to feel a bit sorry for the French. They scored a solid 24 points today but were the only ones who raced the Swedish seniors. Everyone else got 7 points against the Swedes but the French only got 3. That extra 4 points would have put them right up in contention for the 3rd place going into day 2.

It would certainly have been useful to see a replay of what each of the riders was doing when the clock hit zero.

Only allowed changes for injuries.

To be fair, Dan was in a good team while Robert was in a rubbish team. Robert was below the top 3 Wroclaw riders in the averages as well

That's a bit harsh on Dan. He's racing Polish Ekstraliga regularly and doing fairly nicely. He finished ahead of Lambert in the SEC series and also ahead of him in the GP Challenge, suggesting that he's fairly comfortable at this level. I did think that Dan might get the nod with his extra experience at the NSS and the fact that him and Tai race as a pair regularly for Wroclaw. Having said that, it's hard to argue against picking Robert with his regular GP appearances and slightly better average in the Polish Ekstraliga.

If Sam is involved in the commentary for the GPs next year, I'll be watching the Polish coverage online.... I appreciate Sam as an ex rider, and he used to have some good input in the studio back in the Sky GP coverage days but he is, without doubt, THE WORST commentator I have ever heard for speedway on National TV...Eurosport's commentary team for their coverage of the SEC and U21 this year has been horrible. The first round of the SEC this year had a technical issue which saw no commentary provided....That was sooo much better than the following rounds and the U21 rounds where they got it sorted and I had to listen to their dreadful comms team. Please, Discovery, give me NIgel and Kelvin next year and not the horror that is Dave and Sam....

For me, Kelvin and Nigel are a great combination on comms. I have listened to lots of speedway commentary over many years, but I am not sure I have heard a better combination than those two. They talk some nonsense to fill gaps, they both make mistakes and mock each other...but when it comes down to it, they both show their excitement for the sport in their vocal reactions, and I love that. I don't want to listen to a monotone description of what is happening, I want someone to show enthusiasm and excitement in their description of what is happening....and Nigel and Kelvin deliver that for me.

If the same restrictions are applied to the U24 league as the Ekstraliga, that could cause some issues for the other leagues.

It's a bit easier to find places for qualifiers and wild cards when you are talking about a tournament with 128 players compared to 16. If the US Open only had 16 places available, do you think that Radecanu would have got a place? The best years for introducing new riders to the SGP series were the years when there were 24 riders per event. 16 is just too restrictive.

6 man teams...the 5 SoN squad members from each Nation, so 1 rider needed on each side. What are the chances that it'll be Glasgow riders added? Cook for GB and Nowak for Poland?

Actually, Smolinski didn't qualify. He finished 10th in the GP Challenge, but was picked as first reserve which would have given him a place when Greg retired...