arnieg

Although the weather this season has been pretty average. The winter rain clearly did some damage to tracks at the start of the season, but the stats for the last 6 months show rainfall at just above the long term average. So how much more of a mess will there be if we have a wet summer!

No thread for KL v Cradley yet either... just saying...

Totally off topic, but they were the best programme notes ever written...and I think you were right about Mike Lee P.S. If anyone is interested in finding out what was so great about JC's articles keep an eye out on ebay for 'NL90' which contains many of his finest pieces.

There are now three or four threads discussing wildcards – time to consolidate the debate. First who won't need a wildcard? Hancock, Woffinden, Pedersen, Kasprzak, Zagar and Holder (in the case of the last two they aren't mathematically there yet, but let's assume they avoid injury and score at least averagely.) Of the remaining riders we know that Iversen is stuck on 87. If the other riders score at the rate they have been to date then we get: Lindgren … 92 Batchelor … 88 Smolinski … 87 Hampel … 84 Bjerre … 80 Jonsson … 79 Given that even Jonsson could still make the top 8 (scores of 17,8,7 would put him over 90), it looks very unlikely that Iversen will be in the top 8 come the end of the season. Lindgren probably will be and Batchelor is best placed to make eighth - but Hampel (if he returns to form) and Bjerre (double figures in the last two rounds) shouldn't be discounted. BSI have traditionally been quite generous towards the riders in 9th/10th and even 11th so the riders in those positions must be in with a good chance of a wildcard. Note Bjerre and Smolinski (assuming Zagar withdraws in good time) will be in the GP Challenge – if Smolinski declines Zagar's place Batchelor is next in line. The GP Challenge result is the biggest unknown. The field looks stronger than in previous years, so we may have a better chance of getting three good quality qualifiers. Note that there is still a wildcard to be chosen. Favourites: Kildemand (probably deserves a wild card, but if Bjerre joins Pedersen in the top 8 and NKI gets a wild card that would be four Danes – so he better qualify on merit) Doyle (might get a wild card pick if Ward is out in the cold, but with Batchelor also in contention he is in a similar position to Kildemand) Kolodziej (with Hampel a strong contender for a wild card, and other poles in contention then it looks like the Challenge is his best bet) Jonasson (if Lindgren fails to make top 8 he could come into consideration as a wild card to ensure Swedish representation, otherwise will need to do well in GP challenge as recent form doesn't really justify a second Swede) Janowski (as for Kolodziej) Bjerre (could come fouth in the Challenge, ninth in the GP and still miss out on a wildcard if other Danes come in the GP challenge top 3) Possibles Andersen (not a wild card contender) Przem Pawlicki (as for Kolodziej) Korneliussen (not a wild card contender) Smolinski (a strong finish in the GP series taking him to ninth and good ticket sales in Germany might just see him come into wildcard contention) Unlikely Harris (for his sake – just say no) Woodward (not a wild card contender) Sundstrom (generally disappointing year, not a wild card contender) Klindt (remember he's just five rides away from the GP series) Covatti (assuming he is home seed) Then other riders to consider: Ward – can't second guess the Tribunal decision, but commercial considerations will make him a candidate for a wild card if available Sayfutdinov – doesn't seem likely at the moment, but sports politics can be very fluid, and murky. Sure BSI would jump at his return if they could get him Jepsen Jensen – a very strong contender based on his GP performances to date Zmarzlik – too many Poles, and needs to show his abilities away from Gorzow, but a strong contender for 2016 Protasiewicz – on 2014 form, but age GP history and profusion of Poles mean he isn't worth considering Laguta's – probably out on account of politics, but Artem did compete in GP qualifiers withdrawing from his semi after one ride Vaculik – would be a decent pick, but there are just too many other riders in the frame. In BSI's fantasy land they'd pick: 1. Iversen 2. Ward 3. Sayfutdinov 4. Jepsen Jensen (if Poles do well in Challenge) or Hampel (if Danes do well in Challenge) I would like to see Kildemand, Doyle and Kolodziej get thru from the challenge, with Iversen, Sayfutdinov, Jepsen Jensen and Hampel as wild cards. (Assuming Lindgren is in the top 8). If Sayfutdinov is not in play then I'd go for Batchelor or Bjerre. I'd leave Ward out (unless he is found to be innocent), but consider giving him a wild card for 2016

I notice that aktuellspeedway.se is still advertising a trip to the Riga GP. http://www.aktuellspeedway.se/ads/riga.pdf And to make matters worse - if anyone did go on it - the boat for the return trip across the Baltic left Sunday 5.30pm!

Didn't see that one coming - let's hope it comes off My best wishes to all involved

Udine is a name I remember from speedway results of the distant past. Is Terenzano a 'rebranding' of the Udine track or a separate stadium?

True, but with the possible exception of the final I'd be quite happy with a delayed broadcast, and given the amount of airtime they have to fill that shouldn't be too difficult to accommodate.

Here's the reply I received: "Apologies for the inconvenience but, in the end, we were unfortunately unable to provide coverage of the quarter-finals as previously stated. We take our coverage of the Elitserien Swedish Speedway from Eurosport International (the pan-European channel) and due to a schedule clash with the US Open they were unable to broadcast any coverage of the quarter-finals. We will, however, have coverage of the semi-finals (delayed, 19 & 16 Sept) and the final (live, 30 Sept & 1 Oct). The broadcast times will be available closer to the time on tv.eurosport.co.uk" Given the the repeat of Latvian GP today and the clash with recorded American Football it does suggest that speedway is quite low on their list of priorities.

refering back to the original thread, you will see that 1983 is the really interesting year, one with no real consensus at all. Sanders, Lee, Carter, Muller, Sigalos and inevitably Nielsen all have their advocates

Mr P will be along soon to explain that Hans Nielsen would have won all ten! He's not far off too be honest, and it is a credible outcome but I'm sure one or two would have escaped him. 85 - 90 Nielsen every time but I am sure that Gundersen would have pipped him somewhere along the line. If everything went to form Gundo would have been second 4 years in a row (and would have been heading for 2nd in 89 ahead of Shawn Moran or Kelvin Tatum before his career ending accident). I think Moran would have been 2nd in 1990 (assuming he wasn't stripped of his position through over-indulgence in cough medicine) 91 Nielsen again with Jonsson second (Jonsson was second to Nielsen in Polish averages and topped Swedish averages with Nielsen second) 92 Per Jonsson in his prime had the tools to beat Nielsen 93 Sam Ermolenko had a fantastic year - he was just superb, as well as topping British averages by some distance he also topped Polish averages with Nielsen 2nd. 94 Would have been back to Nielsen, but Jonsson might have been leading before his accident (Per topped Polish and British averages that season)

This discussion appears to have restarted in the darcy ward thread! The meat of the thread starts at post 56 (lucifersam) and is concisely summarised at post 274 (waitheaces1)

Discussed at length here http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=50265&p=1594656

Masochist!

My word - even more complicated than I'd imagined. and having tried to reconstruct meetings from Rosebank videos on Youtube I can appreciate what a mighty effort that must have been. Much appreciated

Ask me again in 20 years - if Darcy is still in the GPs (assuming that BSI's inability to run a piss up in a brewery hasn't killied them off), and competing for the world title then I might accept that you're claim has some credence.

Philip, Can I suggest a phrase containing the words: holes digging and stop. You appear to be oblivious to how much ill will you are generating. To suggest we need our hand holding while travelling in the EU is somewhat insulting, and to belittle the frustration felt by a group of fans who can and probably do contribute a substantial amount to British speedway by way of sponsorship is foolish.

If he knew about his parents break-up several weeks before, then perhaps the bad news he heard on Saturday was something new? Such as his local bar back in Aus going bust and closing.

He's young with no previous, and we are not talking Balco (organised steroids abuse in baseball) here, and quite possibly inadvertant. I'd have thought a one year ban sufficient.

When I was a youngster fatalaties occured at the rate of more than one a year - and that's just on British tracks. In the last 20 years there has been just poor David Nix. Some things are clearly better now.

It also begs the question of how many riders per race. 12 points from 3 rounds for Bunyan suggests a (4,4,4) score. So was it a 20 rider field with each round consisting of 4 heats of 5 riders. If so were there 5 riders in semi finals? That would at least make sense of the list of 10 riders qualifying for the semis. But we are still left with the mismatch in their identities

And can I thank you for a very comprehensive and useful guide to the possible outcomes.

Post 19 seems to be fair comment. The fixture pile-up situation (and remember it hasn't been a particularly wet summer) is an entirely predictable outcome of more and more riders doubling up and teams being reluctant to re-arrange fixtures with key riders missing. Promoters get slated for agreeing to fixtures when they have riders missing, they get slated for not finding a suitable date - they can't win. BUT they agreed last winter to the explosion of doubling (and tripling) up that has contributed to this. (There are other factors such as the calling off of matches on the strength of slightly iffy forecasts, and a proliferation of situations where guests are not allowed for absent riders [more of an EL problem])

Particularly galling as the introductory remarks promised us that the crucial clash would take place in heat 4. Is it really that difficult to avoid knowing the result? I found no problem.