PolskiZuzel

Polish speedway media are saying that Zielona Gora, Polish EkstraLiga Champions will be flying to the UK for a three-day practice session combined with two friendly test matches. The practice session and two friendlies are to be held at the King's Lynn track . The idea for co-promoting such an event was born at Zielona Gora a year ago and it’s mainly due to their involvement that these two friendlies will be staged this year. - We know what conditions were prevailing last March in Poland. We looked then enviously at the perfectly prepared English track and already have made first steps to stage such an event - said the Zielona Gora chairman, Marek Jankowski. The event at King’s Lynn will be known as the Pre-season International Speedway Cup,. The first day is scheduled just for practice rides. Weather in March in England is more or less assured and each rider will have the opportunity to ride on a well prepared track. To make sure that it is, Zielona Gora are taking with them their own trackmaster, because the point of this trip is that their riders will practice on a track comparable to that they will have in their own EkstraLiga - said Jankowski. On Saturday, March 19th, there will be a four team test match in which teams from King's Lynn, Zielona Gora, Berlin and the team composed of invited riders. Polish promoters are to invite world champion, Tai Woffinden to lead the team of invited riders. Each team will consist of four riders plus one reserve. The next day, there will be a final between the two best teams. English SKY TV and Polish POLSAT TV are to cover this event Details are most likely to be announced next Tuesday.

Thanks for clarification. Nothing should then stop Tai and Bomber to ride in the first two rounds and have a substitute for Bomber for the third round as he have to ride for his club on that day. But the BSPA did and the organizers had no option than to ask another nation instead . Which I believe they did.

Is nothing to do with BSPA ?...with whom then ? Polish speedway media are quoting One Sport Company representative as saying : "We have decided that the British Speedway will not participate, and does not approve of this kind of rivalry" – it I said in the (BSPA) response sent to the One Sport. Such a laconic reply surprised the One Sport representatives. - "We received a letter in which one sentence gives a clear BSPA position. That is - not granting permission for British riders to compete in events organized by us … without giving any reason. We talked this morning to Tai Woffinden, his comment regarding this situation is not suitable for citation. For you it might be "an unofficial boring old pair event", it might not be very popular in the UK. Does it mean it should not be promoted elsewhere. Does it mean that British speedway authorities (whoever that might be) have the right to prevent their riders earning money elsewhere. Surely not.

Thank you for your reply. I didn't know that your sources are confidential... still it's a great pity than even with a ( a possible) crowd of around 4,500 organizing such an event is not viable for Poole promotion.

Mr. Rising, I am aware that you are in position where you are hearing a lot of things, but would you kindly say "B" when you already said "A" and tell us why that proposed "one-off meeting" is unlikely to take place. No doubt we would also love to know the source of that hearing. Thank you.

I take your point...and thanks for replying. My view is that even today, when "things are not what they used to be" there is still a chance of working out who should ride for whom. As it was explained in my second post. I always believe that "if there is a will, there is a way".

Head should roll indeed. The question is - whose heads. I doubt whether "Team GB" has any say in this. It seems that it is BSPA, or generally speaking the British Federation who is boycotting anything One Sport try to organize. I wonder therefore whether they have any shares in the BSI/IMG. Jan Konikiewicz of the One Sport Company told SportoweFakty.pl "We received a letter in which BSPA in one sentence - without giving any reason - has given a clear position of not granting permission for the start of the British team in the competition organized by us. We talked this morning to Tai Woffinden, and his comment regarding this situation is not suitable for citation. We are sorry for all British fans, because in this competition the British Team certainly would have a good chance for the most important trophy. BSPA has been aiming (in effect) to extinguish speedway popularity in Great Britain, and does it with admirable consistency.

Explain to me, please, why Speedway Champions League might have worked in the 70s, and not now.

sportowefakty.pl are hot on this subject and have already started to speculate at possible line-ups. SPAR Falubaz ZIELONA GORA Patryk Dudek Jaroslaw Hampel Andreas Jonsson Piotr Protasiewicz Aleksandr Loktayev (reserve) Piraterna MOTALA: Greg Hancock Chris Holder Bjarne Pedersen Rory Schlein Linus Sundstroem (reserve) POOLE Pirates: Josh Grajczonek Maciej Janowski Vaclav Milik Darcy Ward Kyle Newman (reserve) Esbjerg Motorsport: Rene Bach Niels Kristian Iversen Mikkel Bech Jensen Artiom Laguta Zbigniew Suchecki (reserve) There is a problem with three riders. Patryk Dudek and Mikkela Bech Jensen both ride for Zielona gora and Esbjerg. sportowefakty.pl decided that in such a case riders should ride for their home league team. There was also a case of Darcy Ward, who rides Pirates in Poole and Motala. sportowefakty.pl placed Darcy in the British champions team because without him they would be outclassed. Matt Ford has to compete his line up and there is a chance that additional rider might be of some stature. sportowefakty.pl also are saying that back in 1996 Wroclaw have staged an event in which four league champions competed. the host, Atlas Wroclaw, Rospigarna Hallstavik, the Swedish champion, Eastbourne Eagles, the champions of the Elite League in Britain and the German champions msc Diedenberg. originally the Danes were invited but for some reason decided not to come to Wroclaw. instead the Germans were asked to replaced them. and it was the German team who won to everone surprise. The teams scorer were. for Diedenverg; Brian Karger (13), Gerd Riss (11), Chris Louis (7), Robert Kessler (4), Robert Kral (0) second came the hosts-Sparta Wroclaw (Ermolenko 10, Baron 9, Śledź 9, Załuski 6, , Zieliński dnr), third were Rospiggarna (Gustafsson 14, Nilsen 12 , Stenlund 3, Kyllingstad 4, Teurnberg 0), and fourth came Eastbourne (Kasper 6, Dannoe 6 Dugard 3, Andersson 3 Norris 0).

Apparently there are chances that as soon as this forthcoming season the long awaited and much discussed Speedway Champions League will get off the ground. According to revelations on the Polish website, sportowefakty.pl, new competition under the name of FIM speedway World League is about to be launched this year and there are a good chances that this project will come into being in the forthcoming speedway season 2014. I wonder how much truth is in this message. Another thing worth a note is that this time it is the FIM that is interested in this project. How they will sort out who rides for whom is another matter. So far this turned out to be something that no one was able to resolve. Still, I will wait and see.

Ticket prices for the European Grand Prix to be held April 26 in Bydgoszcz, are available now and cost the same as a year before. Most expensive are the Main Grandstand tickets costing 600.00 PLN (£120.00). The Temporary Grandstand (A) tickets, at the back straight, cost 195.00 PLN (around £39.00). Sector B tickets (on the back straight) cost 165.00 PLN (£33.00). The cheapest tickets are situated at the first and second bend (sector C) – 95.00 PLN (£19.00). Concessions tickets, only in sector C, will cost 65.00 PLN (£13.00) Bydgoszcz for the rights to stage SGP event has to pay BSI £200.000 . On top of that the club has to pay £18.500 to the Polish Motor Association for entering this event into the calendar, and has to find around £80.000 to cover the staging cost. In total Polonia Bydgoszcz speedway club will spend £320.000 in order to stage the European SGP on its track. If they get a turnout of 10.000 spectators they can expect £80.000 profit. There are 15.000 tickets on sale and Bydgoszcz hope that 80% will be sold.

If I were you I would not trust Google translation :-) If you, or anyone, need help, ask me felix.vallis@gmail.com off the list

Really???. Gollob has a wild card for 2014...and the rules ( as you see them) don't apply to wild cards.

Miedzinski ?... and why not!

Without getting too deeply into this subject I would only say this: Did you see Eurosport coverage of the SEC round in Togliatti? If you did, perhaps you would have to change your opinion

According to the Zielona Gora edition of Gazeta Wyborcza, the process of promoting this event , has already began, and for this purpose Polish champions no.1, Jaroslaw Hampel has recently visited London. First International Speedway Preseason Cup is the official name for the two-day tournament that will consist of three matches. On the first day of the tournament there will be two semi-finals, and the next - the finale. - This is a great opportunity to compete as a team - said Hampel on the Polish Radio London. - For the Polish fans residing in the British Isles it will be also the perfect time to see their favourite riders .

I am ever so grateful. Thank you very much That's marvellous.

I am told that one of the best known Polish clubs, GORZOW, in early 1977 were visiting British tracks. They lost all the matches: against King's Lynn (52:28), Reading (47:31), Leicester (59:19), Hackney (56:22) and Exeter (57:21). I was wondering. Is there anyone who (perhaps) could shed more light on these challenge matches. Scorer's names would be most appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

I am told that one of the best known Polish clubs, GORZOW, in early 1977 were visiting British tracks. They lost all the matches: against King's Lynn (52:28), Reading (47:31), Leicester (59:19), Hackney (56:22) and Exeter (57:21). I was wondering. Is there anyone who (perhaps) could shed more light on these challenge matches. Scorer's names would be most appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Yes, they have !

That's a very good idea....and a better one still would be that BSI/FIM should raise and train their own riders.

Why mincing words ? It is SHOCKING !!! Has Mr Bellamy seen this before accepting the place as SGP venue? I am more outraged to know that when it comes to Polish venues, he expects, and what's more, demands, this and that..and yet when it comes to other SGP venues (except Cardiff and Copenhagen) they are nothing else than dumps.

Gdansk, at the end of this season (2013) won Polish League ONE and as a result gained promotion to the Polish top flight division, i.e. Polish Speedway ExtraLeague

If I was rude, I would say - stuff you !, but obviously - I won't :-) The point isn't whether, or not, Poles are good at speedway. Although if you've looked at the winners in the SWC of recent years, you might think otherwise. The point is that ENEA Polish Speedway Ekstra Liga provides all SGP riders for GP rounds that are held on Saturdays. After that they (the riders) , tired, exhausted, or even injured have to rush across Europe for their engagement in Sunday's fixtures in Poland. It needs to be changed. It would not be "just out of spite". You might as well recall that in the years gone by British promoters were calling the same tune, because the British League was constantly ( in their opinion) interfered with by absences/excuses of SGP riders, who instead of riding Thursday's and Friday's fixtures in England. Not to mention Saturday's one had rush for official practice day of BSI event. The same is happening in Poland right now. After Saturday's GP rounds all GP participants have to rush for Sunday's fixture in Poland. Often they are tired, exhausted, deflated, or even injured. They are paid well there, so promoters and the fans expect them to perform accordingly. And often, on more occasion than one, it doesn't happens. Fans and promoters are frustrated, if not openly fed up. It can't go on. He who pays calls the tune. That's all what's to it.

Not bad ? Anti BSI/SGP feelings of Polish fans have been known for some years . It's nothing new, and the last move of BSI/FIM looks like a last straw. There are already voices calling for 'twit for tat'. If BSI/FIM wants to play dirty, let them, but they will be paid back by the same tactics. Sundays matches in the Polish Ekstra Liga are likely to be switched to Saturdays. Which means that unless BSI will pay more than Polish League, SGP riders will ride on Saturdays in Poland. That's one option already mentioned. There are many more to be considered.