Rico

'Ey up Rico - hows it going ? 2nd bend in the Polonia kop ? Is Tomek Elwood going ? It will certainly be out in that direction, whether one of my colleagues would be up for the rowdies I'm not sure - some reassurance will hopefully sort that issue out. Elwood is hoping to attend, he certainly hasn't booked anything as yet. New job has seen his GP attendance record plummet but I'd imagine he'll be making special arrangements to attend the big 'un. Will we be graced with the company of Papa B etc etc this year ? I'm sure one of the etc's will encourage Tomek to go (given Tom's comments last year) I'd have my camera ready for the moment they met again Let me know what GPs you are going to so I know when to look out for you. Rico

A recent snippet on the SGP Site said Six riders hava a chance to ride with a wild card in European Grand Prix in Wroclaw (May, 29th). Polish Motorcycling Association will choose two of them on April, 26th and send its proposal to FIM. Slawomir Drabik Robert Miskowiak (Atlas Wroclaw), Rafal Kurmanski (ZKZ Zielona Gora), Wieslaw Jagus (Apator Torun), Janusz Kolodziej (Unia Tarnow) and Krzysztof Kasprzak (Unia Leszno) are the candidates. "Nobody can be certain yet" - said the vicepresident od Polish Motorcycling Federation, Andrzej Grodzki. We will decide after next the next round of Extraleague, with takes place on Sunday. Media in Poland claim that Drabik is favourite to be given a wild card. "I can't confirm, I can't deny. But it is likely, that we will choose young riders" - said Grodzki. In that situation Drabik don't have much chances, as he is 38. Doesn't look like Dobrucki was even under consideration looking at the above. I'd have loved to have seen Kolodziej taking part, having seen him ride at Reading a few times. Kasprzak has never quite convinced me. I don't think I've seen Kurmanski ride so I haven't got an opinion either way on him. Jagus, despite being late 20s early 30s is a rider who has impressed me and I often wonder how he would fare in the EL, he's certainly good enough. I guess it might be another slightly political choice of Wild Card, given that Tarnow already have 2 riders in the field - hopefully Janusz can continue to impress and he might be given a Wild Card chance in Bydgoszcz. Rico

Mateusz, Clearly you are growing up faster than I can imagine. Lech and ladies, tut tut We'll hopefully catch up with you at some point during the day - I'm still on the same mobile number - let me know if yours has changed. Hopefully it'll be a scorching day and we can enjoy some outdoor piwo drinking and pani watching I was given the 'correct' spelling of my signature by a Polish chum in Reading - some friend Thank you for correcting the error Rico

Looks like we're in with the prawn sandwich brigade in gates 21 and 22 - we've gone for the Sector A tickets I admire your dedication to the cause Mateusz but the thought of having to queue for so long puts me off getting an unallocated seat, expecially as it's our first visit to Wroclaw. I really hope the place is packed to the rafters though. Bydgoszcz in September I reckon we'll be going out on the terracing. I see the Wild Cards are going to be decided soon - I am hoping for Kolodziej and Jagus. Rico

Hey GG4Eva. No probs at all. We tried to get you over there last year but clearly failed. Your damn right if you're there then we'll catch up. We'll have a Premiership trophy to celebrate after all. Assuming you get yourself sorted out shout me up off list and we'll catch up with you and your bloke whose arm must be twisted all kinds of ways Rico

Polish Rail Site Wroclaw itself looks really nice - a very historic city. We're booked up in the Radisson SAS, but there are plenty of hotels in the town. This is my first time to Wroclaw, so can't really be much more help than that. I'm sure if you have a search on the net you'll read nothing but positive things about the place. Certainly the guide books are quite complimentary. The track, every time I've seen it, seems to produce some good racing, so game on. Rico

Anyone contemplating going to Wroclaw from southern England and hasn't booked a flight yet, then check out Wizzair who have flights from London Luton to Katowice (a couple of hours by train to Wroclaw). Outbound flights are currently priced at £13.99 and return at £32.99 - with tax that works out at £64.30 return - bargain !! Rico

Had a look on the Radisson site and they don't appear to have a hotel listed in Bydgoszcz. Have you got a link to the hotel you are referring to ? Rico

Bydgoszcz is an industrial town - I wouldn't particularly call it rough from my own experience certainly. The nightlife in Bydgoszcz is usually fun, to say the least ! It's what you make of it after all. Torun may be a tad more aesthetically pleasing, though I haven't sampled the nightlife there yet. My recommendation, certainly for the night of the GP would be to book up a hotel in Torun if you can't get anywhere in Bydgoszcz just now and hope that something comes up late on. You usually find rooms becoming available nearer the time as the organisors / sponsors release rooms they aren't using. There was a fine looking hotel we found last year when scraping around for accomodation that was just outside Bydgoszcz (can't recall the name of it just now but have a look on a site like Polhotel - eventually we managed to get all our crew into the Pod Orlem though - a fine hotel ! There are other topics discussing Bydgoszcz as well that you might find helpful beercellar. One of which is here. Rico

Check this topic out - Bydgoszcz discussion- if you need any more just shout. Rico

No probs sjw - after your earlier nice comments about me I'm only too glad to help. Have to say the price for the City Hotel is a bit much - we're booked into the Pod Orlem, a classy old-style hotel and I can't imagine (I haven't had it confirmed) it being more than £60 per room per night. I've stayed there the last 3 years and they really look after you, but may be booked out by now. City Hotel, however, does have the advantage of having the nightclub underneath it, which is a must-do - only a short stagger back to our hotel from there Rico

Hi sjw, Hopefully I'll be able to give you some pointers. Warsaw is quite an interesting place, a lot to see there. Has some nice green areas, a lot of monuments / buildings to look at and also has lots of shops, depends what you want from the place. As for the beer, it's like anywhere - some places go ott (stay out of any of the Holiday Inn / Marriott hotel bars for starters - they charge around 12-15 zl, around £2 a beer). There are plenty of restaurants and bars in Warsaw to cater for almost every taste. Pre/during trip reading material that might be of use to you - I quite like the "Rough Guide to Poland" - gives quite in-depth coverage of Warsaw, but a lot of other interesting info can be gleaned from there. If you want to be able to communicate in Polish, then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Lonely Planet Polish Phrasebook. It's been put to use a few times. As I've mentioned on a couple of other threads, try looking up sites like Virtual Tourist which has lots of useful info and tips and also whets the appetite for some of the treats in store I do hope that was £190 for 2 return tickets - the introduction of Air Polonia seems to have generated some healthy competition between the rival airlines and the tickets are around 40% cheaper than they were were 4 years ago. I'm sure you'll have a great time when you're out there - if you need anything else, just shout. Otherwise, hopefully bump into you out there. Rico

We either get the train to Warszawa Centralny or Warszawa Zachodnia(the direct trains stop there as well usually), which I think is slightly closer to the airport. It must be around 5 miles to the airport at a guess, but should only cost 30 zloty at most. You've just got to be careful which taxis you take when coming out of the station, some bandits around. Make sure you find out your price in advance of getting in or that he is on a meter. Is that enough info Joanne ? Rico

Check the Polish Rail Webiste Joanne. There is a 9.05 that gets into Warsaw at 12.55. If you go with that then clearly you won't be partaking in the usual post-meeting parties after Bydgoszcz Rico

Good thanks Papa B ! I hear you e-mailed Tomek. Thanks for putting the photos online. As I missed out on the Gniezno trip it was interesting to see the track - looks a good 'un. Whilst writing it's worth noting that Air Polonia have released most of their summer schedule - I managed to get a weekend return to Warsaw for £38 in August, just for fun. Don't think I'll be using them on GP weekends though. Their website is here Rico

We sat in B last time - a fine view. My personal preference is not to be behind the start-line, so that's ruled A out for us. I am pretty sure our ticket organiser will be plumping for B again. If you want the atmosphere of the stadium get out in the standing area, however some of our party aren't going for the atmosphere Make sure and get a drink in the bar outside the stadium either on practice day or pre-meeting - great for lazing around on the grass with a couple of ridiculously cheap beers and watching the world go by. NB world in this context means Polish speedway fans. Rico

Try the Lot website. They seem very competitive at the moment. Rico

Bydgoszcz has been discussed recently here. I aint been to Krsko yet but I am sure others will have. Cue J-D. Rico

Oh to have friends that would tolerate such low-priced accomodation - last time we were in some £100 a night hotel for 4 nights in Prague. At least this time it's looking like it might be down to £60 per night in Prague for the GP. Word of warning Chris, Tomek is seriously contemplating the Golden Helmet weekend Rico Dunno what kinda err....<ahem> 'hotel' you were staying in Rico-either that or they saw you coming (NO lt!) Last July when in Ceske taking a penthouse suite in Prague city centre for a night in a 4 star cost us £35 a night. It was a nice Hotel but as I'm sure you can appreciate I am not used to spending much time in my room Rico

That's a bit harsh on the lad - you know I'd just spend the whole weekend trying to set him on fire Rico

Oh to have friends that would tolerate such low-priced accomodation - last time we were in some £100 a night hotel for 4 nights in Prague. At least this time it's looking like it might be down to £60 per night in Prague for the GP. Word of warning Chris, Tomek is seriously contemplating the Golden Helmet weekend Rico

Once tickets are available a link will appear on the SGP Site site . Only the GPs with tickets on sale have links when your mouse goes over the venue name. Rico

Being honest there isn't a great deal to see in Bydgoszcz itself. Don't get me wrong, it's pleasant enough and has a nice market square etc but it isn't a tourist hotspot. Here's a link to the official Bydgoszcz Site which gives you some info on the city. Have a look around the net on sites like Virtual Tourist and the likes and you can see what both people who live there and travellers think of the place. I'd hate to think people took my word as gospel Depending on your arrangements Warsaw is definitely worth taking at least a day to wander around. As for the trains, I'd suggest that they are as a rule pretty reliable, however obviously give yourself plenty of leeway for catching your plane. I'm sure you'd do that here as well. From experience I've only been delayed once and it wasn't too long, perhaps 1/2 hour or so, but other than that they've been bang on time. Happy 100th Post to me Rico

Sounds exactly the kind of deal I got myself Wackie - only downer about the trip is having to get a flight at 0620 in the morning. As I said on another topic it just adds to the fun organising it for yourself and you save a bit of cash as well. Rico

Check my posting further up the page - it contains a link to the Polish Rail Site. There will be trains on the Sunday from Bydgoszcz to Warsaw. Might be worth your while hanging around if there's a league match in the vicinity on Sunday (Torun or Pila for example). Rico