Peter

Krzysztof Kasprzak has withdrawn from the Polish GP. His place will be taken by Rafal Szombierski.

Thanks for the explination about Jason Lyons' back wheel.

I heard the Polish Grand Prix is going to be sponsored by Tampax.... because BSI are going through a bad period. :clown

Just before the tapes went up in heat 4, I noticed Jason Lyons' rear wheel was spinning. Can any technical person out there tell me why it was spinning when the green light was on? I didn't notice this with anyone else's bike.

The FIM Scandinavian Grand Prix was postponed on Saturday night due to problems with the track that made racing impossible at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg. The rescheduled date of the event is next Saturday, August 30th at 1900h. John Postlethwaite, Chief Executive, Benfield Sports International, rights holders of the world championship series, said: “From a racing point of view it was the only decision we could make. It is not fair to decide a world championship on a track like we had tonight. There were mitigating circumstances and mistakes made and the rain on Thursday and Friday combined with the cancellations of practice exacerbated the problems we had. If we had had practice on Friday we would have been aware of the problems earlier and been able to take earlier action. “I have noted that SVEMO, the Swedish federation, have taken public responsibility for the poor state of the track but this of little consolation to the speedway public at large. “The people I feel most devastated for are the fans who have put a lot of energy into supporting us and speedway’s revival. This will only make me more determined to make sure that none of these problems will ever arise again. I would like to apologise to everybody and I hope that we are able to put a meeting to be proud of on a new track surface here at Ullevi next weekend." Anyone who cannot make it back to Ullevi next weekend will be fully refunded with both the ticket price and stadium booking fees. The track was prepared by SVEMO, whose spokesperson Rolf Sundberg admitted at the press conference immediately after the event that mistakes had been made. FIM Race Director, Ole Olsen, whose track building team have been responsible for the excellent surface at PARKEN Stadium, Copenhagen, this year, will take over the responsibility for preparing a suitable race surface for the world championship event next Saturday night. Tickets for tonight’s event (August 23) will be valid for the Grand Prix next Saturday (August 30). Those unavailable to attend next weekend’s event can obtain a full refund at Scandinavium’s ticket office or from point of purchase from Monday August 25 at 10am or alternatively send tickets back to: Got Event AB, Ticket Office Box 349, 401 24 Gotheburg. With your name, address, telephone number and bank account details for money transfer refund. Enquiries about tickets can also be sent to: gotevent@gotevent.se

Maybe once or twice, but that's about it! I don't think my Dad has ever filled a programme in without making a mistake and he's been going for 40 years! He's always asking me to borrow my programme. There are times myself where I forget to fill in the riders scorechart and someone's 4th ride has become their 3rd ride according to my programme! PorkyFenman's remarks are not worthy of response, so I'm not going to reply to him. His signature sums up his comments.

In the third and final group meeting of the speedway world cup in Holsted, a determined Polish squad fought back from an early deficit to beat the more fancied Sweden and join Denmark and Australia as automatic qualifiers for Saturday's grand final. The now familiar patters of the preceding meetings was repeated as the “big guns” slugged it out wheel-to-wheel with the lessor nations scrapping around for any points they could find. On Tuesday evening it was the turn of the Hungarians to be totally outclassed but a strong performance over the latter part of the meeting saw the Russians finish on 28 points and qualify for the race-off on Thursday by virtue of a higher world ranking than Slovenia who also scored 28 last night. Right from the off Sweden showed why they were rated as odds-on shots by the bookmaking fraternity to win this meeting. Five time world champion won two of the first seven races with Andreas Jonsson, Peter Karlsson and David Ruud also enjoying a heat win to leave their country holding a three point lead over Poland and looking strong. Further wins by Jonsson and Karlsson in heats nine and ten pushed that lead out to four approaching the half way point as the Poles then got in to gear and launched a superb recovery. Piotr Protasiewicz, Jarek Hampel, Thomas Gollob and Tomasz Bajerski slammed in four straight Polish wins to put them a point ahead after Ruud could do no better than third in heat fourteen. Rickardsson then blazed away to his third win of the night to level the score after heat fifteen then Jonsson raced away with heat sixteen to push the Swedes back in front as the lead changed hands again only for Sebastian Ulamek to take heat seventeen from Karlsson and square it off. Russia, chasing a target of 28 points minimum to make the second chance race-off, were in with a fighting chance of doing just that and elected to play their “tactical joker” in heat seventeen where Sergei Darkin's points would count double. Seeing as he'd finished last in the preceding race it seemed something of a gamble. But he showed great composure and improved form to see off Protasiewicz with Ruud at the rear for Sweden the momentum changed yet again with the Poles holding a two point lead while Darkin's half dozen put the Russians in sight of another go on Thursday. Hampel, looking as stylish as they come, helped himself to a personal fourth win of the evening in heat nineteen leaving Rickardsson behind him then Gollob was first home in the next – incredibly trying to team-ride with Russia's Roman Povahzny in an attempt to block out Michael Max – to give his country a four point advantage which looked like being enough. Or was it? Karlsson took heat twenty-one to become the first Swedish winner since heat sixteen and with Hampel only able to manage third – his first defeat – a two point swing in favour of the Swedes made it sweaty palm time. Who would hold their nerve the best over the remaining three heats was the big question. That was quickly answered. Gollob always controlled heat twenty-two from the front but with Ruud unable to find a way through from the back the Poles went five up. Even so, they were not safe as if they went six ahead then the Swedes would have a “hail Mary” chance on the last heat with a tactical joker and would need to hope the Polish representative met misfortune. Rickardsson did win the penultimate race but knowing that second place was enough, Bajerski didn't put in too much of a challenge and instead secured the second place that sent to Poles to Vojens and the Swedes to a confrontation with Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia after Povazhny's third place gave them the magic number of 28. And then a little drama to conclude matters. Csaba Hell hit a rut on turn one of heat twenty-five and shot in to Jonsson sending both flying and Hell in to an exclusion. Three rider lined up for the re-start. Jonsson was chasing Protasiewicz with the Russian Gafurov chasing him. This time, Gafurov found a rut which shot his front wheel in to the air and left him not choice but to t-bone the doubly unlucky Jonsson. Fortunately no injuries but now just two riders – Jonsson and Protasiewicz – would contest another re-run. Protasiewicz held a winning lead from Jonsson but then became the third rider in the same overall heat to find trouble getting way out of shape and baling out leaving Jonsson to ride round alone for his three points. Hungary 9 Z Adorjan 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 N Magosi 2 1 0 1 1 = 5 S Tihanyi 0 1 0 1 0 = 2 S Vida 0 0 0 0 C Hell 0 0 0 0 X = 0 Sweden 56 T Rickardsson 3 3 3 2 3 = 14 M Max 1 2 2 2 2 = 9 A Jonsson 3 3 2 3 3 = 14 P Karlsson 3 3 2 2 3 = 13 D Ruud 2 3 1 R 0 = 6 Russia 28 S Darkin 1 0 2 0 = 3 R Gafurov 0 1 1 2 = 4 S Vlasov 1 1 1 1 2 = 6 R Povazhny 1 2 1 1 1 = 6 D Gizatulin 1 0 1 = 2 Poland 58 T Gollob 2 2 3 3 3 = 13 T Bajerski 3 2 3 2 2 = 12 S Ulamek 2 1 2 3 3 = 11 P Protasiewicz 2 2 3 2 X = 9 J Hampel 3 3 3 3 1 = 13 Heat Details....................................................Hu Sw Ru Po 1: T Rickardsson, T Gollob, S Darkin, Z Adorjan 0: 3: 1: 2: 2: T Bajerski, N Magosi, M Max, R Gafurov 2: 4: 1: 5: 3: A Jonsson, S Ulamek, S Vlasov, S Tihanyi 2: 7: 2: 7: 4: P Karlsson, P Protasiewicz, R Povazhny, S Vida 2: 10: 3: 9: 5: J Hampel, D Ruud, D Gizatulin, C Hell 2: 12: 4: 12: 6: D Ruud, R Povazhny, S Ulamek, Z Adorjan 2: 15: 6: 13: 7: T Rickardsson, P Protasiewicz, N Magosi, D Gizatulin 3: 18: 6: 15: 8: J Hampel, M Max, S Tihanyi, S Darkin 4: 20: 6: 18: 9: A Jonsson, T Gollob, R Gafurov, S Vida 4: 23: 7: 20: 10: P Karlsson, T Bajerski, S Vlasov, C Hell 4: 26: 8: 22: 11: P Protasiewicz, M Max, S Vlasov, Z Adorjan 4: 28: 9: 25: 12: J Hampel, A Jonsson, R Povazhny, N Magosi 4: 30: 10: 28: 13: T Gollob, P Karlsson, D Gizatulin, S Tihanyi 4: 32: 11: 31: 14: T Bajerski, S Darkin, D Ruud, S Vida 4: 33: 13: 34: 15: T Rickardsson, S Ulamek, R Gafurov, C Hell 4: 36: 14: 36: 16: A Jonsson, T Bajerski, Povashny, Z Adorjan 4: 39: 15: 38: 17: S Ulamek, P Karlsson, N Magosi, S Darkin 5: 41: 15: 41: 18: Darkin (TJ), P Protasiewicz, S Tihanyi, D Ruud ® 6: 41: 21: 43: 19: J Hampel, T Rickardsson, S Vlasov, Tihanyi 6: 43: 22: 46: 20: T Gollob, M Max, R Povazhny, C Hell 6: 45: 23: 49: 21: P Karlsson, R Gafurov, J Hampel, Z Adorjan 6: 48: 25: 50: 22: T Gollob, S Vlasov, N Magosi, D Ruud 7: 48: 27: 53: 23: T Rickardsson, T Bajerski, R Povazhny, S Tihanyi 7: 51: 28: 55: 24: S Ulamek, M Max, Magosi (TJ), Gizatulin 9: 53: 28: 58: 25: A Jonsson, C Hell (X), Gafurov (X), P Protasiewicz (X) 9: 56: 28: 58:

In the third and final group meeting of the speedway world cup in Holsted, a determined Polish squad fought back from an early deficit to beat the more fancied Sweden and join Denmark and Australia as automatic qualifiers for Saturday's grand final. The now familiar patters of the preceding meetings was repeated as the “big guns” slugged it out wheel-to-wheel with the lessor nations scrapping around for any points they could find. On Tuesday evening it was the turn of the Hungarians to be totally outclassed but a strong performance over the latter part of the meeting saw the Russians finish on 28 points and qualify for the race-off on Thursday by virtue of a higher world ranking than Slovenia who also scored 28 last night. Right from the off Sweden showed why they were rated as odds-on shots by the bookmaking fraternity to win this meeting. Five time world champion won two of the first seven races with Andreas Jonsson, Peter Karlsson and David Ruud also enjoying a heat win to leave their country holding a three point lead over Poland and looking strong. Further wins by Jonsson and Karlsson in heats nine and ten pushed that lead out to four approaching the half way point as the Poles then got in to gear and launched a superb recovery. Piotr Protasiewicz, Jarek Hampel, Tomasz Gollob and Tomasz Bajerski slammed in four straight Polish wins to put them a point ahead after Ruud could do no better than third in heat fourteen. Rickardsson then blazed away to his third win of the night to level the score after heat fifteen then Jonsson raced away with heat sixteen to push the Swedes back in front as the lead changed hands again only for Sebastian Ulamek to take heat seventeen from Karlsson and square it off. Russia, chasing a target of 28 points minimum to make the second chance race-off, were in with a fighting chance of doing just that and elected to play their “tactical joker” in heat seventeen where Sergei Darkin's points would count double. Seeing as he'd finished last in the preceding race it seemed something of a gamble. But he showed great composure and improved form to see off Protasiewicz with Ruud at the rear for Sweden the momentum changed yet again with the Poles holding a two point lead while Darkin's half dozen put the Russians in sight of another go on Thursday. Hampel, looking as stylish as they come, helped himself to a personal fourth win of the evening in heat nineteen leaving Rickardsson behind him then Gollob was first home in the next – incredibly trying to team-ride with Russia's Roman Povazhny in an attempt to block out Mikael Max – to give his country a four point advantage which looked like being enough. Or was it? Karlsson took heat twenty-one to become the first Swedish winner since heat sixteen and with Hampel only able to manage third – his first defeat – a two point swing in favour of the Swedes made it sweaty palm time. Who would hold their nerve the best over the remaining three heats was the big question. That was quickly answered. Gollob always controlled heat twenty-two from the front but with Ruud unable to find a way through from the back the Poles went five up. Even so, they were not safe as if they went six ahead then the Swedes would have a “hail Mary” chance on the last heat with a tactical joker and would need to hope the Polish representative met misfortune. Rickardsson did win the penultimate race but knowing that second place was enough, Bajerski didn't put in too much of a challenge and instead secured the second place that sent to Poles to Vojens and the Swedes to a confrontation with Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia after Povazhny's third place gave them the magic number of 28. And then a little drama to conclude matters. Csaba Hell hit a rut on turn one of heat twenty-five and shot in to Jonsson sending both flying and Hell in to an exclusion. Three rider lined up for the re-start. Jonsson was chasing Protasiewicz with the Russian Gafurov chasing him. This time, Gafurov found a rut which shot his front wheel in to the air and left him not choice but to t-bone the doubly unlucky Jonsson. Fortunately no injuries but now just two riders – Jonsson and Protasiewicz – would contest another re-run. Protasiewicz held a winning lead from Jonsson but then became the third rider in the same overall heat to find trouble getting way out of shape and baling out leaving Jonsson to ride round alone for his three points. HUNGARY: 9 Zoltan Adorjan 0 Norbert Magosi 7 Sandor Tihanyi 2 Szabolcs Vida 0 Csaba Hell 0 SWEDEN: 56 Tony Rickardsson 14 Mikael Max 9 Andreas Jonsson 14 Peter Karlsson 13 David Ruud 6 RUSSIA: 28 Sergei Darkin 9 Renat Gafurov 4 Semen Vlasov 6 Roman Povazhny 7 Denis Gizatulin 2 POLAND: 58 Tomasz Gollob 13 Tomasz Bajerski 12 Sebastian Ulamek 11 Piotr Protasiwicz 9 Jarek Hampel 13 Heat Details....................................................Hu Sw Ru Po 1: T Rickardsson, T Gollob, S Darkin, Z Adorjan 0: 3: 1: 2: 2: T Bajerski, N Magosi, M Max, R Gafurov 2: 4: 1: 5: 3: A Jonsson, S Ulamek, S Vlasov, S Tihanyi 2: 7: 2: 7: 4: P Karlsson, P Protasiewicz, R Povazhny, S Vida 2: 10: 3: 9: 5: J Hampel, D Ruud, D Gizatulin, C Hell 2: 12: 4: 12: 6: D Ruud, R Povazhny, S Ulamek, Z Adorjan 2: 15: 6: 13: 7: T Rickardsson, P Protasiewicz, N Magosi, D Gizatulin 3: 18: 6: 15: 8: J Hampel, M Max, S Tihanyi, S Darkin 4: 20: 6: 18: 9: A Jonsson, T Gollob, R Gafurov, S Vida 4: 23: 7: 20: 10: P Karlsson, T Bajerski, S Vlasov, C Hell 4: 26: 8: 22: 11: P Protasiewicz, M Max, S Vlasov, Z Adorjan 4: 28: 9: 25: 12: J Hampel, A Jonsson, R Povazhny, N Magosi 4: 30: 10: 28: 13: T Gollob, P Karlsson, D Gizatulin, S Tihanyi 4: 32: 11: 31: 14: T Bajerski, S Darkin, D Ruud, S Vida 4: 33: 13: 34: 15: T Rickardsson, S Ulamek, R Gafurov, C Hell 4: 36: 14: 36: 16: A Jonsson, T Bajerski, Povashny, Z Adorjan 4: 39: 15: 38: 17: S Ulamek, P Karlsson, N Magosi, S Darkin 5: 41: 15: 41: 18: Darkin (TJ), P Protasiewicz, S Tihanyi, D Ruud ® 6: 41: 21: 43: 19: J Hampel, T Rickardsson, S Vlasov, Tihanyi 6: 43: 22: 46: 20: T Gollob, M Max, R Povazhny, C Hell 6: 45: 23: 49: 21: P Karlsson, R Gafurov, J Hampel, Z Adorjan 6: 48: 25: 50: 22: T Gollob, S Vlasov, N Magosi, D Ruud 7: 48: 27: 53: 23: T Rickardsson, T Bajerski, R Povazhny, S Tihanyi 7: 51: 28: 55: 24: S Ulamek, M Max, Magosi (TJ), Gizatulin 9: 53: 28: 58: 25: A Jonsson, C Hell (X), Gafurov (X), P Protasiewicz (X) 9: 56: 28: 58:

I had a look at Middlesbrough's Cleveland Park Life website and in the 'Where are they now?' section, they list a rider called Paul Furniss. It says: PAUL FURNISS - Appeared in junior scurries at Cleveland Park in 1969 and 1970. His brother Nigel ran the administrative side of the speedway. Lives in Thornaby.

Thanks for the kind words, but being the honest person I am, I copy and pasted the report from the speedway section of www.crash.net !!

In my opinion, the number of teams should be reduced from twelve to eight. There's just not enough teams that can compete with the top countries. I would like to see two semi-finals of four, with the top two going through to the final. It's a shame that some riders don't want to represent their country. Take Germany for example. They have riders like Gerd Riss and Robert Barth, but they won't ride. With their strongest team, Germany would do so much better. The Speedway World Cup isn't as good as it should be. The format needs looking at and and ALL the countries need to take it serious, not treat it as just another meeting. This year, the crowds haven't been that good so far. Whether it's down to poor advertising or over-priced tickets, I don't know.

Jason said: "Everyone played their part". Here's the press release in full: Press Release from: Benfield Sports International. FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP (SWC) EVENT 2, 4TH AUGUST, OUTRUP, DENMARK AUSTRALIA BATTLE TO FINAL AUSTRALIA are through to the final of the Speedway World Cup ... but only just. The defending champions were given a run for their money by Great Britain in Outrup tonight and only a last heat victory for the unbeaten Jason Crump clinched their victory and qualification for Vojens. Great Britain, inspired by Lee Richardson, whose Heat 20 ride as a Joker earned six points and brought his side to within one of Australia. Richardson then won his next ride and a further win for David Norris put the Brits one ahead. But the gallant Aussies knew that their big two of Crump and Leigh Adams, also unbeaten, were out in the final two races. And what trump cards they proved to be. Aussie skipper Leigh Adams was quick to praise Britain, saying: 'They pushed us all the way. They were really pumped up tonight and that Joker ride, plus a broken chain for Todd Wiltshire, really put us under pressure.' Team manager Neil Street said he always believed his team would go through at the first attempt, even when they lost the lead with just a few races left. It was a pressure situation for Crump but one in which he thrives. 'I knew how important it was,' said Crump. 'We have all planned to go back to England for a few days and that would have been wrecked had we had to come back on Thursdsay for the race-off. I would have had four angry guys after me. 'But everyone played their part tonight. Jason Lyons was terrific, Ryan pulled out a big one when we needed it and Todd battled through. We have a great team spirit and now we can relax for a couple of days before coming back to Denmark and racing the final.' Adams added: 'It was hard tonight because there was really only two teams in it. That meant that even if you won a race, you only gained a one point advantage. It probably would have been different had the USA been here. But we are through to the Final and we will be going for our third straight Speedway World Cup win.' FIM Speedway World Cup Event 2, 4TH August 2003 Team scores and scorers: AUSTRALIA: 62 Leigh Adams 15 Jason Crump 15 Jason Lyons 14 Ryan Sullivan 11 Todd Wiltshire 7 GREAT BRITAIN: 60 Lee Richardson 19 David Norris 12 Scott Nicholls 11 Dean Barker 10 Gary Havelock 8 SLOVENIA: 28 Matej Zagar 13 Jernej Kolenko 5 Izak Santej 4 Ales Dolinar 4 Denis Stojs 2 ITALY: 6 Cristian Miotello 3 Andrea Maida 2 Simone Muratelli 1 Simone Terenzani 0 Daniele Tessari 0 Next events of the FIM Speedway World Cup: Event 3: 5th August, Holsted Sweden v Poland v Russia v Hungary Race Off: 7th August, Outrup Second placed nations from Events 1, 2 and 3 plus two highest scoring third placed teams. Final: 9th August, Vojens Winners of Events 1, 2 and 3 plus the top two nations from the Race Off

Talking of Crumpy, there was a press release from Benfield Sports International after the Aussies went through to the final. Part of it was a quote from Jason which was: "But everyone played their part tonight. Jason Lyons was terrific, Ryan pulled out a big one when we needed it and Todd battled through." Ryan pulled out a big one?

Defending champions Australia automatically qualified for Sunday's speedway world cup final after just edging out Great Britain in Outrup. In a classic two horse race, Australia stretched out to a seven point lead only for the tide of fortune to dramatically turn Britain's way and set up a high tension finale. Matej Zagar got the Slovenians off to a flyer with a big win in heat one from Scott Nicholls with Todd Wiltshire third and Italian Maida some way back. Lee Richardson raced away with the second from Sullivan was the Aussie's first heat winner in the third and David Norris kept up Team GB's fine start with a second after leading Adams for three laps. Gary Havelock pumped himself up to jet away from Jason Crump and looked on for a shock win until he dropped back with a troublesome throttle but had enough in hand to hold on to second place. GB and Australia had already opened up a small chink of daylight between themselves and Slovenia with the Italians, as Germany were yesterday, seriously outclassed. Jason Lyons outpaced Dean Barker in heat five to emphasise the trend that Australia and Great Britain would be fighting it out for the win and the Slovenian target being to exceed the Finnish score of yesterday and qualify for the race-off on Thursday. An Australian won the next three heats from a Brit and the sequence wasn't broken until heat nine when Lee Richardson sped up the inside of Todd Wiltshire to take the lead and win. Norris then raised his game and chipped another point back with a fine win over Sullivan in heat ten as the Brits refused to give in to the more fancied Australians who lead by just two points from Team GB on a total of 25. It remained a two point gap after the next series of races, two won by an Australian and two by a Brit whose fighting spirit was typified by Barker's chase and pass of Wiltshire in heat thirteen. Adams then outpaced Richardson to win heat fifteen and give the Australians a three point lead at the interval stage after which nine heats would be left to race and the tactical permutations assumed a greater importance. If The Brits went six or more points behind they had the option of nominating a rider to score double points in just one race which would obviously close any gap significantly. But the Aussies will have been well aware of that and probably not wanting to get in to that situation. Zagar popped out to take heat sixteen to repeat his heat one success but with Sullivan second the Australians nosed a further point in front. And that lead became five points after heat seventeen in which the smooth Adams helped himself to his fourth win of the evening. Crump roared around early leader Richardson in heat eighteen to put the Aussies six ahead, blow any “tactical” second place ploys out of the water and open up a potential recovery route for Great Britain. Lyons beat Norris in heat nineteen to push it out to a seven point lead. Then with races running out Team GB manager Neil Middleditch played his remaining card putting his faith in Lee Richardson to score double points. And how things changed after a heat of high drama. Zagar, also racing for double points as Slovenia attempted to exceed Finland's score from yesterday, lead narrowly from Wiltshire entering the back straight. Richardson cruised up the inside of both to take the lead. Wiltshire threaded a way past Zagar and gave chase to Richardson as the two went wheel-to-wheel. Wiltshire put in a big inside challenge late on only to unluckily hit a rut and throw a chain. A huge slice of British luck as Richardson's six points coupled with Wiltshire's misfortune meant a six point chunk taken out of Australia's lead which at a stroke had become just a single point. All square after heat twenty-one when Richardson became the first to defeat Lyons. Momentum firmly with the Brits with just five heats to go – still room for a few more twists of fate perhaps. Not in heat twenty-two when Norris came good again to defeat Wiltshire and put Team GB ahead for the first time and on course for an automatic route to Sunday's final if they could hold on to it over the last three heats. Sullivan swept around Havelock to record his first win of the meeting at a crucial point to level it all up again with now just two races to go as the tension mounted to almost unbearable levels. Another win from Leigh Adams in the penultimate heat over Barker put the Aussies back in front by a point going in to the final race. Crump would go for Australia and Nicholls for Great Britain. If Crump won, Australia would go through. If Nicholls won and Crump came second it would mean an all-or-nothing race off to decide which team would be off to Vojens. Crump got the marginally better start, held off a stiff early challenge from Nicholls before pulling out a comfortable winning margin to complete his own maximum and send his country, defending champions, to the final and sentence Great Britain to Thursday's race-off where they must finish in the top two to gain the opportunity of another crack at the Aussies. Slovenia – for whom Zagar was their only real scorer and the only man to win a race bar a Brit and an Aussie – fell short of their target of 33 points and finished the night on 28. The Italians – only racing due the American withdrawal – mustered six points. But on an evening where fortunes were influenced by just a few links of chain, the heavy odds-on favourites had the power at the death with big guns Crump and Adams but team GB can hold their heads high and on form shown this evening can prevail on Thursday and set up a renewal come Sunday. Poland, Sweden, Russia and Hungary contest the remaining group qualifier in Holstead on Tuesday evening. Speedway World Cup, qualifier event two, Outrup: Australia 62 Todd Wiltshire 7, Ryan Sullivan 11, Leigh Adams 15, Jason Crump 15, Jason Lyons 14 Great Britain 60 Scott Nicholls 11, Lee Richardson 19, David Norris 12, Gary Havelock 8, Dean Barker 10 Slovenia 28 Matej Zagar 13, Izak Santej 4, Jernej Kolenko 5, Ales Dolinar 4, Denis Stojs 2 Italy 6 Andrea Maida 2, Simone Terenzani 0, Cristian Miotello 3, Daniele Tessari 0 Simone Muratelli 1

Host nation Denmark got the 2003 Speedway World Cup underway by roaring away to victory in the opening group fixture in Holsted witnessed by a crowd bathed in fierce sunshine. The Danes were always in control and help the upper hand throughout. They now go directly to next Sunday's final in Vojens. The Danes were dominant right from the first race which was won by Nicki Pedersen on his way to what would become a flawless, unbeaten performance. A Dane was first to the chequered flag in five of the first seven heats, mostly from a chasing Czech, to leave the opposition shell-shocked. Heats eight, nine, ten, and eleven were also taken by the rampant home riders to give them a massive thirteen point advantage with half the meeting remaining and it was abundantly clear that they would not be caught leaving the Czech and Finnish teams to fight it out for second place and an automatic spot in Thursday's second race-off and a second bite at making the final. Tomas Topinka and Bo Brhel staged a mini-fight back for the Czechs with wins in heats twelve and thirteen which closed the gap a little helped by Neils Iversen's last place in the twelfth. But Denmark still had a nine point cushion and the dual Czech heat wins gave them a little breathing space over Finland with the hapless and outclassed Germans nowhere in sight. Denmark then reasserted their authority by providing the winner of the next four heats during which time a run of second places from the Czechs made them practically assured of being runners-up and an automatic second bite on Thursday. Although Denmark looked secure, they could still be caught as the Czechs still had the option to nominate one of their riders to score double points in a heat of their choice. But they waited and waited not playing their card until nominating Topinka in the third last race. But any slightly jangling Danish nerves were well served by race winner Bjarne Pedersen who beat Topinka in to second and in so doing made Denmark mathematically secure. To continue the trend, Kenneth Bjerre and Hans Andersen claimed the closing two races for the hosts to leave them winning by a huge margin of a dozen points from the Czechs. The Finns must hope that their final tally of 32 will be good enough to take them to the race-off but must sweat through the two other group meetings on Monday and Tuesday to find out. The Danes won't have it as easy as this in the final but certainly showed enough to send a clear message that they are a serious threat. Brhel and Topinka fought well for the Czechs for whom Lukas Dryml was a little suppressed but that's forgivable when one recalls his recent horror crash. Joonas Kylmakorpi scored a fine sixteen for Finland – half his country's total – which included a trio of wins and kept them in touch for second place until the extra Czech power kicked in at the mid-point. Germany were seriously outclassed and only managed a handful of third places here and there. Denmark now have a week off to prepare for Vojens where they will meet the winners of the remaining two group meetings plus the top two from Thursday's race-off. The next event is Monday evening in Outrup when Team Great Britain start their challenge against overwhelming favourites Australia, Italy and Slovenia. Speedway World Cup opening meeting, Holsted, Denmark: Denmark 62 Nicki Pedersen 15, Niels Kristian Iversen 10, Bjarne Pedersen 12, Kenneth Bjerre 12, Hans Andersen 13 Czech Republic 50 Ales Dryml 8, Lukas Dryml 11, Bo Brhel 15, Tomas Topinka 12, Josef Franc 4 Finland 32 Kaj Laukkanen 9, Kauko Nieminen 3, Tomi Reima 1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 16, Juha Hautamaki 3 Germany 11 Mirko Wolter 5, Martin Smolinski 1, Ronny Weiss 2, Matthias Schultz 1, Christian Hefenbrock 2

Italy haven't withdrawn.

It's been a while since he last rode competitively and it wouldn't have been wise to put him in a major championship meeting without any recent meetings under his belt. He is a fast starter and the slick Danish tracks would have suited him.

Hampel was only named as one of the reserves!

OFFICIAL DRAW FOR THE FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP ITALY have entered the FIM Speedway World Cup following the inability of the American Motorcycling Association (AMA) to organise a team for the event. The Italians will replace the USA team in Event 2. The draws for all events are detailed below: EVENT 1: Holsted, 3rd Aug, 1400h local time DENMARK - RED 1. Nicki PEDERSEN (Capt.) 2. Niels-Kristian IVERSEN 3. Bjarne PEDERSEN 4. Kenneth BJERRE 5. Hans ANDERSEN GERMANY - BLUE 1. Mirko WOLTER (Capt.) 2. Thomas STANGE 3. Ronny WEIS 4. Matthias SCHULTZ 5. Christian HEFENBROCK CZECH REPUBLIC - WHITE 1. Aleš DRYML(Capt.) 2. Lukáš DRYML 3. Bohumil BRHEL 4. Tomáš TOPINKA 5. Josef FRANC FINLAND - YELLOW 1. Kaj LAUKKANEN 2. Kauko NIEMINEN 3. Tomi REIMA 4. Joonas KYLMÄKORPI 5. Juha HAUTAMÄKI EVENT 2: Outrup, 4th August, 1900h local time SLOVENIA: RED 1. Matej ŽAGAR 2. Izak ŠANTEJ 3. Jernej KOLENKO 4. Aleš DOLINAR 5. Denis ŠTOJS ITALY: BLUE 1. Andrea Maida (Capt) 2. Simone Terenzani 3. Cristian Miotello 4. Daniele Tessari 5. Simone Muratelli GREAT BRITAIN: WHITE 1. Scott NICHOLLS (Capt) 2. Lee RICHARDSON 3. David NORRIS 4. Gary HAVELOCK 5. Dean BARKER AUSTRALIA: YELLOW 1. Todd WILTSHIRE 2. Ryan SULLIVAN 3. Leigh ADAMS (Capt) 4. Jason CRUMP 5. Jason LYONS EVENT 3: Holsted, 5th August, 1900h local time HUNGARY: RED 1. Laszlo SZATMARI 2. Norbert MAGOSI 3. Sandor TIHANYI (Capt) 4. Attila STEFANI 5. Csaba HELL SWEDEN: BLUE 1. Tony RICKARDSSON (Capt) 2. Michael MAX 3. Andreas JONSSON 4. Peter KARLSSON 5. David RUUD RUSSIA:WHITE 1. Sergey DARKIN (Capt) 2. Renat GAFUROV 3. Semen VLASOV 4. Roman POVAZHNY 5. Vladimir DUBININ POLAND: YELLOW 1. Tomasz GOLLOB (Capt) 2. Tomasz BAJERSKI 3. Sebastian ULAMEK 4. Piotr PROTASIEWICZ 5. Rafal KURMANSKI

I remember at Hyde Road, they used to play Tokyo Melody by Helmut Zacharias. Blaze Away was another one.

There are dozens of different Sky packages you can get, so it depends whether your in-laws have a package which includes Sky Sports 1 & 2. If they can get those channels, they won't need to pay extra. If they don't, they would need to pay a bit more. According to the Sky Sports speedway website, the schedule is as follows :- August 3rd Holsted - (Event One) Sky Sports 2 - 1:00pm August 4th Outrup - (Event Two) Sky Sports 1 - 6:00pm August 5th Holsted - (Event Three) Sky Sports 1 - 6:00pm August 7th Outrup - (Race-Off) Sky Sports 1 - 6:00pm August 9th Vojens - (Final) Sky Sports 1 - 6:00pm (According to the Sky magazine, the final starts at 5:30pm, so I don't know which is right). All times are British Summer Time.

Jan Staechmann is to form part of the Sky Sports commentary team when Denmark stages the Speedway World Cup next week. He said: "I have worked with Sky Sports previously and it's great to be asked back".

I think the reason why Neil picked Norris ahead of Screen was because the tracks in Denmark are slick and fairly small. Had they been held on big deep grippy tracks, Joe would have been picked. Joe's starting has probably gone against him as well, as the slick tracks suit the faster starters.

Italian team will be :- Andrea Maida Simone Terenzani Simone Muratelli Christian Miotello Daniele Tessari

I think the team manager, Richard Child, is trying to send out a message to the AMA by naming a team whose ages range from 42 to 47. It comes down to finances and it will be interesting to see whether they get approval.