DutchGrasstrack

It's official now - Harris is replacing Gollob. http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1386669102-great-britains-chris-harris-to-replace-tomasz-gollob-in-2014-fim-sgp/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Done some digging: Rumours came to the SGP website on the thursday (22/08), then the official message on the friday (23/08). The first lineup was amended on 16/08 with Lathi replacing Przemek as he was injured. Pavlic and Kildemand as reserve. No sign of Harris yet. Then on 20/08 a new version was published with Kildemand replacing Loktaev as he had visa problems. Harris came in as second reserve with Pavlic still on #17. Then on 23/08 another new version (final lineup) was published with Harris replacing Zagar and Barker and Bridger as reserve. Pavlic disappeared from the entry list. So afterall it seems that Harris took the chance to be a second reserve and he was lucky that Zagar and Pavlic showed no interest and therefore he could race the whole meeting.

Hmmm seems legit. Wonders me though why the German federation posted their (angry) statement in the press that they were never contacted about a possible replacement (Dilger).

Zagar withdrew Thursday if I remember right. German federation was actually quite upset that they weren't called as a German rider (I guess Max Dilger) was ready to go But hey it doesn't matter now anymore, Harris took his chance and he's now probably in :-)

I'm with GW. Harris got knocked out in the first qualification round in Austria with a 13th place. He shouldn't even be near a qualifcation spot for Poole as he didn't even make it to the Race-off rounds ....... I did some calculations and Harris is number 23 (!!) on the reserve list for the challenge. Riders like Dilger, Woodward, Dryml, Kroner, Kenneth, North and many many more are all above Harris. I'm sure on of these could have made the trip down to Poole ....

Nope only Harris, Batch and MJJ are on the substitute list. After them it's up to the FIM.

Under rule 077.8.5 - FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship Qualification System you will find this rule: "Should a rider withdraw after the publication of the official rider line-up for the following year's Grand Prix season, then the first rider available on the official Grand Prix Substitute List shall replace him." Unless the FIM changes their rules for 2014, I think it's pretty clear that Harris is replacing Gollob.

Wittstock will not race in the 2nd liga next year. They have to pay a 10.000 euro fee to the PZM and they will not get it back because they are not a Polish club ...

Calendar: 04.05 - Quali 1 - Rivne (UA) 17.05 - Quali 2 - Krsko (SLO) 25.05 - Quali 3 - Zarnovica (SVK) 08.06 - Challenge - Debrecen (HUN) 06.07 - Finale 1 - tba 20.07 - Finale 2 - tba 09.08 - Finale 3 - tba 19.09 - Finale 4 - tba Juniors: tba - Semi 1 - Elgane (NOR) 13.06 - Semi 2 - Pardubice (CZ) 14.06 - Semi 3 - Macon (FRA) 31.08 - Final - Rivne (UA) Juniors Teams: 24.05 - Semi final - Plzen (CZ) 28.06 - Final - Herxheim (GER) Pairs: 01.05 - Semi final - Debrecen (HUN) 13.09 - Final - Divisov (CZ)

I think it's safe to say that Harris is replacing Tomek .. If he wants by the way, if not then it will be Batch.

Indeed... in the SEC you need to score if you want to get big prize money. All riders are guaranteed of 450 euro travel money. Then 450 euro will be paid per point (heat 1 to 20) plus another 650 euro per point in the final. In the SGP you are guaranteed of a 1.000 dollars (735 euros) if you finish last. The winner gets 12.000 dollars (8227 euros). There is no travel money. If you score max points in the SEC: 15 * 450 plus 3 * 650 = 8700 euro. So it's only a little bit more in the SEC after all (if the rider scores max points) ..... and this only happened one time this year (Vaculik in Rzeszow). (all info is based of the latest rules which are published on the FIM and FIM Europe websites)

The rules say when a rider resigns after the official lineup has been published then the first rider available of the official substitute list shall replace him.

Gollob has resigned from the SGP but will take part in the SEC. http://www.speedwaynyheter.se/sgp/forare-lamnar-vm/ Translation: "Yesterday, Monday was the last day for drivers in the VM to send in their confirmation of participation in the SGP, as we told you earlier, Emil Sayfutdinov said he will run in the SEC if he is forced to choose. Now follow the next star after the same track, Tomasz Gollob has chosen not to send their confirmation to the BSI, the owners of the SGP. Probably replaced Tomasz by Chris Harris at the World Cup, it's nothing like BSI chosen to confirm yet. Janek Konikiewicz representative of One Sport confirming the Speedway News: - "Yes, it's confirmed. Tomasz Gollob is not involved in SGP next season. He will run in the SEC, of ​​course, when he confirmed our wild card request. "

Qualifiers: 07.06.2014 - Sankt Johann (Austria) - 10+1 07.06.2014 - Ljubljana (Slovenia) - 10+2 09.06.2014 - Abensberg (Germany) - 10+1 The numbers behind the venues indicate the number of riders that go to the next round. GB has four places allocated. One in Sankt Johann, two in Ljubljana and one in Abensberg. Race-off: 21.06.2014 - Gorican (Croatia) - 6+1 21.06.2014 - Czestochowa (Poland) - 6+1 Both race-offs have one FMNR wildcard. Lineups are made by ballot. Challenge: 20.09.2014 - Lonigo (Italy) 12 (+2) riders will come through the race-offs. 3 riders will come through the SEC (to be confirmed). 1 wildcard (CCP or FMNR).

It's been rumoured for a while, but it's now confirmed, that the Top 3 from the SEC is qualified for the Speedway GP Challenge (in Lonigo) ... EDIT: The FIM sent out an updated version of their files - it appears now that the top 3 from SEC is still to be confirmed ....

Hmm interesting - guess it's better to wait till the FIM will publish their press release lol.

Read above mate, Germany is in it Looks like 'Speedway Live' edited their post as the qualifier now only feature 4 countries: SLO, ITA, RUS and GER.

Looks like we'll see a five country qualifier in Terenzano with SLO, ITA, HUN, RUS and GER. http://www.speedwaylive.eu/nasazeni-zemi-na-swc/

Sorry for the triple post (lol) - but the FIM calendar has been published: 29.5 - Final 1 - Herxheim (GER) 1.6 - Quali 1 - Bielefeld (GER) 5.7 - Quali 2 - Tayac (FRA) 13.7 - Final 2 - Marmande (FRA) 10.8 - Challenge - Marianske Lazne (CZ) 17.8 - Final 3 - Eenrum (NL) 23.8 - Teams - Forssa (FIN) 13.9 - Final 4 - Morizes (FRA) 28.9 - Final 5 - Mühldorf (GER) Looks like they changed the qualification format as the Challenge is now held in the middle of the season ....

This is how the lineup looks like for 2014: 1. Joonas Kylmakorpi / FIN 2. Jannick de Jong / NL 3. Richard Hall / GB 4. Josef Franc / CZ 5. Cameron Woodward / AUS 6. Jorg Tebbe / DE 7. Mathieu Tressarieu / FRA 8. Richard Speiser / DE 9. Martin Smolinski / DE ???? 10. Dirk Fabriek / NL 11. Erik Riss / DE 12. Stephan Katt / DE 13. Stephane Tresarrieu / FRA 14. Dimitri Berge / FRA 15. Andrew Appleton / GB

Five GP's have, finally, been confirmed for 2014: Herxheim, Marmande, Eenrum, Morizes and Mühldorf. Quite happy to see one in my own country, Eenrum has a brilliant 600 meter track which will produce some awesome racing.

Interesting that there is only one qualifier ... no teams from Germany (!!), France and the Ukraine. Although the last two countries do not realy suprise me.

The challenge seems to be held in Debrecen according to that article. The full calendar for the qualifiers should be out in the next few days.

It's crazy lol ... 8-9 feb Togliatti 15-15 feb Blago 22-23 feb Ufa (super league, all top russians + Simon I guess) 13.500 km trip

Come to Torun, nice city, cheap and and the best speedway stadium there is :-)