Bavarian

Don't worry about Härtel, he is a good one ! I have seen him ride here in Bavaria since he was a schoolboy. He won the German U21 title three years in a row, and was a world U21 finalist. His progress was held back by a few unneccessary crashes in the last couple of years ago, but he is now back on track and I expect him to become a top class international performer. As a 20 y/o Härtel is already a world class rider in long-track, he was runner-up in the World L-T Championship last year. In Speedway I'd currently rate him roughly the same class as the Riss brothers. He will need a little bit of time to adopt to British Speedway in his first year, but Härtel is certainly a good signing for the WItches !

There is an easy solution, if it is a 3-3 in the final. The pair that has scored more points in total over the two days (42 heats) should then be the winners. That would be a fair and acceptable tie-breaker. It would give the overall top point scoring pair something of a bonus going into the final, knowing that a 3-3 would give them the title, while the other pair with a lesser points total knows they have to beat their opponents in that final heat by 4-2 or 5-1 to win the championship.

Has this new tyre been used in a speedway race by anyone anywhere so far? If not, it is weird that the F.I.M. are going to introduce them at Grand Prix level first, without knowing how or if at all it will work!

The Stadium, as is planned, may be o.k. for the needs of greyhoud racing, but is not suited very well for speedway spectators. The viewing will be poor, not enough seats available, and there is going to be problems with not enough car parking. All this will spoil the enjoyment for many to attend a speedway meeting at Swindon. People will slowly but surely dift away, until attendance figures will fall too low for the speedway promoters to keep it going, and the Robins will be history.

Do we really have to justify having the grid girls in Speedway. They are popular, a vast majority of the fans want to see them, so who on earth could forbid us having grid girls in Speedway? BTW who cares what F1 does !

... and to break the Polish domination of the SWC they stage the 2017 SWC final at Leszno, the proposed 2018 Pairs Speedway of Nations final at Wroclaw, and the 2019 SWC final at Gorzow (this contract is already signed).

Stupid regulation not to let such an exciting young talent ride in the UK.

Then it is exactly what we already have with the annual European Pairs Championship, which is run by F.I.M. Europe (formerly the U.E.M) since 2004. The F.I.M. may just add the two overseas nations Australia and USA to the competition. European Pairs Champions 2004 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2005 - POLAND 2006 - POLAND 2007 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2008 - POLAND 2009 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2010 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2011 - POLAND 2012 - UKRAINE 2013 - GERMANY 2014 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2015 - POLAND 2016 - ITALY 2017 - POLAND In 2017, the two semi-finals of the European Pairs Ch'ship were held at Liberec (CZ) and Zarnovica (Slovakia), and the final was at Lonigo in Italy. The following fifteen nations participated last year: Team GB won the first semi-final, France and Denmark were the other two qualifiers from this round, while the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, and Austria were eliminated. Poland won the second semi-final, ahead of Russia and Latvia, who also qualified for the final. The Ukraine, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria were eliminated. Hosts Italy were seeded to the 2017 European Pairs Final at Lonigo, which was won by Poland, from Russia (2nd), France (3rd), Denmark (4th), Italy (5th), Great Britain (6th), and Latvia (7th). Dates and venues for the 2018 European Pairs Championship are already known: June 30 - Semi-final 1 at Debrecen (Hungary) July 21 - Semi-final 2 at Lonigo (Italy) September 1 - Final at Brovst (Denmark) http://www.fim-europe.com/track-racing/#1480078043771-3dc0c4ae-675f

The NT Championship is off now - don't know why it does not go ahead

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/15894764.Russell_hoping_Robins_are_on_home_stretch_for_new_stadium/ What kind of a "grandstand" is this ? Looks strange to me. Can't see any seats in front of that building ! Where from would the mentioned 700 people have to watch the racing? From within the building, behind glass windows, and from that small balcony up there? Come on, that may be acceptable for the Greyhound people, but that won't be good enough for watching the speedway ! All this somehow reminds me of the early 90s' ill-fated London Stadium project at Hackney which had a similarly "impressive" grandstand - and that was certainly not good for watching speedway ! I hope Swindon Speedway does not make the same mistake !

Wunderbar !!!

The lower end teams of the Championship would have to go National League then. If the one big league has about sixteen to eighteen teams, that's all right.

The argument of not enough riders to fill all the team places in one big league is not valid. There may not be enough British riders at the moment (due to doubling up) but there are stil plenty of talented riders overseas (Aussis, Kiwis, Yanks, etc), in Scandinavia, and on the Continent, who are just waitng for a chance to ride in the British League.

Not quite, but ... the Northern Territory State Championships - Alice Springs February 17th 2018 More details and confirmation plus supplementary regulations will be made available soon. Not only will a NT State Championship be up for the winner but also the top 3 riders will be eligible for UK tier 2 sport visa applications as recognised Government Body Endorsements (GBE) by the BSPA/UKVI for riders to compete in the UK.

Exactly, it is time to amalgamte the Premiership and Championship. It is 1965 all over again for British Speedway. Why worry about some BIG clubs being able to sign BIG stars. That's fine. It's the same in every sport, Football, Rugby etc. There will always be some bigger clubs then others. It is these BIG clubs who attract the spectators when they come to Your track. It is not so important that there are big names in the League, it is much more important that each club has their own riders, and exclusive to them. Only then will the fans get behind their team and their riders again.

It is the same unpleasant weather here in Bavaria. We had lots of rain in the last few days, and the rivers have high water. Today was supposed to be sunny, but right now it it still grey and foggy outside.

To keep both competitions alive in alternate years seems to be the sensible solution to this. It would be highly unpopular to replace the SWC with the Pairs of Nations, but if we can have the pairs and 4-Team events every other year, I would be happy. Variety is alway good. To have the World Cup tournament only every second year is not a bad thing. But the inaugural Pairs Speedway of Nations should not be staged in Poland this year. The Poles already had the SWC (Leszno) and the World Games Best Pairs (Wroclaw) in 2017 and they will get another Speedway World Cup Final (Gorzow) in Poland in 2019. By the way, are You aware that we already have an annual European Pairs Championship, which is nearly the same competition as a World Pairs, only without the Aussies and Americans. Winners of the European Pairs Championship at Lonigo, Italy, in 2017 were Poland, ahead of Russia. France finished third, ahead of Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, and Latvia. Great Britain was represented by Steven Worrall and Ellis Perks !

Is anyone watching the live stream ?

certainly much better quality than what we have seen from Togliatti last week

very good stream from Kamensk, nearly TV quality

Latest in the SWC saga is that Eskilstuna will now NOT host the Pairs World Cup in 2018. BSI have already had talks with Polish tracks Torun and Leszno, if no other country wants it. But they still hope that England will want to stage it ! Apparently BSI and the FIM plan alternate the World Pairs and Team events each year, staging the Pairs World Cup in the even years (2018, 2020, 2022, etc) and the Team World Cup in the uneven years (2019, 2021, 2023 etc). Gorzow in Poland has a contract to host the SWC in 2019.

Video of the 2017 European 500cc Sidecar Champs in France - the complete Meeting of 12 heats C - B - and A - finals with some truely great racing ! [media] Line-up # 1 - Kevin HÜBSCH & Michael Burger (GERMANY) # 2 - William MATTHIJSEN & Sandra Mollema (NETHERLANDS) # 3 - Mitch GODDEN & Paul Smith (GREAT BRITAIN) # 4 - David CHAMINADE & Stephanie Vedelago (FRANCE) # 5 - Martin BRANDL & Hermann Brandl (GERMANY) # 6 - Christophe GRENIER & Vincent Bertoneche (FRANCE) # 7 - Dave CARVILL & Cameron Gooden (GREAT BRITAIN) # 8 - Markus VENUS & Markus Heiss (GERMANY) # 9 - Shaun HARVEY & Denny Hogg (GREAT BRITAIN) # 10 - Guillaume COMBLON & Chloe Agez (FRANCE) # 11 - Josh GOODWIN & Liam Brown (GREAT BRITAIN) # 12 - Markus BRANDHOFER & Tim Scheunemann (GERMANY) # 13 - Joel SUDNIKEVITS & Johan Paabstel (ESTONIA)

Very disappointing that the NZ SOLO CHAMPIONSHIP has only eleven entries this year. Only three riders from the North Island prepare to make the trip to the South Island for the meeting at Moore Park next Saturday. Competitors: 1nz Bradley Wilson-Dean, 7i Sam Taylor, 10c Sean Cox, 11i Jake Gillespie, 17c Georgia Elvin, 18b Jason McKay, 23c Andrew Aldridge, 46i Jimmy Hannan, 72c Wayne Drake, 99c George Congreve, Ryan Terry-Daly https://www.facebook.com/Mooreparkmotorcylespeedway/photos/a.326160430857854.1073741860.319524861521411/1059374684203088/?type=3&theater

Here in Bavaria back in the 1970s I remember seeing Jon Ödegaard and Edgar Stangeland as Norway's outstanding long-track riders.

Those were great times when International speedway teams were touring Australia One of the most amazing tours ever was in 1990-91 the visit of the USSR national speedway team. They rode mostly against Australian State sides, and with great success. Here You can find all the results of this tour http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/ausvsu.htm After their first seven matches in Queensland and the Northern Territory the Russians were still undefeated with six wins and a draw, when tehy came to face New South Wales at the Newcastle Motodrome. This meeting is on YouTube and You may follow the link below to watch all the action (60 minutes) of this 15 Heat International Challenge. [media] NEW SOUTH WALES v U.S.S.R. 1990 International Solo Speedway Teams Challenge Newcastle Motodrome, NSW, Australia Line-ups NEW SOUTH WALES 1 - Todd WILTSHIRE 2 - Sean WILLMOTT 3 - Mick POOLE 4 - Craig BOYCE 5 - Stephen DAVIES 6 - Chris WATSON 7 - Darren ETHERIDGE U.S.S.R. 1 - Rif SAITGAREEV 2 - Mikhail STAROSTIN 3 - Vladimir TROFIMOV 4 - Viktor GAJDYM 5 - Rene AAS 6 - Oleg KURGUZKIN 7 - Rinat MARDANSHIN I really enjoyed this historic piece of Australian speedway coverage - what a shame that we don't get to see such International tours and challenge matches any more.