Bavarian

I had just read that Hampel is not ready to race in the Warsaw SGP and will be replaed by Freddie Lindgren. So I assumed he would not be fit enough to ride one day later in the Warsaw test match versus the Rest of the World. But if he regards this match as an oppportunity to test his race fitness, he might possibly turn up and take his place. We'll see.

not DEN (=Denmark), it is DE(=Deutschland, Germany) 1st and 2nd in this meeting. Tim Wunderer is a protegée of Martin Smolinski.

Hampel ??? surely not !

Thank you gustix, here is another most interesting link for South African speedway history http://www.speedway-sa.com/history-border.php and a link to the "Henry Long Story" with plenty of old pictures of South Africa's greatest speedway rider http://www.speedway-sa.com/the-henry-long.php

I left the Stadium after heat 21, neither disappointed, nor excited, by what I had seen. It was a bank Holiday here in Bavaria, so it felt like a Sunday afternoon. Nice weather, good crowd and a very well organised meeting by the OneSport Crew. Monster Energy is already deeply involved with this Best Pairs series. Funny how quick the SGP/SWC main sponsors havee taken to the OneSport event. Anyway, I can't be bothered about if Monster of Nice or Fogo or who ever wins this meeting. I was not keeping score and not filling in the programme, and it felt a bit strange. Something was missing. It is clearly not enough to just watch four riders race over four laps. This alone does not get me excited. There was not a lot of overtaking, and it was quite windy and dusty at times, so the crowd did not really get excited by the track action. But to be fair, there were some good heats, such as Huckenbeck defeating Hancock, and a particular good battle between Laguta and Iversen. Yes, the crowd was behind local hero Smolinski, who, on his Bundesliga home track, rode as good as we expected him to be. Had seen enough after the regular 21 heats and left early, thus avoiding the traffic jam which ususally occures after the end of meetings at the Landshut track.

I go to Landshut tomorrow, it is my local track and we don't get to see the big names here very often. BUT, for the first time I intend not to fill in a programme. I simply can't be bothered about which sponor's riders win or lose. I will go there tomorrow trying just to watch "four riders race over four laps", like some BSF members on here often tell us this is what speedway is all about. So, I am looking forward to this "new experience" of attending a speedway meeting not bothering about points scores or who rides for which team.

But why did they allow to chose a rural country track like Wolfslake in the first place to host a "prestigeous" FIM event such as this World Speedway League ? The choice of this venue was all wrong from the start. It may be located NEAR Berlin, but it is not Berlin. Not more like for example Armadale isn't Edinburgh. It is an out of town speedway track in rural country, and the Wolfslake track does not have anything, no grandstands, no floodlights etc. - this is, and never was, a secret.

Let's hope so. Next year's WSL final is in Dubai or Qatar and that should be live on tv.

How stupid is this? Do the Russian MFR really think that the Laguta's will ride for them in the SWC, when they treat them like that?

Why is Smolinski allowed to ride for Munkebo, a team he never rode for and has no affiliation with?

Meeting rained-off, Denis Stojs is likely to get teh wild Card (tbc)

I thought it was very boring to watch, because it was totally meaningless. No nation or club teams/pairs to get behind and support. I could not care less if Monster, Nice or City Team wins this series. I don't even know for which teams most of the riders turned out last night. Who cares? I see it as a well paid practise session for the riders before the SGP and Polish Ekstraleague gets under way.

Ah ok then Monster Joe will be a happy dude tonight.

Can anyone tell us who won this meeting?

The 2016 FIM Oceania Speedway 1000cc Sidecar Championship has been won by the title defending champion of last year, Darrin Treloar. The final of the first round at Gillman last Sunday was won by Treloar, and today's second round final at Undera was won by Warren Monson. Overall top 3: 1st .... Darrin TRELOAR (& Blake Cox) - AUSTRALIA 2nd ... Trend HEADLAND (& Darryl Whetstone) - AUSTRALIA 3rd .... Mark PLAISTED (& Darcy Risstrom) - AUSTRALIA

I'd bet for the next round of this tournaent, the composition of the pairs/teams will look different again. Seems this has been transforemd into an event to put the sponsors in the spotlight and on tv. Just which rider is in which team seems totally irrelevant. An absolute nonsense competition in my eyes.

Australia's Darrin Treloar has won a crash marred final of the F.I.M. Speedway Sidecar World Cup at Gillman Speedway in Adelaide read more: http://www.gillmanspeedway.com/news/darrin-treloarblake-coxwin-crash-marred-world-cup-championship-final/

True "Wack" hofmeister was a teenage sensation in teh early 1950's. He was our German (Bavarian) version of Ronnie Moore. An extremely popular "baby-face" speedway rider. He quit the sport in the early 60's, havign reached four consecutive Wembley World Finals and he was still young and riding at his peak when he called it quits.

The official FIM Speedway Sidecar 1000cc World Cup will take place at Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway Stadium on Saturday night (26 March). The World Cup will be the highlight of the weekend, but it is just one part of a three day speedway carnival. On Good Friday the promoters will open the stadium with free entry to a “festival of speed” which will see over one hundred classic and current day speedway bikes and cars on display. There will also be interviews throughout the day with riders and drivers, including the visiting overseas sidecar riders here for the World Cup, plus a rock band and activities for kids – and repeating, all for free entry. The festivities will run from 10am until 4pm and then it will be time to shut up shop and start the final venue and track preparations for the World Cup 24 hours later. Gates will open at 4pm on Saturday with racing starting at 7.30pm. Spectators arriving early will have free access to the pits to get a close up look at the bikes and their riders/passengers, and then the action begins, when seven of the best Australian riders, as determined by last season’s Australian Championship results, will take on riders from Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States of America. The World Cup will be decided over 20 qualifying heats with the top three point scorers going into a final to decide the meeting winner. They’ll be joined in the final by the winner of a “last chance” semi-final for the next four highest scorers. Favourites to win the World Cup will be Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox (NSW), Mick Headland/Jesse Headland (SA), Mark Plaisted/Darcy Risstrom (SA/Vic) and Warren Monson/Matt Morgan (Vic/Qld). These riders are the best of the best. Treloar is the most successful rider in Speedway Sidecar history, Headland is a former World Track Racing Gold Trophy and World Championship winner, Plaisted is a former Oceania Champion and Monson is the current Australia #2, so the rest of the field will have their work cut out just to reach the final ahead of any of these riders. Fellow Aussies Trent Headland (and British passenger Darryl Whetstone) and Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear have been two of the most in-form riders this season however, so it would not be a shock if either, or even both, qualified for the final. Being able to put together five good rides to consistently beat the top four will be the key, and likewise with the overseas riders. They showed in trials last meeting that they are going to be very competitive and entertaining against each other, but can they take enough points off the Australians to be in contention for a place in the semi-final? The Kiwis Andrew Buchanan/Denny Cox, Derek Ramsay/Matthew Ramsay and Aiden Thwaites/Shane Twiss, and Americans Joe Jones/Tom Summers looked to be the best chances. All You need to know http://www.gillmanspeedway.com/news/fim-speedway-sidecar-world-cup-at-gillman-speedway-on-saturday-night/

Past winners of the FIM Oceania Sidecar Speedway Championship: 2014: Mark Plaisted / Brian Anthony (South Australia) 2015: Darrin Treloar / Blake Cox (New South Wales) 2016: ???

The best Swiss speedway riders I ever saw (during the 1980s and early 90's) were Marcel Gerhard and Jessy Inauen. Certainly miles better than these two grass-trackers Reutermann and/or Kaspar, which you have selected. I would also question some of your other smaller nations' selecions. For example, Austria's greatest speedway riders ever were Fritz Dirtl and Josef Kamper, no doubt about it. Old-timer Leopold Killmayer certainly the best of the pre-war era (1930's), but Adi Funk wasn't really something special. I would rate even Josef Boessner higher than Funk.

On German Eurosport this year there will be absolutely no speedway coverage anymore. No more SEC and no more Best Pairs Cup, even though some German Sponsors have invested in teams to enter the SBPC, expecting to get live tv presentation, with a SBPC round held at Landshut, and a SEC round at Güstrow, plus the SEC Challenge at Olching. German Eurosport have stated that tv audience figures for live speedway were disappointing last year, compared to MotoGP and Superbikes coverage. Since there is still no tv coverage of the SGP and SWC here in Germany, this decision is a major set back, with once again no speedway to be seen on tv in our country.

The 2016 FIM Speedway Sidecar World Cup is held this week on Easter Saturday at Gillman Speedway, Adelaide, South Australia. Four nations are represented - Great Britain, United States, New Zealand, and Australia. SIDECAR WORLD CUP Starting list below in alphabetical order: Dylan Blain / Hamish Golding (Aus) Andrew Buchanan / Denny Cox (NZ/Aus) Mick Cave / Sam Heath (GB) Dave Gannon / Raymond George (NZ) Mick Headland / Jesse Headland (Aus) Trent Headland / Darryl Whetstone (Aus/GB) Joseph Jones / Thomas Summers (USA) Warren Monson / Andrew Summerhayes (Aus) Bryan Motis / Cody Brant (USA) Damien Niesche / Mitchell Spear (SA) Mark Plaisted / Darcy Risstrom (Aus) Derek Ramsay / Matthew Ramsay (NZ) Aiden Thwaites / Shane Twiss (NZ) Darrin Treloar / Blake Cox (Aus) Paul Whitelam / Damian Egan (GB/Aus) Rob Wilson / Liam Brown (GB) Reserves: David Bottrell / Christopher Bottrell (Aus) Rob Patterson / Don Morris (Aus) http://www.ma.org.au/index.php?id=12&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=15610&cHash=acf4e1ad6d

This year's FIM Oceania Speedway Sidecars Championship is over two rounds in Australia, at Gillman on Easter Sunday, March 27, and at Undera, on Saturday, April 2. http://www.motorcyclingvic.com.au/undera-to-host-2016-fim-oceania-sidecar-cup-in-april/

It would be a shame if the League ceases to exist because of one such incident.