Bavarian

No, I don't agree. The current points system is the best they ever had. It is a true reflection of what a rider has done throughout the whole meeting, as every single point he scores does actually count for his world championship points total. Remember when this was not the case, riders often cruised round in second or third place, not aming an effort to overtake if knowing that the points would not matter if they were already through to a semi or final. Now every heat from the very first race of the night has a meaning and every single point in any of the heats is fought for from the first to the last event of the night. This is the beauty of this points system. And it does not matter if sometimes the winner of the final is not the top points scorer on the night. I have no problem with that.

No he isn't. To be born in Bristol does not make JC a British citizen. It is different to Holta acctually holding a Polish passport. But as far as I know Holta still has his Norwegian passport, too, so he has both nationalities. Does anybody remember Andy Smith also getting a Polish passport when riding in the Polsih League many years ago. Same story of dual nationality as now with Holta, but no one in Britain has ever considered Andy Smith to be a Pole after he got his Polish passport!

But in reality Rune is a Norwegian, isn't he?

2011 FIM Track Racing Sidecar 1000cc World Championship Final Murray Bridge (Australia) 12.11.2011 Starting List The following riders have been declared and the draw made for this event: N° Riders Passengers FMN COUNTRY 1 Andrew Buchanan Phillipa Burns MNZ New Zealand 2 Matt Tyrrell Craig Fordham (MA) ACU Great Britain 3 Chris Pascoe Simon Cohrs MA Australia 4 Rob Wilson Rob Patterson (MA) ACU Great Britain 5 Mark Mitchell Tom Golding MA Australia 6 Roy Spreadbury Gareth Little ACU Great Britain 7 Mark Plaisted Jamie Banks MA Australia 8 Glenn O'Brien Aaron Maynard MA Australia 9 Mick Cave Trent Headland (MA) ACU Great Britain 10 Darrin Treloar Justin Plaisted MA Australia 11 David Gannon Raymond George MNZ New Zealand 12 Grant Bond Glenn Cox MA Australia 13 Dean Miller(NZ) Robert Miller MNZ New Zealand 14 Paul Humphrey Ben Franklin MNZ New Zealand 15 Mick Headland Paul Waters MA Australia 16 Les Plummer Cameron Bell (MA) MNZ New Zealand 17 Reserve Mark Drew Steven Blair MA Australia 18 Reserve Scott Christopher MA Australia

Dates clash with Assen, and if the top German ice racers are in Assen, where would that leave a German championship without them?

Yes Vac did turn it down. And I fear that Thomas H. Jonasson and Grigory Laguta would turn it down as well if asked. All for the same reason that they can earn more money in Poland if they are not riding in the GP. Isn't that stupid? I wonder if the clubs will actually safe money or spend more on those non-GP riders now. For the GP, I'd like to see Zorro Zetterstrom, he is such a crowd pleaser and excellent rider at GP level. Or Rune Holta? Hans Andersen could do a good job, too, and why not add a couple of Brits, Lee Richardson and Tai Woffinden, or even Scott Nicholls? Australia could provide another one for the GP, there is plenty of talent around. Personally, I'd like to see another American in the GP, maybe Billy Janniro or Ryan Fisher should get a wild card, just to see jow they could cope with it?

Grigory Laguta to Zielona Gora. Where does that leave poor Czestochowa?

Marcucci is a local substitue for teh injured German rider Max Dilger. Smolinski and Dilger were booked for the Auburn meeting, but two days before their flight to California, Dilger broke his collar bone in the German Bundesliga final at Landshut.

It was a great meeting, everyone enjoyed it and the best thing was that both teams really wanted to win it. Per Jonsson was not amused with the performances of Toninho and Vaculik. Very enjoyable end-of-season all star event, with some very exciting racing in a fantastic stadium and in front of a big crowd. This Poland v Rest of the World had something of the old magic and glamour that Test Matches used to have a long time ago. TV Polonia showed this live on their free channel. I hope this can be the beginning of a revival for top class international test matches in speedway.

ABC News link

Terrible news about the hooligans in Polish speedway. It is on German teletext today. The hard core of the Zielona Gora fans ran riot after the one man died when he was accidentally run over by a police car. A couple of female police women were severely injured in the riots, one fights for her life in a hospital with a broken skull. It is reported that some idotic fans tried to set a petrol station on fire with Molotov cocktails. The center of Zielona Gora resembled a war zone yesterday after the speedway meeting. What should have been an evening of joy turned into a nightmare! How sad is this!

I don't believe that Rune has a realistic chance for a GP wild card next year. They will go to Nicki Pedersen, Chris Harris, Darcy Ward and Freddie Lindgren/or Grigory Laguta. Holta will ride the last GP of his career next Saturday in Gorzow. On financial terms this will even be a blessing for him, because of the Polish EL restriction of one GP rider per team next year. They also restrict the number of foreign riders per team. Rune will be neither foreign nor a GP rider next year. Once his injuries are healed, he will be a top class rider again. Torun are mad to release him, just as they made a mistake to release Darcy Ward last year.

Interesting line-up with the two Austrians. It isn't very often that they get invited to ride in Sweden. Wallner can be quite spectacular, if he's in the mood.

No, bacause in Norway that's two different comeptitions. There is a league championship AND a team championship. This was the team championship (a one-off final). Has anyone the results of the last two rounds of the league cahmpionship?

Both are (or were) Austrians (not German), Josef 'Joe' Weichlbauer and Günther 'Hec' Haslinger.

Why?

The results from Berghaupten leave me a little bit confused, here we go then: Qualifying heat scores (heats 1 to 15): Latvia 22, Czech Rep 21, Germany 18, GB 14, Denmark 9, Italy 8. C-Final (for positions 5 and 6): Denmark 5, Italy 1. B-Final (for positions 3 and 4): Germany 3, GB 3. A-Final (for positions 1 and 2): Latvia 3, Czech Rep 3. So we have Latvia, Czech Rep and Germany qualify for the final in Poland, but GB would have gone through ahead of the Germans if they had only gained a heat advantage in that B-final. A 4-2 over Germany in that B-final race would have been enough for GB. What do You think of this 'bright new' and according to an official UEM statement 'much more exciting' system with additional finals after the heats? This was only introduced by the UEM at short notice for this meeting, when it became apparent that there would only be six pairs. Would it have been too much asked if they had made a seventh pair of local track reserves? The other semi-final in Hungary had seven pairs riding the traditional 21 heats, and the results of that meeting were decided by points scored only! Oh boy, that's speedway!

Yes it is 12 heats by now, and Piotr Pawlicki has indeed not been allowed to continue. Ward is riding on but was beaten in his third race by Martin Vaculik and has now only 5 points from three starts. Looks like the Poles are dominant today.

It was four heats as I see it, and after that crash caused by Darcy Ward, the track doctor has controversially ruled out Piotr Pawlicki to resume racing, even though the Pole wants to continue. What's going on there???

What's wrong with the name? Well, Adria isn't a country,is it? Not even a region! It is a part of the Mediteranean sea and as such hardly appropriate to be used as a name of a national speedway team in an official FIM world team championship final. Remember, if the FIM do not even allow the well respected Team Scotland entry in its team world championship, because it argues that Scotland no independant country and only a part of Great Britian, then how on earth can they ever allow a combined team of two different nations to enter and compete under such an unacknowledgable name as "Team Adria". If neccessary, the name of "Slovenia & Croatia" would have been the only acceptable name to be used for that team, because that is what this combined team really is. By teh way, shouldn't a "Team Adria" include the Italians, too?

Sorry, but such should never be allowed in any official competition. This is the same nonsense as that "Team Europe" that we have seen in the past. If such makeshift team is neccessary to complete the line-up, it is bad enough, but for heaven's sake don't let teh results of any such ineligible team count for teh official results. They should only be allowed to ride as reserve team to make up the number. Adria is not a country, nor does it have a national sporting federation to warrant participation in an official European Championship. If a team called "Team Adria" takes part in the final, its results should never count. Any such "artificial" team should be regarded as ineligible and therefore only the other three teams should officially compete for the medals. Sorry, but to allow this "Team Adria" to compete is a shame. It robs this UEM competition of all its credibility. If Slovenia can not raise a team of their own, then they should withdraw or rather be expelled completely form the event and be replaced by the next best team from the qualifying meetings, and that is the Czech Republic. And who ever thought up that nae "Team Adria"? They should have called them either "Slovenia & Croatia" or perhaps "the Former Yugoslav Republics". What's next? England, or rather "Team GB" strenghtened with Australians and calling themselves "Team BC" (British Commonwealth)?

I have often thought about why can't the BSPA or ACU or whoever organise a Commonwealth Championship each year? Run it with qualifying rounds, starting at NL level, the best go forward to a PL round and then on to a championship round or final including the very best (EL level). The culmination of that competition would be an annual Commonwealth championship final, preferably to be held in Britain. Perhaps in years to come this final could sometimes even be held in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa? The qualifying rounds could all be held in Britian, or perhaps the other nations could first run their own qualifying final, and then send only their best riders over to do the UK rounds. It would be easier to organise this around the schedules of the domestic UK leagues than any of the FIM and UEM events, since it would be run by the ACU /BSPA and only involve Commonwealth nations. And please split the home nations into England, Scotland and Wales, just like at the Commonwealth Games. I can't stand the term "Team GB".

No problems with a visa for him in Sweden, anyway. He's a regular competitor in the Swedish League.

Yeah its about time that the world long track champion from Finland gets a wild card. He might qualify for next year's SGP anyway from the GP Challenge in Sweden later this month. I want to see Joonas Kylmäkorpi in the SGP

Are there any news which team replaces Poland in the second semifinal on Sunday in Chervonograd? PZM have withdrawn theri team due to the clash of date with the Polish League matches on Sunday. That leaves only three teams, the Ukraine, Czech Republic and Russia for this semi-final. A bit of a mis-match compared with the other semi-final in Sweden, and unfair because along with the two winners, the highest scoring second placed team from the semis also qualifies for the final.