Subedei

Sophie's best effort had to be the one that went something like: T Gollob: "Not today important, is Saturday." S Blake: "You're that confident of making it through to the final?" T Gollob: "Sorry, what is confident?" S Blake: "So, you're that confident of making it through to the final?"

What I do like is the way Gollob, when she introduces a difficult word (for someone not confident - which was usually the word - with English) into a question, just guesses at what she's asking and says whatever he feels like.

I've watched it about 10 times so far. I don't think I'll change my mind. Hey, we're never going to agree on this one. You believe you're right and that's your right. It's - at the minute - a free country. What say we agree, to disagree? Yes. And I also remember what you said about Swindon. And Swindon have just been beaten at home by Eastbourne. So, I fancy we're both wrong.

He's been in super form recently, save for a disappointing performance at, I believe, Belle Vue. In fact, without actually having the statistics to back it up, I'd say that over the past 8 weeks or so, he'd be out-performing Adams for Swindon.

And yet when he did overtake Stead it was via a similar move to the one I suggest he was going to use on the 1st lap.

In fairness, Scott Nicholls has the same average as Stead. The only reason Stead's above him is because I felt like putting Stead above him.

The second of the play-off meetings on 7 August, 2005, sees Leszno hosting Czestochowa. And the regular season doesn't give much comfort to Adams and Kasprzak, Czestochowa won both times (44-46 in Leszno and 52-28 in Czestochowa). You'd fancy Leszno to raise their game and win this meeting, but it will probably not be enough to progress in the play-offs. -------------------- Leszno..46 9..L Adams..0,2,3,3,2',2 = 12+1 10..A Skornicki..1,1',0 = 2+1 11..D Balinski..2,1,3,3,1' = 10+1 12..L Jankowski..0,0,0,1 = 1 13..J Rempala..2,1',0,0 = 3+1 14..R Kasprzak..3,1' = 4+1 15..K Kasprzak..2,2,1,3,3,3 = 14 Czestochowa..44 1..R Sullivan..3,3,0,2,0 = 8 2..S Ulamek..2',2',2,2,2 = 10+2 3..G Walasek..3,3,1',1,1' = 9+2 4..S Drabik..1,0,2,0 = 3 5..R Holta..3,3,2,1',3 = 12+1 6..P Dadela..0,0 = 0 7..M Ciura..1,0,1',0 = 2+1 Ht 1..R Kasprzak, K Kasprzak, Ciura, Dadela [E/F] 5-1 (5-1) Ht 2..Sullivan, Ulamek, Skornicki, Adams [E/F] 1-5 (6-6) Ht 3..Walasek, Balinski, Drabik, Jankowski 2-4 (8-10) Ht 4..Holta, Rempala, R Kasprzak, Dadela [E/F] 3-3 (11-13) Ht 5..Sullivan, Ulamek, Balinski, Jankowski 1-5 (12-18) Ht 6..Walasek, K Kasprzak, Rempala, Drabik 3-3 (15-21) Ht 7..Holta, Adams, Skornicki, Ciura 3-3 (18-24) Ht 8..Adams, Ulamek, K Kasprzak, Sullivan 4-2 (22-26) Ht 9..Adams, Drabik, Walasek, Skornicki 3-3 (25-29) Ht 10..Balinski, Holta, Ciura, Jankowski [E/F] 3-3 (28-32) Ht 11..K Kasprzak, Adams, Walasek, Drabik 5-1 (33-33) Ht 12..Balinski, Sullivan, Jankowski, Ciura 4-2 (37-35) Ht 13..K Kasprzak, Ulamek, Holta, Rempala 3-3 (40-38) Ht 14..K Kasprzak, Ulamek, Walasek, Rempala 3-3 (43-41) Ht 15..Holta, Adams, Balinski, Sullivan 3-3 (46-44) ------------------------------ Notes: 1..R Kasprzak returns to the Leszno side after his 6 month suspension was lifted earlier in the week. 2..It seems the start of this meeting has been delayed. 3..Ht 6 and K Kasprzak replaces R Kasprzak for Leszno. 4..Ht 7 and Ciura replaces Dadela for Czestochowa. 5..Ht 8 and Leszno wheel out their big guns, as Adams replaces Rempala and K Kasprzak replaces R Kasprzak in tactical moves. 6..Ht 10 and Ciura replaces Dadela for Czestochowa. 7..Ht 11 and K Kasprzak replaces R Kasprzak for Leszno. 8..Ht 12 and Ciura replaces Dadela for Czestochowa. 9..Ht 13 and K Kasprzak replaces Skornicki for Leszno. 10..And Leszno win 46-44, taking a 2 point lead to Czestochowa next Sunday. ------------------------------ Bonus points calculated per British Elite League. All details from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

The first of the play-off meetings on 7 August, 2005, sees reigning champions Tarnow hosting Wroclaw. Tarnow should've been staging the 2nd leg, but the SWC Final at Wroclaw yesterday has forced a switch. Tarnow will be looking to build a decent lead to take to Wroclaw next week. ------------------------------ Tarnow..64 9..T Rickardsson..3,2'3,2',2' = 12+3 10..S Burza..1,1 = 2 11..J Gollob..0,3,3,3,3 = 12 12..G Rempala..0,2',2',0 = 4+2 13..T Gollob..2',3,3,3 = 11+1 14..M Rempala..3,3,2',2',3 = 13+2 15..J Kolodziej..0,3,2',3,2' = 10+2 Wroclaw..25 1..J Hampel..0,0,0,1,1' = 2+1 2..K Slabon..2,1,1,2,0 = 6 3..P Swiderski..3,1,0,0,1 = 5 4..T Gapinski = 0 [Withdrawn] 5..A Lindback..1,1,0,1,0,0 = 3 6..R Jamrozy..2,0,0,0,2,1 = 5 7..M Pacholak..1,2',0 = 3+1 Ht 1..M Rempala, Jamrozy, Pacholak, Kolodziej [E/F] 3-3 (3-3) Ht 2..Rickardsson, Slabon, Burza, Hampel [E/F] 4-2 (7-5) Ht 3..Swiderski, Pacholak, J Gollob [Ex], G Rempala [Ex] 0-5 (7-10) Ht 4..M Rempala, T Gollob, Lindback, Jamrozy 5-1 (12-11) Ht 5..J Gollob, G Rempala, Slabon, Hampel [E/F] 5-1 (17-12) Ht 6..T Gollob, M Rempala, Swiderski, Pacholak 5-1 (22-13) Ht 7..Kolodziej, Rickardsson, Lindback, Jamrozy 5-1 (27-14) Ht 8..T Gollob, M Rempala, Slabon, Hampel [E/F] 5-1 (32-15) Ht 9..Rickardsson, Kolodziej, Swiderski, Lindback 5-1 (37-16) Ht 10..J Gollob, G Rempala, Lindback, Jamrozy 5-1 (42-17) Ht 11..Kolodziej, Rickardsson, Hampel, Swiderski 5-1 (47-18) Ht 12..J Gollob, Jamrozy, Hampel, G Rempala 3-3 (50-21) Ht 13..T Gollob, Slabon, Burza, Lindback [E/F] 4-2 (54-23) Ht 14..M Rempala, Kolodziej, Jamrozy, Lindback 5-1 (59-24) Ht 15..J Gollob, Rickardsson, Swiderski, Slabon [E/F] 5-1 (64-25) ------------------------------ Notes: 1..Ht 3 and G Rempala is up to mischief and excluded. 2..Ht 3 and it looks like J Gollob's been excluded as well. 3..Ht 3 and Pacholak replaces Gapinski for Wroclaw. 4..Ht 6 and Pacholak replaces Gapinski for Wroclaw. 5..Ht 7 and Kolodziej replaces Burza for Tarnow. 6..Ht 9 and Kolodziej replaces Burza for Tarnow. 7..Ht 9 and Lindback replaces Gapinski in a tactical move by Wroclaw. 8..Wroclaw's Tomasz Gapinski has been taken to hospital following the Ht 3 incident. 9..Ht 11 and Kolodziej replaces Burza for Tarnow. 10..Ht 11 and Hampel replaces Gapinski in a tactical move by Wroclaw. 11..Ht 14 line-up is Kolodziej-M Rempala for Tarnow and Lindback-Jamrozy for Wroclaw. 12..Ht 15 line up is Rickardsson-J Gollob for Tarnow and Slabon-Swiderski for Wroclaw. 13..And I think it's safe to say that Tarnow are heading through to a clash with Torun. ------------------------------ Bonus points calculated per British Elite League. All details from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

Okay, to return - again - to the Gollob-Stead incident. I don't believe Tomasz Gollob was in "two minds" at all. He's got one thing on his mind and that's taking the wide line. He's built up incredible speed going round the 1st-2nd turns and down the straight, he's planning to keep it wide open and pass Stead around the outside. Then entering the turn he realises Stead's not going to stop coming wider and has to take evasive action to prevent a catastrophe. That leads people into think Gollob was considering a switch to the inside, but, in my view, it's just a desperate attempt to slow down and control a machine that, as many have posted, was going like a rocket last night. Gollob prevented a massive incident with, well, probably a mixture of luck and skill.

I tell you one thing, I'm being Stead in the re-enactment. All I need to do is find someone with bike control like Gollob and we're cooking with gas.

And Stead chose that line when Gollob eventually passed him, but Gollob still went around the outside of him. Stead obviously left no room whatsoever. The only rider truly inconvenienced by the incident was Gollob himself. He almost came to a complete stop and Stead built up a lead of about quarter of a lap.

They just get longer and longer. I surrender to you Mr Clemens.

So, pray tell, what was Gollob supposed to do?

Well, it was worth a try. There's always one who spots it, isn't there?

Poppycock.

And as many as Sweden and Denmark combined. A feat young Richardson shared with Tomasz Gollob. Possibly Richardson's greatest feat last night was being the only rider to lower Gollob's colours. A terrific display by the fellow.

By my reckoning, the WTC 2005 averages for the four finalists were as follows: Poland T Gollob..10.67 G Walasek..10.00 J Hampel..9.87 P Protasiewicz..8.80 R Holta..8.53 K Kasprzak..5.60 Sweden A Jonsson..8.80 T Rickardsson..7.27 A Lindback..6.40 F Lindgren..5.78 P Karlsson..4.80 Denmark H Andersen..7.25 N Pedersen..6.82 N-K Iversen..6.57 B Pedersen..6.29 C Gjedde..5.60 K Bjerre..4.89 Great Britain L Richardson..9.82 C Harris..6.67 S Stead..6.55 S Nicholls..6.55 J Screen..4.50 They sort of underline the total domination of this year's competition by the Poles.

I'd guess Brandon is the "official" pits interviewer for BSI and the FIM.

Photographs from the SWC Final can be found at the following: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/index.php?dysc...6&news_id=76443

Should be interesting to see if he carries this form into the GP next weekend.

There's only one problem really. Crump doesn't want to ride for Team GB.

Answers: 1. I don't think money was a motivating factor for the Poles. 2. No they wouldn't have ridden better for the same reasons as above.

Speaking of team managers, as we were before, should Middlo not have an advisor or assistant? The Polish manager (the guy with the moustache, I think) seemed to have a couple of people assisting him in the pits.

By my reckoning, Tomasz Gollob's average for the 2005 SWC was 10.67 and for the 2 meetings in Poland 11.20. That's mighty impressive. For comparison, TR's average, by my reckoning, was 7.27.

Yes, it was entering turn 3.