Subedei

Didn't see Brian Andersen hanging around Chris Harris much last night. Was he there? And if he wasn't, does that suggest Harris isn't much without him?

I see a lot of calls for Neil Middleditch to be replaced as team manager of Great Britain. And in spite of a lack of obvious candidates to succeed him, I do think it is time for a change. But, facing facts, Great Britain were always likely to finish bottom of the pile, unlike the Australians, who, for a second successive year failed to live up to their billing as favourites. So, maybe the question should be whether Craig Boyce is really the man for the job with Australia? I have no great feeling one way or the other. What do others think?

I'd suggest that was a throwaway line from Leigh Adams, rather than something to be taken seriously.

So, Damian Balinski scored 4 and the Poles won by 3, but are we really suggesting that a fully fit Grzegorz Walasek couldn't have beaten Oliver Allen and Simon Stead? Those are two of the riders Balinski defeated. Is the suggestion really that a fully fit Grzegorz Walasek wouldn't have scored a single point on a track in Poland?

Chris Harris rides for Rybnik in Liga I, the Polish equivalent of the Premier League. Scott Nicholls rides for Rzeszow in the Ekstraliga, alongside Davey Watt and Nicki P. Lee Richardson rides for Czestochowa in the Ekstraliga. Simon Stead rides for Grudziadz in Liga I, but rode for Torun in the Ekstraliga last season. Edward Kennett rides for Czestochowa as a junior in the Ekstraliga.

I think it is time for a change of manager, but Rosco? There's still a chance he'll manage to lose the Elite League this season.

Hold the meeting anywhere you like and Great Britain aren't going to win. The Australians and Danes are far too strong. Everyone talks of the massive advantage the Poles had tonight. But would Great Britain even have made the final if their opening round hadn't been against a weakened Sweden at Brandon? Interestingly, the top three teams in the final all raced in the Vojens round. Great Britain were almost gifted a place in the final.

It was dubious certainly. But Walasek is a class rider. He'd have scored four points no trouble, so you've got to ask what was wrong. And Walasek looked set fair in his second outing, until Nicki P lifted and cut straight across in front of him. I don't think it materially effected the result. However, I feel Andersen should've showed a little more grace in defeat.

Different strokes for different folks. I'd imagine that Steve Turner wasn't overly impressed either. Raw power racing does it for some people, it doesn't for others. I thought it a fantastic race meeting, Tactical Sub didn't. That's fair enough, he's entitled to his opinion.

Gollob always seems to pull it out of the hat in the SWC. About the only competition in which the great man truly rolls back the years and shows us just what a magician he is on a speedway bike. His second heat was just magnificent. And this race meeting was magnificent, if a little soured by a lack of grace from Hans Andersen. If the racing was like that week in and week out the crowds would surely flock back to the sport, although I'm not sure I could take the excitement. That was a very, very special race meeting, confirming the SWC as the greatest event in speedway.

It was getting a little heated and intra-meeting discussion should be undertaken at the Speedway Updates site, I guess.

Technically, of course, barring re-runs and so-forth, it's actually 340 laps around a shale track in the SWC final.

The braying sheep on the BSF, make this Mongol shout, make this Mongol scream, I'm going Polish.

Don't know if you spotted it, but there was a sentence beneath that contributed my thoughts. Gollob is, in my view, the most compelling performer in the world, when he feels like it.

Blue has a preponderence of inside gates early in the meeting and then outside gates later in the meeting. Early in a meeting the inside gates are an advantage and later in the meeting the outside gates are, as the drive moves further out towards the fence.

And Watt's form in Poland has been impressive also.

Might not be so happy when he sees how you've spelt his name. Have to say that Gollob still knows how to wow the fans, whether it be on track or giving them a good laugh by changing a camshaft mid-meeting.

That I can agree with. I just don't understand why it is allowed year on year. Surely it should be possible to create an equality of starting positions. Blue, as far as I can see, gets a huge advantage with the favourable gates throughout the meeting. I would dispute that Denmark are head and shoulders above the other nations. Nicki P and Andersen are top rate, but NKI, Bjerre and BP are hardly world beaters. I'd say there isn't that much between Australia and Denmark, other than Denmark having a greater depth of talent. But that doesn't matter with 5 man teams.

They have indeed - signed him towards the end of last season from the Isle of Wight and then loaned him straight back to the Islanders.

That's it - Poland to win. I didn't think Leszno could hold 40,000?

My assessment: Denmark: Did very well on a super-slick surface at Vojens, but while Andersen and Nicki P will hold their own at Leszno, I suspect that Bjerre, BP and NKI won't be as effective. They'll be in the mix and I wouldn't rule them out. Australia: I think they'll win, if they drop Schlein to reserve and bring Watt into the team. Watt's doing well in Poland this season, while Schlein hasn't really impressed in the SWC so far. Great Britain: Very impressive at Coventry, but as was seen last night, the competition wasn't too hot, was it? I expect them to fill fourth spot, but they could spring a surprise. Poland: I reckon every single member of the Polish team needs to up their game by around 30% if they want to win. I can't say any of the Poles especially impressed me last night. They had that purple patch from Ht 11 to Ht 15 that secured their passage to the final. If they want to win, that sort of form has to stretch from Ht 1 to Ht 25. As I've said before, helmet colour is critical and I'll go so far to say that if Denmark, Poland or Australia are in blue, they'll win.

And did any of the riders complain about the surface? As far as I'm concerned we had an excellent speedway meeting tonight, with some first class racing, The overtake of Balinski by Adams was beautiful. I think the Australians will win, if they drop Schlein. If not, I'll take the team in blue to win - the gate positions are strange for this competition and seem heavily weighted in favour of certain helmet colours. The Poles, for example, had 4 outside gates during the heats 11 through 15 (when gate 4 was working outrageously well) and scored 14 points.

He's getting on a bit, you know. I suspect he just isn't riding well enough to make the team. He rode in most of Poznan's meetings last season, but this season they're in a higher division.

The thing here is some are satisfied with a supposed "glorious" failure, while others just see it as just failure. It seems to be part of the British make-up to glorify failure. As far as the SWC is concerned, anything other than a Gold Medal is failure - you can be sure that Australia, Denmark and Poland (the likely opponents on Saturday) won't be satisfied with 2nd.

I guess the United States will have to go through the qualifiers next year - they only avoided them this season by making the race-off last season. I suppose Russia will be avoiding the qualifiers next season.