Subedei

Happily. I thought Nicholls was outstanding tonight. World of difference between the SWC and the GPs and I suspect a world of difference between tonight's meeting and the final in Leszno. But, can't take it away from the fellow, he was superb tonight.

Looks to me like the non-blood Pole Rune Holta could be making way for Damian Balinski Snr in the Polish team for the race-off. That would make three Unia Leszno riders in the Polish team, with Krzysztof Kasprzak and Jaroslaw Hampel already in the team. Balinski and the mad Russians should make the race-off a very interesting meeting indeed.

As ever, a bit of hairem, scarem stuff from the "mad Russians". A superb ride from Sajfutdinov (only 17-years-old) to hold off Simon Stead late in the meeting, but Gizatullin was the pick of them.

I shouldn't have thought it practical, to be honest. After all, sportowefakty.pl seems to be a professional outfit that probably has web-designers and so forth, while the British updates site is merely just crude, but effective, use of a forum-based template. I suppose with sufficient funding, it would be possible, or if the British updates site were to be incorporated in sportowefakty.pl it would be possible. But you'd probably lose the ability to comment.

Or, at least, a track the Poles can race on.

Still, the roadshow moves to Poland shortly and you suspect Mr Olsen's desires regarding track condition will be of secondary importance there.

Okay, I've changed my avatar.

And I see once again Paul Bellamy fronting up. John Postlethwaite really is keeping a low profile since the Bulldogs fiasco.

So, if I'm not much mistaken, not one single British rider has managed to make it through to the final at Vojens - isn't that rather shameful?

Expect a Shovlar thread on the arrogance of Bridger in the not to distant future - still, a bit off if he just hasn't bothered. A new Mike Lee perhaps?

I'd say the SWC race-off meeting invariably provides the most compelling meeting of the year, as three of the giants of world speedway fight for a couple of places in the SWC final.

But, young Turner, it's a far more compelling competition than the GPs.

And the results: Tarnow 48 : 42 Rzeszow Tomasz Gollob twice defeated Nicki P, including a 5-1 in Ht 7 with his partner the weird wonder Jacek Rempala. Leszno 54 : 36 Bydgoszcz This meeting was tied at 30 : 30 after Ht 10, but Bydgoszcz's resistence crumbled as they added just 6 points from the final 5 heats, compared to Leszno's 24.

And Bydgoszcz are concerned that Jonas Davidsson won't show for them on Friday, while Leszno have four riders due in Italy on Saturday.

Maybe Motorcycle Australia didn't think he was worth nominating. Didn't compete in their domestic championship, as far as I can recall.

Okay, so Lee Richardson can't cut it on the "big stage"? Well, as far as I can recall, during the seasons 2004, 2005 and 2006, Lee Richardson made two appearances in GP finals, while the great Scott Nicholls made just one. And to the best of my knowledge it was Lee Richardson that performed outstandingly well in the 2005 SWC and was the only rider to beat Tomasz Gollob in the final. Coventry is a former home track of Lee Richardson and he performs well in Poland - it would be lunacy not to have Lee Richardson in the team.

Joined the Royal Navy?

Okay, I'll take a large mouthful of humble pie.

Predicting another appearance for the Nicholls begging bowl then, TNT. Don't you go ruling out the great Tomasz Gollob, either. He's sat there in eighth place and with Prague, Krsko and, of course, Bydgoszcz still to come, I think he's likely to stay in the top eight. I also think Gollob would bow out gracefully if he doesn't make the top eight.

Jagus is a single point behind the former British champion. And, lest we forget, Jagus had scored 6 points from 3 rides in Eskilstuna (including wins in his second and third rides) and was leading his fourth, until Nicki P clattered into him. So, I reckon a semi-final place was in the offing for Jagus and more points. Holta is only three points adrift of the former British champion. With the two of the temporary tracks out of the way, expect to see Wieslaw Jagus doing rather better in the rounds ahead. But, then again, we don't expect reasoned debate from Drop a Cog, do we? Still backing Simon Stead for a GP place Drop a Cog? He couldn't even progress to the semi-finals of the qualification process, could he?

Nicki P's right - the track is dreadful, played right into Harris' hands though. Always believed Harris would do well at Cardiff, although not THAT well. He's as happy as a pig in the proverbial when the track gets rough.

In a word, no. The racing was better in 2004. The track broke up terribly last night and materially affected the opportunities of a few riders, most notably, of course, Nicki P in the semi-final. However, such track conditions are perfect for young Harris and he took full advantage of them - fair play to him. There couldn't be a more popular winner.

Winning the semi-finals, I believe. Wasn't there a similar case with Hans Andersen earlier in the season?

And after the British GP the standings are: 1..N Pedersen..86 2..L Adams..75 3..G Hancock..67 4..H Andersen..67 5..C Harris..56 6..J Crump..53 7..A Jonsson..38 8..T Gollob..36 9..J Hampel..34 10..S Nicholls..30 11..W Jagus..29 12..B Pedersen..28 13..R Holta..27 14..M Zagar..25 15..A Lindback..22 16..F Lindgren..14 17..K Bjerre..10 18..S Ulamek..6 19..D Howe..4 20..M Carpanese..2 So, our "nominations watch" reveals that a very solid GP from Nicholls boosts him up the table and Bjarne Pedersen also makes a move upwards, largely due to a disappointing GP from both Holta and Zagar. Zagar's form must be particularly worrying, after his splendid displays of last season. Lindback remains bottom of the permanent fifteen and all the nominations, save Harris, of course, remain in the bottom half of the table.

Why not? He's never ever, not ever, that's to say never, going to be good enough. But he might yet sneak into the GPs due to his nationality.