Subedei

Wondered who'd be the first to spot it. Well done home straight. And it was in Nicki P's championship year.

That's extremely, wildly optimistic.

Yes, maybe I do need to slow down a little. Hoping to have a little hibernation over the winter months and be fresh (or as fresh as an 800-year-old can be) for the new season. Probably not enough. And you didn't even mention Jonsson. Anyway, three sets of brothers have appeared in GPs together: the Drymls, the Karlssons and the Gollobs.

As against losing 100% for Scott Nicholls.

Also equates to winning 19% of the GPs he's competed in. That's against 0% for Nicholls.

But he doesn't trouble them in GP semi-finals. And that's what counts. It's 21 GPs since Nicholls made a final. His last one was way back in 2003, in Sweden.

Jason Crump..62 GPs..12 wins Tomasz Gollob..74 GPs..10 wins Scott Nicholls..37 GPs..0 wins

Yes. And the Poles only won this year because it was held in Poland. What's that you say? Britain can't even win when it's held in Britain?

Looks like even the Germans have more talent coming through than Britain.

Ah, but he wasn't BP. He was, apparently, "Juicy Brucie". So that'd make him JB. Or was that John Berry?

Yet, in a couple of years time, maybe people will be saying TR retired too soon. It's a difficult one. I don't think PC's declining years will effect how those who saw him in his prime remember his career. The same with the Sudden one. Nothing can affect my memories of the glory years of Sam Ermolenko. And I'll tell you he looked pretty good on track at Workington in the Stonehewer testimonial.

But you still can't prove it. Can you?

Exactly. In fact, were BP and Greg Hancock there either?

Well, if Jurica Pavlic had won (and he reached the "small final"), would everyone have been saying he deserved a chance in the GPs? Thought not. Everyone clutches at straws to justify the unjustifiable.

Nicholls won the Golden Helmet in Pardubice. So what? Was TR there, or TG? And anyway, Ales Dryml finished 3rd and Jesper B Jensen 4th, both ahead of Jason Crump and Hans Andersen. Maybe they deserve a place as well.

MLODZIEZOWYCH INDYWIDUALNYCH MISTRZOSTW POLSKI The Poles have an abundance of talent coming through the ranks and today we'll find out who'll be the Polish junior champion. This meeting features the Polish champion (Kolodziej), the World under-21 champion (Kasprzak) and all 5 members of Poland's team that won the inaugural junior SWC yesterday in Pardubice (Kolodziej, Rempala, Klecha, Kasprzak and Zabik). Should be a keenly contested meeting. ------------------------------ MIMP Final - Torun 1..M Jablonski (Gdansk)..2,2,2,1,1 = 8 2..M Pacholak (Wroclaw)..0,1,0,2,0 = 3 3..K Buczkowski (Bydgoszcz..1,1,2,0,2 = 4 4..R Jamrozy (Wroclaw)..3,0,1,3,0 = 7 5..M Rempala (Tarnow)..1,1,3,1,3 = 9 6..M Jankowski (Rawicz)..0,0,0,Ex/2 = 0 7..Z Suchecki (Zielona Gora)..2,3,0,2,2 = 9 8..K Kasprzak (Leszno)..3,3,0 = 6 9..M Sekula (Opole)..0,0,1,2,1 = 4 10..K Zabik (Torun)..2,2,2,2,2 = 10 11..D Stachyra (Rzeszow)..Ex/2,0,1,0 = 1 12..K Baranski (Grudziadz)..1,1,1,0,0 = 3 13..A Miedzinski (Torun)..3,3,3,3,3 = 15 14..K Klecha (Bydgoszcz)..0,3,3,3,0 = 9 15..P Miesiac (Rzeszow)..1,2,2,0,Ex/2 = 5 16..J Kolodziej (Tarnow)..2,2,3,3,3 = 13 R1..M Jedrzejewski (Bydgoszcz)..3,1,3,1,2 = 10 ------------------------------ Ht 1..Jamrozy, Jablonski, Buczkowski, Pacholak Ht 2..Kasprzak, Suchecki, Rempala, Jankowski Ht 3..Jedrzejewski [stachyra Ex/2], Zabik, Baranski, Sekula Ht 4..Miedzinski, Kolodziej, Miesiac, Klecha [Fall] Ht 5..Miedzinski, Jablonski, Rempala, Sekula [Fall] Ht 6..Klecha, Zabik, Pacholak, Jankowski [E/F] Ht 7..Suchecki, Miesiac, Buczkowski, Stachyra Ht 8..Kasprzak, Kolodziej, Baranski, Jamrozy [F/Ex] Ht 9..Kolodziej, Jablonski, Stachyra, Jankowski Ht 10..Rempala, Miesiac, Baranski, Pacholak Ht 11..Klecha, Buczkowski, Sekula, Kasprzak [Ex] Ht 12..Miedzinski, Zabik, Jamrozy, Suchecki Ht 13..Klecha, Suchecki, Jablonski, Baranski Ht 14..Miedzinski, Pacholak, Jedrzejewski [Kasprzak], Stachyra [Fall] Ht 15..Kolodziej, Zabik, Rempala, Buczkowski Ht 16..Jamrozy, Sekula, Jablonski [Ex/2], Miesiac [Ex] Ht 17..Jedrzejewski [Kasprzak], Zabik, Jablonski, Miesiac [Ex/2] Ht 18..Kolodziej, Suchecki, Sekula, Pacholak Ht 19..Miedzinski, Buczkowski, Jedrzejewski [Jankowski], Baranski [E/F] Ht 20..Rempala, Jedrzejewski [stachyra], Jamrozy [E/F], Klecha [Ex/T] Ht 21..Zabik, Jedrzejewski ------------------------------ Notes: 1..Ht 3 and Stachyra fails to beat the 2 minutes and is excluded and replaced by Jedrzejewski. 2..Ht 7 and it's all 4 back after Buczkowski comes to grief. 3..Ht 8 and Jamrozy gets himself into mischief and is excluded from the re-run. 4..Ht 11 and Kasprzak gets himself into mischief and is excluded from the re-run. 5..Ht 14 and Jedrzejewski replaces Kasprzak. 6..Ht 16 and Miesiac gets himself into mischief and is excluded from the re-run. 7..Ht 16 and Jablonski fails to beat the 2 minutes and is excluded. 8..Ht 17 and Jedrzejewski replaces Kasprzak 9..Ht 19 and Jedrzejewski replaces Jankowski. 10..Ht 19 and a Miedzinski win means he's the Polish Junior Champion with a 15 point maximum on his home track. 11..And it means that the Polish champion Janusz Kolodziej has to settle for silver in the junior championship. 12..Ht 20 and Jedrzejewski replaces Stachyra. 13..Ht 20 and Klecha gets up to mischief at the tapes and is excluded. 14..Ht 21 and it's a race-off between Zabik and Jedrzejewski for the bronze medal. ------------------------------ Official Classification: 1..A Miedzinski 2..J Kolodziej 3..K Zabik ------------------------------ All details from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

Excuse me? Ales Dryml finished 3rd, while Jesper B Jensen finished 4th and Hans Andersen 6th. Perhaps this also proves they're worthy of inclusion. And what about Jurica Pavlic, Morten Risager, Lukas Dryml and Matej Ferjan who made the "small final" today?

The fact remains that at Bydgoszcz Lee Richardson turned 8 points into 20 points, while at Prague Scott Nicholls turned 13 points into, well, 13 points, and at Lonigo Nicholls transformed 6 points into, well, 6 points. If anything, Lee Richardson deserves a place ahead of Nicholls. League form isn't the be all and end all of it. Hampel was pretty ordinary in the leagues this season, but he finished runner-up twice in GPs. That's the indicator. And every indictation is that Nicholls can't produce at the business end of a GP.

And SCB literally adds insult to injury by removing Max.

And the final Ekstra Liga averages are as follows (rider, club, meetings, heats, average): 1..T Gollob..Tarnow..20..100..9.76 2..R Sullivan..Czestochowa..17..84..9.71 2..N Pedersen..Zielona Gora..10..56..9.71 4..L Adams..Leszno..18..96..9.46 5..T Rickardsson..Tarnow..16..80..9.35 6..R Holta..Czestochowa..20..108..9.30 7..J Crump..Torun..17..97..9.11 8..A Jonsson..Bydgoszcz..16..83..9.06 9..P Protasiewicz..Bydgoszcz..18..95..8.88 10..R Kosciecha..Gdansk..16..77..8.52 11..G Walasek..Czestochowa..19..98..8.45 12..K Kasprzak..Leszno..18..99..8.52 13..R Sawina..Bydgoszcz..18..92..8.26 14..H Andersen..Wroclaw..16..82..8.15 15..G Hancock..Gdansk..9..50..7.92 16..J Kolodziej..Tarnow..19..95..7.87 17..W Jagus..Torun..18..98..7.76 18..S Ulamek..Czestochowa..14..72..7.61 19..J Hampel..Wroclaw..11..60..7.60 20..T Chrzanowski..Gdansk..16..84..7.75 21..D Balinski..Leszno..17..86..7.40 22..M Rempala..Tarnow..20..97..7.38 23..T Gapinski..Wroclaw..14..72..7.28 24..J Gollob..Tarnow..20..87..6.90 25..P Swiderski..Wroclaw..17..83..6.65 26..K Jablonski..Gdansk..13..58..6.55 27..K Slabon..Wroclaw..17..82..6.24 28..K Zabik..Torun..14..69..6.14 29..M Staszewski..Zielona Gora..16..78..6.05 30..P Swist..Zielona Gora..16..74..5.95 31..A Miedzinski..Torun..18..93..5.76 32..S Drabik..Czestochowa..20..92..5.61 33..K Klecha..Bydgoszcz..18..84..5.52 34..J Rempala..Leszno..17..77..5.51 35..T Bajerski..Gdansk..12..48..5.42 36..M Puszakowski..Torun..17..73..5.32 37..J Krzyzaniak..Bydgoszcz..18..61..5.31 38..R Okoniewski..Zielona Gora..8..40..5.30 39..A Smith..Torun..17..78..5.13 40..G Rempala..Tarnow..17..63..4.95 41..M Robacki..Bydgoszcz..18..68..4.94 42..N Kosciuch..Leszno..15..51..4.78 43..A Huszcza..Zielona Gora..10..39..4.72 44..A Skornicki..Leszno..16..62..4.58 45..K Buczkowski..Bydgoszcz..18..53..4.30 46..R Jamrozy..Wroclaw..16..76..4.16 47..S Burza..Tarnow..15..47..3.91 47.K Stojanowski..Zielona Gora..11..45..3.91 49..Z Suchecki..Zielona Gora..15..58..3.79 50..L Jankowski..Leszno..12..44..3.45 51..M Jablonski..Gdansk..16..84..3.43 52..M Szczepaniak..Czestochowa..14..68..2.65 Unclassified --..B Pedersen..Gdansk..6..31..9.55 --..S Nicholls..Tarnow..3..16..9.00 --..M Jurga..Leszno..1..2..8.00 --..L Richardson..Zielona Gora..2..25..7.04 --..R Miskowiak..Wroclaw..9..38..6.00 --..R Kasprzak..Leszno..7..18..5.56 --..M Nowaczyk..Zielona Gora..8..29..4.83 --..G Klopot..Gdansk..8..27..4.44 --..A Lindback..Wroclaw..2..11..4.36 --..M Jedrzejewski..Bydgoszcz..2..4..4.00 --..M Jagus..Torun..17..30..3.33 --..S Dabrowski..Gdansk..16..21..3.24 --..M Pacholak..Wroclaw..18..34..2.94 --..A Marcinkowski..Zielona Gora..8..27..2.67 --..R Osumek..Czestochowa..6..19..2.32 --..R Wardzala..Tarnow..7..14..2.29 --..D Pytel..Zielona Gora..3..4..2.00 --..M Ciura..Czestochowa..12..29..1.66 --..P Dadela..Czestochowa..5..9..1.33 --..M Piekarski..Czestochowa..4..13..0.92 --..R Kessler..Zielona Gora..2..5..0.80 --..D Romanczuk..Czestochowa..3..6..0.00 --..D Balinski Jr..Leszno..2..5..0.00 --..S Pydzik..Czestochowa..2..2..0.00 --..A Ruszkiewicz..Wroclaw..2..2..0.00 --..D Stachowiak..Torun..1..1..0.00 Colour Code: Green = Foreign rider Blue = Junior rider And, as ever, details from the excellent: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

There were no qualifiers for the 2006 series in 2005. Think you're a year behind everyone else old boy. There may be qualifiers for 2007 in 2006, but that's not yet decided.

Maybe the Poole fiasco spoiled Walasek's relations with Czestochowa. Anyway, on a side issue, Czestochowa's stadium is being completely renovated over the close season.

He missed a single GP, not lots. And finally some understanding. If Hampel had performed as Nicholls has in 2005, I don't think he'd have been the automatic choice Nicholls is. And if he'd performed like Richardson, he'd probably have no chance. And the reason? The Poles have loads of riders chomping on the bit to get into the circus. They've Kasprzak, Kolodziej, Walasek, Protasiewicz and a host of great young riders coming through. BSI can easily dump one and call up another. The cry you hear on here is who else can we have but Nicholls or Richardson? So, that leaves Nicholls and Richardson in the "comfort zone" of knowing they'll get back in because there's no British rider to take their place. They don't have to be hungry. They don't have to perform. It shouldn't be entry by quota. They should be under no illusions. You fail and you're out. Maybe then they'll be hungry enough to compete and win.

JUNIOR WORLD TEAM CUP FINAL ------------------------------ Junior World Team Cup Final – Pardubice – 01-10-05 Sweden..35 1..A Lindback..2,3,3,2,1 =11 2..E Andersson..0,3,0,2,3 = 8 3..F Lindgren..2,2,3,1,1 = 9 4..J Davidsson..1,1,2,2,1 = 7 17..S Alden = DNR Poland..41 5..J Kolodziej..2,3,3,3,3 = 14 6..K Klecha..3,0,0 = 3 7..M Rempala..0,2,3,3 = 8 8..K Kasprzak..3,2,3,2,3 = 13 18..K Zabik..2,0,1 = 3 Denmark..24 9..M Risager..2,3,1,1,1,2 = 10 10..P Hougaard..1,0,1 = 2 11..K Lund..0,0 = 0 12..H Moller..3,0,2,0,2 = 7 19..N Klindt..2,1,2,0 = 5 Czech Republic..20 13..F Sitera..0,1,0 = 1 14..Z Simota..1,1,1,0,2,0 = 5 15..L Tomicek..1,1,0,0 = 2 16..T Suchanek..3,2,1,3,3,0 = 12 20..M Malek..0 = 0 Ht 1..Moller, Kolodziej, Davidsson, Sitera 1-2-3-0 (1-2-3-0) Ht 2..Klecha, Lindgren, Tomicek, Lund 2-3-0-1 (3-5-3-1) Ht 3..Kasprzak, Risager, Simota, Andersson 0-3-2-1 (3-8-5-2) Ht 4..Suchanek, Lindback, Hougaard, Rempala 2-0-1-3 (5-8-6-5) Ht 5..Risager, Suchanek, Davidsson, Klecha [Fall] 1-0-3-2 (6-8-9-7) Ht 6..Kolodziej, Lindgren, Simota, Hougaard 2-3-0-1 (8-11-9-8) Ht 7..Andersson, Zabik, Tomicek, Moller [Ex/T] 3-2-0-1 (11-13-9-9) Ht 8..Lindback, Kasprzak, Sitera, Lund 3-2-0-1 (14-15-9-10) Ht 9..Kasprzak, Davidsson, Hougaard, Tomicek 2-3-1-0 (16-18-10-10) Ht 10..Lindgren, Rempala, Risager, Malek 3-2-1-0 (19-20-11-10) Ht 11..Kolodziej, Klindt, Suchanek, Andersson 0-3-2-1 (19-23-13-11) Ht 12..Lindback, Moller, Simota, Zabik 3-0-2-1 (22-23-15-12) Ht 13..Suchanek, Kasprzak, Lindgren, Moller [E/F] 1-2-0-3 (23-25-15-15) Ht 14..Rempala, Davidsson, Klindt, Simota [Ex] 2-3-1-0 (25-28-16-15) Ht 15..Suchanek, Andersson, Risager, Klecha 2-0-1-3 (27-28-17-18) Ht 16..Kolodziej, Lindback, Risager, Tomicek 2-3-1-0 (29-31-18-18) Ht 17..Andersson, Klindt, Zabik, Sitera 3-1-2-0 (32-32-20-18) Ht 18..Rempala, Simota, Davidsson, Klindt [Ex/T] 1-3-0-2 (33-35-20-20) Ht 19..Kasprzak, Moller, Lindgren, Simota 1-3-2-0 (34-38-22-20) Ht 20..Kolodziej, Risager, Lindback, Suchanek 1-3-2-0 (35-41-24-20) ------------------------------ Notes: 1..Ht 7 and Zabik replaces Rempala for Poland. 2..Ht 7 and Moller gets himself into mischief at the tapes and is excluded for Denmark. 3..Ht 10 and Malek replaces Sitera for the Czech Republic. 4..Ht 10 and it's all 4 back after Lindgren bites the dust. 5..Ht 11 and Klindt replaces Lund for Denmark. 6..Ht 12 and Zabik replaces Klecha for Poland. 7..Ht 14 and Klindt replaces Lund for Denmark. 8..Ht 14 and Simota gets himself into mischief and is excluded for the Czech Republic. 9..Ht 15 and Suchanek replaces Sitera in a tactical move by the Czech Republic. 10..Ht 15 and Risager replaces Hougaard in a tactical move by Denmark. 11..Ht 18 and Klindt gets himself into mischief at the tapes and is excluded for Denmark. 12..Ht 19 and a win for Kasprzak means it's all over and Poland are the champs. ------------------------------ All details from: http://www.przegladzuzlowy.pl

No one. There shouldn't be a British entrant because no one is good enough.