Subedei

Tony Steele making Marek Wojaczek look competent. And Poole reject Suchanek apparently wins via a ballot. Very democratic.

Another site with live updates is: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/live_zuzel1.htm

I still can't see any compelling reason, other than commercial, for either Nicholls or Richardson to be retained in the series. They failed in 2004. They failed in 2005. And the chances are they'll fail in 2006. Serial failures that should be defenestrated.

And here's how Pepe the Pole saw his two exclusions at Tarnow: http://www.speedwayworld.tv/en/news/a5205

I'd have been in the Adams position usually. But this year he managed to avoid it.

And for how many years should this charity be extended to failing British riders? Nicholls and Richardson have had their chances and have flopped.

And after Sunday's/Monday's meetings, the top 10 in the Ekstra Liga averages are as follows (last recorded position and average in brackets): 1..(3)..T Gollob..Tarnow..9.73..(9.64) 2..(1)..R Sullivan..Czestochowa..9.71..(9.71) 2..(1)..N Pedersen..Zielona Gora..9.71..(9.71) 4..(6)..R Holta..Czestochowa..9.43..(9.31) 5..(5)..L Adams..Leszno..9.36..(9.36) 6..(7)..T Rickardsson..Tarnow..9.28..(9.20) 7..(8)..J Crump..Torun..9.14..(9.14) 8..(9)..A Jonsson..Bydgoszcz..9.03..(9.00) 9..(4)..P Protasiewicz..9.02..(9.38) 10..(-)..G Walasek..Czestochowa..8.70..(-.--) So, with Nicki P and Sullivan missing again, TG jumps to the top of the averages again. Others who didn't ride this weekend were Adams and Crump. And as a little extra, here's a few averages that might be of interest to Elite League fans: 11..R Kosciecha..Gdansk..8.52 12..K Kasprzak..Leszno..8.38 14..H Andersen..Wroclaw..8.11 15..G Hancock..Gdansk..7.92 21..S Ulamek..Czestochowa..7.39 34..T Bajerski..Gdansk..5.42 36..M Puszakowski..Torun..5.32 41..A Smith..Torun..4.94 43..A Skornicki..Leszno..4.56 It should be noted that only Ulamek and Puszakowski from the above rode on Sunday/Monday. And a few riders who haven't yet raced sufficient heats to get into the "main" average listings: B Pedersen..Gdansk..9.55 S Nicholls..Tarnow..9.00 L Richardson..Zielona Gora..7.04 R Miskowiak..Wroclaw..6.13 A Lindback..Wroclaw..4.36 And none of the above rode on Monday/Tuesday. All details, as ever, from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

Well, let's hope it's hard but fair riding. I'd guess Marcin Rempala will be okay. Of his 5 programmed rides, 3 are with TG and 1 with TR. And he should be okay when he's racing with TG. There's not many finer team riders around than Gollob. And I guess Janusz Kolodziej will be mostly paired with TR, so he should be okay as well.

I've no idea. But tarabanko would know. Send him a PM. So, as I said in the Elite League section, Tomasz Gollob rides for Poland (SWC champions), rides for Tarnow (looking like Ekstra Liga champions) and rides for Vastervik (every chance of winning the Swedish title). Is there a better "team" man around in speedway today?

VMS Elit Vetlanda..56 [103] 1..L Richardson..3,1,1,1 = 6 2..T Jedrzejak..2',2',0,1' = 5+3 3..W Jagus..2',0,3,2,3 = 10+1 4..A Dryml..3,3,1,2,0 = 9 5..R Holta..2,3,1',3,2 = 11+1 6..D Ruud..3,0,1,3 = 7 7..M Nilsson..2',3,0,2',1 = 8+2 8..T H Johansson = DNR Smederna Eskilstuna..40 [89] 1..B Hamill..0,1',0,0 = 1+1 2..J B Jensen..1,2,3,2,0,2 = 10 3..S Nicholls..0,2',2',3,0,1 = 8+2 4..K Kasprzak..1,1,0 = 2 5..N Pedersen..3,2,3,3,2,3 = 16 6..M Risager..1,0,1 = 2 7..E Andersson..0,1,0 = 1 8..R Pettersson..0 = 0 Ht 1..Richardson, Jedrzejak, Jensen, Hamill 5-1 (5-1) Ht 2..Ruud, Nilsson, Risager, Andersson 5-1 (10-2) Ht 3..Dryml, Jagus, Kasprzak, Nicholls 5-1 (15-3) Ht 4..Pedersen, Holta, Andersson, Ruud 2-4 (17-7) Ht 5..Nilsson, Jedrzejak, Kasprzak, Risager 5-1 (22-8) Ht 6..Dryml, Jensen, Hamill, Jagus 3-3 (25-11) Ht 7..Jensen, Nicholls, Richardson, Jedrzejak 1-5 (26-16) Ht 8..Jagus, Pedersen, Dryml, Andersson 4-2 (30-18) Ht 9..Holta, Jensen, Ruud, Hamill 4-2 (34-20) Ht 10..Pedersen, Nicholls, Richardson, Nilsson 1-5 (35-25) Ht 11..Ruud, Nilsson, Risager, Hamill [E/F] 5-1 (40-26) Ht 12..Nicholls, Dryml, Holta, Jensen 3-3 (43-29) Ht 13..Pedersen, Jagus, Jedrzejak, Kasprzak 3-3 (46-32) Ht 14..Holta, Pedersen, Richardson, Nicholls 4-2 (50-34) Ht 15..Jagus, Jensen, Nilsson, Pettersson 4-2 (54-36) Ht 16..Pedersen, Holta, Nicholls, Dryml 2-4 (56-40) Notes: 1..Ht 7 and Jensen replaces Kasprzak for Smederna Eskilstuna. 2..Ht 10 and Nicholls replaces Risager for Smederna Eskilstuna. 3..Ht 11 and Hamill replaces Andersson for Smederna Eskilstuna. 4..Ht 13 and Pedersen replaces Hamill for Smederna Eskilstuna. 5..Ht 13 and VMS Elit Vetlanda lead on aggregate by 12 points, which means three 5-1s to Smederna Eskilstuna and it'll end all square. 6..Ht 14 and a 4-2 to VMS Elit Vetlanda means they can't be caught and are through to the final. All details from: http://www.speedway.nu With a little help from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

Vastervik..58 [109] 1..T Chrzanowski..1,1,1,2 = 5 2..B Pedersen..3,3,3,2,1 = 12 3..N-K Iversen..2',2,2',1',0 = 7+3 4..S Ulamek..3,1',3,1,3 = 11+1 5..T Gollob..2,3,3 = 8 6..P Ljung..3,1',2',3,1 = 10+2 7..R Johansson..0,2',3,0 = 5+1 8..J Engman..0 = 0 Luxo Stars..38 [83] 1..P Karlsson..2,0,0,3 = 5 2..M Wegrzyk..0,1,0,0 = 1 3..H Andersen..1,0,2,3,3 = 9 4..S Ermolenko..0,1,2,0 = 3 5..A Jonsson..3,3,1,2,1 = 10 6..S Robson..1',0,2,2' = 5+2 7..K Jablonski..2,0,0,1' = 3+1 8..R Kling..0,2 = 2 Ht 1..Pedersen, Karlsson, Chrzanowski, Wegrzyk 4-2 (4-2) Ht 2..Ljung, Jablonski, Robson, Johansson 3-3 (7-5) Ht 3..Ulamek, Iversen, Andersen, Ermolenko 5-1 (12-6) Ht 4..Jonsson, Gollob, Ljung, Jablonski 3-3 (15-9) Ht 5..Pedersen, Johansson, Ermolenko, Kling 5-1 (20-10) Ht 6..Jonsson, Iversen, Ulamek, Karlsson 3-3 (23-13) Ht 7..Pedersen, Ermolenko, Chrzanowski, Andersen 4-2 (27-15) Ht 8..Ulamek, Iversen, Jonsson, Jablonski 5-1 (32-16) Ht 9..Gollob, Ljung, Wegrzyk, Karlsson 5-1 (37-17) Ht 10..Johansson, Jonsson, Chrzanowski, Robson 4-2 (41-19) Ht 11..Ljung, Robson, Jablonski, Johansson 3-3 (44-22) Ht 12..Gollob, Andersen, Ulamek, Wegrzyk 4-2 (48-24) Ht 13..Karlsson, Pedersen, Iversen, Ermolenko [Ex] 3-3 (51-27) Ht 14..Andersen, Chrzanowski, Jonsson, Engman 2-4 (53-31) Ht 15..Ulamek, Kling, Ljung, Wegrzyk 4-2 (57-33) Ht 16..Andersen, Robson, Pedersen, Iversen 1-5 (58-38) Notes: 1..Ht 5 and Kling replaces Robson for Luxo Stars. 2..Ht 6 and Jonsson replaces Wegrzyk for Luxo Stars. 3..Ht 11 and a 3-3 means that Vastervik can't be caught and are through to the final. 4..Ht 14 and Engman replaces Gollob for Vastervik. 5..Ht 16 and Robson replaces Jonsson for Luxo Stars. All details from: http://www.speedway.nu With a little help from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl

Wish it was on television in the UK. Should be something special.

Nicholls has only ridden in 3 Polish league meetings this season. I'd say Harris and Stead have very little chance of riding in the Polish leagues next season.

Have to agree with you there, well not about the redoutable Mrs Clemens, naturally. But the Poles are a hopelessly, helplessly romantic, endlessly idealistic people with a sense of personal liberty that borders on anarchy. It's got them into trouble in the past and will, no doubt, get them into trouble in the future.

Outside of the GPs, SWC and leaving aside Bydgoszcz and Tarnow, Gollob is a hugely controversial figure in Poland. Edit: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ind...opic=19396&st=0 http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ind...pic=19593&st=20

And don't I feel stupid now. They'd both have finished last Sunday but for a Sunday driver in a Williams.

Couldn't private message me the missing letters, could you? I haven't the first clue what I'm supposed to be a supporter of.

It was awful.

I never subscribed to the "passing is everything" theory. Passing is very often nothing as far as I'm concerned. A good well-executed pass is all fine and dandy, but a rider losing control and being passed is just rubbish. Give me close racing. In fact, the best kind of racing is where a rider haunts the rider in front for 4 laps, rather than the rider in front going off-line and being passed on lap 1. Now, look at the Bydgoszcz GP and Tomasz Gollob's overtake of Nicki P in Ht 6. That was better than all the racing at Lonigo combined. And the heat where he haunted Lee Richardson for 4 laps was excellent also. There wasn't a pass in that heat, but it was super stuff all the same. And the SWC at Eskilstuna and Wroclaw was excellent also. Lonigo was just dreadful. And, yes, give me 4 riders going full-throttle on a 350 metre track with sweeping bends any day of the week.

I agree. Actually, I think it'd probably benefit Lindback to have at least one season away. Think he's entered the circus too early. Richardson, Nicholls, Sullivan and Andersen should be out. They failed last year, they failed this year. Serial failure should not be rewarded.

Much as I admire TG, I think you're giving him far too much credit here. TG will have known he was safe all along. Even outside of the top 8 he'd have been safe and sound.

Any particular reason this is in the GP and SWC section?

I'd have Hampel in there on his GP form alone. He's been, broadly speaking, excellent in the GPs this season,. And he'd be there if he hadn't missed 3 GPs. Also, he was in the top 8 last year and deserves his second chance.

Not sure what Hampel's form is like in Sweden, but it seems to have been pretty poor in Poland this season. In fact, he's only 18th in the Polish averages, only one place above Chrzanowski.

The majority of Mauger's career - and certainly his great successes - was spent in the "free-for-all" at the tapes. Rickardsson's in the "stand still" at the tapes. So they both knew what was what. It's the likes of Gundersen and Neilsen who were most affected. The rules changed during their era. Anyway, I believe Mauger and TR would have adapted to whatever the rules were.