T.N.T.

50 points awarded for posting - not 25 SCORES FROM ROUND 1 -40 Darcy Ward -20 Tai Woffinden -5 Chris Holder -25 Greg Hancock -25 Neils K Iversen -15 Jarek Hampel 40 Nicki Pedersen -15 Matej Zagar 20 Kenneth Bjerre 35 Fredrik Lindgren 55 Krzysztof Kasprzak 5 Andreas Jonsson -10 Troy Batchelor -25 Chris Harris 55 Martin Smolinski 5 Jason Bunyan 30 Hampel / Kasprzak LEDERBOARD 210 rico 135 Referee Rick 120 Gray 120 OmeerUm 85 Waihekeaces 60 Hilly 55 Gavan 50 Pyscho3a 30 Screm 20 HasseHolmqist* 20 Icescott 5 CJ69 0 TNT -10 Pantherman -20 INCOGNITO *no spread bet Bydgoszcz Predictions 12 Nicki Pedersen 11 Jarek Hampel 10 Darcy Ward 10 Chris Holder 9 Neils K Iversen 8 Krzysztof Kasprzak 8 Tai Woffinden 7 Fredrik Lindgren 7 Kenneth Bjerre 7 Greg Hancock 7 Adrian Meidzinski 6 Martin Smolinski 6 Matej Zagar 6 Andreas Jonsson 4 Troy Batchelor 2 Chris Harris BONUS - Pick just one 75 pts - Harris to reach the semi finals 50 pts - Smolinski to reach the Final 40 pts - Three Aussies to outscore three Poles 25 pts - All 3 Polish riders in the semi finals

Nice to see you have admitted you posted this before knowing he had been injured less than 24 hours before flying out to NZ However ....... if you are getting paid for making comments progessionally about the sport for such a period of time, I would have thought you would have revised about the subject before passing comment on the www or at least listened to the numerous comments about his crash to know what the situation was. Sadly this year has seen a number of non qualifiers make it into the series but as one of those was Smolinski its shows that even non qualifiers can put up a good showing. I like Bomber but he is not a big meeting / GP standard rider and his lack of gating skills can not be covered up in such a line up and personally feel that if there are still spaces to fill after the GP Challenge then the best riders or most entertaining should have been considered as wild cards. Bartosz Zmarzlik, Patryk Dudek, Michael Jepsen Jensen, Alex Lokatev, Artem Laguta etc etc are young riders who would be much better entertainment or standard rider to fill the spaces. If it is a question of having two Brits (which it isn't) then I would say Craig Cook or Scott Nicholls would be better suited to ride in this meeting. Michael Jepsen Jensen, Adrian Miedzenski ......

Well Done Martin Smolinski on a remarkable first full GP and a brilliant ride in the final to win in New Zealand

Quiyr frankly I think there is really only three that will be up for the title come October but there are another four that won't be too far away but just miss out. 1 - Jarek Hampel .......... Consistant double figures 2 - Darcy Ward ........... A few crashes will cost him 3 - Tai Woffinden .......... Pain Barrier will be too tall 4 - Neils K Iversen ............ All out trier but just misses out 5 - Chris Holder ............. Could be top but have doubts 6 - Greg Hancock ........... Life in the old dog still but maybe his last year ? 7 - Nicki Pedersen ............ Would love to put him lower but can't 8 - Matej Zagar .............. Best of the rest 9 - Krzysztof Kasprzak ........... Gating and 3 Polish rounds will help 10 - Fredrik Lindgren ........... Will miss riding in England where he was a #1 11 - Andreas Jonsson ........... May show signs of his old form 12 - Kenneth Bjerre ............. Don't rate him (sorry) 13 - Troy Batchelor ........... Would like to see him higher 14 - Martin Smolinski .......... Battle with Bomber for the wooden spoon with the odd good round 15 - Chris Harris ............. Gating and bikes will let him down edited when it's clear there is a bit of a gap between Bomber and the rest !!

140 ... Darcy Ward 135 ... Tai Woffinden 135 ... Jaroslaw Hampel 130 ... Chris Holder 125 ... Neils K Iversen 115 ... Nicki Pedersen 110 ... Greg Hancock 100 ... Matej Zagar 90 ..... Krzysztof Kasprzak 90 ..... Fredrik Lindgren 90 ..... Kenneth Bjerre 80 ..... Andreas Jonsson 75 ..... Troy Batchelor 70 ..... Chris Harris 66 ..... Martin Smolinski NEW ZEALAND PREDICTIONS 13 Darcy Ward 12 Tai Woffinden 12 Chris Holder 11 Greg Hancock 11 Neils K Iversen 11 Jaroslaw Hampel 10 Nicki Pedersen 9 Matej Zagar 7 Kenneth Bjerre 6 Fredrik Lindgren 6 Krzysztof Kasprzak 6 Andreas Jonsson 6 Troy Batchelor 5 Chris Harris 4 Martin Smolinski 1 Jason Bunyan BONUS Who will score the most ? 25 pts = Holder / Batchelor 30 pts = Hampel / KK 40 pts = Woffinden / Harris 60 pts = Lindgren / Jonsson SELL Chris Holder 5 BUY Andreas Jonsson 5 Darcy Ward Greg Hancock Andreas Jonsson Fredrik Lindgren Jonsson / Lindgren REMEMBER; No posts or edits after the start time. 6am !!!

Prefer the middle tier and have been in a different place most years. Best was on the front row on turn two but wherever you go, its a good view. Don't mind the top tier at all as it probably gives you a better view of the stadium overall and I feel it gives you a bit more atmosphere when the crowd are waving flags and air horns going off. Wherever you go, its a good day and be sure to spend the day in the town first as its great to see so many speedway fans invading a city center and there is always something going on all day.

So basically you could bet 20 on Darcy scoring more than 14 and 20 on Tai scoring more. Both crash out in heat one and you are out of the competition even though you bet just 40 of your 300 ? Will still have a go and BUY Batchelor @ £170 and have a little faith in Fast Freddie by BUY @ £30

LEADERBOARD 270 - 210 rico 255 - 135 Referee Rick 270 - 120 Gray 270 - 120 OmmerUm 225 - 60 Hilly 170 - 20 Icescott 145 - xxx - PTW 130 - 0 TNT 115 - xxx - JaimeE 110 - 55 Gavan 100 - 50 Pyscho3a 85 - 85 Waihekeaces 70 - 5 CJ69 65 - -10 Pantherman 40 - -20 INCOGNITO 35 - 30 Screm xx - 20 HasseHolmqist*

SORRY; Only just realised I never posted the final results from last year. So will sort them out asap and update them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2014 GRAND PRIX PREDICTOR The 2014 GP Series is almost upon us with TAI WOFFINDEN defending the title he won last season despite injuries and being the rank outsider. This year he starts as one of the favourites but will face tough competition from the likes of Darcy Ward, Greg Hancock, Nicki Pedersen, Neils K Iversen and Jaroslaw Hampel. Sadly there is no Emil Sayfutdinov or Tomasz Gollob after they opted to ride in the SEC instead but there are still some big names in the series and even those less fancied could suprise a few in the odd round. This competition is again mainly in two parts. PART ONE is the Spread Bet. In this you are given $10 to place on TWO riders. You can buy or sell these riders and can buy two, sell two or buy one/sell one and can split the amount as you wish. (9/1, 8/2, 7/3, 6/4 or 5/5) For each point you are correct, you will get 10 points. For each point you are wrong, you will lose 10 points. EXAMPLE; If you place $3 on Martin Smolinski to buy at 66, then if he ends up on 77 then you get 11x3 = 330 points. If he ends up on 47 then you lose 19x3 = 570 points. Part Two is at each round I will give a prediction of what each rider will score during each round. You have to pick FOUR riders who you think will do better than the predicted score. For each point you are correct, you get 5 points, but for each point you are wrong then you lose 5 points. In Part One (Spread Bet) - ALL posts must be made BEFORE the televised show starts for the NEW ZEALAND GP. If you post this in time, you will get 100 points at the end of the season. In Part Two (Each GP) - ALL posts must be made prior to the start of the televised showing of that GP and for posting you will get 25 50 points. So in theory you get given 600 points if you post in time for each round (inc Spread Bet) NOTE; Any posts after the cut off time or edited will NOT count, even if its by 1 minute and no bonus points or points will be scored. There will also be a SPECIAL BET in each round. This could be of any sort of prediction that I post, but it can gain you extra points if you are correct. 2014 GRAND PRIX PREDICTED END TOTALS 140 ... Darcy Ward 135 ... Tai Woffinden 135 ... Jaroslaw Hampel 130 ... Chris Holder 125 ... Neils K Iversen 115 ... Nicki Pedersen 110 ... Greg Hancock 100 ... Matej Zagar 90 ..... Krzysztof Kasprzak 90 ..... Fredrik Lindgren 90 ..... Kenneth Bjerre 80 ..... Andreas Jonsson 75 ..... Troy Batchelor 70 ..... Chris Harris 66 ..... Martin Smolinski If at the end of the season there is a tie for the top spot, the person that scored the most without bonus points from Spread Bet will be declared the winner. Predictions for each GP will be posted below SCORES / LEADERBOARD NEW ZEALAND PREDICTIONS 13 Darcy Ward 12 Tai Woffinden 12 Chris Holder 11 Greg Hancock 11 Neils K Iversen 11 Jaroslaw Hampel 10 Nicki Pedersen 9 Matej Zagar 7 Kenneth Bjerre 6 Fredrik Lindgren 6 Krzysztof Kasprzak 6 Andreas Jonsson 6 Troy Batchelor 5 Chris Harris 4 Martin Smolinski 1 Jason Bunyan BONUS Who will score the most ? 25 pts = Holder / Batchelor 30 pts = Hampel / KK 40 pts = Woffinden / Harris 60 pts = Lindgren / Jonsson ALL POSTS must be made before the start of the televised coverage of the NEW ZEALAND GP

Can understand the thoughts of Emil for not taking part but it's going to be a bit less entertaining without one of the best racers in the world. Injuries from last season seem to be one major factor and the fact he is owed a reported (not officially) over half a million from last season, he is probably going to spend a year with less meetings but at places he knows he will get paid and at Torun he knows he will get that. The money on offer in the SEC is much better than the money in the GP's so by winning the SEC he can earn more than he would in the GP's and also has a home round but hopefully something can be sorted in the future so one of the top riders of the current era can compete for the World Title which he can win when fully fit.

Has he not raced for Australia in any previous years qualifiers ? Personally I feel that you are what you are and as he has ridden as an Australian in FIM events before, he should stay Australian. Had he have had the choice at the start of his career to represent a different country then thats when it should have been decided and not now when he knows he is unlikely to feature in any Australian team. Maybe it's just me being old school but I have family history from Switzerland via Germany and even a Great Great Grandmother from USA but I would only ever think of myself as English.

I will list a few rders that have over the years been frustrating for various reasons. NEIL EVITTS; In what turned out to be his final year in the sport, he was signed by Wolves on a 6.58 averge to back up the heat leaders. Havng returned from injury, the former British Champion struggled to even turn the bike in the corners at times and his average dropped to under three points a meeting. Wolves kept with him as there was no replacements on such a low average but quite frankly in that season the mascot was only about a second a lap slower STEVE JOHNSTON; One minute he was in the dirt and looking good and exciting to watch as he battled for points. The next he was tailing at the back on his orange lawn mower that looked about as fast as the tractor which grades the track. Great guy but he was signed at Wolves to replace GOD which put him on a downhill course as no one could replace Sudden Sam. WOLVES PRE SAM AND RONNIE; Before Sam and Ronnie combined to make them a top team, Woles went to many meetings and failed to do anything. However in the mid 80's there was a junior meeting after and Wolves had some good riders in the team like Andy Phillips, Carl Stonehewer and the legend that was Frank Killer Killeen who destroyed more fences than any other rider. The frustrating part was sitting through a sorry league match where the home team destroyed Wolves until the junior meeting which Wolves usualy won. Often you would hear the Wolves fans singing "We only came for the juniors, came for the juniors" SAM ERMOLENKO; On his day he was unbeatable and he had many good days. Any rider that could average over 11 is a remarkable rider but Sam had one floor that was really frustrating. He could be going along looking good but in a split second BOOM !! ..... Off he went. sliding off towards the fence and out of the race. When he was trying to pass a rider you have to admire his efforts but when he did it while leading by a distance it was so frustrating.

If there is any delay then it would not work as a person at the track can inform anyone at the bookies the result of the race nefore betting closes. It is also hard to bet on team racing. You can have a race with Ty Proctor and Ashley Morris at Monmore Green against Adam Ellis and Richard Lawson with Wolves having a good night so far. TyProctor would be odds on favourite while Ashley Morris would be around 5/2. Wolves gate and Proctor team rides Morris home to win. A quick call if there is a delay and a real dead cert bet is placed. If there is no delay, anyone putting money on Protor would feel cheated when he clearly wants to finish second. Sadly I can't see this working but do feel it would be great in individual meetings like the SEC or SGP but even then you can get a rider staying with a safe second to qualify for the fina rather than going for the win.

If there is one thing you can credit SKY for is keeping riders like Woffinden, Iversen, Ward etc riding here as without their backing over the last decade most of the top names would have moved out a long time ago. The next season was a make or break year as I see it. They had to cut costs incase the SKY deal never went through and if it had failed the 2015 season would face even more cuts to make it survive at any level in the future. Poland and Sweden have big sponsors and money men behind them and Britain sadly cant get that backing. Even with the Sky deal, the moves made this season are to help bring in more British riders and more affordable riders for the future years ahead.

Polish EL Averages 1 = 9.61 Jarek Hampel 2 = 9.46 Neils K Iversen 3 = 9.33 TAI WOFFINDEN 4 = 8.77 Nicki Pedersen 5 = 8.62 Emil Sayfutdinov 16 = 7.62 Darcy Ward Final British EL Averages 1 = 9.20 TAI WOFFINDEN 2 = 9.12 Neils K Iversen 3 = 9.07 Darcy Ward Final GP Standings 1 = TAI WOFFINDEN 2 = Jarek Hampel 3 = Neils K Iversen 8 = Darcy Ward Swedish EL Averages 1 = 9.26 Nicki Pedersen 2 = 9.16 Jarek Hampel 3 = 8.91 Chris Holder 4 = 8.72 Darcy Ward 5 = 8.71 Neils K Iversen No one is disputing Darcy is one hell of a rider but when it comes down to commitment on and off the track, Tai, Jarek and Neils gained the results neded to claim the top three places in the World rankings and the Polish EL Averages and ifHampel had ridden in England then you can bet he would be a 9+ rider just as Ti would be in Sweden. Tai, Jarek, Iversen, Emil, Nicki, Holder, Hancock and Ward are clearly the top 8 riders around todayand there isn't a great deal between all 8 and there are a few very good riders just behind them like Zagar, Laguta and Dudek and being World Champion in a time when these riders are around certainly deserves respect as the World #1

Air fences are 2'6" wide and are only kept in place by straps in order to keep them upright. Each section is coupled tofether via air pipe connecting and safety straps and the cost for each section is high. These are vital to all tracks in my opinion, especially those that had solid fencing like boards. Wolverhampton's old fence was collapsable and was just as good as it stopped everything that hit it while Air fences can bounce riders or bikes back onto the track and hit by another bike or rider. As for the new owners, it's good to see that Sheffield are likely to move up in 2015 to hoefully join Peterborough and another track back in the top flight and the new owners look to be keen to make it even better racing and a slight change in the shape of the track will keep it as a fast track but also create more race lines which can only benefit fans and riders. As for the 2014 team, good to see 9.33 Simon Stead and 7.81 Adam Roynon back and I can't see 7.19 Andrew Tully signed up anywhere yet. That would be a strong top three. To add to that, I can't see 6.55 Dakota North signed up either and if he is available like Tully, it would be a strong looking team. 4.36 Simon Nielsen is at Belle Vue and 3.53 Joe Jacobs at Wolverhampton and both will have the benefits of riding alongside Scott Nicholls and Tai Woffinden which will help them through the year learning new set ups and advice. Those two would leave 3.73 which would leave enough for the popular 3.62 Facundo Albin to join Jacobs at reserve. 1 Simon Stead 2 Simon Nielsen 3 Andrew Tully 4 Dakota North 5 Adam Roynon 6 Facundo Albin 7 Joe Jacobs Don't know if all these are available, but that 1-7 looks as good as any declared so far and potential title contenders. 6.39 Robin Aspergren, 6.00 Jozsef Tabaka, 5.86 Tero Aarnio, 4.36 Andre Compton ..... look to be available too ?

At least in this awards ceremony you earn the nomination by winning a title and not just being famous or in a top team. Good Luck Tai ...... and Patryk !

Why wait until the new year. Talks could have started weeks ago but they havent and now we head into an AGM which should really be held in October with a number of tracks unsure on which league they want to ride in and they need to sort out contracts asap with landlords, sponsors, riders etc and that needs doing asap. In my opinion the EL should go forward by admitting Leicester and Ipswich but no more. Then with 12 teams go ahead with 22 home meetings and 22 away meetings with no KO Cup and no meaningless challenge meetings. Starting in mid to late March, there are only a few teams that will have GP riders in their line ups and fixtures can be sorted to ensure they dont have meetings around the time of the NZ GP. With a combination of a few riders not riding in 2014 and more teams, the limit should be set somewhere around 37.50 in the EL and 25.00 (37.50 using PL averages) in the PL with ALL riders having just one average with riders featuring in two leagues having their averages conmined to give one set figure. Ty Proctor for example rode in just 9 EL matches and 9 PL / PL Cup meetings. For Wolves in the EL he scored 64 points from 37 rides and for Plymouth he scored 76 from 40 rides. Going on a conversion rate of 1.5, that works out as 114.67 points from 77 rides which gives a one average of 5.96 ...... however thats not fom 28 matches. 76/40

If they are they have only just started and the AGMis next week ..... unlikely to see anything before the sport has to say they are moving ahead without SKY and should they wish to stay involved it will be a bonus but without some of the bigger names that this country has somehow managed to keep in recent times.

Looking at both sides of having SKY involved in the sport, I am moving very much in favour of having no Sky involved in league racing and let them concentrate on just the World Cup. Maybe even look at transmitting Polish or Swedish Speedway but that would copst them even more money which is unlikely. While I love to see the big names do battle, I would be quite content watching these mainly in the GP's, SEC or WTC with British Speedway filling team places with a more balanced line ups with present 6+ riders as heat leaders and riders like Howarth or Newman at reserve. Plus looking at possible Wolves line ups for next season like Woffinden, Proctor, Wells, Thorssell, L Lindgren, Masters and Aspgren then I'm quite looking forward to next season more than ever. Also take note that without SKY the double tactical points would almost certainly be taken out and a return of tactical substitutes bought back instead. ..... The play offs however are here to stay regardless.

There is a simple equation to help British riders progress but sadly the Premier League bosses won't vote for it as it doesn't help their own needs regardless of the benefits to the sport in the future as Turkeys don't vote for Christmas. This is what SHOULD be in place ..... ALL foreign riders retain their starting assessed averages and this figure can never go down, only up. This would mean ALL riders in the PL wth an average under 5.00 would be British riders only which in effect would mean most teams have British riders at reserve. With roughly 14 teams in the PL that would mean at least 28 of the 94 spaces are filled by Brits and that doesn't take into account the riders like Worrall, Lanham, Allen, Tully etc that are already there. How many PL teams would decide to keep faith in an Argentinian or Hungarian averaging 3.22 when they are filling up 5.00 or 7.00 of the teams limit. Should any team wish to operate a guest or r/r facility or even drop a foreign rider that is not meeting his assessed average, they must use his actual average and not his assessed average. This would stop them bringing in another foreign unknown to fill the place and could only replace them with what's left of the teams limit or another British rider promoted from the NL. Also, riders moving up from the NL should do so on a third of their NL average with a minimum of 2.00, so a rider averaging 7.50 in the NL would come into a PL teamon an assessed 2.50 average. They would have tobe averaging more than 9 in the NL for their PL average to start over 3.00. Will it happen ..... About as much chance as Holly Willabooby knocking on my door tonight dressed in the latest Ann Summers stockings !!

Personally I would like to see just Leicester move up to make it 11 teams with 20 home and 20 away meetings (40 league matches). If more than one team moves up then there will be a series of group matches for some trophy before each team races each other just once at home and once away. (22-24 league matches) Limit it to 11 teams in the EL so either one up or two up and one down.

Hope he has done some after today as he claimed Tai was the first British rider to ever win the Wold Title !! Hope Tai gets to meet Hawksbee and Jacobs after who claim speedway is all about gating and there is only a pass if someone falls off ...... Go and invite them to Monmore Tai and show them what it is really like. Be interesting if they ask Tai what his plan is to raise money for Cancer Research UK is in 2014 as that would be BIG news !!

So a meeting of British League v Polish League at Wolverhampton say wouldn't attract a large crowd ...... even if it's v Latvia it could work if they are using Darcy Ward, Chris Holder and Nick Morris for example. Woffinden, Cook, Nicholls, Batchelor, Doyle, Kennett and Harris v Hampel, Dudek, Gollob, Kasprzak, Meidzinski, Zmarzlik and Janowski Maybe cutting it to SIX countries would be better with the team finishing bottom losing their place the following season and the winners of a play off moving up. Countries not involved in the main event would use riders from their own country in a qualifying rounds. In fact I would even think of change it to the top four countries of Poland, Denmark, Sweden and England can only use their own riders or just one guest meaning the likes of Holder, Ward, Vaculik, Zagar, Batchelor etc get to feature for the two other teams alongside four riders from that country of Czech, Latvia, Russia or Germany.

With riders riding in various leagues then it's hard to have a European Cup in Speedway which involves league teams as riders may ride for both clubs should they clash in a fixture. So here is an idea as to how a EUROPA CUP could possibly work. Instead of league teams, my idea is that the leagues compete and not a league team using riders that ride in their leagues. Each country has to use a minimum of riders from that country. Poland, Sweden, Denmark and England would select teams using at least FIVE riders from those countries while Russia, Latvia, Czech Republic and Germany only have to feature FOUR riders from those countries. POLAND for example must feature FIVE Polish riders, same as Sweden, Denmark and England. Therefore Darcy Ward, Chris Holder, Greg Hancock, Matej Zagar, Martin Vaculik, Troy Batchelor would be able to feature for any country they are signed up in. However these lower countries get to pick their GUEST #1 rider first, aslong as that rider is signed to a league team in that country. ENGLAND; 1 - Tai Woffinden 2 - Craig Cook 3 - Scott Nicholls 4 - Troy Batchelor (G) 5 - Jason Doyle (G) 6 - Edward Kennett 7 - Chris Harris Each country holds a meeting against each other which are held on different tracks. So the 7 matches in England could be at Coventry, Poole, Sheffield, Kings Lynn, Wolverhampton, Edinburgh and Swindon for example. JUST AN IDEA