T.N.T.

Remember to post your 4 selections well in advance. Anyone that edits their post after the start of the Sky coverage starts will get 0 points, I will post my 4 selections closer to the date .... want to go for Emil, Freddie, Artem and AJ ... but not convinced !!

GOTHENBURG PREDICTED SCORES #1 Tomasz Gollob 13 #2 Jaroslaw Hampel 9 #3 Jason Crump 10 #4 Rune Holta 8 #5 Greg Hancock 9 #6 Chris Harris 6 #7 Kenneth Bjerre 8 #8 Chris Holder 9 #9 Andreas Jonsson 8 #10 Nicki Pedersen 11 #11 Fredrik Lindgren 8 #12 Emil Sayfutdinov 11 #13 Artem Laguta 2 #14 Antonio Lindback 6 #15 Janusz Kolodziej 9 #16 Wild Card 3 Pick FOUR riders .... you score the difference. If you pick Emil Sayfutdinov @ 11 points and he scores 16 ... you get 5 PTS If you pick Emil Sayfutdinov @ 11 points and he scores 5 ... you get -6 PTS SCORES AND LEADERBOARD ON OPENING POST

Its a shame the track never had a bit more of a solid dirt to get more grip. A clay based sand type material knitted in would have made it much more grippy and held the water, but overall the meeting became quite good after a while. Good to see Freddie in the running and finally letting the bike do the work instead of cutting back in and losing ground. He looked far more relaxed and at ease on the track but I couldn't understand why both he and Jarek chose Gate 3 when 1 and 2 were getting the results. Nice in some ways to see Nicki back in the running, but wasn't he a bit lucky !! ... Had Janusz Kolodiej not gone hair brained at Hampel, Nicki wouldn't have even been in the semi finals and up to the final Nicki had won just one race. ... Also weird to see them celebrate Nicki winning the first GP of the season and then show the leaderboard with Gollob leading ! ... Think 10 points should be awarded in the final to the winner, 5, 3 and 1 for the other three. They say how Crumpy started well and faded, well his score says that, but when you look at it in depth, was he really on the pace at all ? ... The riders lining up at 13-16 were Crump, Balinski, Lindback and Laguta, so between them they had to score 6 points. Balinski picked up a point when Goolob was excluded and Crumpy managed to get a second place when he blocked the line of Holder. ... Otherwise these four were not really on the pace and scored just 10 points between them in 17 heats !! At least going into the next round, only 11 points seperates the top 11 and you would expect much better next time from AJ and Crumpy .... This looks like being a cracking series and lets hope the tracks are made to let riders find varied racing lines. PS; Predictor game now available .... click the link in my signature.

He is feeling better than you ..... he is only 18 behind the leader

LEADER IS ......... BOTTOM IS ........

POINTS SCORED IN LESZNO GP +8 = Greg Hancock +8 = Nicki Pedersen +6 = Fredrik Lindgren +5 = Tomasz Gollob +3 = Kenneth Bjerre +3 = Chris Harris +2 = Jarek Hampel +2 = Emil Sayfutdinov +1 = Wild Card (Blinski) 0 = Chris Holder -1 = Rune Holta -2 = Antonio Lindback -3 = Artem Laguta -3 = Andreas Jonsson -4 = Janus Kolodiej -8 = Jason Crump The best four picks for the Leszno GP would have been Hancock, Pedersen, Lindgren and Gollob and netted you 27 points. The riders you needed to miss were Crump, Kolodiej, Jonsson and Laguta. LEADERBOARD IS ON FIRST POST ....but a clue to the current leader with 21 points !

Seeing as you posted AFTER the GP had taken place .... Why not include Nicki as your 4th choice ? NIL POINTS

My 4 picks are Gollob 13 Sayfutdinov 12 Pedersen 9 Lindgren 5

Its a bit late but better than nothing http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=63172

POINTS & LEADERBOARD UPDATED Basically you pick 4 riders from the list below only and you gain or lose points depending on what they score in the Grand Prix. Each rider has been given an estimated score for each round, you need to pick three riders that will score more than suggested. .. If a rider has an estimasted score of 7 and scores 14 ... you get 7 points ... If however he scores 1 point ... you get -6 points !! WHAT RIDERS SCORED IN ITALY 13 Andreas Jonsson 12 Antonio Lindback 5 Janusz Kolodiej 4 Greg Hancock 3 Kenneth Bjerre 3 Matej Zagar (Wild Card) 2 Emil Sayfutdinov 2 Jarek Hampel 1 Chris Harris 1 Magnus Zetterstrom (Laguta) 0 Fredrik Lindgren 0 Rune Holta -4 Chris Holder -5 Nicki Pedersen -6 Jason Crump -7 Tomasz Gollob WHAT YOU SCORED 24 Home Straight (AJ, Hancock, Lindback, Pedersen) 21 smiles 17 scotcj101 16 TNT 16 beesboybert 15 Stilton Panther 13 June01 12 Impartial One 12 Rico 9 Gray 9 bronigigilo 4 Dukey Boy 3 beercellar 3 William Fisher Jones 2 noggin 1 Andy Lebedevs 1 racers and royals 1 Phillips01 -5 keef -7 waihekeaces -7 sppok -7 refereerick -11 Screm refereerick stays in the lead despite scoring minus seven as noggin could only close the gap with a score of just 2 points as Gollob did him damage as it did a fair few others. LEADERBOARD AFTER ITALY 74 refereerick 73 noggin 64 June01 64 T.N.T 56 Stiltonpanther 53 home straight 49 Beesboybert 48 smiles 47 Andy Lebedevs 47 beercellar 45 broniagigolo 42 Dukey Boy 41 spook 36 Impartial One 35 Gray 29 racers and royals 27 Robbie B 24 Rico 19 keef 17 Phillips11 17 scotcj101 (new entry) 16 waihekeaces 16 I hate the rain 15 drakey 11 pensilva 9 Cornishman 6 Crazy Machine 3 Adzy -1 Matt K 1 William Fisher Jones -4 screm -5 superguest -5 future -11 Wadey -12 Lis .

Honestly don't know what the requirements are in the National League which is why I asked the QUESTION ? As Dudley ride on a Tuesday night, I cant attend those meetings and have never seen a NL fixture. So I was only asking as he cant average 2 points a match in the EL and he raced against NL riders for the 2010 US Touring Team and was about the same standard judging by results.

Couldn't Tyson Burmeister ride in the NL ? It would be a benefit to him and Dudley to have one of the Wolves 1-7 in the line up

Cheers for those answers Gambo, but just a few queries "If he rode 8 matches in that league last year, that would be his Rolling Average for this year, he would not be assessed. Only Riders changing Leagues (Or who did not ride 8 matches last year are on Assessed/Converted averages.)" So what is the ruling over Pawlicki ? .... He did 11 matches last season bjut still has an assessed average ! Will he get a new average when he has done 28 meetings altogether ... or 4 home and 4 away this season ? (as he did that last season) How many meetings do riders that have switched leagues have to ride to get new averages ? .... riders like Ryan Fisher, Oliver Allen, Ricky Wells etc also riders that doubled up, if they rode a few meetings, will those matches count if they step up ? ... like Joe Haines ?

Could you please clarify a few things regarding the rolling averages "As the details of each 2011 Meeting are added, the race details from corresponding meeting in 2010 are automatically discounted from the calculations." So what happens if TOM SMITH rode in all matches bar the away trip to EASTBOURNE last season. ... This season he has ridden in five matches already and then rides in the away match at Eastbourne. ... As he has no score from the previous season to be taken off, which scored does get taken off to include this new score ? or as in the case of teams that have switched leagues, many wont have scores from the previous season at that track. " If a rider completed less than 28/38 matches in 2010, then all of the 2010 figures will be used up until the total number of matches (2010 + 2011) exceeds 28/38." So if JOHN BELL rides in 25 meetings the previous season, will he get a new average after 3 meetings this season ? "Riders on Assessed/Converted averages will maintain that average until they have completed 4H & 4A. All other riders' Rolling Averages will be effective no matter how many matches they have ridden this year with the usual 23rd of the Month cut-off date." 1 - What happens if a rider has an assessed average this season but still rode in say 8 meetings last season (4 home and 4 away) .... Will these scores still count towards their new average or will it be the first 4 home and 4 away this season ? 2 - Will riders on Assessed or Covertred averages get new GSA's straight away (within 7 dayds of reaching 4 home 4 away) .... or have to wait for the following month ? 3 - Is there any reason why riders that have moved up or moved down wont have their scores from the previous season converted to be included this season ? 4 - If a rider was doubling up last season and rode in 10 matches for example ..... will these scores be included in their new average ? .... will they just count the first 4 home 4 away this season ? ..... What will be counted for a rider that doubled up last season but has moved up full time this season ? 5 - What scores are used if a rider switches leagues ? ..... will the scores in the one league be used along with the scores in the other league ? There seems to be a few grey areas using this method as a rider could start on a 4.32 average, score 7 points in a meeting, but his average drops down as the meeting being taken off is a meeting he scored 11 points in the previous season .... so just trying to understand the ins and outs to this system. Cheers .

Oh ye of little faith ..... As for Artem, I cant see him troubling the top boys that much, but wouldn't be suprised to see him have a few very good rounds too ! I will admit Freddie was disappointing in 2010 GP's considering his true form, but for me he made too many vital mistakes at the wrong times. Trying to cut back, trying to get the win and losing second place .... all dropped points which on a few occasions was the difference between getting in the semi finals or not. .... I did think he would either win or come very close to getting a GP round win last year .... but I have every faith in him getting much higher up this year and less mistakes .... Remember he is just 25 still so has plenty of years to progress

Hampel has had quite a few good races from the back, would not put him down as a gater like Kasprzak, Richardson etc 2010 8 PTS - LESZNO, POLAND ...... Same as Harris, more than AJ, Hancock and Gollob 6 PTS - TORUN, POLAND ...... More than Harris, Bjerre, AJ and above Hancock 11 PTS - BYDGOSZCZ, POLAND ...... more than Crump, Holder, Hampel, Bjerre and Gollob May not be World Champion class results but 1.5/3 same as Harris while 2/3 in Poland were better than AJ, Bjerre, Hancock ..... and even Gollob ... and he did ok last season Gating is one problem for Freddie and he did ride too tight but now does let the bike go more and I firmly believe he will be much better this year

Maybe a little biased, but I personally feel Fredrik Lindgren will make big strides this season and will be around the top five with a few rostrums and possibly his first GP win. There is no way a rider should dominate as he does here and not make the break through and at still only 25, he has time to develop a lot more. In a perfect world, I would like to see Freddie or Emil lift the title, possibly Emil has the better chance if he can use his brain a bit more than sheer guts and determination, with Kolodiej third oerall. Goodbye to the top 10 for Hancock and Harris as riding BV wont help him one bit as he will be more used to road racing. E/W bet in certain GP's for Artem Laguta who may not make the top 10, but will have the odd round where he looks brilliant.

It was also in The Sun newspaper yesterday ...... must be on the 3rd lap

If its Steve Lucreo ........... any chance of his daughter coming with him

There is no doubt that the appearance in recent times of Kenny Ingalls and Gino Manzares, Tyson Burmeister plus the return to England of Ryan Fisher and the raising skills of Chris Kerr, The American Touring Team is reaping the benefits of racing over here and everyone associated with them needs applauding for the time and efforts over the years. While the main target has to be to try and get more American riders into Britain, it would be great if the Old Boys could also do some sort of mini tour too. I'm sure a meeting with Mike Faria, Bobby Schwartz, Lance King, Brent Werner, Gary Hicks, Dukie Ermolenko, Shawn McConnell, Eddie Castro etc etc would draw a pretty decent crowd too. Either as an American Showcase Individual or even against a European Select team in a Ryder Cup Style event .... this could be a great event for the true speedway fan...... Europe could feature the likes of Chris Louis, Martin Dugard, Neil Collins, Wayne Carter etc Wolverhampton would be one ideal venue as its been connected to the American scene for decades while Sheffield, Belle Vue, Eastbourne and a few others could be ideal venues.

When David Tattum was interviwed on Signal 2 Radio, he said he wanted to build a young promising team that will entertain and challenge but also added one interesting statement. One member of the team he wants to be an experienced rider that the fans can recognise and help develop the younger members. ..... Another comeback for Paul Pickering may be ?

The British Champion (or runner up to Bomber) will be the Wild Card at Cardiff. That may be Scott Nicholls, Ed Kennett, Tai Woffinden or Daniel King and whoever gets it will have earnt the place fair and square.

Who would have thought though that a speedway giant like Sweden dont have any riders in the top 8 ..... so Britain have done well and have done just as the Danes have done with only 1 top 8 rider !

I would say another year in the GP Series would do nothing but help him in the long run as you can only get experience by riding in these meetings. However .... The GP Series should really be the top 15 riders battling for the World Title and at present I wouldn't put TAI in that group of riders when you consider riders like Kasprzak, Andersen/Kolodiej, Zagar, Nicholls, Iversen, Bjarne Pedersen, Watt, Ward etc etc are not even in that group of elite riders. Tai will no doubt concentrate on league racing next year and his time will come again.

Have to take your hat off to Bomber this year. After another poor start to the season, he has really stepped up to be a World Class rider in league and GP's and fully deserves a top 8 finish which could of been top 4 had results gone slightly the other way. Wonder if he would have made the top 8 had Ole Olsen still been doing the tracks ?