T.N.T.

Looks like people are getting wise to the fact that Emil is the man to beat here this year .... Wonder if the bookies are when they release the odds .... Think Gollob will be odds on with Emil around 2/1 or 5/2 Emil is my captain as he has been most of the season. Emil to win with 23 points ahead of Gollob on 21 points and Crump to score just 4 points ...... What a 3 man run-off for the title that would be !!!

The World U21 Final is today in Croatia 1 Michal Mitko PZM Poland 2 Nicolai Klindt DMU Denmark 3 Jurica Pavlic HMS Croatia 4 Ludvig Lindgren SVEMO Sweden 5 Patrick Hougaard DMU Denmark 6 Simon Gustafsson SVEMO Sweden 7 Tai Woffinden ACU Great Britain 8 Maciej Janowski PZM Poland 9 Darcey Ward MA Australia 10 Grzegorz Zengota PZM Poland 11 Przemyslaw Pawlicki PZM Poland 12 Lewis Bridger ACU Great Britain 13 Kenni Larsen DMU Denmark 14 Thomas H Jonasson SVEMO Sweden 15 Artem Laguta MFR Russia 16 Vjacheslavs Giruckis LaMSF Latvia 17 Linus Eklöf SVEMO Sweden (Reserve rider) 18 Wells Ricky AMA USA (Reserve rider) The track is owned by the Pavlic family, so Jurica Pavlic starts as favourite, but on current form he will have to go some to beat Tai Woffinden. Darcy Ward, Lewis Bridger, Patrick Hougaard, Grzegorz Zengota and Nicolai Klindt are likely to be close to the top but there may be a few shocks from Artem Laguta, Maciej Jankowski or Prz Pawlicki .... Even atfter this you have some quality riders in Kenni Larsen, Thomas H Johansson and Simon Gustafsson Shame its not in England as this would be a much better meeting than the ELRC was yesterday ! LIVE UPDATES

The top 10 from this years series will be back in, plus the three qualifiers which only leaves two more wild cards. Matej Zagar will be a firm favourite to get one place which would mean only one British rider in 2010 with Tai Woffinden most likely to show that England also has a highly talented 19 year old. Holder, Zagar, Woffinden and Hampel are good replacements for Walasek, Adams, Harris and Ulamek while Zetterstrom is about right for Nicholls !

Tiger Tom was a friend of the families and often came around to our house still with his bike on the back of his car. I have a few photo's of him on my computer, but would be interested to know where I can download or get prints of him at anytime during his career.

Jonsson was without doubt a brilliant rider during that time, but Sam after his serious injuries was better than ever and in 92 and 93 he made the art of speedway look simple. I seem to recall that when Per actually won the title in 1990, he was only averaging 8+ here and I think Gundersen was the same when he won his first 2 titles (but some of that was down to tape exclusions to lower his average )

Could I please question your scores as I think there may be some mistakes around ? SCORES AFTER ROUND 10 - ITALIAN SGP ******************************************************************************** T.N.T. 680 ******************************************************************************** SCORES AFTER ROUND 9 - SLOVENIAN SGP ******************************************************************************** T.N.T. 604 This indicates that I scored 76 points in Italy ? Jason Crump 4 Tomasz Gollob 23+5 Rune Holta 8 Fredrik Lindgren 6 Emil Sayfutdinov © 22 Should my score in Italy be 68 ?

Why oh Why did he pick Gate 2 in the Semi-Final ? With Andersen taking Yellow, he should either have gone next to him in White or gone for Gate 1. Having AJ next to him off Gate 2 wrecked his chances on the first corner and its pretty hard to pass three riders that are all scoring well. Had Emil scored 14-20 points last night, then the difference could have been as little as 10 points and while everyone goes on about Gollob and Bydgoszcz ..... remember who rides there every week and practices there when he can ! If Crumpy struggles again, both Emil and Tomasz are capable of scoring 20+ points in the final round and the final scores could make it appear the top three are very close ...... still think Crumpy will get the 7 or 8 points needed to take the title ..... just !

A few late ones on here though Good job Emil is my captain anyway .... C'Mon Emil

Think he will do well to score more than 5 tonight and a score of 14+ from Emil could make the final round very interesting

Crumpy will be riding but he is not happy with the track and is struggling with his injury. Meanwhile Emil and Greg are flying on it and if Emil gets a big score here, the final at Bydgoszcz will be interesting as Emil is possibly better there than Gollob C'Mon Emil !!

The difference is that if it was a one day World Final, Zorro would have come through the Swedish Final consisting of Lindgren, Jonsson etc ..... then the Scandanavian/Nordic Final featuring the Swedes plus Nicki P, Andersen, Bjerre, Iversen etc etc .... then he would have ridden in an Inter-Continental Final featuring the riders already listed plus Woffinden, Nichools, Crump, Adams, Holder and all the nig Aussies and Brits Szackiel in '73 only had to go through the Continental Qualifiers but these days the Poles would have to compete in new rounds featuring the riders already list from Scandanavia and the Commonwealth. As for Zorro not disgracing himself in the GP;s .... He may have the odd one or two heat wins during the season ..... but to think he would heat over 50 points from 15 meetings would be very hard to see !

GP's ..... Oh yes thats the under minded night where people pay silly money to watch bikes follow each other around a white line on a circuit not too different to concrete .....

Saturday 10th July The British Speedway GP @ Cardiff The British F1 Qualifying Day The 3rd/4th play off World Cup match As soon as they named the date for Cardiff I thought it was a bit weird clashing with the World Cup finals, with it also clashing with the F1 makes it crazy. I have a few mates that go to the F1 and spend the weekend there .... I'm sure a few speedway fans do the same!

Isn't this the meeting Richardson pulled out of ? Was he injured ? ...... well he wasn't 2 days prior to it .... 24th June 2009 Lakeside = 42 1. Lee Richardson.......0 3 11 3 2 = 9+1 2. Kauko Nieminen......2 0 1 2 = 5 3. Adam Shields..........3 1 3 3 0 = 10 4. Jonas Davidsson.....21 3 1 3 = 9+1 5. Joonas Kylmakorpi..1 3 0 0 = 4 6. Phil Morris...............2 0 1 1 = 4 7. Stuart Robson.........11 0 0 0 = 1+1 Wolves = 48 1. Freddie Lindgren.....3 2 3 11 3 = 12+1 2. Nicolai Klindt............X 0 21 21 = 4+2 3. Tai Woffinden..........1 11 3 2 = 7+1 4. Adam Skornicki........0 2 0 2 = 4 5. Peter Karlsson.........3 11 2 2 1 = 9 +1 6. Jesper Kristiansen...0 WITHDRAWN 7. Ty Proctor................1 3 21 2 3 11 0 = 12+2 Tai however ended up in a qualifier at Lonigo with Sebastian Ulamek, Jesper B and Bjarne Pedersen taking the top three places but lost out in a 3 man run-off for the last two places with Rory Schlein and T H Johansson On averages, Richardson 8.66, Harris 8.44, Kennett 8.03, Nicholls 7.88 and Woffinden 7.47 are the top five, but next season, will Tai be 1.19 behind Richardson in the averages .... or 1.19 ahead of him !! Emil at 19 is not too young and Tai is the outstanding British talent that should be given the chance ahead of the others.

So Wolves could track Nicki Pedersen, Fredrik Lindgren and Peter Karlsson while Poole could track Hans Andersen, Kryzstof Kasprzak and Chris Holder ...... However teams like Ipswich would have a top 3 of Miskowiak, Nicholls and King !! If there was to be a grading, it would have to be more balanced out. GRADE 7 = 9.00+ GRADE 6 = 8.00 - 8.99 GRADE 5 = 7.00 - 7.99 GRADE 4 = 6.00 - 6.99 GRADE 3 = 5.00 - 5.99 GRADE 2 = 4.00 - 4.99 GRADE 1 = 3.00 - 3.99 Each team would then be allowed to have seven riders with a combined grade of say 25 so for Example, Wolves could track Lindgren, Karlsson, Woffinden, Klindt, Proctor, Lawson, Stichauer .... Coventry ~ Harris, Nicholls, Kennett, Barker, Allen and Auty Sounds good, but would there be the riders to go around ? Why would a track like Belle Vue, Ipswich or Eastbourne want to join the Elite League if there are three teams that have all the top riders in there. Could you imagine a Wolves v Belle Vue match Pedersen, Lindgren, Karlsson, Woffinden, Max, Skornicki and Klindt v Hougaard, Gjedde, Wright, Ostergaard, Forsberg etc etc ..... Bet that would really get the fans queing at the gates. Grading can work, but the smart promoters will then know that a rider is best to finish on a 6.99 average rather than 7.01 and will make sure this happens each year. That way their team could be 6.93 stronger than most other teams

So is Darcy Ward .... with Holder and Crump in next year, they may leave Darcy to one side and favour Zagar and Lindback more ... but Darcy would be a good publicity roll for the GP's ..... Emil 20, Tai 19, Darcy 17 .... those three with Lindgren 24 and Holder 22 could be the top 5 for years to come soon.

Above all his impressive scores, great riding ability and organisation, this year Tai has impressed me more with the fact he can really handle pressure as he just gets his head down and gets on with it. I understand it could be a difficult time for him, but for me on ability alone, Tai deserves the spot more than any of the others. Lets cut it down as really there can only be the choice between Nicholls, Harris, Richardson, Woffinden and Kennett. Kennett ~ Done well and qualified for Cardiff, but hasn't got that extra spark. 10/1 Nicholls ~ Has looked uniterested all season and now its all but over he is starting to get a few points. 6/1 Harris ~ Has always been a 5 point scorer in the GP's apart from the odd meeting and has had his chances. Time to take a year out. 3/1 Richardson ~ How can you give it to a rider that backed out of the qualifiers. At least Tai gave it a shot and despite a shoulder injury and a crash, he still battled on. Maybe favourite but can't see them giving it to a rider that has failed in past seasons. 6/4 Woffinden ~ BSI and Sky will see him at the English version of Emil and give him the one wild card place for a Brit. 7/4 This years top 9 should be secure, add Zorro, Holder and Hampel and then there are 3 wild card places. Zagar should be one, Woffinden another and the last place could go to Leigh Adams (or they may at least offer him the chance)

Any updates ?

1. Chris Holder 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 14 2. Jarek Hampel 2, 3, 3, 2, 3 = 13 3. Kauko Nieminen 1, 1, 0, X, 1 = 3 4. Chris Harris 0, 2, 2, 3, 3 = 10 5. Lukas Dryml 2, 0, 0, X, 2 = 4 6. Jonas Davidsson 1, 0, 2, 0, 0 = 3 7. Piotr Protasiewicz 3, 3, X, 2, 2 = 10 8. Grzegorz Walasek 0, 3, 1 = 4 9. Kenneth Bjerre R, 1, 2, 2, 1 = 6 10. Magnus Zetterstrom 3, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 14 11. Jurica Pavlic 2, 0, 0, 0, 1 = 3 12. Martin Smolinski 1, 1, 2, 0, 2 = 6 13. Fredrik Lindgren 3, 2, 1, 3, 3 = 12 14. Davey Watt 1, 1, 3, 1, 0 = 6 15. Adrian Miedzinski 2, 2, 1, 1, 0 = 6 16. Maksims Bogdanovs 0, Fx, 1, 2, 0 = 3 Track Reserves 17. Ales Dryml 1 18. Morten Risager 1 How many next season will wish that Darcy was in the Series instead of Zorro. Fair play to the guy, last year he won the Swedish title and now wins a meeting including some top riders. Lindgren may have missed out tonight, but he is at present in the top 8 and even if he was to drop to 9th, he should be noiminated next season. 2010 = Crump, Sayfutdinov, Gollob, Hancock, Jonsson, Holta, Pedersen, Andersen, Lindgren, Zetterstrom, Holder, Hampel ..... 3 places left Adams ~ Think he will bow out after this year Zagar ~ Has to be one of the favourites to be nominated Harris ~ Think the GPC was his last chance Woffinden ~ The in form Brit and better than the rest in conjtention. Richardson ~ Has always failed to qualify and backed out of the Challenge this year .... Unless there has to be 2 Brits ..... No Ward ~ Yes he is young, but it would be a great talking point and he would not finish last !

Heard reports that Jason Crump has suffered nasty burns to his arm after getting it caught in Troy Batchelor's back wheel at Kirky Lane. Also heard he dislocated his shoulder. Now if this is correct, with the next GP just 12 days away and Emil just 26 points behind Crump ... Could Emil sneak it this year ? Not too sure of the odds, but likely to be around 6/1 before they find out how badly injured Crump is

He already has enough qualifications to be in there next season British U18 Champion, British U21 Champion, PLRC Champion, Average 7.47 in his first EL season (8.36 with BP) and unlike Harris, Nicholls and Richardson, he hasn't tried and tried and tried and failed virtually every GP ! Tai for me should be the only British GP rider in 2010 with Bomber as the Cardiff Wild Card.

Jumping ahead a little bit 1981 Bruce Penhall 1982 Bruce Penhall 1983 ... ? (Hans Nielsen) 1984 Hans Nielsen 1985 Hans Nielsen 1986 Hans Nielsen 1987 Hans Nielsen 1988 Hans Nielsen 1989 Hans Nielsen 1990 Hans Nielsen 1991 Hans Nielsen 1992 Sam Ermolenko 1993 Sam Ermolenko 1994 Hans Nielsen 1995 Hans Nielsen Anyone disagree

1 Chris Holder (Australia) 2 Jarek Hampel (Poland) 3 Kauko Nieminen (Finland) 4 Chris Harris (GB) 5 Lukas Dryml (Czech Rep) 6 Jonas Davidsson (Sweden) 7 Piotr Protasiewicz (Poland) 8 Grzegorz Walasek (Poland) 9 Kenneth Bjerre (Denmark) 10 Magnus Zetterstrom (Sweden) 11 Jurica Pavlic (Croatia) 12 Martin Smolinski (Germany) 13 Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 14 Davey Watt (Australia) 15 Adrian Miedzinski (Poland) 16 Maksims Bogdanovs (Latvia) 17 Antonio Lindback (Sweden) 18 Tobias Kroner (Germany) The Format 16 riders, 20 heats, five rides for each competitor with 3-2-1-0 scoring Top three riders gain places in 2010 Grand Prix series. Reserves/stand-by riders for 2010 GP determined by finishing order below 3rd place. Run-offs will be staged if required for any of the top four places. For the sake of the series, I really hope Hampel, Holder and Lindgren are the top three in this. Lindgren I think will miss out on the top 8 due to Nicky and Holta likely to score better in the last two, especially Poland. With Holder and Hampel qualifying, that would give you 11 starters for next season and then give the Wild Cards to Hans Andersen, Tai Woffinden, Darcy Ward and if he wishes to stay in, Leigh Adams, if not then Lindback or Zagar. Woffinden is by far the best English prospect around today and we have seen Nicholls, Harris and Richardson fail too many times to see them do it all over again while Darcy Ward may be a bit young at 17 in 2010 .... but werent they saying that about a certain 19 year-old Russian this time last year !

Any updates on scores for this competition around please ? Whoops

I would seriously consider putting these three in next season regardless of age. They are all racers and would be a kick in the ass for the series instead of some of the ageing riders that are taking up space at the moment. The current top 10 of Crump, Emil, Gollob, Hancock, Jonsson, Bjerre, Lindgren, Pedersen and Andersen along with the top three from Coventry (Holder could be one) and two from Holder, Woffinden and Ward would make a much better 15 line up and start bringing in new faces who like Emil go full out for every point. Agree The riders from the GP Challenge should be given the 9-11 race jackets and the next four given 12-15 relating to where they finished in the previous series (if they were in) with new riders taking the lower numbers. Quite frankly that should be taken out and a run-off would have been much better way of deciding it. I'm no Nicki fan to say the least, but he was the rider that should have been excluded but when Gollob cut across them both, Nicki couldn't shut off because Emil was inside him and only lifting at that split second caused the accident. As for crap riding from Emil ... is that the same Emil that was thanked by both Hancock and Gollob for avoiding them when falling and the same Emil that was so crap it affected his scores ... 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 ... Shockingly crap