Anders

PREVIEW OF SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 16 Tuesday August 19th 2008 LEJONEN - MASARNAAAVESTA at Axelent Arena, Gislaved To meet Lejonen on the road is probably the toughest task of them all, and without Leigh Adams and Emil Sajfutdinov, that won't get any easier for MasarnaAvesta. The team management have been given order from the club board to ride with the cheapest possible line-up in this one, according to local media in Avesta. The financial situation in the Avesta club is tough and talks have been about stepping down to Allsvenskan, even if the team managed to avoid the last place in the standing. Discussions are being held wihtin the organization so we'll have to wait and see. About the meeting, the Lions will win 99 of 100 meetings with these line-up and this one will not be the 100th... Lejonen (home) 0 (53) 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Sebastian Ulamek 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 4. David Ruud 5. Piotr Swiderski 6. Ricky Kling 7. Mariusz Wegrzyk ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) MasarnaAvesta (away) 0 (43) 1. Pawel Miesiac 2. Billy Janniro 3. Kenneth Bjerre 4. Steve Johnston 5. Dave Watt 6. Dennis Andersson 7. Sebastian Aldén ( 8. Anton Rosén ) *-*-* SMEDERNA - VÄSTERVIK at Smedstadion, Eskilstuna New team manager Bosse Jansson got off to a flying start as Smederna beat Piraterna last week, but they face another strong test tonight. Västervik won the derby clash with Dackarna last week, are at full strength now, and usually goes very well in Eskilstuna, having won three straight meetings in the three previous seasons. The line-ups looks fairly evenly matched even though the Västervik heat leaders looks a bit stronger. However, the home advantage may erase that fact. An interesting meeting is ahead! Smederna (home) 0 (44) 1. Jonas Davidsson 2. Robert Miskowiak 3. Wieslaw Jagus 4. Daniel King 5. Krzysztof Kasprzak 6. Krzysztof Buczkowski 7. Linus Eklöf ( 8. Henrik Karlsson ) Västervik (away) 0 (52) 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2. Grigorijs Laguta 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 4. Chris Harris 5. Tomasz Gollob 6. Stefan Ekberg 7. Billy Forsberg ( 8. Jonas Andersson ) *-*-* HAMMARBY - INDIANERNA TV-meeting at Gubbängen, Stockholm Canal+ will broadcast this meeting between 8th placed Hammarby and 6th placed Indianerna, a crucial meeting for the six available Play Off places. Regarding the line-ups, Hammarby will - according to their website - be without Renat Gafurov (work permit problems) and he's replaced by Freddie Eriksson, but both Scott Nicholls and Matej Zagar should be back. For Indianerna, Jesper B Monberg crashed in Britain on Monday and is a doubtful starter for Indianerna. The Indians can't use the R/R facility for him as he's just third in the averages, so I guess "Henka" Gustafsson is on stand-by for him, but on the plus side, the away team can welcome Adrian Miedzinski back from injury. Considering the many questionmarks in the team's line-ups, I won't make a prediction on the outcome. Hammarby (home) 0 (44) 1. Rafal Dobrucki 2. Tomasz Gapinski 3. Scott Nicholls 4. Renat Gafurov Martin Smolinski 5. Matej Zagar 6. Kim Nilsson 7. Martin Smolinski Freddie Eriksson ( 8. - ) Indianerna (away) 0 (52) 1. Jesper B Monberg 2. Adrian Miedzinski 3. Matej Ferjan 4. Magnus Zetterström 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Simon Gustafsson 7. Krzysztof Jablonski ( 8. - ) *-*-* DACKARNA - PIRATERNA at G&B Arena, Målilla The Pirates' winning streak ended last week in Eskilstuna, but they're still the hottest team in the league. 4th placed Piraterna have a crucial meeting on Tuesday night against 2nd placed Dackarna where the points available are important to both teams as they try to get the advantage of choosing home/away in the quarterfinal stages (=top three in the standing). Elitserien of 2008 is harder to predict than ever and it isn't easy to predict the outcome in Målilla. Dackarna (home) 0 (42) 1. Fredrik Lindgren 2. Peter Karlsson 3. Hans Andersen 4. Lukas Dryml 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Nicolai Klindt 7. Ludvig Lindgren ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) Piraterna (away) 0 (53) 1. Robert Kosciecha 2. Damian Balinski 3. Grzegorz Walasek 4. Mikael Max 5. Ryan Sullivan 6. Rafal Okoniewski 7. Linus Sundström ( 8. - ) *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - ELIT VETLANDA at Orionparken, Hallstavik Certain teams seems destined not to win at certain tracks, with Elit Vetlanda at the Hallstavik track being one of those. 49-47 (2003), 50-46 (2004), 49-47 (2005), 48-47 (2006) and 53-43 (2007) are numbers that tells are story about close meetings with all of them going in favour of the home side. The ten point difference from last year doesn't reflect how close it really was. Elit Vetlanda should - once again - be hopeful of some success tonight, with ex-Rospiggarna riders Lee Richardson and Karol Zabik as two key members for the outcome of this one. Team manager Fredrik Staaf makes several changes from last week's line-up, replacing Holta, Dryml and Risager with Crump, Zabik and Törnqvist. For the home side, manager Messing misses the services of the injured Jonas Messing at reserve while Charlie Gjedde AFAIK has been left out of the team after some sub-par performences lately. Another cracking meeting can be expected at Orionparken tonight, that's for sure, but I won't be there. Rospiggarna (home) 0 (44) 1. Greg Hancock 2. Lubos Tomicek 3. Janusz Kolodziej 4. Chris Slabon 5. Adam Shields 6. Travis McGowan 7. Andreas Messing ( 8. - ) Elit Vetlanda (away) 0 (52) 1. Jaroslaw Hampel 2. Thomas H Jonasson 3. Lee Richardson 4. Peter Ljung 5. Jason Crump 6. Robin Törnqvist 7. Karol Zabik ( 8. Robin Aspegren ) All meeting will be covered by live updates on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 hours.

New date for the Swedish Junior Final is Monday September 8th.

The Junior Final was abandoned on Friday the 8th after 7 heats due to track conditions, and was re-scheduled for Sunday 10th. A heavy downpour on Saturday evening forced the MasarnaAvesta club to postponed the second attempt as well. A new date hasn't been announced yet.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 15 Tuesday August 13th 2008 MASARNAAVESTA - ROSPIGGARNA 47-49 (Aggregate: 83-109) Attendence: 1921 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Despite leading by 20-10 already after 5 heats, MasarnaAvesta somehow managed to blow that lead and being down by two instead, heading into the final heat. With Greg Hancock excluded for exceeding the two minute time allowance, the home side looked certain to salvage at least a point but the lonely Adam Shields beat fellow Aussie Leigh Adams and Kenneth Bjerre to save all three points for Rospiggarna. MasarnaAvesta (home) 47 (83) 1. Kenneth Bjerre 2-1-3-1-1* = 8+1 (5) 2. Billy Janniro 1*-2*-0-1-0 = 4+2 (5) 3. Simon Stead 3-2-1-Fx-1 = 7 (5) 4. Steve Johnston 1-1*-0-1 = 3+1 (4) 5. Leigh Adams 2*-3-3-3-2 = 13+1 (5) 6. Sebastian Aldén 1*-3-3-1-1-Ef = 9+1 (6) 7. Dennis Andersson N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Anton Rosén 2-1 = 3 (2) Rospiggarna (away) 49 (109) 1. Greg Hancock 3-3-2*-2-3-M = 13+1 (6) 2. Charlie Gjedde 0-F-0-N = 0 (3) 3. Janusz Kolodziej Ef-2*-2-0-2* = 6+2 (5) 4. Chris Slabon 2-1-3-2*-3 = 11+1 (5) 5. Adam Shields 1-3-2-2-3 = 11 (5) 6. Lubos Tomicek 3-0-0-2* = 5+1 (4) 7. Andreas Messing 0-0-N-3-0 = 3 (4) 8. *-*-* INDIANERNA - SMEDERNA Abandoned after 3 heats (11-7) due to rain. New date: TBA *-*-* PIRATERNA - LEJONEN Postponed due to rain. New date: Wednesday August 13th 2008 *-*-* VÄSTERVIK - DACKARNA Postponed due to rain. New date: Thursday August 14th 2008 *-*-* ELIT VETLANDA - HAMMARBY 66-30 (Aggregate: 110-81) Attendence: 1140 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. The rain hammered down in Vetlanda from 13.30 but thanks to the track covers, the meeting could get started as the rained slowed down, by 20.50 the meeting was on it's way. Unfortunately, the meeting wasn't particulary exciting except for a couple of good battles between Gafurov and Jonasson and an excellent scrap between Dobrucki and Richardson/Risager in heat 10. "It takes two to tango" is an expression which can be used on this meeting. I can't think of an away team with such low fighting spirit, seven retirements says it all, even though one or two can be a result of visibility problems. Didn't seem that way though. (Sorry, Liverstam) Elit Vetlanda (home) 66 (110) 1. Lee Richardson 3-3-2-1-3 = 12 (5) 2. Peter Ljung 2*-2-2*-2*-2* = 10+4 (5) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 3-2-3-3-1* = 12+1 (5) 4. Thomas H Jonasson 1-0-1-2* = 4+1 (4) 5. Jason Crump 3-3-3-3-2 = 14 (5) 6. Ales Dryml 3-1-2*-3 = 9+1 (4) 7. Morten Risager 2*-1*-1*-1 = 5+3 (4) 8. Robin Aspegren Hammarby (away) 30 (81) 1. Scott Nicholls R/R (1,3,R,1) 2. Renat Gafurov R-N-2-1-1-1-0 = 5 (6) 3. Martin Smolinski 1-2-1-Ef-0-0 = 4 (6) 4. Tomasz Gapinski 0-3-1-R-R = 4 (5) 5. Rafal Dobrucki 2-3-R-3-2-3 = 13 (6) 6. Pawel Hlib F-0-R-R-2-1 = 3 (6) 7. Kim Nilsson 1-N-N-0-R = 1 (3) 8. - For Elit Vetlanda, All riders did a good job. For Hammarby, Gafurov had a bad first one but battled hard throughout the meeting and deserved more. Smolinski looked to have some severe mechanical gremlins in the second half of his six rides. Gapinski shot from the tapes once, otherwise nothing, but may be excused as he was making his comeback from injury. Dobrucki was class, simple as that. What a pass on the Richardson/Risager pairing and what a win in heat 16 ahead of Crump. Wow! Hlib was rather useful when not collecting letters instead of points. Nilsson didn't look either comfortable or fast, don't know if it was an effect after his fall/withdrawal in Avesta in the abandoned Junior Final on Friday. Man of the match: Peter Ljung Most exciting rider: Rafal Dobrucki *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 14, 10-0-4, 5/5, 25p (+98) 2. Dackarna, 14, 9-0-5, 3/5, 21p (+69) 3. Elit Vetlanda, 15, 8-0-7, 5/6, 21p (+53) 4. Rospiggarna, 14, 8-1-5, 3/5, 20p (+3) 5. Piraterna, 13, 8-0-5, 2/4, 18p (+19) 6. Indianerna, 14, 6-1-7, 2/5, 15p (-19) -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Hammarby, 14, 6-0-8, 2/5, 14p (-55) 8. Västervik, 14, 5-0-9, 2/5, 12p (+21) 9. MasarnaAvesta, 15, 5-0-10, 1/6, 11p (-120) -------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Smederna, 13, 4-0-9, 0/4, 8p (-69) *-*-* UPCOMING FIXTURES Wednesday August 13th 2008 Piraterna - Lejonen (42-54) (Round 15) Thursday Augusti 14th 2008 Hammarby - Rospiggarna (46-50) (Round 14) Smederna - Piraterna (44-52) (Round 14) Västervik - Dackarna (45-51) (Round 15) Tuesday August 19th 2008 Lejonen - MasarnaAvesta (53-43) Hammarby - Indianerna (44-52) Rospiggarna - Elit Vetlanda (44-52) Dackarna - Piraterna (42-53) Smederna - Västervik (44-52) Date: TBA Indianerna - Smederna (42-53) (Round 15) Obvious answer, Poole. A contracted date overrides a re-arranged fixture every time. Can't see a problem as Chris Holder wasn't scheduled to ride in this meeting from the start. Problems anyway for Lejonen as Ricky Kling rides for Lakeside tonight. Maciej Kuciapa steps up from reserve to cover Ricky's second string position at No 2 while Robert Pettersson takes the No 7 racejacket.

PREVIEW OF ELITSERIEN ROUND 15 Tuesday August 12th 2008 MASARNAAVESTA - ROSPIGGARNA at Arena Avesta With three points available in each meeting in the remaining rounds, every meeting is crucial in the standing. MasarnaAvesta can both look up and down, being only 4 points behind Indianerna with a meeting in hand but just 3 points ahead of bottom team Smederna. A win or loss makes a whole lot of difference. Billy Janniro, Steve Johnston and Sebastian Aldén are back for the home side instead of Dave Watt (family reasons), Oliver Allen and Anton Rosén who steps down to the No 8 racejacket. Rospiggarna are at full strength but haven't been particulary hot lately so could face another loss. However, the aggregated bonus points should be kept within the team. MasarnaAvesta (home) 0 (36) 1. Kenneth Bjerre 2. Billy Janniro 3. Simon Stead 4. Dave Watt Steve Johnston 5. Leigh Adams 6. Steve Johnston Sebastian Aldén 7. Dennis Andersson ( 8. Anton Rosén ) Rospiggarna (away) 0 (60) 1. Greg Hancock 2. Charlie Gjedde 3. Janusz Kolodziej 4. Chris Slabon 5. Adam Shields 6. Lubos Tomicek 7. Jonas Messing ( 8. Andreas Messing ) *-*-* PIRATERNA - LEJONEN at Lastpartner Arena, Motala The Pirates are in excellent form and must be considered favourites, despite facing league leaders Lejonen. The Lions are missing Chris Holder and Piotr Swiderski, but are letting new signing Maciej Kuciapa making his Lejonen debut at reserve. His partner at reserve, Daniel Jeleniewski, makes his first appearence at the Motala track and Ricky Kling is stepping up in the main body. All in all, it feels like being too much "ifs and buts" for Lejonen this time. Piraterna are just too hot! Piraterna (home) 0 (42) 1. Grzegorz Walasek 2. Mikael Max 3. Robert Kosciecha 4. Damian Balinski 5. Ryan Sullivan 6. Linus Sundström 7. Rafal Okoniewski ( 8. - ) Lejonen (away) 0 (54) 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Ricky Kling 3. David Ruud 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 5. Sebastian Ulamek 6. Daniel Jeleniewski 7. Maciej Kuciapa ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) *-*-* INDIANERNA - SMEDERNA at Sannahed's Motorstadion, Kumla Smederna have been forced to some late changes as Rory Schlein stays in Britain to stay by his pregnant girlfriend's side. Robert Miskowiak are stepping up to No 2 with Krzysztof Buczkowski getting a shot at reserve, on a track he usually goes well on. The Indians takes "Henka" Gustafsson back into the team, instead of Krzysztof Jablonski, but they could face another week without breakthrough man Adrian Miedzinski. The Pole had a doctor appointment on Monday and his fitness status is unknown at the moment. If he's not able to ride, the Riders Replacmenet facility will be used. The home side are red hot at home, beating several strong sides by many points in recent weeks. They are 11 points down from the meeting in Eskilstuna, but the aggregated point is still available to them me thinks. Indianerna (home) 0 (42) 1. Adrian Miedzinski 2. Matej Ferjan 3. Magnus Zetterström 4. Jesper B Monberg 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Simon Gustafsson 7. Henrik Gustafsson ( 8. Freddy Godlund ) Smederna (away) 0 (53) 1. Jonas Davidsson 2. Rory Schlein Robert Miskowiak 3. Wieslaw Jagus 4. Daniel King 5. Krzysztof Kasprzak 6. Robert Miskowiak Krzysztof Buczkowski 7. Daniel Henderson Linus Eklöf ( 8. Henrik Karlsson ) *-*-* VÄSTERVIK - DACKARNA at Sparbanken Arena Västervik Västervik still have a hole to climb out of to reach the Play Off, being three points behind 6th placed Indianerna and with only 1 home meeting left after Tuesday's meeting against neighbours Dackarna. The pressure is definitely on the home side, who are at full strength, and are facing a Dackarna team without Andreas Jonsson. The latter hurt himself in Poland and will not ride on Tuesday, but if they'll use R/R or find another squad member remains to be seen. I haven't found anything official anyhow. Västervik (home) 0 (45) 1. Grigorijs Laguta 2. Bjarne Pedersen 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 4. Chris Harris 5. Tomasz Gollob 6. Billy Forsberg 7. Stefan Ekberg ( 8. Jonas Andersson ) Dackarna (away) 0 (51) 1. Hans Andersen 2. Lukas Dryml 3. Fredrik Lindgren 4. Peter Karlsson 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Ludvig Lindgren 7. Nicolai Klindt ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) *-*-* ELIT VETLANDA - HAMMARBY at Vetlanda Motorstadion Hammarby are facing a huge task, trying to defend seven points for the aggregated point against the unbeaten home record of Elit Vetlanda. The away team are missing the services of Scott Nicholls and Joonas Kylmäkorpi but can welcome back Tomasz Gapinski into the team, even though the question remains of which kind of form he has after being on the sideline for so long? Elit Vetlanda are missing Rune Holta but have brought in Jason Crump as a replacement, giving Elit Vetlanda a very solid look throughout, with a strong Dryml/Risager partnership at reserve. Elit Vetlanda (home) 0 (44) 1. Lee Richardson 2. Peter Ljung 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 4. Thomas H Jonasson 5. Jason Crump 6. Ales Dryml 7. Morten Risager ( 8. Robin Aspegren ) Hammarby (away) 0 (51) 1. Scott Nicholls Martin Smolinski 2. Renat Gafurov 3. Matej Zagar 4. Tomasz Gapinski 5. Rafal Dobrucki 6. Martin Smolinski Pawel Hlib 7. Kim Nilsson ( 8. - ) Just hope the weather is nice to all the hosting clubs on Tuesday night... Live updates from all meetings - weather permitting - will be available on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 hrs.

One can only guess that he made the decision after the Hammarby management had to nominate their team on Thursday night?

Hammarby - Rospiggarna have also been re-scheduled for Thursday August 14th.

The track is located close to Brovallen, approximately 14 km southeast of the Best Western hotel in Avesta, alongside route 70 towards Sala and Västerås.

Not sure TBH. I guess the MasarnaAvesta management choose between Allen and Johnston for the No 7 racejacket, and Allen normally go well at Indianerna so I guess he got the chance because of that. Sajfutdinov got injured on Sunday evening. Miesiac was called up to replace him but his ferry from Poland got cancelled so he couldn't make it and by then I guess it was to late for either Johnston (or Janniro) to be called in as a replacement. Tough luck for the team management in MasarnaAvesta for sure. Not much else they could've done this time...

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 14 Tuesday August 5th 2008 LEJONEN - VÄSTERVIK 52-44 (Aggregate: 102-90) Attendence: 6915 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. The Lions kept their 100% home record by beating Västervik by eight points, two maximums by Pedersen/Ulamek being the difference in the end. They started the meeting with a maximum over Bjarne Pedersen and then recorded another one over Grand Prix riders Harris/Iversen in heat 7 to open up a six point lead. Västervik couldn't recover, despite the home side losing Chris Holder after a fall in heat 8. The live updates service reports that he hurt an arm and suffered a blow "down low". Sounds painful... On another note, Lejonen had lowered their entrance fee to 1 SEK for this meeting but had over 100 companies to pay the same amount of money as the number of people instead, to encourage and attract new speedway supporters. A massive 6915 entered the gates, hopefully a lot of them will come back. Lejonen (home) 52 (50) 1. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-2-3-3 = 14 (5) 2. Sebastian Ulamek 2*-2-2*-3-1 = 10+2 (5) 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 3-0-2-0-3 = 8 (5) 4. Chris Holder 1-2-Fx-N = 3 (3) 5. David Ruud 2-3-3-Ef-0 = 8 (5) 6. Ricky Kling 1-0-0-3-1 = 5 (5) 7. Daniel Jeleniewski 3-0-1*-Ef = 4+1 (4) 8. Robert Pettersson Västervik (away) 44 (90) 1. Bjarne Pedersen 1-3-1*-2-1*-0 = 8+2 (6) 2. Grigorijs Laguta 0-1-2-2-1* = 6+1 (5) 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 0-0-0-N = 0 (3) 4. Chris Harris 2-3-1-1*-2 = 9+1 (5) 5. Tomasz Gollob 3-1-3-2-2 = 11 (5) 6. Stefan Ekberg 0-N-N-1* = 1+1 (2) 7. Billy Forsberg 2-1-1-3-0-2 = 9 (6) 8. Jonas Andersson *-*-* INDIANERNA - MASARNAAVESTA 61-35 (Aggregate: 99-93) Attendence: 2087 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Stormy weather on the Baltic Sea caused problems with cancelled ferries between Sweden and Poland/Germany on Monday/Tuesday, resulting in Pawel Miesiac being unable to take his place at No 4 for MasarnaAvesta and Matej Ferjan arriving late to miss his opening ride. The meeting itself was a one way story but the away team kept it fairly close in the beginning but crashed and burned as they couldn't even hold on to the aggregated point as two 4-2's clinched it for The Indians in the nomination heats. Indianerna (home) 61 (99) 1. Adrian Miedzinski R/R (1*,3,2,0) 2. Matej Ferjan N-3-1-2-3-3 = 12 (5) 3. Magnus Zetterström 2*-2-3-2*-2*-3 = 14+3 (6) 4. Jesper B Monberg 3-1*-3-1*-0-1 = 9+2 (6) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 1*-2-3-2-2-1 = 11+1 (6) 6. Simon Gustafsson 3-1*-N-3 = 7+1 (3) 7. Krzysztof Jablonski 2-N-2*-2*-0-2* = 8+3 (5) 8. David Rohlén 0 = 0 (1) MasarnaAvesta (away) 35 (58) 1. Dave Watt 3-0-0-0-0 = 3 (5) 2. Simon Stead 0-3-1-0-2 = 6 (5) 3. Leigh Adams 1-2-3-3-3-2 = 14 (6) 4. Oliver Allen Ef-1-N-1-0 = 2 (4) 5. Kenneth Bjerre 3-0-1-1-1-T = 6 (6) 6. Dennis Andersson 2-0-N-1 = 3 (3) 7. Fredrik Andersson N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Anton Rosén 1*-0-0-0 = 1+1 (4) *-*-* SMEDERNA - PIRATERNA at Smedstadion, Eskilstuna Postponed due to waterlogged track. New date TBA. *-*-* HAMMARBY - ROSPIGGARNA at Gubbängen, Stockholm Postponed due to waterlogged track. New date TBA. *-*-* DACKARNA - ELIT VETLANDA 51-45 (Aggregate: 92-100) Attendence: 5258 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. The home side started with a maximum against the Ljung/Richardson partnership in the light drizzle of rain over G&B Arena and scored another one against them in heat 6 to open up a lead. Elit Vetlanda lost Rune Holta to an undetermined shoulder injury after a fall in heat 10 and got banned from the track doctor to continue, but the team still fought hard and kept it tied with only three heats to go, and had clinched the aggregated point by then. Grand Prix pair of Lindgren/Jonsson recored a maximum in heat 14 and the Elit Vetlanda outfit couldn't find a way back against a solid Dackarna side who was the rightfully winner tonight. Dackarna (home) 51 (92) 1. Fredrik Lindgren 2*-2-1-3-1* = 9+2 (5) 2. Peter Karlsson 3-3-1*-1*-2 = 10+2 (5) 3. Hans Andersen Fx-3-3-2-3 = 11 (5) 4. Lukas Dryml 2-2*-2*-2 = 8+2 (4) 5. Andreas Jonsson 2-2-1*-2*-1 = 8+2 (5) 6. Ludvig Lindgren 2-0-N-1 = 3 (3) 7. Nicolai Klindt 1*-1-0-0-0 = 2+1 (5) 8. Christian Isomettä Elit Vetlanda (away) 45 (100) 1. Lee Richardson 0-R-3-3-2 = 8 (5) 2. Peter Ljung 1-1-1-0 = 3 (4) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 3-0-3-3-0-3 = 12 (6) 4. Thomas H Jonasson 1-2-3-2*-Ef-0 = 8+1 (6) 5. Rune Holta 3-1-Fn-N = 4 (2) 6. Morten Risager 0-0-N-3 = 3 (3) 7. Ales Dryml 3-1-0-2*-1-0 = 7+1 (6) 8. Robin Aspegren For Dackarna, Lindgren wasn't as sharp as he use to be at home, solid score anyway. Karlsson is a good team man and beat an opponent in each heat. Andersen was - I felt - wrongfully excluded in his first outing but looked classy after that and showed the most of the home Grand Prix riders on the night. Dryml hasn't done anything on the road but always racks up big points at home, not surprised to see him score well. Jonsson didn't gate all night and won many points from the back so provided the entertainment value. Lindgren found the opposition to hard/fast today. Klindt started fairly well but slipped dramatically. For Elit Vetlanda, Richardson was dreadful early on but possibly changed his bike because then on he was very useful. Ljung tried hard but didn't get rewarded. Hampel used his excellent gating ability to score his points. Jonasson was a positive surprise once again. He beat Lindgren twice and score a paid nine despite having an broken chain at the gate in his fifth and being stuck on gate four in the final heat. Holta looked good in his first but had his usual slow one in heat 8 on the road, before the withdrawal in heat 10. Risager didn't do anything.....until he shot out of the gate in heat 11. Dryml did his job against the opposition reserves. Man of the match: Lukas Dryml Most exciting rider: Andreas Jonsson *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 14, 10-0-4, 5/5, 25p (+98) 2. Dackarna, 14, 9-0-5, 3/5, 21p (+69) 3. Piraterna, 13, 8-0-5, 2/4, 18p (+19) 4. Elit Vetlanda, 14, 7-0-7, 4/5, 18p (+17) 5. Rospiggarna, 13, 7-1-5, 2/4, 17p (+1) 6. Indianerna, 14, 6-1-7, 2/5, 15p (-19) -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Hammarby, 13, 6-0-7, 2/4, 14p (-19) 8. Västervik, 14, 5-0-9, 2/5, 12p (+21) 9. MasarnaAvesta, 14, 5-0-9, 1/5, 11p (-118) -------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Smederna, 13, 4-0-9, 0/4, 8p (-69) *-*-* UPCOMING FIXTURES: Tuesday August 12th 2008 MasarnaAvesta - Rospiggarna (36-60) Indianerna - Smederna (42-53) Piraterna - Lejonen (42-54) Västervik - Dackarna (45-51) Elit Vetlanda - Hammarby (44-51)

PREVIEW OF ELITSERIEN ROUND 14 Tuesday August 5th 2008 LEJONEN - VÄSTERVIK at Axelent Arena, Gislaved The Lions have only victories at home so far, but they will face a hard test in Västervik, despite what the standing says. Västervik have a good team even though plagued by injuries throughout the season but they are now at full strength, and most riders have been in Gislaved reasonably close in time as they beat the touring Kaparna side at Gislaved last season. That surely must be an advantage for Västervik, and they have more to ride for so the motivation factor can't be ruled out either. Lejonen are league leaders and have home advantage for sure, but Västervik could pull a shocker even though they themselves have had truly shocking meetings on the road this season. On a personal note, it will be interesting to see what kind of handicap bet will be available tonight... Lejonen (home) 0 (50) 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Sebastian Ulamek 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 4. Chris Holder 5. David Ruud 6. Ricky Kling 7. Daniel Jeleniewski ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) Västervik (away) 0 (46) 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2. Grigorijs Laguta 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 4. Chris Harris 5. Tomasz Gollob 6. Stefan Ekberg 7. Billy Forsberg ( 8. Jonas Andersson ) *-*-* INDIANERNA - MASARNAAVESTA at Sannaheds Motorstadion, Kumla A scratched 'Henka' Gustafsson, debut for Krzysztof Jablonski and R/R for the injured Adrian Miedzinski, there are surely some different conditions for Indianerna heading into tonight's meeting. Despite that, they must be considered favourites. MasarnaAvesta are missing the injured Emil Sajfutdinov, with Pawel Miesiac stepping in at short notice, but they do have some riders that rides well in Kumla, and last year they took a comfortable 10 point win despite a long tail (Watt, Stead and Adams produced a massive 40 points out of 53). The Riders Replacement facility will put pressure on the remaining riders in the Indianerna line-up, but they must be favourites after beating more fancied sides as Elit Vetlanda, Dackarna and Västervik within a month. Indianerna (home) 0 (38) 1. Adrian Miedzinski R/R 2. Matej Ferjan 3. Magnus Zetterström 4. Jesper B Monberg 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Simon Gustafsson 7. Krzysztof Jablonski ( 8. David Rohlén ) MasarnaAvesta (away) 0 (58) 1. Dave Watt 2. Simon Stead 3. Leigh Adams 4. Emil Sajfutdinov Pawel Miesiac 5. Kenneth Bjerre 6. Dennis Andersson 7. Oliver Allen ( 8. Anton Rosén ) *-*-* SMEDERNA - PIRATERNA at Smedstadion, Eskilstuna A red hot Pirates team against a Smederna organization with obvious internal problems and two fired team managers, and a 58-38 win last year fresh in memory. Everything points towards a Piraterna win, but the world of sports aren't always that easy to predict. Smederna do have the advantage of home track and are (or at least should be) a better team than the standing says and the new team management of Bosse Jansson and Stefan Jarl should be able to blow some fresh winds through the squad. Overall, firing coaches/managers, don't usually give a long term success but it could give a better short term performence and it's definitely so that Smederna should be more desperate for a win than Piraterna. Will that be enough? Smederna (home) 0 (44) 1. Jonas Davidsson 2. Rory Schlein 3. Wieslaw Jagus 4. Daniel King 5. Krzysztof Kasprzak 6. Daniel Henderson 7. Robert Miskowiak ( 8. Henrik Karlsson ) Piraterna (away) 0 (52) 1. Robert Kosciecha 2. Damian Balinski 3. Grzegorz Walasek 4. Mikael Max 5. Ryan Sullivan 6. Rafal Okoniewski 7. Linus Sundström ( 8. - ) *-*-* HAMMARBY - ROSPIGGARNA at Gubbängen, Stockholm Postponed due to waterlogged track. New date TBA. *-*-* DACKARNA - ELIT VETLANDA at G&B Arena, Målilla Dackarna bolster 4 of the 5 current Grand Prix riders on display on the night and are strong after the second reserve heat (heat 11). In the 6 winning meetings at home, they have produced a massive 121-59 score over the final five heats so Elit Vetlanda will definitely need a bit of lead after heat 11 to be able to hold on to the points. Another 4 ex-Grand Prix riders (not counting Wild Card performences) can be found in the two line-ups which should give the crowd a thrilling meeting, if the weather allows it. Many Elit Vetlanda rides fairly well in Målilla and they have won there before but the home side are favourites for two points. The aggregated points will be harder to get for the current champions, being down by 14 points at the start. Dackarna (home) 0 (41) 1. Fredrik Lindgren 2. Peter Karlsson 3. Hans Andersen 4. Lukas Dryml 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Ludvig Lindgren 7. Nicolai Klindt ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) Elit Vetlanda (away) 0 (55) 1. Lee Richardson 2. Peter Ljung 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 4. Thomas H Jonasson 5. Rune Holta 6. Morten Risager 7. Ales Dryml ( 8. Robin Aspegren ) All (currently 4) meetings can be followed on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 Swedish time.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 13 Tuesday July 29th 2008 VÄSTERVIK - HAMMARBY 56-40 (Aggregate: 100-92) Attendence: 2870 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Västervik (home) 56 (100) 1. Grigorijs Laguta 0-0-2-2* = 4+1 (4) 2. Bjarne Pedersen 3-0-2-3-2* = 10+1 (5) 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 3-1-3-0-3 = 10 (5) 4. Chris Harris 2*-3-2*-1-0 = 8+2 (5) 5. Tomasz Gollob 2-3-3-3-3 = 14 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 3-0-3-0-1*-2 = 9+1 (6) 7. Stefan Ekberg 0-N-N-1* = 1+1 (2) 8. Jonas Andersson Hammarby (away) 40 (92) 1. Scott Nicholls 2-0-1*-2-1* = 6+2 (5) 2. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 1*-2-2-0-2 = 7+1 (5) 3. Matej Zagar 1-1-3-2-1-1 = 9 (6) 4. Martin Smolinski 0-1*-3-1*-0 = 5+2 (5) 5. Rafal Dobrucki 3-1-0-Ef = 4 (4) 6. Pawel Hlib 1*-1-2-0-N-3 = 7+1 (5) 7. Kim Nilsson 2-N-N-0 = 2 (2) 8. - *-*-* PIRATERNA - INDIANERNA 55-41 (Aggregate: 100-91) Attendence: 4614 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Piraterna (home) 55 (100) 1. Grzegorz Walasek 3-2-1*-2*-0 = 8+2 (5) 2. Mikael Max 2*-2-0-2 = 6+1 (4) 3. Robert Kosciecha 1*-1*-3-1*-1 = 7+3 (5) 4. Damian Balinski 2-2-1-1*-3 = 9+1 (5) 5. Ryan Sullivan 3-3-2-3-3 = 14 (5) 6. Linus Sundström Fx-N-1-0-3 = 4 (4) 7. Rafal Okoniewski 3-0-N-T-2-2* = 7+1 (5) 8. - Indianerna (away) 41 (91) 1. Jesper B Monberg 1-0-1*-N = 2+1 (3) 2. Magnus Zetterström 0-3-2-0-0 = 5 (5) 3. Matej Ferjan 3-1-3-0-1* = 8+1 (5) 4. Adrian Miedzinski 0-3-3-0-2 = 8 (5) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 2-2-3-3-1-2 = 13 (6) 6. Simon Gustafsson 1*-0-0-0 = 1+1 (4) 7. Henrik Gustafsson 2-1*-0-1 = 4+1 (4) 8. - *-*-* MASARNAAVESTA - SMEDERNA 53-43 (Aggregate: 103-89) Attendence: 2965 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. MasarnaAvesta (home) 53 (103) 1. Kenneth Bjerre 0-2-3-0 = 5 (4) 2. Billy Janniro 2-1-1*-1* = 5+2 (4) 3. Dave Watt 3-1-0-2 = 6 (4) 4. Simon Stead 2*-3-3-1-0 = 9+1 (5) 5. Leigh Adams 3-3-3-3-3 = 15 (5) 6. Steve Johnston 2-2*-3-0-1-3 = 11+1 (6) 7. Anton Rosén N-N-N-N-0 = 0 (1) 8. Dennis Andersson 0-1-1 = 2 (3) Smederna (away) 43 (89) 1. Wieslaw Jagus 3-0-2-3-1*-N = 9+1 (5) 2. Daniel King 1-2-2-1*-0-3 = 9+1 (6) 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 1-0-2-N-2 = 5 (4) 4. Robert Miskowiak 0-0-N-0 = 0 (3) 5. Jonas Davidsson Ef-3-1*-2-2-1* = 9+2 (6) 6. Rory Schlein 3-1-2-0-2-2* = 10+1 (6) 7. Daniel Henderson N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Henrik Karlsson 1-0 = 1 (2) *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - DACKARNA 46-50 (Aggregate: 86-106) Attendence: 3705 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Rospiggarna (home) 46 (86) 1. Greg Hancock 1*-2-1*-3-3-3 = 13+2 (6) 2. Charlie Gjedde 2-3-0-0 = 5 (4) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 2-1-1*-2-2* = 8+2 (5) 4. Mateusz Szczepaniak F-Fx-N-N = 0 (2) 5. Adam Shields 1-2-2-0-Fx = 5 (5) 6. Jonas Messing 1-N-N-2* = 3+1 (2) 7. Chris Slabon 3-2*-2-0-3-2 = 12+1 (6) 8. Andreas Messing 0-X = 0 (2) Dackarna (away) 50 (106) 1. Hans Andersen 3-2*-3-3-0 = 11+1 (5) 2. Troy Batchelor 0-3-0-1 = 4 (4) 3. Fredrik Lindgren 1-1-3-2-1 = 8 (5) 4. Peter Karlsson 3-Ef-3-1-3 = 10 (5) 5. Andreas Jonsson 3-3-2-1*-1 = 10+1 (5) 6. Christian Agö N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 7. Ludvig Lindgren 2-2*-1-0-1*-1 = 7+2 (6) 8. Christian Isomettä 0-0 = 0 (2) *-*-* ELIT VETLANDA - LEJONEN 51-45 (Aggregate: 91-101) Attendence: 5676 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Despite a six point deficit early on, Elit Vetlanda managed to stage a comeback to win the meeting and claim the sixth straight home win at Vetlanda Motorstadion. It looked highly unlikely when ex Vetlanda-rider Tomasz Jedrzejak scored a maximum with Vetlanda track debutant Chris Holder in heat 3 against Jaroslaw Hampel. Elit Vetlanda turned out to be stronger towards the end with really only Nicki Pedersen going the distance for the league leaders. Skipper Rune Holta lead his home side with a couple of double victories in heats 12 & 14 to turn a 31-35 deficit to a 44-40 entering the nomination heat. The excellent Thomas H Jonasson was last from the tapes in heat 15 but rode between and past them all on the second bend and down the back straight to take the lead and secure the win. What a move by home hero Jonasson who received a standing ovation on his victory lap. Elit Vetlanda (home) 51 (91) 1. Lee Richardson 2-0-3-2*-1 = 8+1 (5) 2. Peter Ljung 1*-2-3-1*-1* = 8+3 (5) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 1-1-2-2 = 6 (4) 4. Thomas H Jonasson R-3-1*-3-3 = 10+1 (5) 5. Rune Holta 3-2-2*-3-2 = 12+1 (5) 6. Ales Dryml 2-1-1*-0-3 = 7+1 (5) 7. Daniel Davidsson 0-N-0-N = 0 (2) 8. Robin Aspegren 0 = 0 (1) Lejonen (away) 45 (101) 1. Nicki Pedersen 3-2-3-3-3 = 14 (5) 2. Sebastian Ulamek 0-0-N-0 = 0 (3) 3. Chris Holder 2*-1*-1-0-0 = 4+2 (5) 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 3-3-2-0-0 = 8 (5) 5. Piotr Swiderski 2-R-1*-1 = 4+1 (4) 6. Ricky Kling 1-0-2-2 = 5 (4) 7. David Ruud 3-0-3-1-1*-2 = 10+1 (6) 8. Robert Pettersson For Elit Vetlanda, Richardson started slow but got going. Ljung scored well at second string, always beat an opponent and had a 3-1 score against Jedrzejak on the night. Hampel was below par, fairly quick at times but didn't make a gate all night. Jonasson looked dreadfully slow in his first, possibly with mechanical gremlins, but came back strong and produced a performence that must rank top 3 in his career. Excellent. Holta did a very good job, teamrode with his teammates for some vital maximums but didn't have an answer against ace Pedersen. Dryml was OK. Davidsson looked slow. Aspegren only got one heat so I won't judge him on that. For Lejonen, Pedersen won four gates on the night, two against sharp gating Ljung, and was very fast overall. Ulamek usually does very little in Vetlanda, but this was a record-low performence. Holder started well but faded, just like his scoreline suggest. Jedrzejak started like a train but ran out of steam towards the end. Swiderski has had a fantastic season but didn't show anything like that tonight on his first Vetlanda visit. Kling had some good rides but generally had some easy points. Ruud was always in the mix, as expected by the former Vetlanda rider. Man of the match: Thomas H Jonasson Most exciting rider: Thomas H Jonasson *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 13, 9-0-4, 4/4, 22p (+90) 2. Dackarna, 13, 8-0-5, 3/4, 19p (+63) 3. Piraterna, 13, 8-0-5, 2/4, 18p (+19) 4. Elit Vetlanda, 13, 7-0-6, 3/4, 17p (+23) 5. Rospiggarna, 13, 7-1-5, 2/4, 17p (+1) 6. Hammarby, 13, 6-0-7, 2/4, 14p (-19) -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Västervik, 13, 5-0-8, 2/4, 12p (+29) 8. Indianerna, 13, 5-1-7, 1/4, 12p (-45) 9. MasarnaAvesta, 13, 5-0-8, 1/4, 11p (-92) -------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Smederna, 13, 4-0-9, 0/4, 8p (-69) *-*-* UPCOMING FIXTURES: Tuesday August 5th 2008 Dackarna - Elit Vetlanda (41-55) Hammarby - Rospiggarna (46-50) Indianerna - MasarnaAvesta (38-58) Lejonen - Västervik (50-46) Smederna - Piraterna (44-52)

Today's meeting are: Elit Vetlanda - Lejonen MasarnaAvesta - Smederna Rospiggarna - Dackarna Piraterna - Indianerna Västervik - Hammarby All meeting are covered by www.speedway.nu from 19:00, they are about halfway through by now. Sorry for the late posting.

Stupid format IMO as a Team A can be relegated by Team B in the quarterfinals but still meet (and possibly beat) Team B in the semifinals. Once you're out, you should stay out! Getting angry every time I think about it. If I'm not mistaken the 1st placed team gets a cash reward for winning the regular season standing. Also, the highest placed team in each Play Off round can choose if they want to begin home or away in the respective round.

Well I guess that's correct, I wasn't at my very best that weekend. Lindgren, Davidsson and Jonsson looks a likely top three but they (Ljung & Jonasson) do ride well in Avesta so they could take a place in the Last Chance heat. Guess anything can happen from there. Thanks! That first away victory is finally out of the way.

The U16 80cc championship usually is very good entertainment. Should be a fight between Victor Palovaara and Jacob Thorssell for the title but several riders are dark horses for a rostrum finish, Joel Larsson of Dackarna as well as home riders Söderholm, Nielsen and Armendariz. I'm looking forward to it!

Ah, finally getting that away victory! It was awesome to watch riders like Peter Ljung and Thomas H Jonasson scoring so well in the main body of the team. Man of the match & Most exciting rider: Peter Ljung! I thought he did a decent job against Elit Vetlanda, I was actually shocked that he didn't get a fourth ride instead of Vaculik, in heat 12, who obviously didn't have a clue how to ride on the surface on Tuesday night. Hard to defend a 6.00 average though, but he'll give it a shot according to his performence at Dackarna on Wednesday. Give him time! ...and Lejonen have signed Maciej Kuciapa on a 4.54 average as a replacement for Piotr Paluch. Piotr Paluch replaces Jari Mäkinen in Allsvenskan league Örnarna. Those 3 changes are all that I know from the latest transfer period (last week).

PREVIEW OF ELITSERIEN ROUND 12 Tuesday July 22nd 2008 HAMMARBY - MASARNAAVESTA at Gubbängen, Stockholm Neither of the teams facing each other at the Gubbängen track are at full strength. Hammarby are missing Tomasz Gapinski and could possibly be missing Rafal Dobrucki who didn't ride in Poland on Sunday, but according to Hammarby's website, team manager Håkan Rahbe expects him to make his comeback on Tuesday. MasarnaAvesta misses - as usual - the services of Emil Sajfutdinov and haven't had much luck on previous visits in Stockholm either, so if Hammarby can minimize the back-up scorers behind Leigh Adams, the home team should be fine once again. Hammarby (home) (52) 1. Rafal Dobrucki 2. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 3. Scott Nicholls 4. Martin Smolinski 5. Matej Zagar 6. Kim Nilsson 7. Renat Gafurov ( 8. - ) MasarnaAvesta (away) (44) 1. Dave Watt 2. Steve Johnston 3. Kenneth Bjerre 4. Simon Stead 5. Leigh Adams 6. Anton Rosén 7. Oliver Allen ( 8. Dennis Andersson ) *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - PIRATERNA at Orionparken, Hallstavik The Pirates have been in excellent form lately but still choose to make some experiment at reserve where Rafal Okoniewski makes his season debut instead of Mikael Max and/or Michal Szczepaniak. Okoniewski has been scoring well on previous visit at the Orionparken track but Piraterna as a team have blown hot and cold, winning in both 2005 and 2006 but losing heavily last season. After a string of sub-par performences by Travis McGowan, team manager Mikael Messing has opted to use both Jonas Messing and Andreas Messing at reserve and Robin Messing at number eight. It's Messings all over the place! Rospiggarna have two fine wins against Lejonen at home and Västervik away, but only drew against Indianerna last round despite a 47-43 lead and a unbeaten Greg Hancock heading into the final heat. All in all, a highly interesting meeting between two teams is to be expected. Rospiggarna (home) (48) 1. Greg Hancock 2. Charlie Gjedde 3. Janusz Kolodziej 4. Chris Slabon 5. Adam Shields 6. Jonas Messing 7. Andreas Messing ( 8. Robin Messing ) Piraterna (away) (47) 1. Robert Kosciecha 2. Damian Balinski 3. Daniel Nermark 4. Grzegorz Walasek 5. Ryan Sullivan 6. Rafal Okoniewski 7. Linus Sundström ( 8. - ) *-*-* DACKARNA - LEJONEN TV-meeting at G&B Arena, Målilla With former Dackarna riders such as Sebastian Ulamek and Ricky Kling, the Lions will definitely be a hard nut to crack for Dackarna. However, league leaders Lejonen hasn't nominated either Chris Holder or Mariusz Wegrzyk but changes will be made in their line-up as Anton Göthberg crashed heavily in a Division 1 meeting on Saturday, but who will take Anton's place at No 6 remains to be seen. Dackarna are missing Lukas Dryml, a key rider at home to a steal of an average of 4.88. They do look to have a tail which the away side should be able to take advantage of, but Dackarna are always strong after the interval when Andersen, Karlsson, Lindgren and Jonsson shows up more frequentely, and they should be able to salvage a win. Dackarna (home) (44) 1. Hans Andersen 2. Peter Karlsson 3. Fredrik Lindgren 4. Claus Vissing 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Ludvig Lindgren 7. Nicolai Klindt ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) Lejonen (away) (52) 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Sebastian Ulamek 3. David Ruud 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 5. Piotr Swiderski 6. Anton Göthberg 7. Ricky Kling ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) *-*-* INDIANERNA - VÄSTERVIK at Sannahed's Motorstadion, Kumla Dackarna had an excellent record at the Sannahed track, just outside of Kumla, when they went there three weeks ago, but Indianerna blew them away and the conditions looks similar this time as well. Västervik have four straight wins against Indianerna at their own home track in previous years, but the 2008 form shows that Västervik have three straight losses, all by a 47-49 score. Au contraire, the Indians are red hot at the moment, beating Elit Vetlanda and Dackarna easily at home and then to follow up with a surprise 48-48 score at Rospiggarna before the WTC break. Both teams are chasing a Play Off spot so much are at stake on Tuesday night even though the aggregated points looks to be staying in Västervik. Indianerna (home) (39) 1. Adrian Miedzinski 2. Magnus Zetterström 3. Matej Ferjan 4. Jesper B Monberg 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Henrik Gustafsson 7. Simon Gustafsson ( 8. Freddy Godlund ) Västervik (away) (56) 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2. Grigorijs Laguta 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 4. Chris Harris 5. Tomasz Gollob 6. Jonas Andersson 7. James Wright ( 8. Kim Johansson ) *-*-* SMEDERNA - ELIT VETLANDA at Smedstadion, Eskilstuna Two straight wins in previous seasons at Smedstadion, that's a fact that Elit Vetlanda brings along as a positive thought heading into Tuesday's meeting, just to keep out the fact that they are winless on the road so far this season. Problems in the line-up though, with the status of Jason Crump still being unconfirmed for Tuesday, it's hard to say what the Elit Vetlanda line-up will actually look like come start time. The Blacksmiths comes with a different line-up this time, as Daniel King makes his Elitserien debut in place of Krzysztof Buczkowski. A new partnership at reserve will also be there as Henrik Karlsson and Rory Schlein replaces Linus Eklöf and Robert Miskowiak, even though it's likely that Robert Henderson will take Karlsson's heat at reserve. Elit Vetlanda could claim the first away win of the season even though the same thing was thought of before the meetings against Indianerna and Piraterna. Anyhow, making a prediction without knowing what the Elit Vetlanda's line-up will be is hard to do. Time will tell. Smederna (home) (43) 1. Wieslaw Jagus 2. Daniel King 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 4. Martin Vaculik 5. Jonas Davidsson 6. Henrik Karlsson 7. Rory Schlein ( 8. Robert Henderson ) Elit Vetlanda (away) (53) 1. Jason Crump 2. Thomas H Jonasson 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 4. Peter Ljung 5. Rune Holta 6. Robin Aspegren 7. Ales Dryml ( 8. Anders Mellgren ) *-*-* All meetings can be followed live on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 local time. As I will be in Eskilstuna, and then heading to Gävle on Wednesday, I won't be able to post anything until Thursday night but I'm sure someone will post the results on Tuesday night.

That would be heat your beloved Bjerre did a pirouette all by his odious little self on turn 2 and still managed to get into the re-run - shameful decision from the referee. Yes, heat 18 was very strange indeed. Watt laid down (even though without contact) as he obviously saw Bjerre coming straight towards him and then Davidsson fell while exiting the second bend. Don't know if Davidsson managed to get up after the fall but I don't to remember him doing that, so I think at least Bjerre and Davidsson should have been excluded for causing the stoppage, possibly even Watt. In the end, the referee took the easy way out by awarding an all four back restart, despite several riders being the cause of the stoppage. Strange. BTW, the best team won so congratulations to Team Denmark!

Ah, things happen. Interesting thread this one, I'll scroll through it all to find some "fantastic" quotes that are out of this world, copy them to my computer and then bring them up whenever I need a good laughter. Can't believe some of the post/quotes being made on this thread. Guess I haven't learned that yet. Looks like some posters think that the world of speedway ends at the British border.

So.....how on earth could Britain lose to a team like that? BTW, isn't Woffinden a Premier League rider?

Among all the posts about Team Great Britain, may I just say that - despite not being overly patriotic - I'm very proud of Team Sweden tonight. An excellent job! Pushing Denmark and beating Great Britain at home on Monday and following up with a win of current champions Poland at Vojens is class! All riders have done really well so far, I just hope they have something left in the tank to fight for a medal on Saturday night. Go Sweden!

Like Mr Lynch you mean?

What, the FIM rule? Guess it comes down to a habit, I for one wouldn't like to change the Swedish regulation to the FIM standard, I'm use to it being like this so it's fine by me. (And I hate half points as it messes up the scoreboard/programme) Don't try to talk sense into me, you know - as well as I - that speedway fans are too conservative to take on a change like that.

Same case with a "dead heat" á la Harris and Lindgren. Obviously there can be half a point awarded to each rider in FIM regulations but that can never happen in Sweden as the Swedish regulations says that the riders that comes from the back to execute the pass should be considered ahead of the one he is passing, if the referee can't seperate them on the finish line.