Anders

DOH! Don't know how I missed William Lawson! Thanks for the answer! BTW, I expect Great Britain to put up a much better fight, with nothing to lose after that awful performence on Monday. I for certain don't take Sweden's place in the final for granted, it will be a fight for the places in Saturday's final.

BTW, and please excuse my lack of knowledge of who's a Scot or not, what would a "Scottish WTC team" actually look like? From memory I seem to remember Grieves, Tully and Sneddon as being Scots, any others? Sorry for taking this thread a bit off topic, even though it seems it already is...

I'm pretty certain I saw some overtaking on the broadcast in Sweden. I seem to remember somone passing Scott Nicholls on the line, for example.

Indeed. Just as bad as planning the WTC qualifying round (Team USA) the same weekend as the Grand Prix on Ullevi, with the effect of Greg Hancock missing that WTC qualifier in Hungary. It's sad about Sajfutdinov, I had really been looking forward to see him on Thursday.

Must admit I'm happy with the spirited performence by the under-dog Swedes tonight. To be tied with Denmark halfway into the meeting was a surprise and even though they couldn't hold on, they all deserves praise! Awful performence by the Brits though, but I guess I don't need to say that. 4 points from Scott Nicholls is poor and it would have been interesting to see him scratched for the Race Off but it will never happen. However, I have a hard time understanding the critisism against 'Olly' Allen, I certainly wouldn't have expected more than 5 points. He was the only one who scored what could be expected in the Great Britain team. Well well, Sweden and Great Britain are back at 0 on Thursday evening but I do hope that Sweden can take something positive from tonight, unlike the Brits. Still will be interesting on Thursday, that's a totally different meeting...and all teams starting at 0 points. Go Sweden, go!

You'll definitely need to hire a car at the airport, don't think of any public transportation to get you to Målilla. It is possible to get there by train of course, but not particulary convenient.

Tough day for the Swedish participants in the first semifinal, but way to go Jacob Thorssell! I hope some more non-Danish riders will advance to the final, no offence to the Danish riders but it would be fun with some more nationalities among the finalists tomorrow. BTW, thanks for all the results so far! First class!

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 11 Tuesday July 8th 2008 Links to the heat details for the meetings have been provided by Ghostwalker in the post above. MASARNAAVESTA - VÄSTERVIK 49-47 (84-108) Attendence: 2011 The home side started with a maximum but quickly found themselves down by 11-19 after five heats. By some fairly successful tactical substitutions, MasarnaAvesta crawled slowly back into the meeting and with a 4-2 in the final heat they actually won the meeting. MasarnaAvesta (home) 49 (84) 1. Leigh Adams 3-3-3-3-3-3 = 18 (6) 2. Steve Johnston 2*-1-N-1* = 4+2 (3) 3. Dave Watt 2-1-1*-2-1 = 7+1 (5) 4. Simon Stead 0-N-2-1-1* = 4+1 (4) 5. Kenneth Bjerre 1-1-1-3-0-2 = 8 (6) 6. Sebastian Aldén 2-0-Ef-3-1-2 = 8 (6) 7. Dennis Andersson N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Anton Rosén 0-0 = 0 (2) Västervik (away) 47 (108) 1. Niels-Kristian Iversen Fx-2-2-3-3 = 10 (5) 2. Tomasz Chrzanowski 1-0-0-0 = 1 (4) 3. Chris Harris 3-2-2-2-2 = 11 (5) 4. James Wright 1-2*-0-0 = 3+1 (4) 5. Bjarne Pedersen 3-3-2-1*-0 = 9+1 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 1-N-0-3 = 4 (3) 7. Mads Korneliussen 3-2*-3-0-1-0 = 9+1 (6) 8. Jonas Andersson *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - INDIANERNA 48-48 (97-95) Attendence: 3781 The Indians took a brief lead after heat 9 but other than that, Rospiggarna looked like winners, especially after a heat 14 maximum which opened up a six point lead. Indianerna kept the meeting alive with a 4-2 in the first nomination heat but a draw still looked highly unlikely with Hancock lining up in heat 16. However, the Protasiewicz/Ferjan pairing produced a major upset as they headed home the Gjedde/Hancock duo to tie the meeting! Rospiggarna (home) 48 (97) 1. Greg Hancock 3-3-3-3-0 = 12 (5) 2. Charlie Gjedde 2*-3-F-3-1 = 9+1 (5) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 2-Ef-1*-1 = 4+1 (4) 4. Chris Slabon 1*-3-2-0-2 = 8+1 (5) 5. Adam Shields 1-2-2-2*-0 = 7+1 (5) 6. Travis McGowan 2-0-0-N = 2 (3) 7. Andreas Messing 1*-0-1-1 = 3+1 (4) 8. Jonas Messing 3 = 3 (1) Indianerna (away) 48 (95) 1. Adrian Miedzinski 1-2-1-2-3 = 9 (5) 2. Magnus Zetterström Ef-1*-3-1-1 = 6+1 (5) 3. Matej Ferjan 3-1*-3-0-2* = 9+2 (5) 4. Jesper B Monberg 0-2-2-0 = 4 (4) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 3-3-2-1-3 = 12 (5) 6. Simon Gustafsson 0-1*-0-2 = 3+1 (4) 7. Henrik Gustafsson 3-2*-0-0 = 5+1 (4) 8. - *-*-* DACKARNA - SMEDERNA Meeting was postponed. New date TBA. *-*-* LEJONEN - HAMMARBY 55-41 (97-95) Attendence: 3026 Lejonen are more than just Nicki Pedersen, at least at home were they beat Hammarby heavily to claim the aggregated bonus point as well. It was fairly close at the interval, 32-28, but the Lions were far too strong after that and secured the win definitely when Ulamek/Ruud recorded a maximum against Gafurov/Kylmäkorpi in heat 15. Another heat advantage, 4-2, in the final heat got them the third point as well. Lejonen (home) 55 (97) 1. Chris Holder 2*-3-3-1-1 = 10+1 (5) 2. Sebastian Ulamek 3-3-0-1-3 = 10 (5) 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 2-0-0-0 = 2 (4) 4. David Ruud Ef-2-2-3-2* = 9+1 (5) 5. Piotr Swiderski 3-2-1-3-3 = 12 (5) 6. Ricky Kling 3-0-1*-3 = 7+1 (4) 7. Mariusz Wegrzyk 2*-0-1-2* = 5+2 (4) 8. Robert Pettersson Hammarby (away) 41 (95) 1. Pawel Hlib 1-N-0-N = 1 (2) 2. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 0-1-3-0-3-0 = 7 (6) 3. Matej Zagar 3-2-2-2-0 = 9 (5) 4. Renat Gafurov 1-2-1*-2*-1 = 7+2 (5) 5. Scott Nicholls 2-3-3-2-0-2 = 12 (6) 6. Kim Nilsson 0-N-0-0 = 0 (3) 7. Denis Gizatullin 1-1*-1*-1-1 = 5+2 (5) 8. - *-*-* PIRATERNA - ELIT VETLANDA 49-47 (91-101) TV-Meeting Attendence: 1954 For the sixth time this season, Elit Vetlanda lost away from home, snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory. Leading by two after heat 11, Elit Vetlanda looked likely winners with their top heavy side but Piraterna fought well and relegated the away riders to four last places in the final five heats. Jason Crump passed Robert Kosciecha for the win in heat 16 but Grzegorz Walasek still got the Pirates the win as he passed Lee Richardson for that vital third place. Piraterna (home) 49 (91) 1. Grzegorz Walasek 1-1-3-3-1* = 9+1 (5) 2. Ryan Sullivan 3-2-0-0 = 5 (4) 3. Robert Kosciecha 1-3-1-3-2 = 10 (5) 4. Damian Balinski 0-1-3-2-2 = 8 (5) 5. Daniel Nermark 2-1-1*-2*-1* = 7+3 (5) 6. Linus Sundström 2*-N-N-Fx = 2+1 (2) 7. Michal Szczepaniak 3-1*-0-0-1-3 = 8+1 (6) 8. - Elit Vetlanda (away) 47 (101) 1. Jason Crump 2-2-2*-2-3 = 11+1 (5) 2. Peter Ljung 0-0-3-3-0 = 6 (5) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 3-2*-0-0 = 5+1 (4) 4. Lee Richardson 2*-3-3-1*-0 = 9+2 (5) 5. Rune Holta 3-2-2-1-3 = 11 (5) 6. Robin Bergqvist N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 7. Robin Aspegren 0-0-0-1* = 1+1 (4) 8. Anders Mellgren 1-1-0-2 = 4 (4) For Piraterna, Walasek looked dreadfully slow early on but woke up. Sullivan, well, how he was able to beat Crump on a deep track before fading as the track got better is beyond my understanding. Kosciecha was the ace of the home side, beating Crump twice even though he still managed to look ice cold on a couple of occasions. Balinski was solid after a dodgy first ride. Nermark does not only look like putting riders through the fence by accident, he takes them to the fence by will also. Guess that Team Sweden will need his toughness in WTC though. Sundström did what could be expected. Szczepaniak got easy points most of the night, wasn't overly impressed. For Elit Vetlanda, Crump was OK but can do better. Was faster than any on the night but couldn't always pass the opponents. Ljung improved as the meeting went along and earned his place in the first nomination heat. Hampel started like a train but went from second to fourth in his third outing and was nowhere to be found in his fourth. Not good enough. Richardson was great, as he has been all year for Elit Vetlanda. I'll accept his last place in heat 16 as he normally is a "heat 15 rider". Holta was good, tried hard all night. Aspegren improved as the track got slicker. Mellgren started well, when the track was rough, but faded a bit towards the end. It's easy to forget the fact that last season's FIM Youth Gold Trophy champion only rides in his first season on 500cc. Well done, Anders! Man of the match: Robert Kosciecha Most exciting rider: Jason Crump *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 11, 8-0-3, 2/2, 18p (+86) 2. Rospiggarna, 11, 7-1-3, 2/2, 17p (+9) 3. Dackarna, 10, 6-0-4, 1/1, 13p (+55) 4. Elit Vetlanda, 11, 5-0-6, 2/2, 12p (+11) 5. Piraterna, 11, 6-0-5, 0/2, 12p (+1) 6. Hammarby, 11, 5-0-6, 1/2, 11p (-9) -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Västervik, 11, 4-0-7, 1/2, 9p (+37) 8. Indianerna, 11, 4-1-6, 0/2, 9p (-55) 9. Smederna, 10, 4-0-6, 0/1, 8p (-39) -------------------------------------------------------------- 10. MasarnaAvesta, 11, 4-0-7, 0/2, 8p (-96) *-*-* UPCOMING FIXTURES: Tuesday July 15th 2008 Break for the World Team Cup Tuesday July 22nd 2008 Hammarby - MasarnaAvesta (52-44) Indianerna - Västervik (39-56) Rospiggarna - Piraterna (48-47) Dackarna - Lejonen (44-52) Smederna - Elit Vetlanda (43-53) Results from round 3 are listed in brackets.

Emil Sajfutdinov won't be lining up for MasarnaAvesta tonight. He is stuck in Germany with a visa problem, something that ruled him out of both Italy and Poland during the weekend. Steve Johnston will move up to second string and Sebastian Aldén takes Johnno's place at reserve. Grigorijs Laguta will be missing as well as he hurt his arm in Poland on Sunday. His place will be taken by James Wright if a flight connection can be found, Västerviks-Tidningen reports. Nicki Pedersen is another one who has been forced to a late withdrawal, due to gallstone problems. Chris Holder will take his place at No 1. -"He won't ride at the track in Avesta. Gollob said a long time ago that won't go there" says team manager Peter Helgesson to Västerviks-Tidningen. -"He was involved in a bad crash in Avesta, which could be the reason he's not in the team" says Helgesson. I can't remember when this happened but AFAIK Antonio Lindbäck took Tomasz Gollob through the fence. Must have been in 2001 or something like that. Not a fan of Schlein myself but I'm not sure I agree. Sure it's a gamble, most definitely, but this could be the perfect time for Smederna to blow some life back into Schlein. He's done reasonably well in Målilla on previous visits and against the Lindgren/Vissing partnership at reserve, he should be able to win both heat 2 & 11 (both involving only reserve riders). Would certainly be good for his confidence and if Smederna can get him going, they will benefit in the long run. But if he doesn't deliver tonight, it will be a long time before he's back in the line-up again...

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 11 Tuesday July 8th 2008 MASARNAAVESTA - VÄSTERVIK Västervik riding in Avesta usually means no Tomasz Gollob, and that's the case once again as Gollob will miss the Avesta meeting for the fifth straight season and for the sixth time in the last seven visits! However, without Gollob they can bolster a stronger duo at reserve and that could be needed against a full strength home side. MasarnaAvesta has lost three of five home meetings so far but as Västervik usually struggle in Avesta, the home side are still the favourites IMO. MasarnaAvesta (home) 1. Leigh Adams 2. Emil Sajfutdinov 3. Dave Watt 4. Simon Stead 5. Kenneth Bjerre 6. Steve Johnston 7. Dennis Andersson ( 8. Anton Rosén ) Västervik (away) 1. Niels-Kristian Iversen 2. Tomasz Chrzanowski 3. Chris Harris 4. Grigorijs Laguta 5. Bjarne Pedersen 6. Billy Forsberg 7. Mads Korneliussen ( 8. Jonas Andersson ) *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - INDIANERNA The in-form Indianerna meets Rospiggarna away from home, a combination that hasn't turned out very well for Indianerna in recent seasons. The Indians have been strong at home lately but can they beat Rospiggarna away? It doesn't look likely as Rospiggarna are producing strong performences as well, beating Västervik away in the last round by 49-47. Also, Charlie Gjedde is back in the line-up and surely makes Rospiggarna the favourites at the Orionparken track. Rospiggarna (home) 1. Greg Hancock 2. Charlie Gjedde 3. Janusz Kolodziej 4. Chris Slabon 5. Adam Shields 6. Travis McGowan 7. Andreas Messing ( 8. Jonas Messing ) Indianerna (away) 1. Adrian Miedzinski 2. Magnus Zetterström 3. Matej Ferjan 4. Jesper B Monberg 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Simon Gustafsson 7. Henrik Gustafsson ( 8. - ) *-*-* DACKARNA - SMEDERNA Robert Miskowiak will miss tomorrow's meeting in Målilla, the Eskilstuna-Kuriren reports, and the changes made to the line-up will make it harder for Smederna to produce an upset against the current champions Dackarna. Daniel King may be just as good as Miskowiak overall but hasn't been to Målilla before, and to fit the Elitserien debutant Brit under the maximum average, Robert Henderson needs to replace Linus Eklöf at No 7. With Eklöf, Smederna could've had an advantage in the reserve rider's heats but that looks less likely now and Dackarna should be able to win this in the end, despite a seemingly long tail. Dackarna (home) 1. Fredrik Lindgren 2. Hans Andersen 3. Peter Karlsson 4. Emil Kramer 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Ludvig Lindgren 7. Claus Vissing ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) Smederna (away) 1. Wieslaw Jagus 2. Robert Miskowiak Daniel King 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 4. Martin Vaculik 5. Jonas Davidsson 6. Rory Schlein 7. Linus Eklöf Robert Henderson ( 8. Robert Henderson ) *-*-* LEJONEN - HAMMARBY League leading Lejonen hosts capital club Hammarby, and will be made heavy favourites in the process. Hammarby are missing Rafal Dobrucki and Martin Smolinski, replacing them with Pawel Hlib and Renat Gafurov. The Lions middle order riders should be having a good day against the Hammarby counterparts and despite Hammarby having a 12 point lead for the bonus point, that should definitely be in the reach for Lejonen. Lejonen (home) 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Sebastian Ulamek 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 4. David Ruud 5. Piotr Swiderski 6. Ricky Kling 7. Mariusz Wegrzyk ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) Hammarby (away) 1. Rafal Dobrucki Pawel Hlib 2. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 3. Matej Zagar 4. Martin Smolinski Renat Gafurov 5. Scott Nicholls 6. Kim Nilsson 7. Denis Gizatullin ( 8. - ) *-*-* PIRATERNA - ELIT VETLANDA TV-Meeting Old stats from Motala is nice fun for Elit Vetlanda with three straight wins, but old stats doesn't take the current form of Piraterna into consideration. The Pirates have five wins in the last six meetings but have made a change anyway as Michal Szczepaniak makes his season debut in place of Mikael Max, and the home side looks to their strength in depth to prevail. Elit Vetlanda are missing the services of Thomas H Jonasson who wasn't available when Elit Vetlanda registred the line-up on Thursday evening and now has suffered a backlash after riding in Poland on Sunday as well. Instead, former Piraterna team manager Fredrik Staaf, now in Elit Vetlanda, bolster all the Elit Vetlanda stars in this one, trying a top heavy line-up for the first time this season. Will the top five of Piraterna manage to hold Elit Vetlanda's top five at bay after the interval. That's the question before the TV meeting of the 11th round of Elitserien. Piraterna (home) 1. Grzegorz Walasek 2. Ryan Sullivan 3. Robert Kosciecha 4. Damian Balinski 5. Daniel Nermark 6. Linus Sundström 7. Michal Szczepaniak ( 8. - ) Elit Vetlanda (away) 1. Jason Crump 2. Peter Ljung 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 4. Lee Richardson 5. Rune Holta 6. Robin Bergqvist 7. Robin Aspegren ( 8. Anders Mellgren ) All meetings can be followed live on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 local time.

Oh come on Anders! You have to leave Most exciting rider!? My guess of it would be Davey Watt;) I don't wanna...but if I have to , I choose Pawel Miesiac. I'll leave in an hour. Will be a highly interesting meeting I predict!

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 10 Tuesday July 1st 2008 INDIANERNA - DACKARNA 57-39 (Aggregate: 91-101) Attendence: 2860 With a top heavy team, all the top stars must deliver and the simple fact in Kumla is that Dackarna's top riders didn't deliver, or so it would seem according to the stats. The Indians beat Elit Vetlanda easily last week and continues to be in excellent form as they produced three maximums in the first five heats to open up an early ten points lead, to never look back. Impressive! Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Indianerna (home) 57 1. Jesper B Monberg 0-0-0-2* = 2+1 (4) 2. Adrian Miedzinski 3-3-2-3-1* = 12+1 (5) 3. Matej Ferjan 3-3-2*-0-3 = 11+1 (5) 4. Magnus Zetterström 2*-1-3-1*-Ef = 7+2 (5) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 2-2-2-3-2 = 11 (5) 6. Simon Gustafsson 3-0-1*-2* = 6+2 (4) 7. Henrik Gustafsson 2*-2*-1-3 = 8+2 (4) 8. David Rohlén Dackarna (away) 39 1. Peter Karlsson 1*-0-X-3-1* = 5+2 (5) 2. Fredrik Lindgren 2-2-3-0-2-0 = 9 (6) 3. Hans Andersen 1-1-0-3-0 = 5 (5) 4. Ludvig Lindgren 0-0-N-N = 0 (2) 5. Andreas Jonsson 3-3-1-2*-1-3 = 13+1 (6) 6. Nicolai Klindt 0-N-N-0 = 0 (2) 7. Claus Vissing 1-1-1-N-1-2 = 6 (5) 8. Christian Isomettä 1* = 1+1 (1) *-*-* HAMMARBY - PIRATERNA 46-50 (Aggregate: 97-95) Attendence: 1795 The Pirates took their fifth win in six meetings as they continues to ride well at the Gubbängen track, still being unbeaten in three seasons. Hammarby lost Martin Smolinski in the opening heat and had a tough time after that, finally losing the meeting in the first nomination heat but as Zagar relegated Walasek to last place in heat 16, the home side managed to salvage the aggregated point. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Hammarby (home) 46 1. Matej Zagar 1-T-3-1*-1 = 6+1 (5) 2. Martin Smolinski Fx-N-N-N = 0 (1) 3. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 2-0-3-0-2 = 7 (5) 4. Scott Nicholls Ef-2-2*-Fx = 4+1 (4) 5. Rafal Dobrucki Ef-3-3-3-2-3 = 14 (6) 6. Kim Nilsson 3-2-2-0-2-0 = 9 (6) 7. Denis Gizatullin 2*-1*-1-0-1*-1 = 6+3 (&) 8. - Piraterna (away) 50 1. Robert Kosciecha 3-3-2-2*-2 = 12+1 (5) 2. Damian Balinski 2*-1-1*-2-1 = 7+2 (5) 3. Daniel Nermark 1-0-1*-0 = 2+1 (4) 4. Grzegorz Walasek 3-3-2-3-0 = 11 (5) 5. Ryan Sullivan 3-1-1*-3-3 = 11+1 (5) 6. Mikael Max 1-1-0-2-3 = 7 (5) 7. Linus Sundström 0-N-0-0 = 0 (3) 8. - *-*-* SMEDERNA - LEJONEN 50-46 (Aggregate: 87-105) TV meeting Attendence: 2675 After a slow start to the season, the acquisition of Martin Vaculik have blown some fresh winds through the Smederna squad. Riding in his third meeting for Smederna, The Blacksmiths recorded their third straight win, this time against league leaders Lejonen. The Lions took a maximum in heat 13 to keep it alive but the meeting ended with three tied heats to keep the winning margin to four points. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Smederna (home) 50 1. Wieslaw Jagus 2-2-3-3-2 = 12 (5) 2. Krzysztof Buczkowski 1*-1*-0-1 = 3+2 (4) 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 3-2-3-0-1* = 9+1 (5) 4. Martin Vaculik 1-1*-2*-0 = 4+2 (4) 5. Jonas Davidsson 1-2-2-0-3 = 8 (5) 6. Linus Eklöf 1-3-0-1 = 5 (4) 7. Robert Miskowiak 3-2-1-3-0 = 9 (5) 8. Robert Henderson Lejonen (away) 46 1. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-3-2-3-3 = 17 (6) 2. Piotr Swiderski 0-0-N-3-1* = 4+1 (4) 3. David Ruud 2-3-1-1-2-0 = 9 (6) 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 0-3-1-2*-2 = 8+1 (5) 5. Sebastian Ulamek 2-X-M-1* = 3+1 (4) 6. Daniel Jeleniewski T-0-N-2 = 2 (3) 7. Ricky Kling 2-Ef-1-0 = 3 (4) 8. Robert Pettersson 0 = 0 (1) *-*-* VÄSTERVIK - ROSPIGGARNA 47-49 (Aggregate: 92-100) Attendence: 2683 Without Charlie Gjedde, Rospiggarna still managed the upset of the 10th round as they beat Västervik. Andreas Messing and his cousin Jonas Messing produced two maximums in the reserve heats and the home side couldn't recover. They still had the chance to get a tie with a maximum in heat 16 but even though Pedersen fought to pass Hancock, he couldn't catch red hot Shields for that second place. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Västervik (home) 47 1. Tomasz Chrzanowski 1-2*-0-1-0 = 4+1 (5) 2. Bjarne Pedersen 3-1-3-3-2-1 = 13 (6) 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 3-2-1-0-2 = 8 (5) 4. Grigorijs Laguta 0-0-0-N = 0 (3) 5. Tomasz Gollob 2-3-2*-3-3 = 13+1 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 1-1*-3-1-2-1 = 9+1 (6) 7. Jonas Andersson 0-N-N-0 = 0 (2) 8. Kim Johansson Rospiggarna (away) 49 1. Greg Hancock 2-3-2-3-0 = 10 (5) 2. Travis McGowan 0-1-Fx-N = 1 (3) 3. Janusz Kolodziej T-0-1-Fx-1 = 2 (5) 4. Chris Slabon 2-2-1-1-3 = 9 (5) 5. Adam Shields 3-3-3-2-2 = 13 (5) 6. Jonas Messing 2*-0-1-2* = 5+2 (4) 7. Andreas Messing 3-1*-0-2*-3-0 = 9+2 (6) 8. - *-*-* ELIT VETLANDA - MASARNAAVESTA 60-36 (Aggregate: 106-86) Attendence: 3228 Elit Vetlanda, with Jason Crump as skipper instead of Rune Holta, took a giant step up in the standing, going from 7th to 4th, while beating MasarnaAvesta by a solid performence. The away team were missing Leigh Adams and Emil Sajfutdinov and had too many holes in their line-up to keep it close. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Elit Vetlanda (home) 60 1. Jason Crump 2-3-3-2-3 = 13 (5) 2. Peter Ljung 1*-3-2*-0 = 6+2 (4) 3. Lee Richardson 3-2*-2-2-2 = 11+1 (5) 4. Thomas H Jonasson F-3-1*-1 = 5+1 (4) 5. Jaroslaw Hampel 2*-3-3-1*-1 = 10+2 (5) 6. Ales Dryml 2*-3-1-3-1* = 10+2 (5) 7. Daniel Davidsson 3-0-0-N = 3 (3) 8. Robin Aspegren 2* = 2+1 (1) MasarnaAvesta (away) 36 1. Dave Watt 3-0-3-0-3-2 = 11 (6) 2. Pawel Miesiac 0-1-N-2-Ef = 3 (4) 3. Simon Stead 2-1-2-0-0-N = 5 (5) 4. Steve Johnston 1*-2-0-1-0 = 4+1 (5) 5. Kenneth Bjerre 1-Fx-T-3-3 = 7 (5) 6. Anton Rosén N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 7. Sebastian Aldén 1-0-1*-N-2-Ef = 4+1 (5) 8. Dennis Andersson 0-1*-1 = 2+1 (3) For Elit Vetlanda, Crump did his job. Ljung blew hot and cold, looked really slow at times. Richardson was solid but unspectactular. Jonasson produced another good second string job and starts to grow into the second string role. Hampel faded towards the end. Dryml had some easy points, as usually the case while at reserve, but beat both Watt and Bjerre in the process and showed what an asset he will be at home. Davidsson produced a scoreline which sometimes can be seen in Britain. Aspegren fully deserved to get a chance after performing well lately on a lower level, grabbed his chance by both hands! Nice to see. For MasarnaAvesta, Watt was red hot for most of the night but ice cold on a couple of occasions. Miesiac started slow but had two good heats towards the end, lost a points to a broken chain. Stead didn't do much, can be much better in Vetlanda. Johnston looked slow most of the night, had a good fourth ride though. Bjerre was lucky to not be substituted in his fourth, but that proved to be some slick management from the team managers, he was lightning fast in his two final rides! Aldén has been way better than this at the Vetlanda track, failed to deliver to be frank. Andersson passed Davidsson once, can't be asked to do more than that. Man of the match: Ales Dryml Most exciting rider: - *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 10, 7-0-3, 1/1, 15p (+72) 2. Rospiggarna, 10, 7-0-3, 1/1, 15p (+9) 3. Dackarna, 10, 6-0-4, 1/1, 13p (+55) 4. Elit Vetlanda, 10, 5-0-5, 1/1, 11p (+13) 5. Hammarby, 10, 5-0-5, 1/1, 11p (+5) 6. Piraterna, 10, 5-0-5, 0/1, 10p (-1) ----------------------------------------- 7. Västervik, 10, 4-0-6, 0/1, 8p (+39) 8. Smederna, 10, 4-0-6, 0/1, 8p (-39) 9. Indianerna, 10, 4-0-6, 0/1, 8p (-55) ----------------------------------------- 10. MasarnaAvesta, 10, 3-0-7, 0/1, 6p (-98) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - ROUND 11: Tuesday July 8th 2008 MasarnaAvesta - Västervik (35-61) Lejonen - Hammarby (42-54) Rospiggarna - Indianerna (49-47) Dackarna - Smederna (55-41) Piraterna - Elit Vetlanda (42-54) Results from round 2 are listed in brackets.

Today's round consist of: Smederna - Lejonen Hammarby - Piraterna Elit Vetlanda - MasarnaAvesta Indianerna - Dackarna Västervik - Rospiggarna All meetings can be followed live on www.speedway.nu from 19:00, as usual. I'm sorry that I haven't had time to make a preview for this round.

Many fans may only support home bread talent but I have read discussions on this forum before which cleary shows that many supports riders from "their" team just as well as riders from their country. I for one support Rune Holta more than Andreas Jonsson, he (Holta) has been - and still is - a great servant to "my" team throughout the years so why should I support someone more just because he's born in the same geographical piece of land in the world!? Just look at the constant Lee Richardson bashing on this forum, hardly a case over Brits supporting a Brit.

There are several options available if Elit Vetlanda would like all of Crump, Holta, Hampel and Richardson. Bottom three (1 second string & 2 reserves) could be: - Peter Ljung, Anders Mellgren, Robin Aspegren - Karol Zabik/Thomas H Jonasson, Robin Törnqvist, Mellgren/Aspegren - Morten Risager, Daniel Davidsson, Mellgren/Aspegren Well, first things first, full focus needs to be on the MasarnaAvesta meeting, at least from the rider/management perspective. As a supporter I agree, that meeting will surely be another cracker, infront of the TV cameras as well!

Those 8 that are seeded through are in the Swedish 10 rider SWC squad, alongside Sebastian Aldén and Billy Forsberg.

It's held in Avesta. Yes, it would probably be Hammarby. Flight buses and/or train operates from both Stockholm/Arlanda or Stockholm/Skavsta (Nyköping). Arriving to Stockholm Central, then take the subway line which stops at "Gubbängen", a five minutes walk (I believe) to the Hammarby home track. Zetters or Liverstam should be able to confirm the estimated time from the "Gubbängen" subway station? That's for Elitserien anyway, but if you fly to Stockholm/Skavsta airport which is outside Nyköping (1 hour south of Stockholm), then Griparna in Allsvenskan league will be the best. The team actually is from Nyköping at have home meetings on August 7th at 19:00 hrs and 28th at 18:00 hrs. Reaching most other track by public transportation may be a bit harder if you aren't hiring a car...? BTW, there are no league racing in Goteborg nowadays. Sadly.

Forsberg should be 4th with more heat wins than Klingberg. Aldén should be 7th with more second places than Gustafsson. Karlsson apparently beat Eklöf in a run-off for 9th-10th to be 1st reserve in the final. Eklöf is 2nd reserve. BTW, well done THJ!

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 9 Tuesday June 24th 2008 Short "version" of the 9th round. Can't be bothered to type all that usual stuff after seeing us getting trashed again yesterday... DACKARNA - MASARNAAVESTA 60-36 Attendence: 2923 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. *-*-* HAMMARBY - SMEDERNA 47-49 Attendence: 1725 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. *-*-* PIRATERNA - VÄSTERVIK 49-47 Attendence: 2255 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - LEJONEN 50-46 Attendence: 2657 Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. *-*-* INDIANERNA – ELIT VETLANDA 54-42 Attendence: 1836 A meeting with two halves, the first one totally dominated by the home side while Elit Vetlanda scored 6 of 8 heat victories in the second half for a 25-23 advantage. That was too little too late though. Elit Vetlanda have some problems away from home with several riders failing to perform in each meeting, while Indianerna had a fine injection of energy with the acquisition of Jesper B Monberg. They were fired up and won comfortably. Magnus Zetterström was my pick for the MOTM award. He scored a crucial 5-1 to open up a 12-6 lead early on. Then in his third ride he took Richardson wide from the inside gate so Ferjan could sneak up the inside for a double victory despite a tactical substitution from Elit Vetlanda. Instead of a 5-1 for Elit Vetlanda, and a closer scoreline, the Indians jumped to a 31-17 lead, from which Elit Vetlanda never recovered. 'Zorro' owned the first bend through tough but fair riding! Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Indianerna (home) 54 Adrian Miedzinski 1-1-1*-1* = 4+2 (4) Jesper B Monberg 3-1*-3-T-0 = 7+1 (5) Matej Ferjan 3-3-2*-1-1* = 10+2 (5) Magnus Zetterström 2*-0-3-1*-3 = 9+2 (5) Piotr Protasiewicz 3-2-2-2-2 = 11 (5) Simon Gustafsson Ef-1-1*-3-0 = 5+1 (5) Henrik Gustafsson 3-2-2-1 = 8 (4) Freddy Godlund Elit Vetlanda (away) 42 Jaroslaw Hampel 2-2-0-3-3-3 = 13 (6) Thomas H Jonasson 0-1*-3-0-1* = 5+2 (5) Peter Ljung 0-0-3-X = 3 (4) Lee Richardson 1-3-2-1-2*-0 = 9+1 (6) Rune Holta 2-0-0-3-2 = 7 (5) Morten Risager 1*-0-N-2 = 3+1 (3) Daniel Davidsson 2-0-N-0 = 2 (3) Robin Aspegren For Indianerna, Miedzinski finished with a low points total, but was always involved, always beat an opponent and actually deserved more. Monberg started like a train just the points suggest and even though he faded, he will be a good signing for Indianerna throughout the season. Ferjan is always a world beater against Elit Vetlanda at the Kumla track, so I wasn’t surprised. Zetterström dominated the first and second bend to get himself and his team-mates in scoring positions, excellent performance. Protasiewicz looked fast all night, still ended with just a single heat victory. (Simon) Gustafsson could have had even more if not for an engine failure in his first. (Henrik) Gustafsson is class at reserve, at home, simple as that. For Elit Vetlanda, Hampel had his mandatory last place but was good overall and can’t be blamed for the loss. Jonasson was way better than expected, hasn’t done much in Kumla in previous years but scoring a paid seven away from home at second string is a job well done! Ljung just can’t find the rhythm away from home. Richardson was OK, but has been better in Kumla. Holta seems to struggle for positioning on the opening bends and even when he hit the front, he was passed. I’m a bit worried to say the least. Risager, well, I expected a bit more. Davidsson hasn’t done much in Kumla on previous visits either so his score wasn’t a surprise. Man of the match: Magnus Zetterström Most exciting rider: Adrian Miedzinski *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 9, 7-0-2, 14p (+76) 2. Dackarna, 9, 6-0-3, 12p (+73) 3. Rospiggarna, 9, 6-0-3, 12p (+7) 4. Hammarby, 9, 5-0-4, 10p (+9) 5. Västervik, 9, 4-0-5, 8p (+41) 6. Piraterna, 9, 4-0-5, 8p (-5) ----------------------------------------- 7. Elit Vetlanda, 9, 4-0-5, 8p (-11) 8. Smederna, 9, 3-0-6, 6p (-43) 9. Indianerna, 9, 3-0-6, 6p (-73) ----------------------------------------- 10. MasarnaAvesta, 9, 3-0-6, 6p (-74) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - ROUND 10: Hammarby - Piraterna (51-45) Indianerna - Dackarna (34-62) Smederna - Lejonen (37-59) Västervik - Rospiggarna (45-51) Elit Vetlanda - MasarnaAvesta (46-50) From now on, there's a bonus point in contention for the remaning fixtures. Results from the first meeting between the teams are listed in brackets.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 9 Tuesday June 24th 2008 Line-ups for Tuesday's round: DACKARNA - MASARNAAVESTA Some good riders are missing in Målilla on Tuesday night, Fredrik Lindgren for the home side and the dynamic duo of Leigh Adams and Emil Sajfutdinov for MasarnaAvesta. The difference between the teams are that Dackarna still look a solid side while the away teams looks to have a couple of wholes in the main body of the team. Last years gigantic home win, 62-34, should hopefully not be repeated, but I would expect Dackarna to reach high 50's, at least. Dackarna (home) 1. Hans Andersen 2. Lukas Dryml 3. Peter Karlsson 4. Niklas Klingberg 5. Andreas Jonsson 6. Ludvig Lindgren 7. Nicolai Klindt ( 8. Christian Isomettä ) MasarnaAvesta (away) 1. Dave Watt 2. Pawel Miesiac 3. Simon Stead 4. Steve Johnston 5. Kenneth Bjerre 6. Dennis Andersson 7. Sebastian Aldén ( 8. Anton Rosén ) *-*-* HAMMARBY - SMEDERNA Stockholm club Hammarby are missing Tomasz Gapinski and Joonas Kylmäkorpi through injury and with Jesper B Monberg's transfer to Indianerna, Hammarby looks a bit more vulnerable. Sure, Martin Smolinski can be a world beater at home and Freddie Eriksson knows the track inside-out, but Smederna could pull a shocker here. Smederna have two huge losses at the Gubbängen track in 2006 (63-33) & 2007 (60-24) but if Krzysztof Buczkowski, who had Gubbängen as home track a couple of years ago, and Robert Miskowiak can provide back-up scoring to the heat leaders, Smederna should be able to keep it close, really close. Hammarby (home) 1. Matej Zagar 2. Martin Smolinski 3. Scott Nicholls 4. Denis Gizatullin 5. Rafal Dobrucki 6. Freddie Eriksson 7. Kim Nilsson ( 8. - ) Smederna (away) 1. Wieslaw Jagus 2. Krzysztof Buczkowski 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 4. Martin Vaculik 5. Jonas Davidsson 6. Robert Miskowiak 7. Linus Eklöf ( 8. Robert Henderson ) *-*-* PIRATERNA - VÄSTERVIK Which streak will continue? The hot streak of Piraterna which currently are 3 wins out of 4, or will Västervik take their fifth straight away win against Piraterna? Västervik are missing Niels-Kristian Iversen, Stefan Ekberg and Tomasz Chrzanowski, the latter has been hot at the Motala track recording 43 paid 50 in the previous four meetings at this track, don't know why he is scratched for this one. Instead, Mads Korneliussen takes a place at reserve alongside Eric Andersson, doubling-up from Vargarna, who makes his Elitserien season debut. Piraterna (home) 1. Grzegorz Walasek 2. Ryan Sullivan 3. Robert Kosciecha 4. Damian Balinski 5. Daniel Nermark 6. Linus Sundström 7. Mikael Max ( 8. Tomas Bäck ) Västervik (away) 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2. Grigorijs Laguta 3. Chris Harris 4. *Billy Forsberg 5. Tomasz Gollob 6. Eric Andersson 7. *Mads Korneliussen ( 8. Jonas Andersson ) * Mads Korneliussen is nominated at No 4 on speedway.nu, but as he has a lower rolling average than Billy Forsberg, Mads should be at reserv and Billy at second string. *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - LEJONEN After two straight away losses, Rospiggarna returns home to host Lejonen. League leaders, and newcomer, Lejonen have six straight victories but comes to Hallstavik without Chris Holder and Mariusz Wegrzyk (10 points last week). Daniel Jeleniewski makes his second appearences for Lejonen, a rider who was vital in Lejonen's away victory in Västervik a few rounds back. The teams have one big star each, but which one of them will be able to pull their team-mates with them for some back-up points? The Lions looks to have an advantage at reserve with the Kling/Jeleniewski duo and if Rospiggarna can't get Charlie Gjedde going after two low-scoring meetings, it's gonna be a steep climb for the home side. Rospiggarna (home) 1. Greg Hancock 2. Charlie Gjedde 3. Janusz Kolodziej 4. Chris Slabon 5. Adam Shields 6. Travis McGowan 7. Andreas Messing ( 8. Jonas Messing ) Lejonen (away) 1. Tomasz Jedrzejak 2. David Ruud 3. Nicki Pedersen 4. Piotr Swiderski 5. Sebastian Ulamek 6. Ricky Kling 7. Daniel Jeleniewski ( 8. Robert Pettersson ) *-*-* INDIANERNA - ELIT VETLANDA Elit Vetlanda, previously VMS Elit, have been strong visitors to Indianerna in recent years, winning 3 of the last 4 meetings at the Kumla track. Old stats count for nothing though as The Indians have strengthen their team with Jesper B Monberg (and Krzysztof Jablonski) since the season started, and Elit Vetlanda have an 0 for 4 record away from home so far. The Elitserien of 2008 have produced a lot of unpredictable meeting, and this one is another one of these. The top end power of Elit Vetlanda have been decisive in previous seasons, and it could be once again...hopefully. Indianerna (home) 1. Adrian Miedzinski 2. Jesper B Monberg 3. Matej Ferjan 4. Magnus Zetterström 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 6. Simon Gustafsson 7. Henrik Gustafsson ( 8. Freddy Godlund ) Elit Vetlanda (away) 1. Jaroslaw Hampel 2. Thomas H Jonasson 3. Peter Ljung 4. Lee Richardson 5. Rune Holta 6. Morten Risager 7. Daniel Davidsson ( 8. Robin Aspegren ) All meetings can - as usual - be followed live on www.speedway.nu from 19:00 Swedish time. As I will be going to Kumla, I won't be able to post anything until Wednesday evening. (Hint: If another Swedish listee have the time to post scorers from this round, feel free to do so!)

The four quarterfinals have now been held. The semifinals runs on July 5th in Terenzano (Italy) and Motala (Sweden), 8+1 riders qualifies from each semifinal to the final held in Zielona Gora on September 14th. The top three from Zielona Gora advances to the 2009 Grand Prix. God, I'm stupid to catch this bait, but I can't help myself... No one else out there, please don't tell Emil Sajfutdinov. Calling a 25 year old (Ljung) a "has been" is a bit harsh, he may never be a Grand Prix regular but he is a solid league rider with a WTC gold medal in the bag. Just because riders doesn't ride, or did not do well in previous seasons in the British league, it doesn't mean they are "has beens". Lubos Tomicek has done well as a reserve replacement in this year's Grand Prix but I'm sure the three riders mentioned could have done equally well as reserve replacements.

Line-ups from the excellent Speedway.org: Poland: Mateusz Szczepaniak, Robert Kasprzak, Grzegorz Zengota, Adrian Gomolski, Maciej Janowski Slovenia: Alexander Conda, Matija Duh, Aljosa Remih, Matic Voldrih, Dalibor Bot Germany: Kevin Wölbert, Tobias Busch, Richard Speiser, Frank Facher, Max Dilger Australia: Chris Holder, Josh Grajczonek, Robert Ksiezak, Ty Proctor, Aaron Summers Don't know how accurate these line-ups actually are, but as Troy Batchelor is not listed in the Australian line-up, I would guess they are correct. Results from the first semifinal are; Sweden 41, Czech Republic 38 (5 heat victories), Great Britain 36 and Russia 35. This means that the second placed team in the Diedenbergen semifinal must reach 39 points to qualify for the final (or 6 heat victories if tied with Czech Republic on 38 points) alongside host nation Denmark, Sweden and the winner of semifinal 2. According to Diedenbergen website, the meeting referee is Craig Ackroyd. That's all I got. Anyone know if there's a website carrying live updates? The forum at inspeed.de?

Run-offs for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th as well I guess.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 8 Tuesday June 17th 2008 LEJONEN - INDIANERNA 58-38 Attendence: 2442 League leading Lejonen tooked an easy win against The Indians, recording their fifth home win of the season as they extended the lead to four points in the league standing. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Lejonen (home) 58 1. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-2*-F-N = 8+1 (4) 2. Sebastian Ulamek 2*-2-Ef-2* = 6+2 (4) 3. Tomasz Jedrzejak 0-2-2*-3-3 = 10+1 (5) 4. David Ruud 3-1*-3-0-2* = 9+2 (5) 5. Piotr Swiderski 1*-2-3-1-2 = 9+1 (5) 6. Ricky Kling 2*-2-1*-1 = 6+2 (4) 7. Mariusz Wegrzyk 3-1*-3-3-Ef = 10+1 (5) 8. - Indianerna (away) 38 1. Magnus Zetterström Ef-Ef-3-2-Fx = 5 (5) 2. Matej Ferjan 1-3-1-Ef-N-1 = 6 (5) 3. Adrian Miedzinski 1*-2-1*-2*-Ef = 6+3 (5) 4. Jesper B Monberg 2-3-1*-1-1-1 = 9+1 (6) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 3-Ef-0-3-3 = 9 (5) 6. Simon Gustafsson 0-0-N-0 = 0 (3) 7. Henrik Gustafsson 1-0-N-2 = 3 (3) 8. - *-*-* MASARNAAVESTA - PIRATERNA 43-53 Attendence: 1712 After a slow start to the season, the Pirates are finally rolling. After four straight losses, the last four meeting have ended with three wins and a lost, moving them up in the standing. It was a close one for long, 35-37 after 12 heats, but as Grzegorz Walasek recorded two maximums in heats 13 & 15 with Balinski and Nermark respectively, the meeting was won for Piraterna. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. MasarnaAvesta (home) 43 1. Leigh Adams 3-3-3-3-1* = 13+1 (5) 2. Simon Stead 2*-1-0-1-1 = 5+1 (5) 3. Kenneth Bjerre 3-1-2-2*-0-2 = 10+1 (6) 4. Oliver Allen F-0-1*-2 = 3+1 (4) 5. Dave Watt 2-1-1*-0 = 4+1 (4) 6. Sebastian Aldén 1-0-3-0-3-0 = 7 (6) 7. Anton Rosén N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Dennis Andersson 0-1 = 1 (2) Piraterna (away) 53 1. Damian Balinski 1-2*-3-3-3 = 12+1 (5) 2. Robert Kosciecha 0-3-2*-F = 5+1 (4) 3. Daniel Nermark 1*-1*-3-1*-2* = 8+4 (5) 4. Grzegorz Walasek 2-2-2-2*-3 = 11+1 (5) 5. Ryan Sullivan 3-3-1-2-0 = 9 (5) 6. Mikael Max 3-1-0-0-0-2 = 6 (6) 7. Linus Sundström 2*-N-N-0 = 2+1 (2) 8. Tobias Planberg *-*-* DACKARNA - HAMMARBY 57-39 Attendence: 3757 The teams initially changed heat advantages with each other, but as Dackarna recorded three maximums in a four heat span, two of them by Karlsson/Klingberg, the lead was a massive 33-21 after 9 heats. Hammarby lacked the top end power to get any close, they only managed four heat victories all night while Dackarna took twelve. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Dackarna (home) 57 1. Hans Andersen 3-2-3-2*-2* = 12+2 (5) 2. Lukas Dryml 2*-3-Fx-Fx = 5+1 (4) 3. Peter Karlsson 3-3-2*-1-3 = 12+1 (5) 4. Niklas Klingberg 0-2*-3-1-0 = 6+1 (5) 5. Andreas Jonsson 3-2*-3-3-3 = 14+1 (5) 6. Ludvig Lindgren 0-0-N-2 = 2 (3) 7. Nicolai Klindt 1-1-3-0-1* = 6+1 (5) 8. Christian Isomettä Hammarby (away) 39 1. Rafal Dobrucki Fx-0-1-3-2 = 6 (5) 2. Pawel Hlib 1-1-0-0 = 2 (4) 3. Scott Nicholls 2-1-2-2-Ef-1 = 8 (6) 4. Martin Smolinski 1*-0-N-2*-1* = 4+3 (4) 5. Matej Zagar 2-3-Ef-1*-1-0 = 7+1 (6) 6. Freddie Eriksson 3-1*-2-1-N-3 = 10+1 (5) 7. Kim Nilsson 2*-N-N-0 = 2+1 (2) 8. - *-*-* SMEDERNA - ROSPIGGARNA 53-43 Attendence: 1918 Eskilstuna outfit Smederna left last place in the standing by beating Rospiggarna, and the debutant Martin Vaculik scored a paid seven and could be an answer to the management's woes at second string, even though it's early days. Rospiggarna kept themselves in the meeting with some tactical substitutions, just like last week in Vetlanda, but suffered in the later stages to lose by ten points. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Smederna (home) 53 1. Wieslaw Jagus 2-1-3-3-3 = 12 (5) 2. Krzysztof Buczkowski 1*-3-0-1*-0 = 5+2 (5) 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 2-2-3-2-2* = 11+1 (5) 4. Martin Vaculik 1*-1*-2*-0 = 4+3 (4) 5. Jonas Davidsson 2*-2-1-2*-2 = 9+2 (5) 6. Robert Miskowiak 3-3-1-0-3 = 10 (5) 7. Linus Eklöf 1-N-N-1 = 2 (2) 8. Robert Henderson 0 = 0 (1) Rospiggarna (away) 43 1. Greg Hancock 3-3-3-3-3-M = 15 (6) 2. Charlie Gjedde 0-0-1-N = 1 (3) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 3-3-1*-2*-1-1 = 11+2 (6) 4. Chris Slabon 0-2-2*-0-1 = 5+1 (5) 5. Adam Shields X-1-2-0-3 = 6 (5) 6. Travis McGowan 0-0-N-2 = 2 (3) 7. Andreas Messing 2-N-0-0 = 2 (3) 8. Jonas Messing 1 = 1 (1) *-*-* VÄSTERVIK - ELIT VETLANDA 56-40 Attendence: 2556 Elit Vetlanda started the Canal+ meeting very well with a tied result after four heats, 12-12, but it went way downhill from there. Västervik were hotter and passed Elit Vetlanda riders left, right and center in a very entertaining meeting even though it would have been more entertaining if it hadn't been just Västervik producing the passes... Ljung made a mistake in heat 5 in the chase of Ekberg to let Pedersen through for a maximum in heat 5. Iversen and Harris team rode to keep a faster Hampel out of the lead in heat 6 and Laguta/Pedersen outmanouvered a lonely Lee Richardson in heat 7. Three straights maximums killed this one, the home side were far better in all aspects even though Elit Vetlanda riders helped the home riders with some less than impressing riding. Heat details, courtesy of www.speedway.nu. Västervik (home) 56 1. Grigorijs Laguta 1*-3-3-1-1 = 9+1 (5) 2. Bjarne Pedersen 2-2*-2*-3-2 = 11+2 (5) 3. Niels-Kristian Iversen 1-3-1*-0 = 5+1 (4) 4. Chris Harris 3-2*-2-3-1* = 11+2 (5) 5. Tomasz Gollob 2-2-0-3-R = 7 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 2-1*-1*-2*-3 = 9+3 (5) 7. Stefan Ekberg Ef-3-T-Fn = 3 (3) 8. Jonas Andersson 1 = 1 (1) Elit Vetlanda (away) 40 1. Jaroslaw Hampel 3-1-3-0-2-0 = 9 (6) 2. Thomas H Jonasson R-0-N-N-2* = 2+1 (3) 3. Lee Richardson 2-1-3-2-0-3 = 11 (6) 4. Peter Ljung 0-1-X-1* = 2+1 (4) 5. Rune Holta 3-0-0-1*-2-3 = 9+1 (6) 6. Daniel Davidsson 3-0-1-2 = 6 (4) 7. Ales Dryml 1-0-N-X = 1 (3) 8. Robin Aspegren For Västervik, Laguta is the find of the season on a 5.00 average, a steal! Pedersen was red hot and looks to be in good form in the Swedish league. Iversen didn't do much this time. Harris was outstanding, extremely fast and worth it all. Gollob wasn't particulary impressive and had a typical retirement in his last ride. Forsberg didn't make a gate all night but fought his way through for the points, superb performence. Ekberg gated once but was rather unlucky throughout the whole meeting and took a nasty spill in his fourth ride but have AFAIK escaped with no broken bones. Andersson only had one ride, won't judge him on that. For Elit Vetlanda, Hampel was worth much more, rode his heart out even when he didn't score but was blocked by both home and away riders at times, unfortunately. Jonasson fell, remounted and retired in his first and never got going, surprised to see him in heat 15 and equally surprised to see him score in that one, but well done! Richardson was the pick of the away team, always in the action. Ljung looked rather fast, for extremely little reward. Holta has been better, that's for sure. Davidsson flew from the gates and collected some fine points, should get even more chances in upcoming meetings. Dryml messed up on first/second bend a couple of times so didn't do much for point scoring, but I'll give him more meetings until final judgement 'cause he's better than this. Man of the match: Chris Harris Most exciting rider: Billy Forsberg *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Lejonen, 8, 7-0-1, 14p (+80) 2. Dackarna, 8, 5-0-3, 10p (+49) 3. Hammarby, 8, 5-0-3, 10p (+11) 4. Rospiggarna, 8, 5-0-3, 10p (+3) 5. Västervik, 8, 4-0-4, 8p (+43) 6. Elit Vetlanda, 8, 4-0-4, 8p (+1) ----------------------------------------- 7. Piraterna, 8, 3-0-5, 6p (-7) 8. MasarnaAvesta, 8, 3-0-5, 6p (-50) 9. Smederna, 8, 2-0-6, 4p (-45) ----------------------------------------- 10. Indianerna, 8, 2-0-6, 4p (-85) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - ROUND 9: Tuesday June 24th 2008 Hammarby - Smederna Indianerna - Elit Vetlanda Rospiggarna - Lejonen Dackarna - MasarnaAvesta Piraterna - Västervik (EDIT) It was Henrik Gustafsson at No 7 for Indianerna, not Christian Hefenbrock as I initially wrote.

Some changes have been made to the preliminary line-ups; Jesper B Monberg wasn't available when Indianerna nominated their preliminary line-up on Thursday, as previously posted, but he will be at No 4 with 'Henka' Gustafsson moving down to reserve, accoring to local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda. Joonas Kylmäkorpi is missing due to a dislocated shoulder suffered in Eastbourne yesterday. Freddie Eriksson will replace him, but as Pawel Hlib have a higher rolling average than Freddie, Hlib should take the No 2 race jacket. Hammarby website also reports that Kim Nilsson will take his place at No 7, despite his crash in Rye House.