Anders

At the moment, there are no U16 Youth League or Division 1 meetings at all in Sweden that Sunday. However... - All the clubs in the Southern District, in which Malmö are a part, will meet this Saturday to discuss the district championship meetings for the 2008 season. - All clubs have until January 15th to apply for their own open meetings to SVEMO. The fixture list isn't complete yet, so I guess that's why it hasn't been posted to their site yet.

Solkatterna have completed their squad with the (re-)signing of Austrian rider Manuel Hauzinger.

Last week there were some changes in the management of Team Sweden. On Monday, the Swedish federation (SVEMO) announced that Mats Olsson had stepped down as Sweden's team manager due to lack of time, but it didn't take long until the replacement was announced. On Friday, SVEMO posted a press release on their website saying that former rider Tobias Johansson, 30 years old, had been named the replacement for Mats Olsson. During several years time, Tobias has been attending the Coaching and Sports Management Program at Växjö University. One of the professors has been Carl-Axel Hageskog, the highly respected coach of the Swedish Davis Cup team (tennis) between 1995 and 2002, winning two titles (1997 & 1998) in the progress. I must admit his name was a huge surprise but nevertheless, I'm looking forward to see someone new at the post as team manager, and I wish Tobias the best of luck!

Tobias will be either the assistent team manager or co-team manager for Lejonen alongside Jesper Lindroth. I have also heard that they are about to quit sponsoring, or at least reduce the input into the club/team. The second 80cc team of MasarnaAvesta and the team in Division 1 may be known by another name than Team Dalakraft, that is obviously not decided yet. However, a team has been entered into Division 1, but I guess it could still be a questionmark over the actual team name.

Bysarna haven't got a track for next season so won't compete, hopefully they'll have a track for 2009 but local residents to the proposed site at Traume have issued complaints. Looks worrying IMO. Doubts concering Eldarna have arised in previous months but they have thankfully been able to work out a deal with the local government to stay at the current track. The stand-alone Gävle club/team will be replaced by Rospiggarna's own reserve league team Stjärnorna (The Stars). This is possible since SVEMO made a change to allow Elitserien and Allsvenskan reserve league teams in Division 1 without them having to start a new club but instead working under the same organization as the existing Elitserien and/or Allsvenskan club. Stjärnorna will however race some meetings in Gävle, but the majority will be held in Hallstavik. Team Kumla Promotion, which practically was Indianerna's reserve league team for 2007, will loan all their riders to neighbours Vikingarna from Örebro, trying to revive the sport in Örebro. Indianerna and Vikingarna will have a co-operation deal for 2008. Most meetings will be held in Örebro, but some of them will be held in Kumla. Team CanVac, Filbyterna and Nässjö remains unchanged from 2007. Team Bikab were relegated from Allsvenskan and Team Dalakraft choose to take the step down to Division 1. Stand-alone club Gnistorna from Malmö have opted to enter the league after spending several seasons in the regional league Division 2 South. Most meetings will be held in Malmö but some will be raced in Gislaved, home of Lejonen, as the two clubs have a co-operation deal for 2008. Elit Vetlanda and Piraterna have entered one reserve team each. Piraterna's team will AFAIK will be known as Crossbone Pirates while the name for Elit Vetlandas reserve team is unknown at the moment. If a sponsor could be found for the team, it will be known as "Team CompanyName", otherwise Njudungarna which is a previous team name for Elit Vetlanda and the name for the current reserve league team within the Elit Vetlanda organization. A summary: Crossbone Pirates (Motala) Eldarna (Huddinge) Filbyterna (Linköping) Gnistorna (Malmö) Njudungarna (Vetlanda) Nässjö (Nässjö) Stjärnorna (Hallstavik) Team Bikab (Eskilstuna) Team CanVac (Mariestad) Team Dalakraft (Avesta) Vikingarna (Örebro) A draft of the fixture list have been sent to the clubs but it hasn't been finalized yet.

Kiitos!

Peter Ljung (re-)signs with Tarnow, according to Sportowefakty.

OK, thanks! Gives me a clue for the moment. I would be grateful if you could post the rules when they are finalized. Always interesting to know!

What are the rules for team-building in 2008?

Tarabanko, add the following fixtures: Round 2: Indianerna - Rospiggarna Round 8: Lejonen - Indianerna Round 9: Rospiggarna - Lejonen Round 11: Rospiggarna - Indianerna Round 17: Indianerna - Lejonen Round 18: Lejonen - Rospiggarna When you do, that will be the official fixture list sent to the clubs on Thursday. Rospiggarna DO have three away meetings in a row (r2-r4). They also have three straight home meetings in July, but with the WTC break within that span. I know Rospiggarna wanted as many meetings as possible in July, guess that's why the fixture list ended up this way. BTW, Elit Vetlanda had three straight home meetings in successive weeks in 2007, that was even worse...

Elit Vetlanda's meetings in Elitserien 2008 are now available on Elit Vetlanda's website, www.elitvetlanda.se.

I would expect the proposed Division 1 fixture list to be sent to the club early in this week (Tuesday or Wednesday). Then the participating club will have one week (or so) to send their point of view of the fixture list back to SVEMO. Hopefully a definite list will be known in about 2 weeks time.

Nikola Martinec is one of the few young Croatians (besides Pavlic) that I know of. How old is he? Artem Wodjakow!

They have obviously been quick to change it. Axelent AB will be Lejonen's main team sponsor so the stadium in Gislaved will now be known as Axelent Arena. Doesn't sound to bad actually!

Ghostwalker, Two more names for your list: - Magnus Zetterström has signed for Indianerna - Mateusz Szczepaniak has signed for Rospiggarna According to the team's websites.

Not a bad move at all by Piraterna. If my memory serves me, Rafal rides very well around the Motala track. He will compete with Szczepaniak and Suchecki for a reserve spot alongside Linus Sundström so they (Piraterna) surely look healthy at reserve. Stefan Dannö and Claus Vissing have (re-)signed with Solkatterna according to NWT.

With the signing of Kennett, Indianerna have 7 riders ready for the 2008 season and Simon Gustafsson is expected to sign within a few days, according to local paper Nerikes Allehanda, taking 8th spot in the squad. The final place is reserved for Rafal Dobrucki but team manager Daniel "Dalle" Andersson says: -"We can't wait for long. If nothing happens with Dobrucki, it probably will be one of our previous riders who will get the remaning place." In that case, Kaj Laukkanen or Rafal Okoniewski are possibilities, though Roman Povazhny, also from the 2007 squad, is not an option according to the paper.

To limit the competition for his signature. If a team, in this case Vargarna, says a rider has virtually agreed terms and only a signature is left to be written, it sends a message to other interested clubs that they shouldn't bother spending time on the issue.

The Gullspång club might have been known as "SMK Gullråhov" back in the 80's (don't know actually ), but from a calender from 1998, the Gullspång club is listed as "SMK Gullspång" and their track is reported to have been 250m, so it surely must be Gullspång. Can't help you with the other question though.

Yes, that IS the big question. My bet is on Lejonen, they simply must have a point scoring machine and without him they'll have problems to achieve the 35.00 minimum average. It surely will cost them, but the Gislaved region is a strong industrial region, so with a good marketing campaign I think they will be able to solve it.

Just a minor correction; Fredrik Andersson has a 2.00 average and won't take one of the nine "regular" places in the MasarnaAvesta squad.

Jason Crump and Adam Skornicki have signed for Elit Vetlanda. Source: Elit Vetlanda's Website.

I'll echo that.

Must say I am very surprised, thought he was off to Piraterna but I guess he will share three team places with Andersen, Lindgren and Jonsson in Dackarna. Go figure. Will he reach Elitserien standard next year already? After all, he dropped his Allsvenskan average by almost two points riding for Örnarna. However, he doesn't take a place as he has an average below 2.00 and that's his advantage but I still don't understand it. BTW, Niklas Larsson won't take a place in Elit Vetlanda's squad as he hasn't ridden enough heats to gain an official average, he'll be listed as a 2.00 Swedish junior for Elit Vetlanda. Two partnership deals have been announced: - Elit Vetlanda and Valsarna Robin Törnqvist will be an option for Elit Vetlanda at reserve. - Piraterna and Solkatterna Daniel Nermark will be a force for Piraterna with a 4.90 average. Some surprising transfers so far with Jonas Davidsson and Linus Sundström changing clubs. This Silly Season looks to be packed with surprises!

So Hans Andersen and Jason Crump rides for Miskolc against their Polish team Wroclaw (which they represent in Ekstraliga)!