Anders

Avesta is situated approximately 160 kilometers northwest of Stockholm, along route 70 towards Mora. If you are flying directly to the Stockholm Arlanda International airport, there are several train connections between Arlanda C and Avesta Krylbo train station, without any changes along the way. From Avesta Krylbo train station there are approximately a 10 minute drive by car/taxi. Taxi Avesta can be reached on 0226-804 00 (from abroad +46 226 804 00). Overall, the absolutely best way to get from the Stockholm area to Avesta seems to be by train, if you not fancy hiring a car and drive yourself? Look for train timetables at the Swedish Railways website, www.sj.se, click on "In English" in the top right corner.

Been some long days (both Tuesday and Wednesday), but I'll give some short information from the third round of Elitserien, which was held yesterday. SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 3 Tuesday May 22nd 2007 DACKARNA - HAMMARBY 47-49 Attendence: 4914 Dackarna (home) 47 1. Peter Karlsson 2-1*-2-1-1-3 = 10+1 (6) 2. Lukas Dryml 1*-1-2-N-1 = 5+1 (4) 3. Fredrik Lindgren 2-2-3-0-1*-2 = 10+1 (6) 4. Charlie Gjedde 1*-1*-0-N = 2+2 (3) 5. Hans Andersen 3-2-3-2-3-1* = 14+1 (6) 6. Sebastian Aldén 2-0-0-0-1* = 3+1 (5) 7. Ricky Kling 1*-N-N-2 = 3+1 (2) 8. Robin Törnqvist Hammarby (away) 49 1. Jesper B Jensen 3-1*-3-3-3-0 = 13+1 (6) 2. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 0-0-1-0-Ef-0 = 1 (6) 3. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-3-2-2-3 = 16 (6) 4. Adam Shields Ef-3-0-1*-0-2 = 6+1 (6) 5. Scott Nicholls R/R 6. Tomasz Gapinski 3-2-2*-2-1-3 = 13+1 (6) 7. Robert Pettersson 0-N-N-N = 0 (1) 8. Kim Nilsson 0 = 0 (1) *-*-* KAPARNA - VÄSTERVIK 31-64 Attendence: 1013 (in Gislaved) Kaparna (home) 31 1. Pawel Hlib 0-2-X-3-2* = 7+1 (5) 2. Rafal Dobrucki 3-3-0-1-3 = 10 (5) 3. Chris Louis 1-2-0-0 = 3 (4) 4. Kim Jansson Ef-X-1-1-1 = 3 (5) 5. Piotr Paluch 1-1-0-1-0 = 3 (5) 6. Tomas Karlsson 0-0-0-N = 0 (2) 7. Stefan Dannö 1-1-2-1 = 5 (4) 8. Mikael Berntsson 0 = 0 (1) Västervik (away) 64 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2-Fx-2*-3 = 7+1 (4) 2. Chris Harris 1*-3-3-2*-3 = 12+2 (5) 3. Sebastian Ulamek 2*-1-3-X = 6+1 (4) 4. Tomasz Gollob 3-2-3-2*-1 = 11+1 (5) 5. Niels-Kristian Iversen 3-3-3-2-0 = 11 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 2*-0-1-N = 3+1 (3) 7. Tomasz Chrzanowski 3-2*-2*-3-2* = 12+3 (5) 8. Viktor Bergström 2* = 2+1 (1) *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - MASARNAAVESTA 50-46 Attendence: 2095 Rospiggarna (home) 50 1. Greg Hancock 3-1-3-3-2 = 12 (5) 2. Chris Slabon 1-1*-0-1 = 3+1 (4) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 0-2*-2-3-2 = 9+1 (5) 4. Adrian Miedzinski 1-3-1*-1-1* = 7+2 (5) 5. Jonas Davidsson 3-3-3-2*-1* = 12+2 (5) 6. David Hillborg N-0-N-0 = 0 (2) 7. Andreas Messing 2-2-1-0-2 = 7 (5) 8. Jonas Messing 0 = 0 (1) MasarnaAvesta (away) 46 1. Simon Stead 2-1-2-0-0 = 5 (5) 2. Ales Dryml 0-0-0-0 = 0 (4) 3. Antonio Lindbäck 3-3-2-1-3 = 12 (5) 4. Dave Watt 2*-0-2*-2-3 = 9+2 (5) 5. Billy Hamill 2-3-2-0-Ef = 7 (5) 6. Linus Sundström 1-N-N-1 = 2 (2) 7. Daniel Davidsson 3-1*-3-0-1*-3 = 11+2 (6) 8. Robin Bergqvist *-*-* SMEDERNA - INDIANERNA 50-45 Attendence: 2735 Henrik Gustafsson to hospital after a heat 5 crash (with Eric Andersson). Luckily he seems to has escaped with "just" a broken rib. (Could apparentely have been much worse...) Smederna (home) 50 1. Rory Schlein 3-2-2-0-2* = 9+1 (5) 2. Krzysztof Buczkowski 2*-3-1*-1*-3 = 10+3 (5) 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 2-3-3-2-0 = 10 (5) 4. Andre Compton 0-0-Ef-0 = 0 (4) 5. Wieslaw Jagus 3-1-3-2-3 = 12 (5) 6. Linus Eklöf 0-N-1-0-1 = 2 (4) 7. Eric Andersson 3-0-Fn-1*-3 = 7+1 (4) 8. Robert Henderson Indianerna (away) 45 1. Magnus Zetterström 1-2-3-3-2 = 11 (5) 2. Kaj Laukkanen 0-1*-2*-1*-1 = 5+3 (5) 3. Matej Ferjan 3-3-2-3-1* = 12+1 (5) 4. Niklas Klingberg 1-2-0-0 = 3 (4) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 2-2-3-1-Ef = 8 (5) 6. Simon Gustafsson N-N-0-0 = 0 (2) 7. Henrik Gustafsson 2-1*-Fx-N-N = 3+1 (3) 8. Ludvig Lindgren 1*-0-2 = 3+1 (3) *-*-* PIRATERNA - ELIT VETLANDA 42-54 Attendence: 2261 Piraterna (home) 42 1. Mikael Max 0-0-2-1*-0 = 3+1 (5) 2. Kenneth Bjerre 3-2*-3-1*-1 = 10+2 (5) 3. Stefan Andersson 0-0-1-N = 1 (3) 4. Grzegorz Walasek 2-2-3-1-2-0 = 10 (6) 5. Ryan Sullivan 1*-2-0-2-3 = 8+1 (5) 6. Michal Szczepaniak 2-2-3-0-0-3 = 10 (6) 7. Tobias Ingesson 0-N-N-0 = 0 (2) 8. Christian Ingesson Elit Vetlanda (away) 54 1. Jason Crump 2-3-3-3-3 = 14 (5) 2. Adam Skornicki 1*-1-1-2*-1* = 6+3 (5) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 3-2-3-0-2 = 10 (5) 4. Lee Richardson 1-1-1*-0 = 3+1 (4) 5. Rune Holta 3-2-3-3-3 = 14 (5) 6. Tobias Johansson 1-0-N-1* = 2+1 (3) 7. Thomas H Jonasson 3-0-0-1-2 = 6 (5) 8. Robin Aspegren It was still tied after 8 heats, 24-24, but in the second half of the meeting, Elit Vetlanda were the stronger team. A double victory by Hampel/Skornicki against Walasek/Sullivan in heat twelve gave the away team a 40-32 lead and when Jason Crump spoiled Piraterna's tactiacal substitution in heat 13, Piraterna looked beaten. Hampel/Skornicki secured the win by grabbing the minor positions behind winning Sullivan in heat fifteen. For Piraterna, Max wasn't good, started slow and never got going. Bjerre was the pick of the day for the home side, took his points both from the gate (against Crump in heat 1) or from the back (against Hampel and Richardson in heat 7). Andersson looked slow and was surely suffering from his injury. Walasek tried hard throughout the night and was always in the thick of the action. Sullivan made too little too late. Szczepaniak was very useful at reserve, beat Richardson among others things. Ingesson wasn't particully close to a point, but certainly not way off either. For Elit Vetlanda, Crump looked extremely fast all night and won most points from the gate. Skornicki was very good as a second string and a match winning rider for Elit Vetlanda, he beat (at least) one opponent in each heat and that's a job well done. Hampel was good, but nothing spectactular. Richardson had an awful score but wasn't as bad as the score suggest, he just got stuck in some strange situations due to lack of gating. Holta was excellent, simple as that sometimes. Johansson did his job and made better gates than in the previous meetings, some improvement. Jonasson did OK, six points as a junior is really good enough but one might have expected more around the Motala track. Man of the match: Adam Skornicki Most exciting rider: None in particular, but Bjerre is always worth the admission money... *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Västervik, 3, 3-0-0, 6p (+45) 2. Rospiggarna, 3, 3-0-0, 6p (+18) ---------------------------------------- 3. Elit Vetlanda, 3, 2-0-1, 4p (+28) 4. Dackarna, 3, 2-0-1, 4p (+22) 5. Smederna, 3, 2-0-1, 4p (+3) 6. Hammarby, 3, 1-1-1, 3p (-2) ---------------------------------------- 7. Piraterna, 3, 1-1-1, 3p (-8) 8. MasarnaAvesta, 3, 0-0-3, 0p (-12) 9. Indianerna, 3, 0-0-3, 0p (-31) ---------------------------------------- 10. Kaparna, 3, 0-0-3, 0p (-63) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - MAY 22TH: MasarnaAvesta - Indianerna Västervik - Smederna Kaparna - Piraterna (in Linköping) Elit Vetlanda - Dackarna Hammarby - Rospiggarna Courtesy of www.speedway.nu.

Details are now available from the Swedish Speedwayresults Website, on the link below: http://www.speedwayresultat.com/2007/inter...0512motala.html AFAIK, 7+1 reserve qualifies from each round.

I'm not, actually! I'm in Malmö for a Division 2 league meeting with Njudungarna (team manager).

As Zetters says, it's cancelled. I guess it's due to several reasons. Last season, we had 10 Walk Over (by different teams) and many more meetings ran with less than 5 riders per team. Over the entire season, only 5 of 30 meetings ran with all teams and a full line-up (=20 riders), despite the fact that you could use any (Swedish) guest/junior you wanted. Clubs complained of high costs as it was a national and not a regionalized league, and many riders weren't interested to travel across the country to ride for only travel money. I were one of the team manager for one of the teams in the league last year, and I can tell you it was **** to track a full team. I probably can't count the hours I spent on the phone to be able to track five riders. (Thank to all the riders who actually rode for "my" team last year!) For the 2007 season, there are several individual meetings instead, hopefully that will give the riders enough meetings to progress. I liked the idea of Juniorserien/Junior League, and it was great fun visiting other track than the regional ones you visit several times a year, but it wasn't meant to be I suppose.

I think it's too early to say for sure. Dackarna have huge crowds as always and are no concern, would say the same of Elit Vetlanda even though 3132 against rivals Västervik was a bit dissappointing, but considering the weather around Vetlanda on Tuesday, it was expected. Piraterna, Indianerna, Rospiggarna and Hammarby had several hundreds of people higher than last season's average, which may have been expected in the season home opener. Västervik, despite having one of the top sides (obviously since beating Elit Vetlanda away ), they didn't attract a great number for their opening meeting, to my surprise. Newcomers Kaparna are without a home track and will tour Sweden for their home meetings. The first meeting in Nässjö saw a greater number than it probably would have been at their previously regular home at Arendal. Difficult to predict what will happen over the course of an entire season. MasarnaAvesta had a touch of bad weather which may have effected them in the second round, don't know how it was for Smederna. Zetters? Tarabanko? I'll wait a while longer until I pass judgement.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 2 Tuesday May 8th 2007 HAMMARBY - PIRATERNA 48-48 Attendence: 2453 The Pirates remains unbeaten after two rounds after drawing at Hammarby, in which Joonas Kylmäkorpi seemed to have made another comeback to soon after his injury. Maximum man Nicki Pedersen and his fellow countryman Jesper B Jensen looked destined for a heat advantage in the final race, but Ryan Sullivan won it to save a point for Piraterna. Hammarby (home) 48 1. Tomasz Gapinski 2-3-2-0-Ef = 7 (5) 2. Krzysztof Jablonski 1*-2-0-1*-1 = 5+2 (5) 3. Jesper B Jensen 3-3-3-2-2 = 13 (5) 4. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 0-0-0-N = 0 (3) 5. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-3-3-1* = 13+1 (5) 6. Robert Pettersson 1-N-N-1* = 2+1 (2) 7. Freddie Eriksson 3-1*-0-1*-2-1 = 8+2 (6) 8. Kim Nilsson 0 = 0 (1) Piraterna (away) 48 1. Kenneth Bjerre 3-2-2-3-0 = 10 (5) 2. Damian Balinski 0-1*-1*-0 = 2+2 (4) 3. Mikael Max 1*-1*-2-2-3 = 9+2 (5) 4. Grzegorz Walasek 2-0-2-0-2* = 6+1 (5) 5. Ryan Sullivan 1*-2-3-1*-3 = 10+2 (5) 6. Tobias Ingesson 0-N-N-N = 0 (1) 7. Michal Szczepaniak 2-2-3-1*-0-3 = 11+1 (6) 8. Christian Ingesson 0 = 0 (1) *-*-* INDIANERNA - ROSPIGGARNA 45-51 Attendence: 2638 Rospiggarna produced the upset of the second round by coming from the back to beat Indianerna. The away team were down by six points after seven heats but went ahead by four after a heat 13 double victory by Hancock/Miedzinski. A 4-2 score to Rospiggarna in the first nomination heat clinch the match. Indianerna (home) 45 1. Magnus Zetterström 3-2*-2-0-0 = 7+1 (5) 2. Kaj Laukkanen 0-3-3-0-0 = 6 (5) 3. Matej Ferjan 1-1*-2-1-2 = 7+1 (5) 4. Rafal Okoniewski Ef-2-0-Ef = 2 (4) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz F-2-2-3-3 = 10 (5) 6. Henrik Gustafsson 2*-2-2*-Fx-N = 6+2 (4) 7. Simon Gustafsson 3-N-0-3 = 6 (3) 8. Ludvig Lindgren 1 = 1 (1) Rospiggarna 51 1. Greg Hancock 2-3-1-3-2*-2 = 13+1 (6) 2. Chris Slabon 1*-Fx-1-1 = 3+1 (4) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 2*-1-3-2-3 = 11+1 (5) 4. Adrian Miedzinski 3-1-0-3-1 = 8 (5) 5. Jonas Davidsson 3-3-3-1*-1* = 11+2 (5) 6. Linus Jansson 0-N-N-N = 0 (1) 7. Andreas Messing 1-1-0-N-1-2 = 5 (5) 8. Jonas Messing 0 = 0 (1) *-*-* MASARNAAVESTA - DACKARNA 46-50 Attendence: 1600 Due to the injury to Billy Hamill, Daniel Davidsson came back in at reserve while Maciej Kuciapa started at number three. Those two changes, along with the form - or lack of it - from Antonio Lindbäck proved costly for the home side. Charlie Gjedde produced the two matchwinning double victories of the night, as he follow Lindgren home to turn 35-37 into a 40-38 lead with only three heats to go. Then he joined countryman Andersen for another 5-1 in the first nomination heat to secure the win. MasarnaAvesta (home) 46 1. Antonio Lindbäck 0-0-2-0-0 = 2 (5) 2. Simon Stead 3-3-3-1-1 = 11 (5) 3. Maciej Kuciapa 0-1-1*-Ef = 2+1 (4) 4. Emil Saifutdinov 3-3-2-0-1 = 9 (5) 5. Leigh Adams 3-3-3-3-3 = 15 (5) 6. Daniel Davidsson 2-2*-0-0-0-3 = 7+1 (6) 7. Linus Sundström N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 8. Robin Bergqvist 0-0 = 0 (2) Dackarna (away) 50 1. Fredrik Lindgren 2-0-2-3-2 = 9 (5) 2. Lukas Dryml 1*-2-1*-1* = 5+3 (4) 3. Peter Karlsson 2-1*-2-2-0 = 7+1 (5) 4. Charlie Gjedde 1*-1*-2-2*-2* = 8+4 (5) 5. Hans Andersen X-3-3-1*-3 = 10+1 (5) 6. Ricky Kling 1-N-1-1* = 3+1 (3) 7. Sebastian Aldén 3-1-2-0-2 = 8 (5) 8. Robin Törnqvist *-*-* SMEDERNA - KAPARNA 51-45 Attendence: 2132 The Blacksmiths had to work hard to eventually overcome Kaparna. The Gothenburg side lead by two after 11 heats before Smederna were able to get the lead in heat twelve. 2 x 4-2 in the nomination heats produced the matchwinning scoreline. Smederna (home) 51 1. Andre Compton 1*-1-1-0 = 3+1 (4) 2. Krzysztof Buczkowski 2-1-0-1*-1 = 5+1 (5) 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 2-3-1-2-1 = 9 (5) 4. Rory Schlein 0-2*-3-2*-3 = 10+2 (5) 5. Wieslaw Jagus 2-2-3-3-3 = 13 (5) 6. Linus Eklöf 3-1*-0-2 = 6+1 (4) 7. Morten Risager 1-0-3-1* = 5+1 (4) 8. Robert Henderson Kaparna (away) 45 1. Matej Zagar 3-0-3-3-0 = 9 (5) 2. Chris Louis 0-1-1-0 = 2 (4) 3. Rafal Dobrucki 3-3-1-2-2 = 11 (5) 4. Pawel Hlib 1-2*-2*-0 = 5+2 (4) 5. Piotr Paluch 3-0-2-1*-0 = 6+2 (5) 6. Kim Jansson 2-3-2-0-3-2 = 12 (6) 7. Tomas Karlsson 0-0-N-0 = 0 (3) 8. Mikael Berntsson *-*-* ELIT VETLANDA - VÄSTERVIK 44-52 Attendence: 3121 Last year's runner-up Västervik got some revenge as they overturned regining champions Elit Vetlanda at home. Västervik outgated, outrode and outfought the home side which in reality only had three riders. The grippy track suited the away riders better in the inital stage and after consecutive 5-1s in heat 5 & 6, Elit Vetlanda were never able to stage a comeback. The grippy track produced some really quick lines, and Jason Crump smashed the (almost) nine year old track record, he lowered Tony Rickardsson's 63.3 by 0.9 seconds, to an incredibly 62.4 seconds. A record that will surely stand for a long time, but that was as good as it got for the home side. Speedway can be a simple game sometimes, the best team won tonight, no questions about it. Elit Vetlanda (home) 44 1. Jason Crump 3-3-2*-3-2-1 = 14+1 (6) 2. Adam Skornicki 0-1-N-N = 1 (2) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 2-0-0-1-1 = 4 (5) 4. Lee Richardson 0-1-3-3-0-3 = 10 (6) 5. Rune Holta 3-1-3-3-0-3 = 13 (6) 6. Thomas H Jonasson 1-0-R-1 = 2 (4) 7. Tobias Johansson 0-0-N-0 = 0 (3) 8. Robin Aspegren Västervik (away) 52 1. Bjarne Pedersen 2-3-2-2-2 = 11 (5) 2. Chris Harris 1*-2*-1*-1*-2 = 7+4 (5) 3. Tomasz Gollob 3-2-2-3-N = 10 (4) 4. Sebastian Ulamek 1-3-0-0 = 4 (4) 5. Niels-Kristian Iversen 1*-1*-1-1-0 = 4+2 (5) 6. Billy Forsberg 2*-N-N-3-0 = 5+1 (3) 7. Tomasz Chrzanowski 3-2-2*-2-Ef-2* = 11+2 (6) 8. Viktor Bergström Changes: 5: Forsberg > R/C > Chrzanowski 7: Skornicki > T/S > Holta 10: Johansson > T/S > Richardson, Forsberg > R/C > Chrzanowski 13: Skornicki > T/S > Crump 16: Gollob > R/C > Iversen 1 [63.7]: Crump, Pedersen, Harris, Skornicki. 3-3, 3-3. 2 [64.3]: Chrzanowski, Forsberg, Jonasson, Johansson. 1-5, 4-8. 3 [64.3]: Gollob, Hampel, Ulamek, Richardson. 2-4, 6-12. 4 [64.6]: Holta, Chrzanowski, Iversen, Jonasson. 3-3, 9-15. 5 [64.7]: Ulamek, Chrzanowski, Skornicki, Johansson. 1-5, 10-20. 6 [65.4]: Pedersen, Harris, Richardson, Hampel. 1-5, 11-25. 7 [62.4 NTR]: Crump, Gollob, Holta, Ulamek. 4-2, 15-27. 8 [65.0]: Richardson, Chrzanowski, Iversen, Hampel. 3-3, 18-30. 9 [64.8]: Holta, Pedersen, Harris, Jonasson ®. 3-3, 21-33. 10 [66.0]: Richardson, Crump, Iversen, Chrzanowski (Ef). 5-1, 26-34. 11 [64.6]: Forsberg, Chrzanowski, Jonasson, Johansson. 1-5, 27-39. 12 [64.6]: Holta, Gollob, Harris, Richardson. 3-3, 30-42. 13 [63.1]: Crump, Pedersen, Hampel, Ulamek. 4-2, 34-44. 14 [64.6]: Gollob, Crump, Iversen, Holta. 2-4, 36-48. 15 [65.0]: Richardson, Harris, Hampel, Forsberg. 4-2, 40-50. 16 [65.1]: Holta, Pedersen, Crump, Iversen. 4-2, 44-52. Highlights were: Heat 1; Crump passed Pedersen on the opening lap, but Harris saved a tied heat when passing Skornicki on the final lap. Heat 7; Crump smashed the previous track record to pieces! Heat 10; Elit Vetlanda were given some hopes as Crump passed Iversen for a double victory. Heat 15; Sensational ride by Harris who blew around Hampel on bends one/two of the final lap. For Elit Vetlanda, The scores really sum things up, you need more than three riders to win a meeting. For Västervik, All riders contributed to a solid team effort victory. Man of the match: Jason Crump Most exciting rider: Chris Harris *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Dackarna, 2, 2-0-0, 4p (+24) 2. Rospiggarna, 2, 2-0-0, 4p (+14) ---------------------------------------- 3. Västervik, 2, 2-0-0, 4p (+12) 4. Piraterna, 2, 1-1-0, 3p (+4) 5. Elit Vetlanda, 2, 1-0-1, 2p (+16) 6. Smederna, 2, 1-0-1, 2p (-2) ---------------------------------------- 7. Hammarby, 2, 0-1-1, 1p (-4) 8. MasarnaAvesta, 2, 0-0-2, 0p (-8) 9. Indianerna, 2, 0-0-2, 0p (-26) ---------------------------------------- 10. Kaparna, 2, 0-0-2, 0p (-30) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - MAY 15TH: Dackarna - Hammarby Kaparna - Västervik (in Gislaved) Piraterna - Elit Vetlanda Rospiggarna - MasarnaAvesta Smederna - Indianerna Courtesy of www.speedway.nu.

SWEDISH ELITSERIEN ROUND 1 Tuesday May 1st 2007 DACKARNA - INDIANERNA 58-38 Attendence: 5409 Infront of an impressive 5409 opening crowd, Dackarna stormed through to a twenty point win, despite leading by only two points after seven heats. The home side scored a paid nine from R/R and notched 13 of the 16 heat winners as the score grew bigger in the second half of the meeting. Dackarna (home) 58 1. Hans Andersen 2*-3-3-3-3-3 = 17+1 (6) 2. Peter Karlsson 3-3-Ef-3-Ef-2* = 11+1 (6) 3. Fredrik Lindgren 2*-2-1-2*-2-3 = 12+2 (6) 4. Charlie Gjedde 3-0-3-3-0-2* = 11+1 (6) 5. Andreas Jonsson R/R (3,3,2*,0) 6. Ricky Kling 1-0-Ef-1-3 = 5 (5) 7. Robin Törnqvist 0-N-1-1 = 2 (3) 8. Joachim Engstrand Indianerna (away) 38 1. Magnus Zetterström 1-3-0-2-3-1 = 10 (6) 2. Henrik Gustafsson 0-1-2-0-Ef = 3 (5) 3. Niklas Klingberg 0-1*-N-2 = 3+1 (3) 4. Kaj Laukkanen 1-2-2-1-1 = 7 (5) 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 2-2-Fx-1-1*-Ef = 6+1 (6) 6. Ludvig Lindgren N-N-N-N = 0 (0) 7. Roman Povazhny 3-1*-1*-0-0 = 5+2 (5) 8. Simon Gustafsson 2*-2 = 4+1 (2) Changes: 2: L Lindgren > R/C > S Gustafsson 5: Törnqvist > R/C > Kling, L Lindgren > R/C > Povahzny 10: L Lindgren > T/S > Zetterström 11: L Lindgren > R/C > S Gustafsson 12: Klingberg > T/S > Protasiewicz 1 [57.9]: Karlsson, Andersen, Zetterström, H Gustafsson. 5-1, 5-1. 2 [58.6]: Povazhny, S Gustafsson, Kling, Törnqvist. 1-5, 6-6. 3 [57.7]: Gjedde, F Lindgren, Laukkanen, Klingberg. 5-1, 11-7. 4 [57.8]: Andersen (R/R), Protasiewicz, Povazhny, Kling. 3-3, 14-10. 5 [57.5]: Karlsson, Laukkanen, Povazhny, Kling (Ef). 3-3, 17-13. 6 [58.3]: Zetterström, F Lindgren, H Gustafsson, Gjedde. 2-4, 19-17. 7 []: Andersen, Laukkanen, Klingberg, Karlsson (Ef). 3-3, 22-20. 8 [58.1]: Gjedde, Protasiewicz, Lindgren, Povazhny. 4-2, 26-22. 9 [58.2]: Karlsson (R/R), H Gustafsson, Kling, Zetterström. 4-2, 30-24. 10 []: Andersen, Zetterström, Törnqvist, Protasiewicz (Fx). 4-2, 34-26. 11 [59.4]: Kling, S Gustafsson, Törnqvist, Povazhny. 4-2, 38-28. 12 [58.4]: Gjedde, F Lindgren (R/R), Protasiewicz, H Gustafsson. 5-1, 43-29. 13 []: Zetterström, F Lindgren, Laukkanen, Karlsson (Ef). 2-4, 45-33. 14 [59.3]: Andersen, Klingberg, Protasiewicz, Gjedde (R/R). 3-3, 48-36. 15 []: F Lindgren, Gjedde, Laukkanen, H Gustafsson (Ef). 5-1, 53-37. 16 []: Andersen, Karlsson, Zetterström, Protasiewicz (Ef). 5-1, 58-38. No times given in five of the heats... *-*-* PIRATERNA - MASARNAAVESTA 50-46 Attendence: 3152 The Pirates who already has had to replace the injured Mark Loram suffered another blow as Robert Kosiecha broke his arm in a heat 12 crash. The Pirates almost blew a ten point lead but as Walasek and Max packed the minor positions behind Leigh Adams in the final heat, Piraterna emerged as winners. Piraterna (home) 50 1. Ryan Sullivan 2*-0-2-3-2 = 9+1 (5) 2. Grzegorz Walasek 3-3-2-0-2 = 10 (5) 3. Mikael Max 2*-3-2-2-1* = 10+2 (5) 4. Robert Kosciecha 3-1-1*-Fx = 5+1 (4) 5. Kenneth Bjerre 2-2-2-1-1* = 8+1 (5) 6. Damian Balinski 3-1*-1-0-Ef-3 = 8+1 (6) 7. Christian Ingesson 0-N-N-N = 0 (1) 8. Tobias Ingesson 0 = 0 (1) MasarnaAvesta (away) 46 1. Antonio Lindbäck 1-0-3-3-3 = 10 (5) 2. Maciej Kuciapa 0-2-1-N-0 = 3 (4) 3. Billy Hamill 0-1-1-1-Ef = 3 (5) 4. Simon Stead 1-2-3-0-1-0 = 7 (6) 5. Leigh Adams 3-3-3-3-2-3 = 17 (6) 6. Linus Sundström 1*-N-N-2 = 3+1 (2) 7. Daniel Davidsson 2-0-0-N-1* = 3+1 (4) 8. Robin Bergqvist Changes: 5: C Ingesson > R/C > Balinski, Sundström > R/C > Davidsson 8: Davidsson > T/S > Stead 10: C Ingesson > R/C > Balinski, Sundström > T/S > Hamill 11: C Ingesson > R/C > T Ingesson 12: Kuciapa > T/S > Adams 1 [57.2]: Walasek, Sullivan, Lindbäck, Kuciapa. 5-1, 5-1. 2 [58.2]: Balinski, Davidsson, Sundström, C Ingesson. 3-3, 8-4. 3 [57.5]: Kosiecha, Max, Stead, Hamill. 5-1, 13-5. 4 [57.0]: Adams, Bjerre, Balinski, Davidsson. 3-3, 16-8. 5 [59.9]: Walasek, Stead, Balinski, Davidsson. 4-2, 20-10. 6 [59.5]: Max, Kuciapa, Kosiecha, Lindbäck. 4-2, 24-12. 7 [58.5]: Stead, Walasek, Hamill, Sullivan. 2-4, 26-16. 8 [57.7]: Adams, Max, Kosiecha, Stead. 3-3, 29-19. 9 [58.6]: Lindbäck, Bjerre, Kuciapa, Balinski. 2-4, 31-23. 10 [58.2]: Adams, Sullivan, Hamill, Balinski (Ef). 2-4, 33-27. 11 [59.9]: Balinski, Sundström, Davidsson, T Ingesson. 3-3, 36-30. 12 [58.4]: Adams, Bjerre, Hamill, Kosiecha (Fx). 2-4, 38-34. 13 [59.7]: Lindbäck, Max, Stead, Walasek. 2-4, 40-38. 14 [58.8]: Sullivan, Adams, Bjerre, Hamill (Ef). 4-2, 44-40. 15 [58.7]: Lindbäck, Sullivan, Bjerre, Kuciapa. 3-3, 47-43. 16 [59.3]: Adams, Walasek, Max, Stead. 3-3, 50-46. *-*-* ROSPIGGARNA - SMEDERNA 52-44 Attendence: 2550 The duo of Hancock and Slabon opened up the meeting with a double victory and Rospiggarna were always in the lead after that. When Davidsson and McGowan spoiled a tactical substitue in heat twelve, it looked over but The Blacksmiths fought back to take it into a last heat decider, only for Hancock and Davidsson to record Rospiggarna's third maximum of the night to secure the win. Rospiggarna (home) 52 1. Greg Hancock 3-1*-3-2-3 = 12+1 (5) 2. Chris Slabon 2*-3-2-Ef = 7+1 (4) 3. Janusz Kolodziej 1*-1-2-3-0 = 7+1 (5) 4. Travis McGowan 2-3-1*-1*-1 = 8+2 (5) 5. Jonas Davidsson 1*-3-2-1*-2* = 9+2 (5) 6. Adrian Miedzinski 2-2-0-3 = 7 (4) 7. Andreas Messing 0-0-0-2* = 2+1 (4) 8. Jonas Messing Smederna (away) 44 1. Rory Schlein 1-2-2-1*-3 = 9+1 (5) 2. Andre Compton 0-0-1*-N = 1+1 (3) 3. Krzystof Kaszprzak 3-0-0-3-2* = 8+1 (5) 4. Krzystof Buczkowski 0-2-3-2-0 = 7 (5) 5. Wieslaw Jagus 3-3-1*-3-0-1 = 11+1 (6) 6. Morten Risager 1-1*-2-1 = 5+1 (4) 7. Linus Eklöf 3-0-0-0 = 3 (4) 8. Robert Henderson Changes: 12: Compton > T/S > Jagus 1 [58.2]: Hancock, Slabon, Schlein, Compton. 5-1, 5-1. 2 [58.1]: Eklöf, Miedzinski, Risager, Messing. 2-4, 7-5. 3 [57.6]: Kasprzak, McGowan, Kolodziej, Buczkowski. 3-3, 10-8. 4 [56.9]: Jagus, Miedzinski, Davidsson, Eklöf. 3-3, 13-11. 5 [58.3]: Slabon, Buczkowski, Risager, Messing. 3-3, 16-14. 6 [57.7]: McGowan, Schlein, Kolodziej, Compton. 4-2, 20-16. 7 [57.9]: Buczkowski, Slabon, Hancock, Kasprzak. 3-3, 23-19. 8 [57.6]: Jagus, Kolodziej, McGowan, Eklöf. 3-3, 26-22. 9 [58.2]: Davidsson, Schlein, Compton, Miedzinski. 3-3, 29-25. 10 [58.3]: Hancock, Risager, Jagus, Messing. 3-3, 32-28. 11 [58.0]: Miedzinski, Messing, Risager, Eklöf. 5-1, 37-29. 12 [57.9]: Jagus, Davidsson, McGowan, Kasprzak. 3-3, 40-32. 13 [59.0]: Kolodziej, Buczkowski, Schlein, Slabon (Ef). 3-3, 43-35. 14 [58.6]: Kasprzak, Hancock, Davidsson, Jagus. 3-3, 46-38. 15 [57.9]: Schlein, Kasprzak, McGowan, Kolodziej. 1-5, 47-43. 16 [58.9]: Hancock, Davidsson, Jagus, Buczkowski. 5-1, 52-44. *-*-* VÄSTERVIK - HAMMARBY 50-46 Attendence: 2509 The highly anticipated meeting in Västervik drew a surprisingly low attendence figure, but they who actually were there saw last year's finalist Västervik winning the meeting. A three men Hammarby team kept it close but strenght in depth pulled through for the home side tonight. Västervik (home) 50 1. Sebastian Ulamek 3-1*-0-3-3 = 10+1 (5) 2. Chris Harris 2*-0-2-2-1 = 7+1 (5) 3. Bjarne Pedersen 2-3-2-1*-0 = 8+1 (5) 4. Niels Kristian Iversen 1*-1-1*-2 = 5+2 (4) 5. Tomasz Gollob 3-3-1*-1-1 = 9+1 (5) 6. Robert Johansson 3-0-0-3 = 6 (4) 7. Billy Forsberg 1-2-1-1 = 5 (4) 8. Viktor Bergström Hammarby (away) 46 1. Jesper B Jensen 1-2-2-1*-3-3 = 12+1 (6) 2. Martin Smolinski 0-0-2-0-0-0 = 2 (6) 3. Nicki Pedersen 3-3-3-3-3-2-2* = 19+1 (7) 4. Adam Shields Ef-1-F-0-0 = 1 (5) 5. Scott Nicholls R/R (2,0,3,0) 6. Tomasz Gapinski 2-1*-3-2*-2-2 = 12+2 (6) 7. Robert Pettersson 0-N-N-0 = 0 (2) 8. Kim Nilsson Changes: 4: Pettersson > R/C > Gapinski 8: Pettersson > T/S > N Pedersen 1 [57.1]: Ulamek, Harris, Jensen, Smolinski. 5-1, 5-1. 2 [57.2]: Johansson, Gapinski, Forsberg, Pettersson. 4-2, 9-3. 3 [56.0]: N Pedersen, B Pedersen, Iversen, Shields (Ef). 3-3, 12-6. 4 [57.0]: Gollob, Jensen (R/R), Gapinski, Johansson. 3-3, 15-9. 5 [57.0]: Gapinski, Forsberg, Shields, Harris. 2-4, 17-13. 6 [56.8]: B Pedersen, Jensen, Iversen, Smolinski. 4-2, 21-15. 7 [56.5]: N Pedersen, Harris, Ulamek, Shields (F). 3-3, 24-18. 8 [56.5]: N Pedersen, B Pedersen, Iversen, Shields (R/R). 3-3, 27-21. 9 [57.4]: Gollob, Smolinski, Jensen, Johansson. 3-3, 30-24. 10 [57.3]: N Pedersen (R/R), Gapinski, Forsberg, Ulamek. 1-5, 31-29. 11 [57.4]: Johansson, Gapinski, Forsberg, Pettersson. 4-2, 35-31. 12 [56.6]: N Pedersen, Iversen, Gollob, Smolinski. 3-3, 38-34. 13 [57.1]: Jensen, Harris, B Pedersen, Shields. 3-3, 41-37. 14 [56.8]: Ulamek, N Pedersen, Gollob, Smolinski (R/R). 4-2, 45-39. 15 [56.9]: Ulamek, Gapinski, Harris, Smolinski. 4-2, 49-41. 16 [57.0]: Jensen, N Pedersen, Gollob, B Pedersen. 1-5, 50-46. *-*-* KAPARNA - ELIT VETLANDA 36-60 Attendence: 2464 (in Nässjö) The touring Kaparna side are without a track of their own and opened their league campaign in Nässjö, approximately 200 km from their previous Gothenburg home, but only 40 km from Vetlanda, so of the 2464 in the attendence, an estimate of 85-90% were from Vetlanda (or were Elit Vetlanda supporters). Kaparna opened up a lead as several of the Elit Vetlanda riders struggled early on, in fact none of the top five had ever ridden the Nässjö track but after some adjustments to the set-ups, Elit Vetlanda were the stronger team. The score would have been a bit closer if Kaparna had been allowed to use Riders Replacement for Rafal Szombierski, but as R/R is not available for a rider with an assessed average, Jansson had to move to #1 with Berntsson moving from #8 to #7. Kaparna didn't reach the minimum average of 35.00 and may he fined for that, we'll see what happens. Kaparna (home) 36 1. Kim Jansson 2*-0-1-1-2 = 6+1 (5) 2. Piotr Paluch 3-2-1-2-0 = 8 (5) 3. Rafal Dobrucki 3-3-3-2-0-1 = 12 (6) 4. Pawel Hlib 2*-2*-0-R-1* = 5+3 (5) 5. Chris Louis 1-1-N-T/T = 2 (3) 6. Tomas Karlsson 2-0-0-0-1-0 = 3 (6) 7. Mikael Berntsson 0-N-0-0 = 0 (3) 8. - Elit Vetlanda (away) 60 1. Lee Richardson 1-Ef-3-3-3 = 10 (5) 2. Adam Skornicki Fx-1-2*-1 = 4+1 (4) 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 0-2*-3-3-3 = 11+1 (5) 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 1-3-3-1-0 = 8 (5) 5. Rune Holta 3-2-3-2*-2* = 12+2 (5) 6. Tobias Johansson 1-1-N-2* = 4+1 (3) 7. Thomas H Jonasson 3-2*-1*-2*-3 = 11+3 (5) 8. Robin Aspegren Changes: 5: Berntsson > R/C > Karlsson 10: Johansson > R/C > Jonasson 12: Louis > T/S > Dobrucki 14: Louis > T/T > Karlsson 1 [59.4]: Paluch, Jansson, Richardson, Skornicki (Fx). 5-1, 5-1. Jansson touched - or seemed to touch - Skornicki entering bend three of the opening lap, Skornicki lost control and eventually fell on bend four, only to be excluded. Richardson, who lead at the time of stoppage, missed the gate in the re-run and former Nässjö rider Piotr Paluch won with ease. 2 [59.8]: Jonasson, Karlsson, Johansson, Berntsson. 2-4, 7-5. No problems for Jonasson in this. Problems for Johansson though who drifted wide twice on bend two (lap two and four) to let Karlsson through. 3 [58.2]: Dobrucki, Hlib, Jedrzejak, Hampel. 5-1, 12-6. New track record for Dobrucki, taking 0.6 seconds off Fredrik Lindgren's previously fastest time in Nässjö, when Kaparna recorded an easy double victory. Hampel dreadfully slow at the back. 4 [59.2]: Holta, Jonasson, Louis, Karlsson. 1-5, 13-11. Louis wide on the openings bends, letting Jonasson through for a paid win. Louis chased Jonasson for two laps but eventually lost ground. 5 [60.3]: Jedrzejak, Paluch, Johansson, Karlsson. 2-4, 15-15. A 1-5 from the gate but Paluch went up the inside of Johansson entering bend on of lap two. 6 [59.6]: Dobrucki, Hlib, Skornicki, Richardson (Ef). 5-1, 20-16. From the gate. Richardson engine failure while fourth after a lap. 7 [59.5]: Jedrzejak, Hampel, Paluch, Jansson. 1-5, 21-21. Hampel blasted around Paluch on bends three/four of the opening lap. 8 [58.9]: Dobrucki, Holta, Jonasson, Hlib. 3-3, 24-24. Dobrucki made another razor sharp gate, from tapes to flag. 9 [59.4]: Richardson, Skornicki, Louis, Karlsson. 1-5, 25-29. Elit Vetlanda pair by miles. 10 [60.0]: Holta, Jonasson, Jansson, Berntsson. 1-5, 26-34. Ditto heat 9. 11 [60.1]: Jonasson, Johansson, Karlsson, Berntsson. 1-5, 27-39. Johansson was under immense pressure from Karlsson but managed to hold on for the third straight double victory. 12 [59.1]: Hampel, Dobrucki, Skornicki, Hlib ®. 2-4, 29-43. Skornicki chased Dobrucki all the way in this all Polish heat in which Hlib retired, while fourth, with a lap to go. 13 [59.1]: Richardson, Paluch, Jedrzejak, Dobrucki. 2-4, 31-47. Jedrzejak passed Dobrucki on the outside on bends three/four of the opening lap. 14 [59.7]: Hampel, Holta, Jansson, Karlsson (for Louis T/T). 1-5, 32-52. Miles, miles ahead... 15 [59.0]: Richardson, Jansson, Hlib, Jedrzejak. 3-3, 35-55. Missed gate for Jedrzejak who tried the outside line but couldn't find a way through. 16 [58.6]: Hampel, Holta, Dobrucki, Paluch. 1-5, 36-60. Two rockets from the gate. For Kaparna, Jansson had a score of paid seven but I expected him to mix it more than he did TBH. Paluch rode his heart out as always. Dobrucki started like a train but faded badly. Hlib had a solid second string score of paid eight without being flashy. Louis will see his average drop by two points if tonights meeting is a sign of things to come. Karlsson didn't gate but fought hard in the reserve's heat (2 & 11). Berntsson was out of depth. For Elit Vetlanda, Richardson took a while to get going, as several other away riders. Skornicki on a 4.20 average will be a solid contributor on the smaller tracks for Elit Vetlanda. Hampel needed one ride to adjust his set-up, he flew after that opening last place. Jedrzejak had a couple of fine wins and always mixed it with the home riders, even when not beating an opponent. Holta was surprisingly good around the 290 metre track. Johansson beat the reserves, which he should do. Jonasson only dropped a point, good from the gate as always and showed his liking for Nässjö track as usually. Obviously had some easy points, but someone needs to take those points as well, did actually beat Louis, Jansson and Hlib... Man of the match: Thomas H Jonasson Most exciting rider: Piotr Paluch *-*-* CURRENT STANDING: 1. Elit Vetlanda, 1, 1-0-0, 2p (+24) 2. Dackarna, 1, 1-0-0, 2p (+20) ---------------------------------------- 3. Rospiggarna, 1, 1-0-0, 2p (+8) 4. Piraterna, 1, 1-0-0, 2p (+4) 5. Västervik, 1, 1-0-0, 2p (+4) 6. Hammarby, 1, 0-0-1, 0p (-4) ---------------------------------------- 7. MasarnaAvesta, 1, 0-0-1, 0p (-4) 8. Smederna, 1, 0-0-1, 0p (-8) 9. Indianerna, 1, 0-0-1, 0p (-20) ---------------------------------------- 10. Kaparna, 1, 0-0-1, 0p (-24) *-*-* NEXT ROUND - MAY 8TH: Elit Vetlanda - Västervik Hammarby - Piraterna Indianerna - Rospiggarna MasarnaAvesta - Dackarna Smederna - Kaparna Courtesy of www.speedway.nu.

Finally, the 1st of May has arrived and it's time for the first round of the Swedish Elitserien. KAPARNA - ELIT VETLANDA The 2006 champions Elit Vetlanda (previously VMS Elit) starts off with a meeting against newcomers Kaparna, though not in Gothenburg but in Nässjö! The track, home of Nässjö SK in Division 1, will be the first track to host Kaparna this season. Kaparna has been evicted from their previous home of Arendal and will be racing on several other tracks during the season, in Gislaved when facing Västervik for the second "home" meeting and in Linköping when meeting Piraterna for their third "home" meeting. A touring side so to speak. The meeting? Well, surely Elit Vetlanda must be considered favourites as reigning champions but Kaparna will fight hard. Piotr Paluch has ridden several seasons for Nässjö (when in Allsvenskan) and knows the track inside out. Four of Elit Vetlanda's riders hasn't been to the track before which could give them a tough opening to the match, but if the riders and management keep their heads cool, they should be able to score an away victory. Elit Vetlanda signed Adam Skornicki in the latest transfer period as a temporary replacement for the injured Lukasz Jankowski and he may line-up for Elit Vetlanda, no official news has been released on this matter. Kaparna 1. Rafal Szombierski 6.73 2. Piotr Paluch 5.11 3. Rafal Dobrucki 5.34 4. Pawel Hlib 4.77 5. Chris Louis 7.15 6. Tomas Karlsson J 2.00 7. Kim Jansson 4.73 ( 8. Michael Berntsson J 2.00 ) Elit Vetlanda 1. Lee Richardson 7.60 2. Mattias Nilsson 3.77 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 8.44 4. Tomasz Jedrzejak 5.46 5. Rune Holta 8.33 6. Tobias Johansson 2.00 7. Thomas H Jonasson J 3.64 ( 8. Robin Aspegren J 2.00 ) VÄSTERVIK - HAMMARBY Last year's finalist Västervik face the improved Hammarby (previously Bajen Speedawy) squad at Ljungheden Stadium. Robert Johansson, winner of Christer Karlsson Memorial Trophy in Västervik last Tuesday, takes a place at reserve instead of Tomasz Chrzanowski in an otherwise expected line-up. Problems for Hammarby though with Joonas Kylmäkorpi and squad member Gary Havelock out with injuries, and Scott Nicholls crashing in Lonigo. Both Kylmäkorpi and Nicholls will be missing and one assume that Riders Replacement will be in place for Nicholls at number five, the only other possible option is Krzysztof Jablonski, but it seems unlikely. Västervik 1. Sebastian Ulamek 7.78 2. Chris Harris 6.14 3. Bjarne Pedersen 7.42 4. Niels Kristian Iversen 6.09 5. Tomasz Gollob 7.58 6. Robert Johansson 3.23 7. Billy Forsberg J 2.00 ( 8. Viktor Bergström J 2.00 ) Hammarby 1. Jesper B Jensen 6.31 2. Martin Smolinski 5.12 3. Nicki Pedersen 9.94 4. Adam Shields 5.92 5. Scott Nicholls 6.84 R/R? 6. Tomasz Gapinski 4.64 7. Robert Pettersson J 2.13 ( 8. Kim Nilsson J 2.00 ) DACKARNA - INDIANERNA Pre-season favourites Dackarna (previously Luxo Stars) will be missing Andreas Jonsson after his crash in Bydgoszcz on Sunday evening, with Riders Replacement in operation. Lukas Dryml was initially an option, and Christian Hefenbrock could also have been an option, but both riders ride in the European Championship Qualifier in Stralsund (Germany) the same day. The same applies for Matej Ferjan of Indianerna who will be missing, as well as Indianerna newcomer Niklas Klingberg who hasn't started the season good enough to warrant a team place accoring to team manager Rikard Andersson. Dackarna 1. Hans Andersen 8.78 2. Peter Karlsson 8.33 3. Fredrik Lindgren 5.96 4. Charlie Gjedde 5.62 5. Andreas Jonsson 8.37 R/R 6. Ricky Kling J 3.51 7. Robin Törnqvist J 2.46 ( 8. Joachim Engstrand J 2.00 ) Indianerna 1. Magnus Zetterström 5.98 2. Henrik Gustafsson 4.98 3. Rafal Okoniewski 5.50 4. Kaj Laukkanen 5.01 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 7.48 6. Ludvig Lindgren J 2.00 7. Roman Povazhny 4.93 ( 8. Simon Gustafsson J 2.00 ) PIRATERNA - MASARNAAVESTA A keenly contested meeting will take place in Motala where the new era of MasarnaAvesta, without Tony Rickardsson, will definitely begin. MasarnaAvesta is missing Dave Watt and Ales Dryml through injuries but still has managed to bolster to strong line-up, despite scratching Emil Saifutdinov for the league opener. Hamill and Kuciapa have scored well in Motala on previous visits and Daniel Davidsson, last season with the Pirates, will surely has a point to prove. Piraterna obviously are missing Mark Loram from the original squad but swooped to sign Zbigniew Suchecki from Lejonen as a replacment during the latest transfer period, but "Zibi" as well as squad members Michal Szczepaniak and Stefan Andersson (concussion) starts the season outside of the line-up. Piraterna 1. Ryan Sullivan 7.63 2. Grzegorz Walasek 7.08 3. Mikael Max 5.34 4. Robert Kosciecha 5.95 5. Kenneth Bjerre 6.10 6. Damian Balinski 5.16 7. Christian Ingesson J 2.00 ( 8. Tobias Ingesson J 2.00 ) MasarnaAvesta 1. Antonio Lindbäck 6.47 2. Maciej Kuciapa 4.99 3. Billy Hamill 5.99 4. Simon Stead 5.47 5. Leigh Adams 9.52 6. Linus Sundström J 2.00 7. Daniel Davidsson 4.35 ( 8. Robin Bergqvist J 2.00 ) ROSPIGGARNA - SMEDERNA Another interesting - and open - meeting takes place in Hallstavik where home side Rospiggarna could be in trouble against a new look Smederna side. Rospiggarna is missing Karol Zabik who rides the EC qualifier in Germany, therefore Travis McGowan moves to number four and Adrian Miedzinski enters at reserve. Smederna will be looking for a strong performence from Andre Compton who scored an impressive 13 points from 6 starts with Vargarna (at Orionparken) last season, as well as Grand Prix rostrum man Wieslaw Jagus. Morten Risager took the number six race jacket ahead of Eric Andersson, not surprising taking the British league performences into the equation. Rospiggarna 1. Greg Hancock 9.14 2. Chris Slabon 4.82 3. Janusz Kolodziej 6.23 4. Travis McGowan 4.45 5. Jonas Davidsson 7.20 6. Adrian Miedzinski 4.17 7. Andreas Messing J 3.53 ( 8. Jonas Messing J 2.00 ) Smederna 1. Rory Schlein 4.81 2. Andre Compton 5.73 3. Krzystof Kaszprzak 6.17 4. Krzystof Buczkowski 5.93 5. Wieslaw Jagus 8.52 6. Morten Risager 3.50 7. Linus Eklöf J 2.33 ( 8. Robert Henderson J 2.00 ) LIVE updates will be available - as always - on www.speedway.nu, but please note since the 1st of May is a holiday in Sweden, four of the meetings will start at 17:00 local time, only the meeting between Kaparna and Elit Vetlanda will start at the 19:00. Enjoy! (Please note that each line-up must include a Swedish junior on place 1-7 and an optional junior at number 8 with no scheduled rides. Juniors are listed with a "J".)

SWEDISH WORLD U21 & EUROPEAN U19 CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER at Vetlanda Motorstadion, Vetlanda Saturday April 28th 2007 Attendence: 197 Junior riders once again provided an excellent meeting at Vetlanda. The 2005 Swedish final was a great meeting and this year's World/European qualifer provided the same entertainment with many good heats. Ricky Kling won the incredibly close meeting after some rocket starts which saw him win from the outside gate twice. Only three points seperated the top eight and it shows that U21 team manager Daniel Nelson will have a tough job when picking his squad for the U21 WTC qualifier in June. Robert Pettersson had some bad luck when he lead heat 19 before suffering an engine failure on the final bend and only being able to pick up the solitary point. A win would have granted him a run-off for a reserve spot at Motala, but it wasn't meant to be. Riders marked with an (*) participated in both the World U21 and European U19 qualifiers. Result: 1. (4) Ricky Kling, Dackarna, 13p ( 3 3 3 1 3 ) 2. (9) *Thomas H Jonasson, Elit Vetlanda, 12p ( 3 1 3 2 3 ) 3. (11) *Billy Forsberg, Västervik, 12p ( 2 3 3 3 1 ) 4. (5) Robin Törnqvist, Valsarna, 12p ( 2 2 3 3 2 ) 5. (7) *Simon Gustafsson, Team Kumla Promotion, 11p ( 3 2 2 3 1 ) 6. (2) Viktor Bergström, Vargarna, 11p ( 2 3 2 2 2 ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. (13) Andreas Messing, Rospiggarna, 10p ( 2 3 1 1 3 ) 8. (6) *Linus Eklöf, Smederna, 10p ( 1 2 2 3 2 ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. (3) *Robert Pettersson, Griparna, 7p ( 1 1 2 2 1 ) 10. (14) *Robin Aspegren, Elit Vetlanda, 6p ( 3 1 Ef 2 0 ) 11. (8) *Kim Almqvist, Lejonen, 5p ( 0 2 1 0 2 ) 12. (15) *Linus Sundström, MasarnaAvesta, 4p ( 1 0 Ef 0 3 ) 13. (12) *Niklas Larsson, Elit Vetlanda, 4p ( 1 1 1 1 F ) 14. (16) *Robin Bergqvist, Team Dalakraft, 1p ( 0 0 1 0 0 ) 15. (10) *Ludvig Lindgren, Team Kumla Promotion, 1p ( 0 0 0 1 Ef ) 16. (1) Linus Jansson, Gävle, 0p ( 0 Ef 0 Ef - ) Reserves: 17. (17) *Robert Henderson, Team Bikab ( 1 ) 18. (18) *Jonas Andersson, Rospiggarna Qualifier [67.1]: Linus Sundström, Robin Bergqvist, Robert Henderson, Jonas Andersson T/T Heat 1 [66.2]: Ricky Kling, Viktor Bergström, Robert Pettersson, Linus Jansson Heat 2 [66.7]: Simon Gustafsson, Robin Törnqvist, Linus Eklöf, Kim Almqvist Heat 3 [66.5]: Thomas H Jonasson, Billy Forsberg, Niklas Larsson, Ludvig Lindgren Heat 4 [67.1]: Robin Aspegren, Andreas Messing, Linus Sundström, Robin Bergqvist Heat 5 [67.6]: Andreas Messing, Robin Törnqvist, Thomas H Jonasson, Linus Jansson Ef Heat 6 [68.1]: Viktor Bergström, Linus Eklöf, Robin Aspegren, Ludvig Lindgren Heat 7 [67.5]: Billy Forsberg, Simon Gustafsson, Robert Pettersson, Linus Sundström Heat 8 [66.7]: Ricky Kling, Kim Almqvist, Niklas Larsson, Robin Bergqvist Heat 9 [68.4]: Billy Forsberg, Linus Eklöf, Robin Bergqvist, Linus Jansson Heat 10 [67.5]: Robin Törnqvist, Viktor Bergström, Niklas Larsson, Linus Sundström Ef Heat 11 [67.5]: Thomas H Jonasson, Robert Pettersson, Kim Almqvist, Robin Aspegren Ef Heat 12 [66.9]: Ricky Kling, Simon Gustafsson, Andreas Messing, Ludvig Lindgren Heat 13 [68.2]: Simon Gustafsson, Robin Aspegren, Niklas Larsson, Linus Jansson Ef Heat 14 [68.4]: Billy Forsberg, Viktor Bergström, Andreas Messing, Kim Almqvist Heat 15 [67.4]: Robin Törnqvist, Robert Pettersson, Ludvig Lindgren, Robin Bergqvist Heat 16 [67.4]: Linus Eklöf, Thomas H Jonasson, Ricky Kling, Linus Sundström Heat 17 [69.6]: Linus Sundström, Kim Almqvist, Robert Henderson, Ludvig Lindgren Ef Heat 18 [68.5]: Thomas H Jonasson, Viktor Bergström, Simon Gustafsson, Robin Bergqvist Heat 19 [69.0]: Andreas Messing, Linus Eklöf, Robert Pettersson, Niklas Larsson F Heat 20 [67.6]: Ricky Kling, Robin Törnqvist, Billy Forsberg, Robin Aspegren 6 + 2 reserves qualifies for the Nordic Final (World U21 Quarterfinal 2) in Motala on May 12th. The 6 best U19 riders qualifies for the European U19 Semifinal 2 in Seinajoki on June 9th. (= Jonasson, Forsberg, Gustafsson, Eklöf, Pettersson och Aspegren) Result taken from the live coverage on Elit Vetlanda's website

Oh no, such a shame. I had been looking forward to see him in Vetlanda (the annual 4TT) this weekend, but obviously it wasn't meant to be. Speedy recovery!

Sorry for such a late answer, I'm on holiday (and have finally caught a computer)... They can't add other riders to the squad, but only replace existing squad riders. So I doubt they are interested unless one of the squad riders get a long term injury during the season, then it might come into question.

A 5.00 elite average, so with the conversion factor to Allsvenskan it would be 9.33, or so I would guess.

As of March 24th, the official starting averages for the three Swedish leagues have been published on www.speedway.nu, and some corrections have been made in my previous post above, all those changes are made in blue colour.

I'm glad you all have enjoyed it! Yes, he is. According to newspaper Värmlands Folkblad (Swedish only) he will fight for the World, European and Nordic Championships once more before moving up to 500cc.

On May 3rd, the first round of the Swedish Allsvenskan League will be held and to keep all you fans up-to-date with the action of the second league in Sweden, I have made a preview of the league in question. Enjoy! Please note the following rules: - Maximum team-building limit: 48.00 - Minimum team-building limit: 35.00 - A maximum of two riders may be from your partner team (*) in each meeting - A minimum of one Swedish junior (J) must ride in the 1-7 - Number 8 is optional (as he has no scheduled rides) but must be Swedish junior (J) with lower average than riders 1-7 All 2.00 juniors are not included. I hope all averages are correct but I don't guarantee it. GRIPARNA Stadium: Svanstabanan, Nyköping (population: 35 000) 294 meter Last season: 7th place in Allsvenskan Partner team: Hammarby (Elitserien) How to travel: Nyköping is situated approximately 100 km southwest of Stockholm. Stockholm/Skavsta airport is located just outside Nyköping and is a Ryanair base with daily flights to London/Stansted among others. Off-season transfers: The Griffins have signed a new partnership with Stockholm team Hammarby, changing from last year's deal with Västervik. This has meant that Freddie Eriksson, Lewis Bridger and Robert Pettersson will now be registred to the Griparna squad, as well as Andreas Lekander who joins from local rivals Team Bikab. New squad members are also Michal Rajkowski and Adrian Rymel who replaces Rusty Harrison and Kauko Nieminen, but the two newcomers will most likely be replacements for the other riders in the squad. Possible line-up: 1. Freddie Eriksson 8.27, 2. Patrick Hougaard 5.60, Lewis Bridger 9.34, 4. Juha Hautamäki 5.58, 5. Andreas Lekander 5.68, 6. Robert Pettersson J 5.50, 7. *Kalle Lindgren 2.00, (8. *Kim Nilsson J 2.00) (=41.97) Also available: Michal Rajkowski 9.34, Adrian Rymel 7.49, Jesper Kristiansen 6.64 LEJONEN Stadium: Gislaved's Motorbana, Gislaved (population: 10 000) 380 meter Last season: 3rd place in Allsvenskan Partner team: Elit Vetlanda (previously VMS Elit) (Elitserien) How to travel: Gislaved is situated 130 km southeast of Gothenburg, where routes 26 & 27 meet. International airport Gothenburg/Landvetter is 110 km away. Off-season transfers: A continuation of the partner team deal with Elit Vetlanda (previously VMS Elit) will be a boost for The Lions, with Thomas H Jonasson and Mattias Nilsson being available to them. David Ruud, who got seriously injured riding in Poland last year, has been transferred from Elit Vetlanda back to his native Lejonen, for match fitness. Several riders have left Lejonen for league opponents; Stefan Ekberg for Vargarna, Robert Flis for Solkatterna and the duo of Jaroslaw Lukaszewski and Leon D Madsen for Örnarna but signings have been made for Poles Ronnie Jamrozy (Getingarna) and Marcin Rempala (Rospiggarna), and Swede Tobias Johansson (Valsarna), a Lejonen native. Problems for Lejonen though as both Rempala and Zbigniew Suchecki signed for Ipswich Witches after agreeing with Lejonen, both teams rides on Thursday and Lejonen must now look to replace them both, a huge blow for the squad which certainly would have been able to fight for top positions in Allsvenskan, now it is far from certain... Possible line-up: 1. Mariusz Staszewski 7.86, 2. Casper Wortmann 6.67, 3. *Thomas H Jonasson J 7.52, 4. Ronnie Jamrozy 7.90, 5. *Mattias Nilsson 7.70, 6. Tobias Johansson 4.60, 7. Kim Almqvist J 3.73, (8. Anton Göthberg J 2.00) (=45.98) Also available: David Ruud 10.76, Marcin Rempala 9.18, Zbigniew Suchecki 8.19, Henrik Möller 5.65, Viktor Strandqvist J 2.00, Jonathan Normén J 2.00, Christopher Öberg J 2.00, *Viktor Göthberg J 2.00 SOLKATTERNA Stadium: Kalvholmen's Motorbana, Karlstad (population: 59 000) 297 meter Last season: 1st place in Division 1, promoted to Allsvenskan Partner team: Kaparna (Elitserien) How to travel: Karlstad is situated just north of Sweden's biggest lake "Vänern", along the E18 route between Oslo and Stockholm. Karlstad airport have daily flights to Stockholm and Copenhagen (Denmark). Off-season transfers: With what is practially a entirely new team since the promotion from Division 1, Solkatterna are facing their first season in Allsvenskan since 2001. Chairman Anders Berglund and his fellows in Solkatterna have done a stellar job with the team-building, bringing back Solkatterna native Daniel Nermark, veteran Stefan Dannö from Hammarby and Pole Robert Flis, who was their star rider back in 2001. Joining them are solid Allsvenskan riders as Kauko Nieminen and Manuel Hauzinger and Solkatterna will certainly not be whipping boys in their comeback, if their finances allow them to a maximum use of their squad all season, a play off place can't be out of reach. All in all an interesting team which could bring in Kim Jansson if his other Thursday night committments with Ipswich allow him to. Possible line-up: 1. Stefan Dannö 8.27, 2. Kauko Nieminen 7.42, 3. Daniel Nermark 8.07, 4. Manuel Hauzinger 7.92, 5. Robert Flis 7.29, 6. Klaus Jakobsen 5.95, 7. Dan Kjellberg J 2.46, (8. *Tomas Karlsson J 2.00) (=47.38) Also available: *Kim Jansson 8.98, Jan Graversen 5.97, Claus Vissing 5.61, *Rickard Karlsson 2.00, Magnus Persson 2.00, Jeremias Thelaus J 2.00 TEAM BIKAB Stadium: Smedstadion, Eskilstuna (population: 60 000) 335 meter Last season: 6th place in Allsvenskan Partner team: Smederna (Elitserien) How to travel: Eskilstuna is situated 110 km west of Stockholm, along the E20 route between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Stockholm/Västerås airport, with flights to London/Stansted, is 50 km away. Off-season transfers: It has been a relatively calm off-season for Team Bikab, but losses are Andreas Lekander (Griparna), Jacek Rempala (unattached) and Shaun Tacey (unattached), and it seems the newcomers won't have the same quality as those three. Nicklas Gallon comes back from Team Dalakraft but will face a tough job from the body of the team. American Matt Browne will be based just outside of Eskilstuna but will probably find it hard in Allsvenskan, he is assessed at 9.34. Smederna's secondary team do have points to play with as listed below, but will most likely only use two top riders in each meeting with Jedrzejewski and Staszek working as back-up for Andersson and Klindt. The main goal for Team Bikab is to stay in Allsvenskan for 2008. Possible line-up: 1. *Eric Andersson 8.42, 2. Nicklas Gallon 4.92, 3. *Linus Eklöf J 5.78, 4. Matt Browne 9.34, 5. Nicolai Klindt 7.50, 6. Jimmy Jansson 4.11, 7. Robert Henderson J 2.65, (8. Henrik Karlsson J 2.00) (=42.72) Also available: Marcin Jedrzejewski 9.34, Pawel Staszek 7.69, Robin Johansson J 2.00, Torbjörn Eriksson 2.00 TEAM DALAKRAFT Stadium: Arena Avesta, Avesta (population: 7 000) 315 meter Last season: 4th place in Allsvenskan Partner team: MasarnaAvesta (Elitserien) How to travel: Avesta is situated 160 km northwest of Stockholm, along route 70 towards Mora. Off-season transfers: The Team Dalakraft of 2006 bare little resemblence with Team Dalakraft of 2007, gone are Niklas Aspgren, Rickard Sedelius, Lukasz Jankowski, Robert Pettersson and Sebastian Aldén but some squad members are still with the team. Sebastian Bengtsson is looking to make a comeback after injury, and veteran Johan Liljegren also remains. Masarna's secondary team have several points to use if necessary but it seems likely that the reserve duo/trio will be made up by Robin Bergqvist and Linus Sundström and another home grown junior. The trio of Rosén, Andersson and Hagansbo were highly impressive in Masarna's U16 team and will definitely push Fredrik Andersson and possibly Linus Sundström for reserve spot(s). With the Swedes pencilled in the line-up, two spots remains for the foreign riders in the squad. Possible line-up: 1. Pawel Miesiac 9.34, 2. Sebastian Bengtsson 5.02, 3. Adrian Gomolski 6.92, 4. Johan Liljegren 5.74, 5. *Daniel Davidsson 8.47, 6. Robin Bergqvist J 2.00, 7. *Linus Sundström J 2.00, (8. Fredrik Andersson J 2.00) (=39.49) Also available: Grzegorz Zengota 9.34, Oliver Allen 7.76, Tomasz Rempala 7.20, Anton Rosén J 2.00, Dennis Andersson J 2.00, Ted Hagansbo J 2.00 VALSARNA Stadium: Tallhult's Motorstadion, Hagfors (population: 6 000) 290 meter Last season: 2nd place in Allsvenskan Partner team: Dackarna (previously Luxo Stars) (Elitserien) How to travel: Hagfors is situated 100 km north of Karlstad. Off-season transfers: Most things look the same in Hagfors, but newcomer (Allsvenskan veteran) Niklas Aspgren from Team Dalakraft will provide plenty of points. The partnership with Dackarna will bring both Ricky Kling and Sebastian Aldén to the team and it seems Magnus Karlsson will be able to focus on riding in Britain with the odd booking for Valsarna. The Hagfors outfit could start the season with an all Swedish team, and alongside Vargarna they will be favourites in the Allsvenskan league of 2007. (Please note questionmarks for the averages of Marcus Åström and Joachim Engstrand) Possible line-up: 1. Robert Eriksson 9.12, 2. Robin Törnqvist J 5.95, 3. Niklas Aspgren 8.40, 4. *Ricky Kling J 7.35, 5. *Sebastian Aldén 8.12, 6. Emil Kramer 5.38, 7. Marcus Åström J 3.07/2.00?, (8. Joachim Engstrand J 2.42/2.00?) (=47.39/46.32) Also available: Patryk Pawlaszczyk 9.34, Henning Bager 9.31, Magnus Karlsson 7.45, Gustav Bjur J 2.00, Patrik Jarnstam 2.00 VARGARNA Stadium: Norrköping's Motorstadion, Norrköping (population: 84 000) 290 meter Last season: 10th place in Elitserien, relegated to Allsvenskan Partner team: Västervik (Elitserien) How to travel: Norrköping is situated 160 km southwest of Stockholm, on the E4 main route. Norrköping airport is just minutes away from the track and have five daily departures to Copenhagen (Denmark). Off-season transfers: Since the relegation last september, the Vargarna squad has been almost completely changed. Joe Screen and Andreas Bergström remains from last year's squad. Kenny Olsson rode briefly for Vargarna in 2006 and is back and overall the Vargarna squad looks solid enough to make a push for a comeback in Elitserien next year. Joe Screen will certainly miss a number of meetings when Belle Vue rides away on Thursdays, but on the other hand they have Billy Forsberg on a steal 2.00 average and a home track which probably provides the most home track advantage in the league. Possible line-up: 1. Andreas Bergström 7.92, 2. Stefan Ekberg 6.58, 3. Robert Johansson 6.97, 4. Kenny Olsson 5.56, 5. Joe Screen 10.72, 6. Emil Lindqvist 5.30, 7. Viktor Bergström J 4.51, (8. *Billy Forsberg J 2.00) (=47.56) Also available: Miroslaw Jablonski 6.92, Kevin Doolan 6.73, *John Larsson J 2.00, *Anders Ljung 2.00, *Jörgen Hultgren 2.00 ÖRNARNA Stadium: Husky Arena, Mariestad (population: 18 000) 295 meter Last season: 5th place in Allsvenskan Partner team: Mariestad (Division 1) How to travel: Mariestad is located along the E20 route between Gothenburg and Örebro (towards Stockholm), 180 km northwest of Gothenburg. Off-season transfers: Only small changes have been made to the Eagles squad for the upcoming season, Leon D Madsen and Jaroslaw Lukaszewski joins from Lejonen to replace Klaus Jakobsen and Tomi Reima. Also new to the squad is Lubos Tomicek who could be a regular for Örnarna since he hasn't got a team place in Britain this season. Noticable is that several juniors will fight for seventh and eight place in the line-up, among them are newcomer Daniel Sjögren (from Solkatterna) and last year's Örnarna U16 riders Christian Agö and Olof Nilsson. Those riders will also benefit from riding for the newly established Mariestad team in Division 1, which is practically Örnarna's secondary team. Possible line-up: 1. Norbert Kosciuch 8.94, 2. Leon D Madsen 6.96, 3. Niklas Karlsson 8.05, 4. Tomas Olsson 7.13, 5. Lubos Tomicek 9.34, 6. Lars Hansen 5.37, 7. *Daniel Sjögren J 2.00, (8. Christian Agö J 2.00) (=47.79) Also available: Wojciech Druchniak 7.27, Jaroslaw Lukaszewski 6.52, Per-Ola Klasson 3.97, *Tomas Aronsson 3.24, *Olof Nilsson J 2.00

The link provided supplied information for Elitserien, but I'll will do a guide for the Allsvenskan league as well....rather soon I hope.

The Elite League (Elitserien) starts at May 1st. However, there are meetings before that, the first official meeting is on Thursday April 19th when Team Bikab and Team Dalakraft meet in a challenge in Eskilstuna which will be followed by the traditional Vetlanda 4TT (12 teams/3 groups) with qualifying rounds on April 20th and finals on April 21st.

From local newspaper Eskilstuna-Kuriren 8000 saw Linus Eklöf being presented Smederna have a new professional speedway rider. Infront of a packed town square in the Polish city of Zielona Gora, Linus Eklöf was presented along with his new team-mates. -"I would have guessed at a couple of hundreds of people and then it came 8000" says the young Smederna talent. On Sunday, Linus Eklöf signed a professional contract with the Polish team Zielona Gora, newcomers to the top league. And on Tuesday he travelled down to Poland. Along him on the plane were Dackarna´s Sebastian Aldén and Ricky Kling who also had signed for the club. All should be there as the team was made official infront of the home fans. They had counted on a couple of hundreds of people - but it came 8000. -"Really fun. You can tell there are a completely different tradition in Poland", says the Smederna rider. The contact with Eklöf came via Team Bikab´s team manager Jerker Eriksson. -"I have a person in the club who comes to me when looking for Swedish talents. And naturally you look to your own riders in the first place", says Eriksson. Linus Eklöf will be a complement rider who will ride in the case of sickness and injuries. -"I´m not counting on a certain number of meetings. It will be an experience just to be part of it". What does this mean finanically? -"It depends on how many meetings I will participate in since I only get paid then. But this doesn´t affect my Swedish commitments". A professional contract, are you surprised? -"Yes and no. I have had several other options that my father and I haven´t even looked at".

Roughly translated from local newspaper Folket: Linus Eklöf has improved his reputation as a speedway talent Yesterday the Eskilstuna rider was presented as a new signing for Polish side Zielona Gora. -"It will be great to ride with Billy Hamill again" says Linus to Sport-Folket. The Eskilstuna talent and Smederna junior was a happy man yesterday. He was in Poland for a press conference with Zielona Gora, who advanced to the highest league last season, a team that presented their squad for 2007. "It feels great" -"It feels great and now I´m kind of a professional for real", says Linus and continues: -"It´s nothing that will make me a lot of money since I´m still a junior I will continue to focus on school back in Eskilstuna". How many meetings the rider, born 1989, will have in Poland next season isn´t confirmed. -"I don´t have guarenteed meetings but naturally I have hopes to figure in the line-up a couple of times. And it will be very nice to ride with Billy Hamill again, it is always fun to be around him and I think it was sad that he left Smederna". Signing more Swedes Except Linus Eklöf, Zielona Gora also presented two other Swedish talents yesterday. Sebastian Aldén and Ricky Kling also put their signatures on the contracts. -"It will be fun with other Swedes in the same club. I know Sebastian and Ricky since past times", says Linus, who joins the squad along with Piotr "Pepe" Protasiewicz, Niels-Kristian Iversen and Grzegorz Walasek. I´ll translate the other article later today, got to work some as well.

SVEMO have listed two dates for test matches (80cc) between Sweden and Denmark, on Saturday May 26th and Sunday 27th, but no hosts have been selected yet.

So possible line-ups would look like this IMO: DACKARNA 1. Hans Andersen 8.78, 2. Charlie Gjedde 5.62, 3. Peter Karlsson 8.33, 4. Fredrik Lindgren 5.96, 5. Andreas Jonsson 8.37, 6. Ricky Kling J 3.51, 7. *Robin Törnqvist J 2.46, (8. *Joachim Engstrand J 2.00) Total: 43.03 (Lukas Dryml 4.92, *Robert Eriksson 4.84, *Niklas Aspgren 4.30, Sebastian Aldén 4.09, Christian Hefenbrock 4.03, *Magnus Karlsson 3.59, *Emil Kramer 2.04) An equally interesting line-up would be Aldén at 2 and Hefenbrock, Kling and Törnqvist at 6-8 giving a total of 43.07. ELIT VETLANDA (previous team name 'VMS Elit') 1. Lee Richardson 7.60, 2. Peter Ljung 6.18, 3. Jaroslaw Hampel 8.44, 4. Lukasz Jankowski 4.07, 5. Rune Holta 8.33, 6. Mattias Nilsson 3.77, 7. Thomas H Jonasson J 3.64, (8. Robin Aspegren J 2.00) Total: 42.03 (Jason Crump 8.72, Tomasz Jedrzejak 5.46, *Tobias Johansson 2.00) The line-up listed above is more likely a home line-up. For away meetings; Jedrzejak 5.46 and *Johansson 2.00 for Jankowski 4.07 and Nilsson 3.77 could be an option. HAMMARBY (previous team name 'Bajen Speedway') 1. Jesper B Jensen 6.31, 2. Adam Shields 5.92, 3. Scott Nicholls 6.84, 4. Joonas Kylmäkorpi 6.33, 5. Nicki Pedersen 9.94, 6. Tomasz Gapinski 4.64, 7. *Robert Pettersson J 2.13, (8. Kim Nilsson J 2.00) Total: 42.11 (Martin Smolinski 5.12, Gary Havelock 4.62, Krzysztof Jablonski 4.43, *Freddie Eriksson 4.20, *Andreas Lekander 2.26) INDIANERNA 1. Niklas Klingberg 6.02, 2. Magnus Zetterström 5.98, 3. Matej Ferjan 5.99, 4. Rafal Okoniewski 5.50, 5. Piotr Protasiewicz 7.48, 6. Henrik Gustafsson 4.98, 7. *Simon Gustafsson J 2.00, (8. *Ludvig Lindgren J 2.00) Total: 37.95 (Kaj Laukkanen 5.01, Lars Daniel Gunnestad 5.00, Roman Povazhny 4.93) KAPARNA 1. Chris Louis 7.15, 2. Renat Gafurov 5.00, 3. Rafal Szombierski 6.73, 4. Piotr Paluch 5.11, 5. Rafal Dobrucki 5.34, 6. Kim Jansson 4.73, 7. Tomas Karlsson J 2.00, (8. Mikael Berntsson J 2.00) Total: 36.06 (Matej Zagar 6.11, Jacek Krzyzaniak 4.05, Pawel Hlib 4.77, *Stefan Dannö 4.20, *Daniel Nermark 4.05) Zagar will only ride in a limited number of meetings. MASARNAAAVESTA 1. Billy Hamill 5.99, 2. Simon Stead 5.47, 3. Antonio Lindbäck 6.47, 4. Ales Dryml 6.30, 5. Leigh Adams 9.52, 6. Dave Watt 5.10, 7. *Robin Bergqvist J 2.00, (8. Linus Sundström J 2.00) Total: 40.85 (Emil Saifutdinov 5.00, Steve Johnston 4.57, Daniel Davidsson 4.35, *Johan Liljegren 2.31, *Sebastian Bengtsson 2.00) Seems that Watt, Saifutdinov, Johnston and Davidsson will fight for a place at reserve. PIRATERNA 1. Ryan Sullivan 7.63, 2. Kenneth Bjerre 6.10, 3. Grzegorz Walasek 7.08, 4. Robert Kosiecha 5.95, 5. Mark Loram 6.51, 6. Mikael Max 5.34, 7. Tobias Ingesson J 2.00, (8. Christian Ingesson J 2.00) Total: 40.61 (Stefan Andersson 5.19, Damian Balinski 5.16, Michal Szczepaniak 4.69) ROSPIGGARNA 1. Greg Hancock 9.14, 2. Karol Zabik 5.33, 3. Janusz Kolodziej 6.23, 4. Chris Slabon 4.82, 5. Jonas Davidsson 7.20, 6. Travis McGowan 4.45, 7. Andreas Messing J 3.53, (8. Jonas Messing J 2.00) Total: 40.70 (Andrej Karpov 5.00, Adrian Miedzinski 4.17) SMEDERNA 1. Rory Schlein 4.81, 2. Andre Compton 5.73, 3. Krzysztof Kasprzak 6.17, 4. Krzysztof Buczkowski 5.93, 5. Wieslaw Jagus 8.52, 6. Eric Andersson 4.31, 7. Linus Eklöf J 2.33, (8. *Robert Henderson J 2.00) Total: 37.80 (Mariusz Puszakowski 5.00, Morten Risager 3.50) VÄSTERVIK 1. Sebastian Ulamek 7.78, 2. Chris Harris 6.14, 3. Bjarne Pedersen 7.42, 4. Niels-Kristian Iversen 6.09, 5. Tomasz Gollob 7.58, 6. Tomasz Chrzanowski 5.31, 7. Billy Forsberg J 2.00, (8. *Viktor Bergström J 2.00) Total: 42.32 (Mads Korneliussen 5.00, Richard Hall 5.00, *Andreas Bergström 3.94, *Robert Johansson 3.23, Roman Chromik 3.08, *Stefan Ekberg 2.94, *Kenny Olsson 2.17, *Emil Lindqvist 2.00) * From partner team When building a team in Elitserien for 2007, the total team average must be between 35.00 and 43.15. One junior (J) must be included in each team´s 1-7, with number 8 being an optional Swedish junior with a lower average than riders 1-7. I really have too much spare time (EDIT) I guess. As of March 24th, the official starting averages have been published on www.speedway.nu, and some corrections have been made in the listing above, all those changes are made in blue colour.

This is actually the 15 year old son of Lars Gunnestad, not Lars himself, could be worth pointing out... Bit of a surprise signing IMO, never heard or seen anything about him before a couple of days ago when it was announced in local paper Nerikes Allehanda that Indianerna were working on two alternative routes for the ninth place in the squad. (The other was Troy Batchelor) Have a feeling he may go on loan before the season starts with Indianerna filling the ninth place with another rider, or if he actually is good enough already to fill the role of an Elitserien rider, then Indianerna have made a real catch. Interesting nevertheless, Norway needs another solid rider coming through the ranks.

For Allsvenskan, visit: http://www.speedway.nu/sf/Text/2007/Allsvenskan%202007.htm Division 1 fixtures hasn´t been released yet. For 80cc (Riksserien Södra/South and Riksserien Norra/North) please visit the overall calender on SVEMO website. - http://www.svemo.se/calendar.php?first=1 - Click on "Visa begränsad överskådlig kalender" - In the "Grenar" scrollbar, choose "Speedway" - If you want more details, click on "Visa fullständig kalender (pop-up)"

Yes, I have read that on MasarnaAvesta´s website (referring to Race magazine) so it´s not entirely without ground, as you say. My post wasn´t meant as a "dig" at you, sorry if you took it that way. I´m sure Rander has got something up his sleeve as he realisticly (sp?) has the same average we do. Worst case scenario could be some kind of special dispensation with all meetings involving Kaparna not counting towards the averages. Hope it doesn´t come to that. I have been wondering, would Szombierski actually enter at 7.14? He has never ridden enough heats (16) to get an official Swedish average, remember his average was re-assessed from his 4.39 average at Vargarna in 2004 to 7.57 when signing for Bajen Speedway in 2006. Could actually see him starting on 6.73 (106 points excl bonus points in 63 heats according to Sportowefakty), based on his Ekstraliga performence in 2006. That would be even more troublesome for them. We´ll see. BTW, God Jul to You Liverstam and others Swedish forum members, and for all other International posters/viewers, a Merry Christmas!