Liverstam

Agreed. And interestingely, the relegation of Bikab was a certainty long before it was a sporting fact since they have no chance of meeting the Elite license themselves for 2008. In Division 1 you don't have to, though.

Thank you Lezaw, very good account. But the video you linked seems to have been withdrawn from youtube.

So what did KK do to Jagus? I tried to quote your earlier post Lezaw but failed. You wrote something about "fail" which I couldn't quite grasp. Please explain

Can't stop laughing... You just out of bed Ghostie?

Sure is a gater. But also a racer. You should have seen the humdingers he and Hans Andersen dished out on tuesday in Stockholm. Pure adrenaline white-knuckle rides!

No, they wouldn't. And I'm not talking about british tracks here, which could alter things. All I'm saying is this, if the seven boys of Swindon were a Swedish Elite team they would lose almost every match.

Fair enough. Well I only used David Howe as an example. There are others. Adam Shields for instance. Solid heat leader in the BEL, often rides as no 5 for Lakeside. Struggles to beat junior reserves in Sweden. Why? I really don't know.

Okay, I haven't followed Smederna as closely as you over the years. However, my memory of David Howe is that he clearly couldn't cut the mustard - and - that he used to blow alot of engines and break chains, ie - ride on utter crap.

Not quite right Ghostwalker. As the incident happened on the final lap, in the last bend - the heat was frozen. Hans was excluded and a 4-2 in Hammarby favour was awarded with Nicki getting the 3 points. Nicki remained on the track for about 5 mins and the ambulance was out to check on him. However, he then stood up and walked back to the pits and returned for the last heat decider. Made of steel, the wee man

A lot of the former but also a little of the latter. Yes the league is much stronger than the BEL, but there is also the case of riders performing differently in different countries. The poles are generally much better suited to Sweden than England for example. And ofcourse the brits are much better in Britain than they are in Sweden. David Howe for instance, who's going well for Wolverhampton was never good enough for Sweden, not even at reserve. Jonas Davidsson is a top heat leader over here, while he's a disaster in the BEL. So it goes both ways. But generally the Swedish EL is a much stronger league, apart from the bottom two or three teams who are weak. However, no BEL side of 2007 could compete in Sweden. They'd get murdered in almost every meeting.

Positions 6 and 7 are reserve positions in Sweden reserved for the riders with the lowest averages on the team, just as in GB. Who you put as heat leader or second string is optional in that it's not regulated by averages. I'm sure PK could still do the job, but Lindgren, Hans Andersen and Andreas Jonsson are the heat leaders for Dackarna tonight. Doesn't matter though, they'll still get a hammering

Ed Kennett to ride for Örnarna from what I hear. There will be quite a few transfers this week I'm pretty sure. I've heard of a fair few already.

I disagree. The chance for a play-off place was lost a couple of years ago. Watch out for Kaparna Just got back from watching Hammarby blow Västervik away. Good all round performance except for Shields who had one great heat but three poor ones. Nicki Pedersen had a bit of an off-day aswell. On the other hand super Tomasz Gapinski was brilliant as ever and scored a fine maximum of 13+2. Schumi if you're reading this and still remember our little quarrel in the Elite League section about Gapinski - please take note

R/R for Ulamek confirmed. R/R for Jonsson confirmed aswell.

Yes, agreed. But it would be a good idea if the referee had to motivate or at least explain to a lesser degree what happened that was against the rules, for instance who the culprit was and what he did wrong etc. Otherwise it can all seem a bit strange and arbitrary. I'm not on a crusade against the speaker at Vetlanda at all, it was just that the events of ht 13 in last weeks match got me thinking about this.

Well he probably did say the referee wasn't happy, but that's a bit of a no-brainer. What would have been interesting to hear was the reason(s) why

Sorry Mikael, I am working that day I'm afraid and won't be anywhere near a computer Hope you make it to Motala though!

Fair enough Anders But why don't the speaker explain why the referee is unhappy? In the stands you are left guessing the cause, especially if you can't see the starting line from a good angle. I have always wondered about this, as the speaker is always right next to the ref and could easily provide the crowd this service. Is there a rule against it?

Should be a great event in Motala! How high do you need to finish to advance to the next round of qualifying? Sorry if this has been mentioned before and I've been napping...

Should indeed be another great match! By the way Anders, as I guess you were in the ref's box on tuesday and had a good view - what was the problem at the start in heat 13? I was stood behind the start so could not see if it was uneven. It became pretty decisive at the end since two great starts from Jesper turned into a 1-5 on the third attempt

Enjoy it while you can Anders, we'll return the favour when you come to Stockholm I actually made my first visit to the Vetlanda track last night and had an enjoyable evening, but for the last few heats where we yet again let a certain victory slip through or fingers Those 220 miles home felt a little long after that All credit to Vetlanda though, and especially Rune Holta who's an absolute DEMON around that place.

It's absolute nonsense and will only stoke major controversy and potentially ruin this season for all. Horrible decision by Svemo - as usual.

Think there's a lot of truth in that Mikael. The Avesta crowd probably lived through a serious hype during those succesful years between 98 and 05. Maybe they are spoilt with success and a little fed up with their speedway. Obviously not the die-hards but the general speedway going public. Will Masarna be able to turn this negative trend around - or will they sink back into the obscurity from which they came?

Well, being a small town is not always a bad thing. Look at Målilla which is absolutely tiny, I think around 1800 inhabitants, and always tops the attendance lists with crowds regularly around 5000 per meeting. For one there is no other team of any kind of pedigree in other sports in the region around Avesta, so no competition. I don't want to think it's all down to TRick but it kind of looks like it.

Kaparna's lack of a home track and rather poor attendances on their tour of "home matches" away from home has brought down the average for Elitserien this year aswell as Masarnas continuing loss of crowds. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as usual. Not really a crisis, except maybe in Avesta, where I believe they only charge 100 skr which is probably the least expensive in the Elitserien. So I don't think the issue lies with the cost of going.