IainB

As I've little else to do with my time at the moment I did some analysis between Leigh vs Emil and although it's difficult to compare the 2 because of Emil's sabbatical here are the stats: Best Finish: Leigh Emil 15 10 11 7 3 6 15 5 6 4 5 4 6 4 1 SEC 3 1 SEC 5 7 SEC 2 6 6 8 11 3

Looks like he's been talent spotted already then, they're not in the Ekstaliga are they? Has he ridden for them yet?

I can't remember being so impressed by a rider I've seen for the first time for a long time... be interesting to see how he goes away from Masarna

Wow! What a prospect Philip Hellström Bängs looks... what do we know about him? How old is he, how long has he been riding, is he normally that good or was it just a flash in the pan. He seemed all action and was very animated in the pits also... and, erm, I'm not sure how to put this these days, but erm... is he a "rider of colour"? Just asking that's all

I wonder when Greg Hancock peaked?

Oh... I get it now, the rider from Somerset is going from left to right, White City right to left. And it looks like the rider is dressed as a confederate soldier... http://www.defunctspeedway.co.uk/London White City.htm

A Golden Gauntlets featuring last years team and this years team and Kim Nilsson, Martin Vaculik, Przedpelski plus others With match races after every 4 heats featuring Les Collins, Neil Collins and 2 other ex Lions "legends"... who I can't think of at the moment (how old are those guys these days?)

I can't comment directly as I've never been to the Speedway on the IOW, but I would suggest, with respect, that running a track on a "holiday" Island is quite a bit different than running a track elsewhere in the country. I would suggest the crowd are looking for different things at IOW, yes a great fun night out but when they return home and go to their local track and look to continue they will soon be looking into the performance of the team and the results on track as they become a "fan" of the team. That's not to say that for one minute the IOW are doing anything wrong and there's no reason to suggest that there couldn't be some overlap between what the IOW are doing and the rest as IOW certainly seem to be getting the basics right and a lot of other clubs should listen to the comments you have made above and further on. I suppose the question is are you running a fun entertainment night out or a professional team sport competition and there's absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be both

I can't see it... doesn't it matter which side of the rider you are standing? My brain can't take it

Was GB planning on running a full complete league season from August does anybody know?

Isn't this what Sweden have done? I believe not everybody is riding against everybody else... Not sure what the setup is but they are on track

Makes you wonder how good the Eurosport TV deal actually is if GB can't afford to run behind closed doors where Sweden can run to crowds of 50... Of course we'll never know but it can't be that good of a deal

Agreed

Looking at his GP record all his bad rounds tend to have been in Poland... I think I'll leave this one alone

I suppose it's like most things in life "teamwork makes the dream work"... until it comes to payday

... and his SoN wins. The thing is I suppose I saw a lot more of Leigh in this country than I have of Emil, and with the SGP series it's not just about the wins it's more about the consistency, not helped by the fact that Emil hid away from the GP's for a few years, for whatever reasons. Certainly during one of those season's he wasn't in the GP's he appeared to be better than Woffy who won the title. One thing's for sure the longer he goes without winning it the more he'll become the definitive number 1 in this league table

Surely with the setup of this years series it's going to be more akin to Polish League racing than ever before, Madsen doesn't look fit at the moment, Zmarzlik hasn't really been that convincing away from Gorzow, Woffy's carrying a knock... that's what I keep telling myself anyway Was tempted by Janowski also at 25/1 for an e/w

You definitely can't say fag these days

Just done £12.50 e/w on Vaculik at 11/1 returning £200... watch him get injured now

Yes, I get that... maybe they've not heard of the expression of pointski's in the the pitski's

He's definitely up there isn't he. Tommy spent most of his career riding in semi-professional leagues though, both Leigh and Emil in professional leagues. For me it's: 1. Leigh Adams 2. Emil Sayfutdinov 3. Tommy Knudsen Although Emil is in danger of becoming No 1 very soon

Oh OK, fair enough. Still the lack of team riding in Poland is noticeable by its absence

Pointless having them really then unless like this country when running ZZ

I'm new to full time Polish Speedway this year and what has surprised me so much is that for a Sport that is so geared up to team work in Poland with the way they run it, with all the club staff, the team colours, the team merchandise, the team socials, the team practice etc. that all of that team work appears to be left at the pit gate in the majority of cases. Admittedly I only see what is fed to me on the TV coverage but I can't really see any team spirit in any of the teams with everybody concentrating on doing their own thing. Maybe that's what the riders have been told to do, maybe I have got it wrong. Are the riders under so much pressure to perform they've got to concentrate on themselves. Who knows, maybe Kolodziej asked to be taken out but if not I don't think he would have been taken out in any other league in the world. I thought similar in other matches where the scoreline has not been in doubt that why aren't they giving their No 8's a ride

I'm never really a fan of "seeding" or "wild cards" and generally prefer riders to earn places on merit. As the prize on the end of this is such a potentially big one I don't see why any of the genuine contenders (Adam, Worrals, Wright, Cook etc) maybe couldn't have done a cut down mini race off either at Leicester, Scunny or Somerset or at the recent Youth meeting for the GP Challenge spot