Niclas

Dont worry, its not the same coach now that banned THJ. The new coach, Peter Jansson, likes THJ and picked him as one of the seven riders he plans to bring to Vojens. Yesterday, the swedish commentators discussed if THJ should have choosen instead of Nermark and Stefan Andersson, team manager for Piraterna in Sweden answeared yes to that question. So me and plenty others swedes are expecting THJ in the Race-off if AJ wont be able to ride. However, congratulations to the victory yesterday. Nice to see Scott making such a good performance. He deserves it after all struggling he's been through. Unfortunately, Sweden made a pretty poor performance, especially Antonio, Zorro and Nermark. But Fredrik was absolutely superb. He acted like he was the world champion. Good to see, even Jonas did it well. But the brits deserved to win. See you in the final;-)

He seems to have plenty of talent anyway. I noticed that the ukrainian youngster Aleksandr Loktaev also is born 94, is he actually russian or from Ukraine? Soon its time for Tai to count ten good russian who can beat him;-)

Fellows, I was little bit interested about finding some information about the young russian who was third in the quarterfinal in Gdansk yesterday. When i googled Wadim Tarasenko i got to this website www.speedwayranking.110mb.com/. According to that one Tarasenko is born may 94. Is that correct? Someone who got some more information about him? It seems like the russia is on the way to become as good challenger to the topnations in speedway.

The only reason I can see why BSI gives a wild card to EK is that BSI is tired of Scotty, Lee och Harris and that they always end up outside top-8. Noone of Tai and EK will be able to get to top-8 but thay are atleast young and talented. Give EK a couple of seasons and he might be a stable GP-rider.

As a swede I really would like to see Sweden win but it wont happen in Leszno, mainly because some of the swedish riders are having big trouble with the track in Leszno, for example Jonas Davidsson and David Ruud. Secondly, because Poland team will be supported by 15 000 screaming fans which will make even the worst pole to a superstar. Third, becuase Australia have the some highclass riders, like Chris Holder, Jason Crump and Leigh Adams. But even if Sweden wont beat Poland and Australia, I still believe we will be able to get the third place, because I dont believe Russia will be able to once again ride like they did in Vojens. Emil and Laguta will but I have my doubts about Povazny, Gizatulin and Gaufurov. I think it will end like this. 1. Poland 2. Australia 3. Sweden 4. Russia.

I believe Christer Gardell is the referee who was in charge for the race between Lejonen and Elit Vetlanda a couple of weeks ago in the Swedish Elitserien. In one of the heats he excluded NP for causing Jason to fall. Nicki was very upset about that decision and said to the Gardell "You know what is going to happend if you continue like this". I have no idea what he meant and no reporters asked him about it. But I am sure NP and CG aint best buddies. But according to the Danish newspaper Jylland Posten its Christer Bergström who will replace Grodzki.

Starts at 13.00 aka 1.00 pm. According to the motorclub in Elgane the club is going to have liveupdates on their website: http://www.elganemk.no/

Strange discussion. She might look very handsome but I still guess we are most interested of her talent on the bike. What has she done so far?

Its now official who have got the nominations in Sweden. Lindback & Lindgren are going to Pocking the 12th of April. Sweden has switched one place with Denmark so Denmark get one i Wiener-Neustadt instead of Pocking. Tomas H Jonasson will go for Lonigo in June and Jonas Davidsson is going to Croatia the 27th of June. Zorro got the free seat in the first semifinal in Motala in July. Sweden still has one more rider, but the swedish coach wants to keep that one open until the leagues have started. Any other news about Pocking?

24th of September I wrote: Today, I read an interesting article in the Swedish motorcycle magazine Race, who refer to the polish newspaper Tygodnik Zuzlowy, who writing about a new qualificationsystem in the Grand Prix. According to the article the following changes will take place: - Only the world champion will be directly qualified for the next year Grand Prix. - The riders from position two until eleven have to qualify to stay in the Grand Prix. But these ten riders will get a free nomination to go straight into the semifinals of the GP Challenge. The rest 22 riders in the semifinals have to qualify the same way as today. - The top-8 from each semi go to the GP-final. - And the top-10 from GP Challenge will qualify for the Grand Prix. - BSI will still nominate four riders for the GP. The qualificationsrounds starts in June and the semifinal and final will take place after the last GP. The reasons to make a new system are, according to Andrzej Grodzki, vice president in CCP, that there are to many old riders in the GP and the difficulty to get to the GP for the young riders. What do you think about this? Personally I like this idea, and if someone of the topriders isnt able to ride, BSI still can nominate that specific rider.

I agree, I think he turns 40 this year. Last year he said he wont participate in the World Cup because he wants to give a younger rider chance to ride. I think he could use the same argument when the Swedish coach ask him if he wants a nomination for the GP Challenge. But honestly, I dont know if he will ride or not.

So what do we know about GP Challenge 2009. The first round take place in following places: Pocking, Germany (12the of april), Lonigo, Italy (6th of june), Wiener-Neustadt, Austria (7th of june) och Gorican, Croatia (27th of june). Sweden got five nominations to this first round and another one to the semifinal. So far three swedes has got the offer, since they become top-3 in the national championship last year. These three are Zorro, Jonas Davidsson and Thomas H Jonasson. But it is still not clear if these three will accept their nominations. Another rider who probably will try to get to the GP is Antonio Lindbäck. Peter Karlsson has been talking about give the GP a last chance. Last year both Peter Ljung and Daniel Nermark got to the GP Challenge final but were not able to ride due to injury (Ljung tried but quit after three heats). Finally, Fredrik Lindgren may reach top-8 but if he doesnt will he got another wild card for 2010? Maybe he will try to get to the GP via GP Challenge. But I think following riders will ride for Sweden: THJ, Antonio, PK, Ljung and Nermark. Davidsson will get the nomination for the semifinal in Motala the 4th of July. Anyone who got information about the others countries?

Zorro leaves Indianerna for Smederna. He will be presented at a pressconference tomorrow.

Can someone whos been to Terenzano tell me a little bit about it. How is the arena, are we talking about a huge stadium with seats for 60 000 people or is just a small one. Is it easy to get there? I guess the best way is to fly to Trieste and then hire a car.

sorry to say but I cant see anyone else than Nicki win the SGP 09. This season he just finished outside top-3 twice. That is what makes Nicki so good. He very rarely fails and 2009 will be the same. BOth Jason, Greg, Leigh, Hans, AJ and Adams have the same toplevel as Nicki but none of them are able to keep it to that level over time as Nicki is. But I would be more than happy if Greg, Gollob or Adams wins the title but I doubt it.

Is it possible we will get two surprises for next year, first Sajtfudinov as a wild card and then GP in Togliatti the 26th of September? Zagar might be a surprise as well but he has performed better than Nicholls, Lindgren, Iversen in the polish League. He has also been one of the best riders in the Hammarby speedway in the Swedish League. I am not a big fan of Matej but like Scott he is a fighter and he has proved to be a good rider in the GP earlier. ANd if you compare with Walasek and Ulamek I definitely prefer Zagar. Matej is still young and might be a top-8 riders in a few years but the question for the two Poles is to try to stop their way down. None of them will ever be a challenger for the medals, which Matej might be.

Antonio Lindback is according to T.Rick. the greatest talent he has even seen on a track, but that wasnt good enough to be able to stay in the GP. The thing is that to ride in the GP is not only a question about talent, its a question about handle organisational and economical issues, handle pressure, be deal with misfortune and not be going down when you score one point for the third time in a row. That is one reason why Holder and Emil should wait another year before they enter the GP-series. But Emil doesnt seems to only be a great talent, he seems to be mentally strong and surrounded by good people like T.Rick. That might help him and make him able to get into the GP even if he is just 19. But to ride in the GP seems much tougher than we might think sometimes.

I would love to go to Stadion Puskás Ferenc in Budapest, but I guess the interests of speedwya might be bigger in Miscolc. But instead of Lonigo I can imagine myself watching speedway in this small stadium: http://www.yeshotelrome.com/hotels-accommo...StadiumRome.jpg

Two years ago, in Daugavpils, I had a chat with a women who worked on a polish tv-channel. She said that BSI was planning to arrange a GP in Hungary 2008. As everybody knows, the 2008 GP-series didnt include a GP in Hungary but it might do it 2009. So I go for Miskolc.

I´d go for foloowing riders: Nicholls: He is number nine in the world and he is by far the best brit. Even if he have been nominated many times, he is still a very entertaining rider and with his attitude and ability he´s should have one. Lindgren: Because he can just get better. To leave people outside the GP after just one season is stupid, especially with someone who is suppose to be one of the leading riders in the future. He will get one. Emil: The GP is always a struggle for the youngest, but I am convinced that Emil has a mental capacity that is much stronger than for example riders like Hans, Scott, Iversen, Hampel. He is natural born winner. Little brother Lindgren said after the U21-final that he prefer Holder to win ´cause he doesnt like the way Emil ride. If you dont move when Emil is coming behind you he will go through you. His attitude that he makes whatever it takes to win, and his ability to ride a motorbike are the reasons why I would give Emil a nomination. I am convinced he wont fail and he will end up within top-10. The only problem is if his organisation is able to handle to ride in the GP, the russian league and the Ekstraleague? But he seems to be surrounded by good people. Harris: I would prefer Holder but I think BSI would like two brits in the GP.

Torun just won the championship by getting 42 points totally after 13th heats in the second leg. Since Torun won the first final with 49-41, Torun has now 91 points and Leszno cant get more than 87.

To be fair to Nicholls, he is a great fighter who made his best to entertain us. I have seen him more than once fighting like its a matter of life and death. His fighting spirit might not give a place among the top-8 but atleast it should give him a nomination for next season. If he hadnt been such a lousy starter he would have been top-8 but his head and his starts, that is his worst enemies. SInce the GP started its always been atleast two brits in the GP and even if BSI probably is pretty tired of giving the brits nominations, they realise the value of having two of them in the Grand Prix.

Looks like a good suggestion, but Holder wont get a nomination. Harris will get one instead.

He might be an bad, egocentric and not to fair on the track, nevertheless he is the best this year and on his way to become one of the greatest rider ever.

Zabik did a decent performace in the last final in the swedish Elitserie. Ha rode like he was the king of the track and did som really good passes of both Holder and Sviderski. It looked like he has a gigantic confident. One of the times I have been very satisfied with his performances.