Well that was an interesting grand prix, with a surprise winner.

There was a delay in the meeting when there was a problem with the tapes not going up at a consistent speed on both sides.

Nigel Pearson and Kelvin Tatum were at the helm on the commentary and the Woffy Woffy Woffy came when the only British rider in the grand prix won a late heat.

Although last years World Champion Chris Holder missed out on reaching the semi finals. Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak failing to score any points in any of his five rides. 

There was excitement in the British Isles when Tai Woffinden made it to the final heat. Also Belle Vue Aces number one Matej Zagar did with Emil Safyutdinov and the crowds favourite Tomasz Gollob.

Unfortunately Tai did not make it on the podium, but a win should be soon enough with the pace on his bike.

The surprise came with the Russain Emil winning, who has not won a grand prix since 2009. Matej Zagar came second and Gollob third.

The next grand prix shall be in Gothenburg for the Swedish grand prix.

So many of the speedway community managed to stay up in the early hours of the morning to watch the grand prix in New Zealand.

After many interesting rounds in the evening, the shock came in the last heat, the final. The polish crowd at the Western Springs went crazy when Jaroslaw Hampel winning the New Zealand grand prix. After missing five rounds last season due to a broken ankle in Cardiff, a win was a welcome sight for the Pole.

But there was more excitement for Polish fans with Tomasz Gollob coming second. Nicki Pedersen came third after a very slow start to the event. As usual he got a mixed reception of cheers and boos for getting third. 

The show now being on Eurosport gave a very different angle to live speedway. The two commentators, both Australian gave a relaxed vibe to the show, with the sport doing the talk. The communication between the two was informative and intriguing because of their knowledge on the sport.

Wildcard Kiwi Jason Bunyan participated like he did last year, probably hoping for a better result as well. The reserves were Sean Mason and Dale Finch.

Heat one saw former 2010 World Champion Tomasz Gollob, taking the first three points. With Tai Woffinden coming in second place. 

Heat two saw World champion 2011 Greg Hancock going against the 2012 World Champion Chris Holder. But it seemed the 2011 champ coming first just ahead of Chris Holder. Wildcard Jason Bunyan came last.

Heat three showed the reason why we all rave about Darcy Ward, the grand prix rookie came first in his first ride as a full time grand rider in the series. The female fans favourite Slovakian rider Martin Vaculik coming second. Although the shock of the heat was the experienced Nicki Pedersen coming last. 

Heat four had a Swedish one, two and three with Andreas Jonsson, Fredrick Lindgren and Antonio Lindback getting points on the board. 

Going onto heat seven was very interesting because of two friends going against each other. It saw Darcy Ward coming first with Chris Holder second.

After heat eight it seemed to be a role reversal with those getting one or no points were now getting first and second place, whereas those who were top of the board were now off the pace in the pack.

There was a couple of decisions the referee has to make with one being controversial. It came with Jason Bunyan, when many saw he did nothing wrong, the referee thought different, but that made no difference to the wildcard’s evening. 

Although the FIM are trying to introduce youth, the old guard who have the experienced prevailed to a podium place especially with Gollob and Pedersen.

The next grand prix will be on April 20th in Bydgoszcz Poland. 

The speedway season will be in full swing this weekend, when the grand prix series makes a return in New Zealand.

For the second time the series will kick off at the Western Springs stadium in Auckland.

View Larger Map

Riders have already made the way to the island of the Kiwi’s and 2012 champion Chris Holder will be hoping to make it two titles in a row.

This year there has been many changes, firstly the GP series will not be shown on Sky Sports anymore, but on British Eurosport. Many fans are delighted at the news that they will be able to see speedway with many international names all on one race track.

Also there are a few changes in the line-up. For British fans there is some hope, with the loss of Chris Harris, a British rider needed to be in the series to gain home soil interest. The calling of Tai Woffinden comes as a relief to some because of the youthfulness it will bring to the series.

Australian Darcy Ward will also be participating in the series, although at first there seemed to doubts on whether he would due to visa issues, which was caused to circumstances outside the sport.

The retirement of Jason Crump saw the end of the 2012 series taking in the top nine, rather than the usual eight. This saw Martin Vaculik maintain a role in the grand prix to the delight of many female speedway fans.

The riders will include:

1. Chris Holder
2. Nicki Pedersen
3. Greg Hancock
4. Tomaz Gollob
5. Emil Sayfutdinov
6. Antonio Lindback
7. Fredrik Lindgren
8. Andreas Jonsson
9. Martin Vaculik
10. Jaroslaw Hampel
11. Krzysztof Kasprzak
12. Matej Zagar
13. Niels-Kristian Iversen
14. Tai Woffinden
15. Darcy Ward

Although for those who have never been to New Zealand here a few facts about the country.

• The capital is Wellington.
• There are known as the Kiwi people.
• The most popular sport is rugby, with the All Blacks being the most well-known team globally.
• The climate like Australia is opposite to the Northern hemisphere. So the seasons are the opposite.
• The currency is the New Zealand dollar.

http://www.newzealand.com/uk/facts/

http://www.speedwaygp.com/rider

Last night the elite league final took place after the third attempt to be a lucky charm. 

The pirates were without Darcy Ward and the replacement Niels Kristian Iversen had to pull out, so the late replacement Chris Harris had to pull on the pirate logo and take in a shift.

It seems that the robins team had not been affected and had strength in depth.

Coming into the second leg Swindon had the advantage with Poole playing catch up. But that advantage continued where there was the golden touch with nearly all the early heat a robins rider gaining three points. 

Although at some points of the evening it looked like Alun Rossiter behind the fence was a caged animal fighting to get on the other side, whereas Neil Middleditch looked very concentrated on the task at hand.

Eventually pirates riders were made to walk the plank when they were not scoring, but with three heats to go the robins found the gold and became elite league champions of 2013. 

A big hand to both pirates captain and manager who went over to congratulate the winning side.

So everyone that is it for the 2012 season. Swindon Robins won the championship. Chris Holder became the elite league riders champion and world champion. Many riders got injured from being knocked around on the track. Also all the travelling that many fans have done to support their team can be rested till March next year.

Hoping that next season will be drier and just an fun and the banter be friendly and fun as well as!!!!

It seems now that the Poole Pirates will be without key front man Darcy Ward on Monday for the second leg of the final at Winbourne Road. 

According to Poole Pirates Matt Ford will bring in Niels Kristian Iversen in replacement for Darcy.

Also today there has been more worrying news for the pirates people that the new 2012 champions Chris Holder has an ankle injury sustained in a Polish meeting. 

Can a rainbow shine over Winbourne Road for them to find a pot of gold to aid them in retaining the title of elite league champions.

Source:

http://www.poolepirates.co/news.php?extend.691

For many Autumn brings good and bad things. Some people love the vibrant colours of fall and the wrapping up in layers. Others see that the football season is gaining momentum and is gong very well or not so good. However those who love the summer  sports now is time to say farewell. The summer season of sport is ending either on a high or low depending on sport and club.

A common theme of the Summer is the rain and the amount there has been to disrupt sports like cricket and especially speedway. With over a 100 meetings called off through the leagues it is surprising why fans want more action and feel they have missed out on the 2012 season.

Rivalries are known to cause high tensions that have maybe from time to time over boiled with fan v fan, rider v rider and even rider v fan. But now after all the tensions high and low, good and bad the final is near and far.

Swindon Robins and Poole Pirates, the two teams that have dominated the elite league sponsored by sky sports have now become the two final teams battling out for the chance to become champions of 2012. Poole fans are hoping to do a back to back season and robin fans are hoping to take that title off the buccaneering pirates.

As mentioned the weather has played a crucial part in what has happened in the season. The first leg of the final at Swindon has taken part, but the second leg has not yet gone ahead. The saying goes third time lucky and this Monday the second leg is meant to happen according to the weather. A huge fingers crossed that it does!!!!

It has been generally a mixed season for all in all sometimes ending in frustration and it seems the final has taken a turn like the rest of the 2012 season, anticipation, frustration and annoyance. 

It has been a high for Chris Holder who at 25 became not just a father for the first time, but also world champion which came down to the final wire in Torun Poland, round 12 and also the ELRC (elite league riders championship) champion. Craig Cook who came in to the Belle Vue Aces sides halfway through the season became the PLRC (premier league riders championship) champion. 

But other news that has come, rather sad and unfortunate is that some riders may not be able to financially continue in speedway because of lack of sponsorship money. This is sad news for fans of riders that have such a passion and fire to be an inspiration in the sport.

Although this is a double edge sword in that there are those who are passionate but there are those who whine about others due to rivalry can sometimes ruin the banter that is there between people because the banter is a serious issue. It is like a lion fighting another lion over land and lionesses!! In nature that is needed but sport and unhealthy fight and banter is not, so please take things in a light hearted nature and all in good fun.

Lets hope the final goes to plan and be a third time lucky for Swindon v Poole and he 2012 champions are revealed and that people prepare over the winter for March 2013. 

With a grand prix that started out to be a lack lustre affair turned out to be pretty intriguing.

With the controversy of Michael Jepsen Jensen being the wildcard instead of many fans wanting Kristen Iversen. But with Jepsen Jensen’s second appearance in the grand prix he knew what to expect in an environment of experience versus youth.

The track cause some disappointments with no passing till the later stages of the meeting. Until the later bit of the meeting where the runners for the championship were falling like flies.

Greg Hancock made it to the semi-finals but came last in semi final one. With Nicki Pedersen and Jason Crump going through. In semi final two Chris Holder narrowly missed out and Emil Sayfuditnov and Michael Jepsen Jensen. 

The final looked like it was Nicki’s win, although the wildcard swooped in the inside and overtook Nicki to then win the grand prix.

Michael Jepsen Jensen-first

Nicki Pedersen- second

Emil Sayfuditnov- third

Although this grand prix brought out the discussion of bringing in new blood. But the question is who should go? It is unquestionable to bring in Darcy Ward to spice the SGP up a lot. It could be useful for some young British talent and even to dump out Peter Ljung, Jaroslaw Hampel and even the talented Pole of Tomasz Gollob.

To say it will be a difficult decision is an understatement. In bringing in new riders and freshening the series up will undoubtedly upset some speedway fans and even the riders who may get the boot. 

Who would you bring in and boot out the series??

What a weekend with sport in football, tennis, speedway and even boxing.

Firstly the football, there was only league one and two fixtures due to the international break, where England were in Moldova where they won 5-0. It seemed it was goals galore. England will play again on Tuesday.

In the tennis there has been some shocks on and off the court. The US open has has rain every year for the last four years, but NYC had a tornado warning. Andy Murray had a very windy match with gale force winds forcing balls to be thrown out and even chairs blown over in the match against Thomas Berdych. Although Murray won to get through to the final.

Novak Djokovic started his match against Spaniard David Ferrer yesterday. Again due to high winds there was a tornado warning for New York and the stadium had to be evacuated. Today the match continued where Ferrer won the first set, with Novak wining the next three or him to proceed to the final. The final will be held on Monday due to the disruptions in the schedule due to erratic weather. 

Finally there was the speedway which was interesting. With a win for Tomaz Gollob who seemed to be creeping up all night. Chris Holder in second who is now at number one in the championship. Also Lindback came third. The shine of the podium was taken off by speedway’s equivalent to showman Simon Cowell, Nicki Pedersen. Many fans love him or love to hate him, either way he makes a scene. The type of racing he did made caused AJ (Andreas Jonsson) to come off his bike and being taken to hospital. The reaction of Nicki was for a professional sportsman disgusting. He did swear at the camera and gesture, which led to an apology, fair enough. However when the camera went onto Nicki in the pits there was always a gesture. As it was expressed on twitter, fans were outraged at what he did. Obviously there is emotion but to constantly show disrespect is totally bang out of order. But will he be punished? Probably not, if this was a sport like football they would be red carded and even fined, but nothing will happen and it is a shame. Speedway needs coverage and not negative either!!!

If anyone knows how AJ is please message me to let me know. Thanks!! Just heard that he alright but some concussion and will not be riding this week. Shows how tough speedway riders are. A speedy recovery and that he feels well soon!!

After a call off on Monday Belle Vue were at Winbourne Road at the Poole pirate speedway club.

Unfortunately on Tuesday one of the double up riders Claus Vissing took another knock by getting a collar bone injury in the premier league meeting of Ipswich v Somerset, where there was an incident between Dakota North and Claus. So Craig Cook was the replacement for Vissing.

Poole did not get it their own way all the time. The aces put up a fight in that the pirates were not cruising in all 15 heats. Although heat 15 was the decider with the return of turbo twins Chris Holder and back from injury Darcy Ward.

There was another incident which involved Sam Masters who has consequently injured his wrist.

But the scores on the doors was not enough for the aces to get a point with the score being 49-41.

Weather permitting Poole will face Belle Vue again at Kirkumshulme Lane.

Well well well, what can I say, one of the hardest race off’s since the reinvention of the world cup since 2001 and there was team that from early stages got to the top of the pack. A strong team on a Swedish track and that is their Scandinavian cousins Denmark.

The final will compose of the host team Sweden, event one winners Russia and event two winners Australia and finally the one team from the race off Denmark.

Team GB started off well, but seemed to lose a little sparkle with the likes of Nicki Pedersen coming in to replace Mikkel Bech Jensen. However it is rumoured that Mikkel could come back into the team in the final on Saturday.

However for all the ‘fickle’ fans out there do not slate the British guys they did well to get through the race off with some difficult opponents in Sweden.

Although one of my favourite moments was off the track, because the Australia team were at the track watching the speedway meeting. Anyway Chris Holder shared a drink with Tai Woffinden and Troy Batchelor shared some food with Tai. This made me smile in the middle of the slight misery for British fans.

But as the saying goes there is always next year……

So it has been a while since I have done a blog post and many things have happened since then.

In football the Euro’s favourites of Spain made world history by winning the euro four years in concession and winning the world cup in between.

Tennis was well….interesting. The final at Wimbledon had the countries hopes alive when Andy Murray went against Roger Federer. However Andy lost in four sets to Rodger. The last time a Brit won Wimbledon was Fred Perry, who was from Stockport. That was 74 years ago. Andy’s interview was emotional in him crying and struggling to get his words out, he did eventually to a load of applause from inside the centre court and outside on Henman hill. Always next year!!! 

In speedway there have been many effects with the weather and this rain, we all sigh with that thought, many meetings have been cancelled due to a water logged track or it is dangerous for the riders.

Also the world cup has happened in two events. Event one was partially predictable with Russia automatically going to the final in Sweden. Event two I nearly lost my voice with watching team Great Britain. They narrowly missed the chance to go to the final because of a certain country the majority of us love called Australia. 

In 20 heats there was action on and off the track, in more ways than one! There was a spat between Chris Holder and Chris Harris which caused some action in the pits between riders and mechanics, but still it all came to the last heat of the night. The Aussies just got through with a four point advantage to go through to the final to join Sweden and Russia.

What happens to team GB now?

Well, they still have one shot to get to that final on Saturday. They have to go to the race off on Thursday against tough competition going against Poland, Denmark and Czech Republic. But with the team spirit and determination shown it is highly possible they could make the final!!

Tune in on Thursday to see how they do.

With the Saturday night taking over with sport, it was a hard choice on what to watch, so some (eventually little) channel flicking happened.

The summer is jam packed with football with the euro’s and the speedway Grand Prix. Denmark were playing against Netherlands, also in the capital of Copenhagen the speedway was taking place.

In the final score of the football of Denmark winning 1-0 against the Netherlands it could have been seen as a positive omen. 

The wildcard of the evening was Michael Jepsen Jensen. At reserve was Swindon Robins rider Peter Kildemand and youngster Mikkel Bech Jensen.

Heat one got under way, there was a crash with Jaraslow Hampel who had to pull out of the meeting due to a suspected broken leg. It came later to be a dislocated ankle which was popped back into place. However this gave a chance for the two reserves.

The only British rider Chris Harris was on form where he made it to the final by pure luck due to the countdown where other riders on the same points, have a comparison to see who has won more heats.

Every heat had some drama in it. The best was the semi finals. Chris Holder was out done by Nicki Pedersen. This then lead to Chris Holder being disqualified, to then seeing a distraught Chris, which was not nice to see seeing as it should have been Nicki Who should have been disqualified because Holder never touched Pedersen.

The semi final was re-run to see more controversy involving the same Danish guy Mr.Pedersen. This then got him disqualified also to the grievances of Chris. This then saw Frederick Lindgren and Greg Hancock through to the finals.

However that was not the first spat of the night that involved Nicki with Emil Sayfutditnov which was highly entertaining but no need to have done because Emil won his heat fair and square.

The best heat of the night was heat 12. In the heat was last year’s world champion Greg Hancock, former world champion Nicki Pedersen and Swedish man Peter Ljung and reserve rider Mikkel Bech Jensen. It started out with Greg out in front, but from no where Mikkel came out in front and won the heat. The crowd was in form with biggest cheer all night. Although Mikkel did not get into the semi’s,  he has got everyone talking. Is the Denmark world cup team calling???

The final was the most dull heat of the evening with many British fans hoping Chris Harris could get into the podium above the likes of Jason Crump, Greg Hancock and Frederick Lindgren. It turned out that the final was this:

1. Jason Crump
2. Frederick Lindgren
3. Greg Hancock

So first of all apologies to all my readers that I have not posted a while.

But here is a week round up of all speedway related things. 

Firstly we all know the tragic news of Lee Richardson and blessings to his family and friends.

In response to this tragic news there have been silences for the Lakeside Hammers captain. Social media was flooded with messages to Rico and it just shows how dangerous the sport really is. It then annoys me when you see a footballer on the floor from a tiny touch, whereas riders get thrown  of the bike and get up and are fine. I know two different sports with different risks but he point is the same in comparison of injuries.

So in terms of racing what has been going on?………

It begins with Belle Vue, the team that have not had lady luck on their side. They were hosts to Eastbourne Eagles where the aces lost by two, unfortunately.

On sky there was some premier league action with the Somerset Rebels vs Ipswich Witches. Both teams had rider replacement. But the racing was amazing!! It was nice to see a change in leagues. In one heat all reserves were in a heat and it was a British v Aussie race with Tom Perry and Kyle Newman representing the rebels and the Brits and for the witches team aka Aussies there was Rohan Tungate and Cameron Heeps . 

Back tot the elite league and the one and only Poole pirates. The team were very busy with Poole riding on their usual day on Wednesday against Peterborough, this is where the amazing turbo twin duo were beaten by Linus Sundstrom. A rare occurane, but one that is positive, to know it is possible to beat the turbo twins.

Saturday was the night for eurovision, football and yes the Swedish GP in Gothernburg. With semi finals causing controversy between Nicki Pedersen and Thomas H Jonasson. The wildcard of Thomas made it fourth in the final with the winner being Freddie Lindgren, Greg Hancock and Chris Holder. 

After that a bit of eurovision with a Swedish winner so eurovision will be in Stockholm in 2013.

Next time there will be a write up of Belle Vue Aces against Swindon Robins.