Piraterna
What a manic first three weeks in the job for Daniel Davidsson as manager of the Motala Piraterna. But just a few hours before the deadline for the teams to be sent to the Swedish Motor Union (SVEMO), Piraterna’s Facebook page and local newspaper, MVT announced the five riders who will join Pawel Przedpelski, Peter Kildemand, Andrzej Karpov and Henrik Bergström at the club in 2020.
They are:
- Thomasz Gapinski (POL) 1.467
- Josh Grajczonek (AUS) 1.458
- Grzegorz Walasek (POL) 1.349
- Jonas Davidsson (SWE) 0.840
- Joel Larsson (SWE) 0.500
Polish veteran Walasek returns to the club (the picture above was taken in 2006), but perhaps one of the most interesting names is Australian Josh Grajczonek who, despite the fact that he will be 30 years old next year, has never raced before in Sweden. This year in the UK Premiership he gained a 1.669 average, similar to Rohan Tungate (Masarna) and Tobaisz Musielak (Lejonen) who he will race against in Elitserien in 2020.
However, the most dramatic news is not who is there, but a name that is not there – Greg Hancock. Despite the American being mentioned from the start of Daniel Davidsson’s short career as manager as a possible rider, there was no mention of the four times World Champion in either the Piraterna’s own announcement or the local newspaper’s article.
But is that the end of the matter? Whilst Rospiggarna have said on publicly on Facebook that the 49 year old will not be coming to Hällstavik, there was no such denial in Motala’s statement. At the same time, Davidsson had said earlier that one rider would be declared on Monday and on Hancock’s Instagram account he said he was flying out from Los Angeles, “Showtime! Been awhile, but it’s time to fly again”, he wrote alongside a picture of the inside of an airplane posted on Instagram. Is he flying for work or pleasure? To a place in the US or to Sweden to sign a contract with Motala? No one knows…
In others news
Hällstavik Rospiggarna have also said they will announce a new rider tomorrow, whilst the last few days have also seen Eskilstuna Smederna and Avesta Masarna sign their last 0.500+ riders. The latter team extended their contract with Russian, Vadim Tarasenko whilst the 2019 champions signed Krystian Pieszczek who had seven matches with Kumla Indianerna in the year that has just gone. However, 2019 was dominated by the Premiership for the Pole, where he raced the entire season for runners up, Ipswich Witches.
