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:

1. Thomasz Gapinski (POL) 1.467
2. Josh Grajczonek (AUS) 1.458
3. Grzegorz Walasek (POL) 1.349
4. Jonas Davidsson (SWE) 0.840
5. 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.

With just days to go before the Elitserien clubs must report their 2020 line up to the Swedish Motorsports Union, SVEMO, today has seen two more heavyweight signings here in Sweden.

Kai Huckenbeck (GER) to Hallstavik Rospiggarna

First, up and coming German rider, Kai Huckenbeck will race his second season in Sweden, but this time with Rospiggarna.

He had a great season first year with Motala Piraterna and picked up a 1.286 heat average. The Hallstavik club were particularly impressed with his performance on their home track when Piraterna travelled to meet Rospiggarna last year. He collected 11 points that night and beat Swedish legend, Andreas "AJ" Jonsson three times during the meeting on the very same track that will host the Swedish SGP next year.

The 26 year old was also part of the Brokstedt team that won the Bundesliga in his native Germany.

On the international circuit in 2019 he participated in the Speedway of Nations final for Germany, the European Championship (SEC) as well as having the chance to race in the German SGP as a wildcard in Teterow in August.

Rospiggarna also said that they would unveil their final heat leader on Monday who will complete the line up of a very different looking club from the team that spent the majority of last season at the bottom the table.

Peter Kildemand (DEN) to Motala Piraterna

Five One Racing suggested that Peter Kildemand (above) may return to the club he was with in 2017 as he had not re-signed with Västervik Speedway and Piraterna's manager, Daniel Davidsson, needed a quick solution to gather a team before the weekend. And today it was announced that Kildemand and Davidsson will be teammates again in 2020.

The 30 year old Dane had a difficult season in Sweden, collecting an average of 1.368, his worst total since 2012. But things were even worse in Poland's Ekstraliga for his club, Stal Gorzow. Despite being the team of world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik, they avoided relegation only by winning their play-in match against Ostrovia, from the Nice 1 League.

Kildemand had his worst ever season in Poland, with a heat average of just 0.893 and will ride for Gdansk in Poland League 2 in 2020 as a consequence. The Dane must have also been disappointed with his wildcard appearance in the SEC in Vojens where he only collected three points.

However, it was not all "doom and gloom" as he played a vital role in Team Fjelsted winning the Metal League in his native Denmark in a dramatic four team Superfinal in Slangerup.

And every cloud has a silver lining - his low average may have meant that Västervik did not want him, but it is a perfect solution for Motala, who need good riders quickly and the Dane will almost certainly improve on his 2019 performance. 2020 will also see the Dane return to the UK as he announced today that he will be joining Manchester based club, the Belle Vue Aces, in the Premiership.

Motala now have four confirmed riders - Pawel Przedpelski, Peter Kildemand, Andrzej Korpov and Henrik Bergström. But Davidsson also said that two more riders will be announced on Friday or Saturday and a final rider on Monday according to an interview with MVT newspaper. Jonas Davidsson is a dead-cert for the club and Greg Hancock cannot be discounted yet. That leaves at least one more place, but Daniel Davidsson has counted himself out of the team, saying he will only race in emergencies and instead focus on the management side of speedway racing.

On Monday, local newspaper, MVT interviewed Motala Piraterna's manager, Daniel Davidsson, who said that a couple of riders would be announced shortly. And today, at 13:00 hrs the paper announced that Henrik Bergström (SWE) and Andrzej Karpov (URK) have signed for the club, joining Pawel Przedpelski (POL).

Davidsson went onto to say that there are three more riders who have confirmed they will join the club, but he is waiting for signatures before announcing who they are.

One of them seems likely to be his younger brother, Jonas Davidsson. Daniel said on Monday that Jonas will ride for his home town club if he does participate ride in the Elitserien in 2020. In the same interview he did not deny that he himself also might be on the list of riders that SVEMO need to have by Sunday if Motala are to compete in the Elitserien next year.

The name Greg Hancock, appeared in both interviews and Davidsson confirmed he had talked with the four times world champion as well as talking to other riders "in other time-zones", which may indicate an Australian is on his way to the club.

Many would love to see Jaimon Lidsey, the Under 21 rider who rode to bronze with Jason Doyle and Max Fricke in the Speedway of Nations in 2019, come to Sweden after a year focused on racing with Fricke at Belle Vue Aces, in the UK Premiership.

19 year old Henrik Bergström comes in with an average of 0.500 and has mainly raced in Allsvenskan with an average of 1.161 placing him 36th in the riders' list for 2019.

32 year old Andrzej Karpov last rode in Sweden for Eskilstuna Smederna in their championship winning year of 2017 where he clocked up an impressive 1.846 heat average in three matches for the club. That same year he was also in Falubaz Zielona's squad in the Ekstraliga. However, he is pictured above riding for Hammarby for whom he rode a full season in 2011.

Piraterna will need the Ukrainian to find his top form again if they are to get to the Playoffs this year and he will also be racing for Krozno in Poland's League 2 in 2020.

With one week left until the Swedish teams must declare their riders and just four spaces left in the Elitserien, today's announcement from Gisveled Lejonen comes as a bit of surprise - Timo Lahti will remain at the club.

With a heat average of 1.358 the Finn who races on a Swedish licence in the Elitserien should not be in the team because they already have eight riders with averages over 0.500.

However, the team plan to exploit a change in the rules that will come in next year which allows teams to have three transfers during the season. One of their eight riders, not Lahti, will not be registered next week but remain on the roster and come in, somewhat like a substitute in football, whenever needed.

Lahti had been expected by many to return to Rospiggarna where he raced for four years before moving to Gisveled in 2018.

See www.lejonen.se for more details (in Swedish).

Daniel Davidsson has until the end of November to sign a team that will represent the economically troubled Motala Piraterna in 2020.

But whilst no riders are yet confirmed, apart from Pawel Przedpelski, the 36 year old has said that Kai Huckenbeck will not be continuing at the club but has signed for another team.

There is still no word on whether American legend, Greg Hancock, will return and the only good news Daniel could give is that younger brother, Jonas Davidsson (pictured), could sign for the club. According to the interview in Motala’s local newspaper, MVT, Daniel himself could also be part of the squad.

Money is short and time is running out for Daniel Davidsson who said he had been in contact with at least 25 riders since last week when the board confirmed Piraterna would compete in the Elitserien in 2020 after over a month of speculation over the club’s economic survival.

Just wanted to 'fess up and say that in a couple of my articles around the teams for 2020 I have given incorrect figures for rider averages. I mistakenly quoted the point/ heat + bonus figure giving the riders' an overly high average.

The correct figures for 2020 can be found at SVEMO's site:

https://www.svemo.se/globalassets/speedway/dokumentcenter/ingangssnitt/underlag_for_berakning_av_snitt_elitserien_och_allsvenskan_infor_2020_v2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0RYakkvM_2Sn9UMaT4njLnpHznVty6N9i2l07a30_5J0RPIFSS0MIolYw

So for example, Jonas Davidsson (pictured), actually has a heat average of 0.840 where I quoted 1.041. A small difference, but it will affect Motala Piraterna where I expect he will be riding this year with his brother Daniel as manager as they rush to build their team by the end of the month.

What can I say? I love speedway and always try to give the best information, stories, facts and opinions. But, bloggers are human too! Maybe a reminder for us all to check our sources and remember that just because it's written on a website doesn't mean it's true! Hopefully, no harm done, but I value honesty so wanted to own up to my mistake.

Thanks to Thomas Johnsson for helping me out on the Piraterna Speedway (Supportersida) on Facebook to see that the figures were wrong and leading me to the SVEMO website.

The articles affected include:

https://sportbloggare.com/five-one-racing/elitserien-riders-without-a-club-for-2020

https://sportbloggare.com/five-one-racing/elitserien-who-wants-to-be-a-pirate-in-2020

Yesterday, Motala Piraterna announced that they will race in the Elitserien in 2020 after 1.5 months of uncertainty. So now 36 year old team captain, Daniel Davidsson, has just two weeks to gather a team for his hometown club.

But he can at least thank short-lived manager, Stefan Andersson Skill for signing Pawel Przedpelski, the only rider at the club at the moment.

The regulations say Davidsson must have at least two Swede in the team. That surely means younger brother Jonas Davidsson is a dead cert for the club and Daniel himself could also fill up the roster, even if in practice, he stays in the depot most of the time.

We will now find out whether all the talk about four times world champion, Greg Hancock (above) coming back to the club was just hype. If he does return it will be expensive for the club in both money and points. He last rode for Dackarna in 2018 with a whopping heat average of 2.227, but that does not leave much space for anyone else. If he does come the club will be extremely reliant on him. So, if the soon 50-year-old American gets injured Piraterna’s playoff place is almost certainly out of the question. Fortunately, relegation will be out of the question again this year so the club has a year to get itself in order.

If Hancock signs Davidsson will have no problem getting a team together. But even so, he is going to have to rely on people he knows and probably that means those who have ridden for the club before. Potential heat leaders could therefore include Piotr Pawlicki (1.933), Adrian Miedzinski (1.728) and Peter Kildemand (1.588) and who all are without a contract in Sweden at the time of writing. However, I think Kildemand is the most likely to return to Motala of the three with Pawlicki staying in Poland and Miedzinski remaining at Smederna.

Perhaps a more certain bet is German, Kai Huckenbeck. 2019 was his first year in Sweden and he performed well at Motala with a 1.500 average by the end of the season. He is also the only 2019 import team member not to sign with another club in Sweden. Does that mean he was holding out for things to get better at Piraterna or is he negotiating with another club, such as Rospiggarna?

Another familiar face at Dunteberget is Joel Larsson, from their Allsvenskan team, VIP Speedway. He also was in the Piraterna's squad in 2016 and has ridden in the Elitserien since 2010 for both Dackarna and Västervik. He was signed with Västervik in 2019 but only rode 2 matches with them in the Vetlanda Cup collecting a 1.375 average. But his teammate at that event, Daniel Henderson, has just signed for Indianerna with a 0.500 average, which would be much favourable for the Piraterna team building.

My hypothetical Piraterna’s team for 2020:

1. Greg Hancock (USA) 2.227

2. Pawel Przedpelski (POL) 1.720

3. Peter Kildemand (DEN) 1.588

4. Kai Hukenbeck (GER) 1.500

5. Jonas Davidsson (SWE) 1.041

6. Daniel Davidsson (SWE) 0.980

7. Joel Larsson (SWE) 0.500

On Monday 11 November, Motala and Vadstena newspaper (MVT) reported that Piraterna were in a discussion with a sponsor who would give the club 600 000 SEK (c. 56,000 EUR) in a three-year deal that would allow them to be the stadium’s sponsor. But a final decision will not come until next week.

Then on Tuesday evening the paper announced that the club will be racing in the Elitserien in 2020

The club's chairman, Yngve Rylander, said “we don’t have all the money, but we do have enough promised that we can make the decision to race next season”. And that doesn't include the 600 000 SEK they might receive from the company that might sponsor the stadium.

Now new team manager, Daniel Davidsson, (photo) has just two weeks to get a team together. "It is not how I wanted to start to team leader. But now it is about getting on with it". He said he would probably spend the whole of today (Wednesday) on the phone to potential riders.

Whether four times world champion, Greg Hancock, is one of them remains to be seen.

The Gold medal winning team has also retained the core of its team. Michael Jepsen Jensen, Andzejs Lebedevs, Linus Eklöf and Pontus Aspgren have been a part of all three Swedish championship winning titles. Meanwhile Gleb Chungnov remains after coming to the team mid-season and almost singlehandedly leading the team to their 2019 triumph with fantastic runs in semis and finals.

Replacing Fredrik Lindgren (above) is an almost impossible task, but Smederna have made a good choice in Niels-Kristian Iversen. Like the Swede, the Dane is an SGP rider and was previously at the club when they won the Swedish championship in 2018.

Gleb Chugonov 1.817
Niels - Kristian Iversen 1.812
Michael Jepsen Jensen 1.748
Andzejs Lebedevs 1.556
Aleksandr Loktaev 1.000
Pontus Aspgren 1.439
Linus Eklöf 0.842

1 RIDER TO COME

It will be a new look Rospiggarna that starts the 2020 season. Both Gleb Chungnov and Robert Lambert left the club before the season was over, Andreas Jonsson has gone into retirement and the Australian SGP riders Jason Doyle and Max Fricke have signed for new clubs. But there are also changes in the boardroom as chairman Stefan Gunstad stepped down this week with immediate effect.

The team will be built around triple World Champion, Nicki Pedersen who has signed from Västervik in a two-way transfer that sees Doyle move southwards.

Rospiggarna still have three signings and upto 3.6 points to play with and it will be interesting to see who the former world champion will attract to the team -maybe fellow Dane, Peter Kildemand who rode with him at Västervik? And/ or Nicolai Klindt who rode with Pedersen and Rasmus Jensen (pictured) in Danish Metal League team, Holsted Tigers in 2019.

Amazingly, Jensen is the only remaining rider from the top six scorers in Hallstavik last year so it seems there will be a completely new team in red and white for the fans to follow in 2020.

Nicki Pedersen 2.026
Rasmus Jensen 1.489
Andrei Kudrashow 1.250

Ryan Douglas 1,250
Tomas Hjelm Jonasson 1.100
Daniel Bewley 1.000

2 RIDERS TO COME