Christoffer Nyman har haft stora skadeproblem denna säsong. Men mot Östersund slog han till med både sitt andra och tredje mål för säsongen. Segern blev Norrköpings efter 3-0.

Inget annat än seger mot Östersund var förväntningarna inför söndagens hemmamatch. Så blev det också. IFK Norrköping såg redan tidigt ut att vara det bättre laget på planen, men bjöd emellanåt Östersund på flera farliga målchanser.

Men sedan kom det. 1-0 efter 15 minuter. Viktige Christoffer Nyman var framme och petade in passningen från Samuel Adegbenro.

Matchen styrdes av Norrköping och det var också Peking som skulle sätta andra målet i matchen. Jonathan Levi med en retur efter en hörna. Pang, och 2-0.

I det stora hela en stabil insats, mot ett svagt Östersund.

Till sist 3-0. Christoffer Nyman med ännu ett enkelt mål, där inhoppare Kristoffer Khazeni stod för en fin assist.

Europaspel fortfarande långt borta

Tre viktiga poäng för att få lite häng på toppen, men fortfarande långt efter. Om man nu kan kalla sju poäng efter trean och fyran för långt efter.

Sexa i tabellen efter att Kalmar torskat mot Elfsborg. Annars är avståndet till AIK, Elfsborg och Hammarby oförändrat. Man knappa dock in på Djurgården och Malmö, som bägge två förlorade sina matcher i helgen.

Christian Hägg - som har två raka säsonger i Almtunas organisation bakom sig - drar till Norge.

Det blir spel i Comet Halden, som huserar i andraligan.

Den 28-årige forwarden har skrivit på ett kontrakt för en säsong.

Hägg är bokförd för tio poäng på 73 matcher i HockeyAllsvenskan (Västerås i övrigt).

Gimo-produkten gjorde 25 allsvenska bataljer i fjol och hann även med en utlåningssejour i Hockeyettan-laget Arlanda, där han öste in poäng.

Jakub Jamrog, was 30 year old this summer and is originally from Tarnow in Poland. But in 2021 he is racing with Gdansk in eWinner 1.

Back at his home track, in the very first heat of the 2021 season, he was fenced by veteran, Niels Kristian Iversen, as the two took the checkered flag. The result was a crash (See the clip from You Tube) where both ended up in an enormous heap, dust, bikes and all about 30 metres after the finishing line.

However, it was the Dane who was worse off as he fractured his shoulder blade so that he was forced to miss the first month of the 2021 seasons. By contrast, the younger Jamrog seemed to be unaffected by the dramatic looking tumble. He got back on his bike, score 11+1 and help his Gdansk team to victory and has continued to do so all year.

But it is not just Poland where the 30 year old has been racing, "this season I am racing all meetings in Sweden and Poland, so I am happy. I love to race alot and having many races", he says with broken English and a smile.

Two years ago he was with Vetlanda (see picture), but this year he has raced every single match for Motala Piraterna in Sweden. That's 13 so far and he has clocked up a 1.690 heat average, making him the second highest scorer in the club behind fellow Pole, Oskar Fajfer.

And whilst the club are firmly anchored at the bottom of the table with just one point this season, Jamrog is still please with his own individual performance, "I am feeling really well about my own racing in Motala and Gdansk," he tells us, "But I do not like the separation from my wife and two boys as I spend much time away in travel, etc.," he says pointing out a common problem for professional speedway riders.

And maybe being closer to his family means that his results in Poland are better than abroad. In his home country he has also raced in every one of Gdansk's 14 meetings this year. And whilst there, as in Sweden, is the team's second best scorer, for Gdansk he has an impressive average of 2.029 putting him in 13th place on the overall classification. In fact, he is just 0.044 points behind Motala teammate, Fajfer, in 12th and who races for rivals, Gneizno.

But in contrast to Fajfer, only Jamrog will be in the playoffs this year and his team face Krosno Wolves in the semi finals, "I am hoping that the best things this season are in front of me, in the playoffs," he says hopefully.

And he and the team have every reason to be confident, even if they finished fourth, whilst the Wolves were first in the table at the end of the regular season. That's because Gdansk beat the league leaders both home and away as well as taking the bonus point, 96:84. And Jamrog put up good numbers in both those matches, scoring 11+1 at home and 8+1 in Krosno.

The prospect of getting to League 1 final means that the Tarnow born rider is not thinking about the future, "I don't think about plans for 2022," he tells us, "the season is not over and so I only focus on my races," he says with a determined tone.

So, we will have to see whether he remains at strugglers Motala in 2022 or whether he might return to the UK, where he raced in 2015 with Coventry. Regardless of Gdansk's success, the 30 year old will be hoping for a return to the Ekstraliga where he raced with Wroclaw in 2019 and Lublin in 2020. And a good run in the playoffs might be the best advert for his skills before the 2022 contracts signing gets underway in the winter months.

Hubert Legowik is a 26 year old Polish rider who races with Rzeszow in the Polish League 2, the club of Australian veteran, Sam Masters and Danish U21 World Championship representative in 2020, Tim Sörensen.

But this year he has also raced in Sweden in Allsvenskan, the country's second division. Legowik has been part of Smålänningarna, a new outfit that is the development team shared by both Målilla Dackarna and Gislaved Lejonen, but formerly based at the latter club (see picture).

We catch up with him as the regular season comes to an end in both Poland and Sweden and neither of his clubs will be playing the post-season.

The Pole tells us that he found it hard going when the season kicked off in the spring, "It was difficult season for me, 'cause before it I change everything in my equipment. I sold out every engine and all my stuff to buy a new one. I had to find new setups and understand how it works".

But his results seem to prove the process, though hard, was a success. In Poland he finished with a heat average of 1.900 (including bonuses) which put him in 18th position on the individual rankings. In Sweden, however, he took 2.231 (excluding bonuses) placing him in tenth, just 0.30 points behind Sörensen, who raced for rivals, Norrköping Vargarna.

The experience of riding in Sweden was one of his highlights of 2021, "I believe this league is, for me, a chance to show my ride for more people," he says with an upbeat tone, "Riding in Sweden is so nice. Tracks are grippy like I love, not slick like in Poland. We can make great races and, for sure, it is a more chill atmosphere," he says about his season with Smålänningarna, "It is a priority for me to be in Bauhaus Ligan next year and maybe Denmark too," he reveals.

In Poland, Rzeszow finished the season on the same amount of points as Lokamotiv Daugavpils. However, the Latvian club finished in fourth and get to go to the playoffs whereas Stal have finished their season by coming fifth. That's because they lost the last match of the season in Daugavpils.

"The team was not regular as the start of the season and we lost three bonuses for this reason," but, he tells us, personally, he has finished the season with a smile on his face, "I think it was a good season for me. I rode regular and I was one of the [heat] leaders for the team," he says satisfied.

Of course, many foriegn riders dream of racing in Poland. But for Legowik who has grown up there, he can also see the advantages in other countries, "in Poland there is too many things to remember, but in Sweden speedway and races is on first place -it should be like that everywhere!" he concludes.

The 26 year old has made a great contribution to his teams' season in both Poland and Sweden. And if he gets his way, we should be seeing a lot more of the Polish rider in Scandinavia in the years to come.

Allsvenskan, Sweden's second division of Swedish speedway, finished it's regular season with no less than five matches in four days so they could start the playoffs as scheduled next Wednesday 1 September.

About Allsvenskan

The league is made up of six teams, three of which are individual clubs in their own right (Nyköping Griparna, Hagfors Valsarna and Norrköping Vargarna) and three which are development teams run by sides in the Elitserien - Kumla Indianerna B, Team Rapid (Smederna) and Smålänningarna (Dackarna and Lejonen). There was no Allsvenskan last year because of the Coronavirus and for the third year in a row there will be no promotion to the league above this season.

Apart from the entertainment value, the league primarily exists to give Swedish riders who are not racing outside Sweden a chance for greater track time. However, there are a number of foreign riders, mainly juniors, who are wanting to get more experience outside their country of origin.

The 2021 season

This year's 10 Rounds finished with the top three teams separated by just one point. It was Valsarna who took the title with a home win on Monday when they beat the current champions Griparna at home in Hagfors in front of 751 fans. This was the third time this season they have had over 700 at the ground, easily making them the best supported club in the league where average attendence is currently 284.

The team’s top riders are Victor Palovaara (2.381, 5th overall), Tomas H Jonasson (2.240, 9th) and Swedish U21 World Championship rider, Alexander Woentin (1.824, 15th).

Both Jonasson and Woentin rider with Motala Piraterna in the Elitserien and have also raced 9 matches in Poland this year. Woentin has been an injury replacement at Tarnow in League 1, whilst Jonasson has been in League 2 with Daugavpils.

However, 27 year old Palovaara has not raced outside Sweden since 2018 but is currently signed with Vetlanda, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Dominik Kubera's club in Sweden.

Valsarna’s recent signing, 18 year British rider, Leon Flint is an exciting addition to the club. In three matches he has made an excellent contribution to the side and sits just behind teammate, Woentin, in the individual standings with a 1.750 average.

However, the league's top rider is Griparna's Kim Nilsson (pictured racing this year for his Elitserien club, Hallstavik Rospiggarna). The 31 year old is almost unbeaten in 10 league matches with an incredible average of 2.849. It means he and has only dropped 8 points all season and that does not include bonus points, as is the practice in the Swedish leagues. He was reserve for the recent, SGP in Målilla and has also race a couple of matches at the beginning of the season for troubled Tarnow.

As well as Swedes, the top ten in the individual league includes three internationals who race in Poland - Grudziadz's 22 year old, Norbert Krakowiak (Indianerna) and two riders from League 2's Rzeszow - 26 year old, Hubert Legowik (Smålänningarna, see interview) and 22 year old Dane, Tim Sörensen (Vargarna).

Semifinals

The semifinals will now take place starting on 1st September with the return match the following week.

League winners Valsarna surprised Swedish speedway fans by choosing to take on Nilsson's Griparna who finished third, instead of Eskilstuna Team Rapid who finished in fourth place a total of four points behind the league leaders.

That leave the other match as Kumla Indianerna against the Eskilstuna squad who were runners up in the last final in 2019.

The teams have been very even so far. so it really is anyone's guess how the playoffs will finish by the end of September.

6. Alexander Ytterell, HV71

Hårdsatsande HV71 har ett högkaratigt lag med många profiler i ett allsvenskt perspektiv. Skottstarke Alexander Ytterell tillhör utan tvivel den skaran. Smålänningen kommer inte minst bli betydelsefull i offensiven - bland annat i powerplaysammanhang.

7. Nichlas Torp, HV71

Ytterligare en tung HV71-pjäs med en hel del erfarenhet från spel högre upp i seriesystemet. Den rutinerade backklippan får ta en stor defensiv roll i Jönköpingslaget och blir en viktig kugge i jakten på en snabb SHL-återkomst.

8. Henrik Larsson, Bik Karlskoga

"Kingen" är tillbaka i Bik Karlskoga. Henrik Larssons kreativitet inger respekt. Det är ingen tillfällighet att 26-åringen exempelvis har fått chansen i SHL tidigare i karriären. En spelare som mycket väl hade kunnat placera sig högre i den här rankingen. En smaksak. Det finns väldigt många vassa backar i HockeyAllsvenskan och konkurrensen är stenhård.

9. Emil Wahlberg, Modo

Öviksklubben jagar revansch efter förra säsongens fiasko och har något rätt så lovande på gång. Det beror delvis på värvningen av Emil Wahlberg. En "late bloomer" som är en solid allroundback i allsvenska sammanhang.

10. Alexander Lindelöf, Tingsryd

Tingsryd har åkt på ett antal tunga spelaravbräck, men å andra sidan även värvat rätt så tongivande. Alexander Lindelöf utgör ett av de vassaste namnen i sammanhanget. Den SHL-meriterade 25-åringen kommer i första hand bli en kugge för Taif i offensiven på backsidan.