title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: On Monday 12 August 2019, flags in Sarov were lowered to half-staff during the viewing of five coffins in Sarov's main square. These were the bodies of five Rosatom (RFNC-VNIIEF) workers who were killed during and immediately following the 8 August 2019 explosion. Later, on 12 August 2019, their bodies were buried in Sarov's main cemetery. On 21 November 2019, they were posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.


title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: Yuri Peshkov from the Roshidromet, the Russian meteorology service, stated that background radiation levels peaked at 4-16 times normal levels at six of its eight stations in Severodvinsk, to the east, reaching 1.78 microsieverts per hour shortly after the explosion, but returned to normal levels 2.5 hours after the explosion. The administration in Severodvinsk reported elevated radiation levels for 40 minutes leading to a rush on medical iodine. In the days following the event several monitoring stations in Russia stopped sending data to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), a data network for radiation monitoring made of 80 stations around the world.


title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: According to the information posted by Roshydromet on radiation situation in Severodvinsk in the hours following the accident, a number of short-lived isotopes were discovered: strontium-91, barium-139, barium-140 and lanthanum-140. Norwegian nuclear safety expert Nils Bøhmer stated that such isotope composition proves a nuclear reactor was involved in the accident.


title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: On 2 September, Belomorkanal news agency published a video showcasing two abandoned pontoons near the mouth of where the empties into the Dvina Bay only 4 km from the center of Nyonoksa, with one of them carrying an array of heavily damaged testing equipment. According to Nyonoksa residents, the first pontoon "PP PP Plant No. 2" () with two blue containers washed ashore on 9 August and the heavily damaged second pontoon with a damaged crane, a blue container and a yellow container similar to a Siempelkamp container for highly radioactive materials was towed by tugboats to a site near the first pontoon about five days after the explosion. The video by Severodvinsk journalist Nikolai Karneyevich () demonstrates gamma radiation levels at from the abandoned vessels on the White Sea shore close to Nyonoksa with the reading reaching 186 μR/hour - 15 times higher than natural. Nyonoksa residents said that just days prior to the 31 August measurements, the gamma ray radiation levels were 750 μR/hour at the same location. Alpha and beta radiation levels have not been measured. , the site has been neither enclosed nor guarded and no radiation warning signs have been observed.


title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: Over away, tiny amounts of radioactive iodine, which were collected from 9–12 August, were detected at an air filter station in Svanhovd by Norway's nuclear safety authority. The agency could not determine if the detection was linked to the accident, and, according to Reuters, such iodine measurements were not unusual as monitoring stations in Norway detected radioactive iodine about six to eight times a year and also were usually unable to determine the source of the isotope.


title: Nyonoksa radiation accident

text: According to the local press, it was announced that about 450 inhabitants of the Nyonoksa village had to be evacuated by train for two hours on 14 August then this evacuation would have been canceled. According to "The Moscow Times" quoting RIA Novosti, residents of Nyonoksa will be evacuated each month by special train for two hours (early Wednesday morning) for planned military activities in the city; evacuation that according to a villager already exists: "it is expected, everyone is taken from the village about once a month, even if some remained behind. But now, after the last events, I think everyone will leave." The governor of the Arkhangelsk region (Igor Orlov) denied that the evacuation was an emergency, saying it was a routine measure, already "planned".


title: Environmental disaster

text: An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity. This point distinguishes environmental disasters from other disturbances such as natural disasters and intentional acts of war such as nuclear bombings.


title: Environmental disaster

text: Environmental disasters show how the impact of humans' alteration of the land has led to widespread and/or long-lasting consequences. These disasters have included deaths of wildlife, humans and plants, or severe disruption of human life or health, possibly requiring migration.


title: Environmental disaster

text: Environmental disasters historically have affected agriculture, biodiversity including wildlife, the economy and human health. The most common causes include pollution that seeps into groundwater or a body of water, emissions into the atmosphere and depletion of natural resources, industrial activity or agricultural practices.


title: Environmental disaster

text: A 2013 report examined the relationship between disasters and poverty world-wide. It concludes that, without concerted action, there could be upwards of 325 million people living in the 49 countries most exposed to the full range of natural hazards and climate extremes in 2040.


title: Environmental disaster

text: According to author Daniel Murphy, different groups of people are able to adapt to environmental disasters differently due to social factors such as age, race, class, gender, and nationality. Murphy argues that while developed countries with access to resources that can help mitigate environmental disasters are often the countries that contribute the most to factors that can increase the risk of said disasters, developing countries experience the impacts of environmental disasters more intensely than their wealthier counterparts. It is often the case that the populations that do not contribute to climate change are not only in geographic location that experience more environmental disasters, but also have fewer resources to mitigate the impact of the disasters. For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005, many scientists argued that climate change had increased the severity of the hurricane. Although the majority of the U.S. emissions that can contribute to climate change come from industry and transport, the people who were hardest-hit by Katrina were not the heads of large companies within the country. Rather, the poor black communities within Louisiana were the most devastated by the hurricane, despite not contributing as heavily to factors like climate change that likely increased the severity of Hurricane Katrina. ()


title: Environmental disaster

text: There have been many attempts throughout recent years to mitigate the impact of environmental disasters. Environmental disaster is caused by human activity, so many believe that such disasters can be prevented or have their consequences curbed by human activity as well. Efforts to attempt mitigation are evident in cities such as Miami, Florida, in which houses along the coast are built a few feet off of the ground in order to decrease the damage caused by rising tides due to rising sea-levels. Although mitigation efforts such as those found in Miami might be effective in the short-term, many environmental groups are concerned with whether or not mitigation provides long-term solutions to the consequences of environmental disaster.


title: Heterokont

text: Heterokonts are a group of protists (formally referred to as Heterokonta, Heterokontae or Heterokontophyta). The group is a major line of eukaryotes. Most are algae, ranging from the giant multicellular kelp to the unicellular diatoms, which are a primary component of plankton. Other notable members of the Stramenopiles include the (generally) parasitic oomycetes, including "Phytophthora", which caused the Great Famine of Ireland, and "Pythium", which causes seed rot and damping off.


title: Heterokont

text: The name "heterokont" refers to the type of motile life cycle stage, in which the flagellated cells possess two differently arranged flagella (see zoospore).


title: Heterokont

text: In 1899, Alexander Luther created the term "Heterokontae" for some algae with unequal flagella, today called Xanthophyceae. Later, some authors (e.g., Copeland, 1956) included other groups in Heterokonta, expanding the name's sense. The term continues to be applied in different ways, leading to Heterokontophyta being applied also to the phylum Ochrophyta. The term 'Stramenopile' was introduced in 1989 by Patterson to overcome ambiguities that had (and continue to be) developed with the use of the term 'heterokont'. Consequently, heterokonts may be referred to as stramenopiles.


title: Heterokont

text: The term 'heterokont' first emerged in the context of 19th century phycology. Over time, the scope of application has changed; especially when in the 1970's as ultrastructural studies revealed greater diversity among the algae with chromoplasts (= chlorophylls a and c) than had previously been recognized. At the same time, a protistological perspective was replacing the 19th century one based on the division of unicellular eukaryotes along inappropriate botanical/zoological lines. One consequence was that an array of heterotrophic organisms, many of which had not been previously considered as 'heterokonts' were seen as being related to the 'core heterokonts' (i.e. those having anterior flagella with stiff hairs). Newly recognized relatives included the parasitic opalines, proteromonads, and actinophryid heliozoa. They joined other heterotrophic protists, such as bicosoecids, labyrinthulids, and oomycete fungi, that were included by some as heterokonts and excluded by others. Rather than continue to use a name whose meaning had changed over time and was hence ambiguous, the name 'stramenopile' was introduced to refer to the clade of protists that had tripartite stiff (usually flagellar) hairs and all their descendents. Molecular studies confirm that the genes that code for the proteins of these hairs are exclusive to stramenopiles. As the concept of 'Stramenopile' is based on a presumed apomorphy, it is stable and robust even when its composition changes. There is a widespread presumption, as here, that the terms 'stramenopile' and 'heterokont' are synonyms. They are not because they are defined differently and despite compositional overlap, most applications of the names imply differing compositions.


title: Heterokont

text: Many heterokonts are unicellular flagellates, and most others produce flagellated cells at some point in their lifecycles, for instance as gametes or zoospores. The name heterokont now refers to the characteristic form of these cells, which typically have two unequal flagella. The anterior flagellum is covered with one or two rows of lateral hairs or mastigonemes, which are tripartite (i.e. with a flexible basal insertion, a stiff hollow component, and tipped with fine delicate hairs), while the posterior flagellum is smooth, and usually shorter, or sometimes reduced to a basal body. The flagella are inserted subapically or laterally, and are usually supported by four microtubule roots in a distinctive pattern. Opalines have many rows of flagella that do not have flagellar hairs. They are closely related to endosymbiotic proteromonad flagellates some of which have tripartite hairs extending from the body surface.


title: Heterokont

text: Mastigonemes are manufactured from glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum before being transported to the anterior flagellar surface. When the hairy flagellum beats, the stiff mastigonemes are forced backwards and this creates a retrograde current, pulling the cell through the water or bringing in food.


title: Heterokont

text: The term mastigonemes refers to various types of flagellar hairs, but those of stramenopiles have a distinctive structure. It was treated as the evolutionary innovation that defined the stramenopiles, and although not initially so, it is increasingly treated as the defining characteristic of the heterokonts. Mastigonemes have been lost in a few heterkont lines, most notably the diatoms, opalines, and actinphryid heliozoa.


title: Heterokont

text: Many heterokonts are algae with chloroplasts surrounded by four membranes, which are counted from the outermost to the innermost membrane. The first membrane is continuous with the host's chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum, or cER. The second membrane presents a barrier between the lumen of the cER and the primary endosymbiont or chloroplast, which represents the next two membranes, within which the thylakoid membranes are found. This arrangement of membranes has led to the hypothesis that heterokont chloroplasts were obtained from the reduction of a symbiotic red algal eukaryote, which had arisen by evolutionary divergence from the monophyletic primary endosymbiotic ancestor that is thought to have given rise to all eukaryotic photoautotrophs. The chloroplasts characteristically contain chlorophyll a and chlorophyll c, and usually the accessory pigment fucoxanthin, giving them a golden-brown or brownish-green colour. Because of this colour, they are referred to as 'chromoplasts' distinguishing them from chlorophyll B containing plastids of green algae, their descendants the higher plants, and euglenids.


title: Heterokont

text: Most basal heterokonts are colorless. This suggests that they diverged before the acquisition of chloroplasts within the group. However, fucoxanthin-containing chloroplasts are also found among the haptophytes. This led to hypotheses that all organisms with chlorophyll a/c containing chloroplasts have a common phylogenetic history with cryptomonads, and should be taxonomically grouped as the Chromista. Molecular studies do not confirm that the stramenopiles, haptophytes, and cryptomonads are sister taxa. The current consensus is that the ancestral stramenopiles / heterokonts were heterotrophic and acquired chloroplasts after their defining feature (the tripartite hairs) appeared.


title: Heterokont

text: As noted above, classification varies considerably. Originally, the heterokont algae was used only for Xanthophytes. The concept morphed to include more lineages and considered by some as part of the kingdom Plantae and later, by others, as within the Protista. An example is:


title: Heterokont

text: In this scheme, the Chrysophyceae is conceived of a very extensive group (Chrysophyte "sensu lato") that was paraphyletic - as the diatoms and brown algae evolved from within the chrysophytes. Over time, various lineages have been given their own classes and often divisions. Recent systems often treat these as classes within a single division, called the Heterokontophyta, Chromophyta, or Ochrophyta. This is not universal, however; Round "et al." treat the diatoms as a division.


title: Heterokont

text: The discovery that oomycetes and hyphochytrids are related to these algae, rather than fungi, as previously thought, has led many authors to include these two groups among the heterokonts. Should it turn out that they evolved from colored ancestors, the heterokont group would be paraphyletic in their absence. Once again, however, usage varies. David J. Patterson named this extended group the stramenopiles, characterized by the presence of tripartite mastigonemes, mitochondria with tubular cristae, and open mitosis. He used the stramenopiles as a prototype for a classification without Linnaean rank. Their composition has been essentially stable, but their use within ranked systems varies.


title: Heterokont

text: Thomas Cavalier-Smith treats the heterokonts as identical in composition with the stramenopiles; this is the definition followed here. He has proposed placing them in a separate kingdom, the Chromalveolata, together with the haptophytes, cryptomonads, and alveolates. This is one of the most common revisions to the five-kingdom system, but has not been adopted, because Chromalveolata is not a monophyletic group. A few treat the Chromalveolata as identical in composition with the heterokonts, or list them as a kingdom Stramenopila.


title: Heterokont

text: Some sources divide the heterokonts into the autotrophic Ochrophyta and heterotrophic Bigyra and Pseudofungi. However, some modifications to these classifications have been suggested.


title: Heterokont

text: The name Heterokonta can be confused with the (much older) name Heterokontae, which is generally equivalent to the Xanthophyceae, a limited subset of the Heterokonta.


title: Heterokont

text: The simplified classification of the group according to Adl "et al." (2012), in which heterokonts (using the term Stramenopiles) are part of a larger clade that embraces Alveolates and Rhizaria, is:


title: Casement window

text: A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a casement stay. Windows hinged at the top are referred to as awning windows, and ones hinged at the bottom are called hoppers.


title: Casement window

text: Throughout Britain and Ireland, casement windows were common before the sash window was introduced. They were usually metal with leaded glass, which refers to glass panes held in place with strips of lead called cames (leaded glass should not be confused with lead glass, which refers to the manufacture of the glass itself).


title: Casement window

text: By the start of the Victorian era, opening casements and frames were constructed from timber in their entirety. The windows were covered by functional exterior shutters, which opened outward. Variants of casement windows are still the norm in many European countries.


title: Casement window

text: They are sometimes opened with a crank, lever, or cam handle, which is placed around hand height or at the bottom and serves as a window lock. A crank, stay, or friction hinge is necessary when the window opens outward, to hold the window in position despite wind.


title: Casement window

text: Often, the glass panes are set in a rabbeted frame and sealed with beveled putty or glazing compound to secure the glass.


title: Casement window

text: The hinging of casement windows is referred to using the following abbreviations: FCL refers to a left-handed window, where the hinges are located on the left and the locking mechanism is on the right. FCR is a right-handed window with the hinges on the right and the locking mechanism on the left. These definitions apply to a window when looking at it from the exterior ("from curb" or FC). In some countries architectural diagrams of casement windows show a dashed triangle with the hinged side identified by the point of the triangle (e.g. USA), while in others they point to the lever, showing a simplified perspective of the opened window (e.g. Hungary, Germany). Furthermore in some countries (e.g. Hungary, Germany) diagrams also make distinction between windows opening inwards (dashed line) or outwards (solid line). FCL windows feature a triangle pointing to the left; FCR windows have a triangle pointing to the right. Casement windows design also allow for ease of cleaning energy efficiency.


title: Casement window

text: Casement windows, including awning and hopper types, "generally have lower air leakage rates than sliding windows because the sash closes by pressing against the frame."


title: Casement window

text: Casement windows are also excellent for natural ventilation strategies, especially in hot climates. Casements allow more control of ventilation than flush-opening windows. They can be hinged to open outward and angled in order to direct breezes into the building.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: John Glynn Edwards (2 February 1931 – 23 May 2018) was a British television and cinema character actor, who came to national prominence for his portrayal of the barman Dave Harris in the 1970s–1990s British television comedy-drama "Minder".


title: Glynn Edwards

text: Edwards was born in Penang, Peninsular Malaysia, on 2 February 1931. His father, who spent little time on him, was a rubber planter at the time of his birth and died later in 1946. His mother died shortly after his birth and he was raised first by his grandparents in Southsea, Hampshire, and then by his father and stepmother, who ran a pub in Salisbury, Wiltshire.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: He received his early formal education at Clayesmore School in Dorset. In his childhood he read Arthur Ransome's adventure novel "Swallows and Amazons", which gave him a life-long passion for river-boating, which began with sailing expeditions along the River Avon in his tenth year.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: As a teenager he was an amateur actor, before going to Trinidad where he worked first as a sugar farmer, but having decided that his father's life of plantation farming wasn't for him, he found employment as assistant stage manager and compere of calypso shows for tourists. After returning to England he spent a year at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London, and was then hired as a stage manager at the King’s Theatre in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: Edwards trained professionally as an actor with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshopat the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, appearing in its productions of "The Good Soldier Švejk" and two plays by Brendan Behan, "The Quare Fellow" and "The Hostage", all of which transferred from the Theatre Royal Stratford East to the West End. He also appeared in that company's production of Lionel Bart's musical version of Frank Norman's play "Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be", opposite Miriam Karlin and Barbara Windsor. He had been spotted by Littlewood herself, who had been in the audience at one of the performances of a successful play he had produced entitled "The Call of the Flesh", which featured Yootha Joyce in an early role.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: In 1964 he appeared in the role of Corporal William Allen, V.C. in Cy Endfield's cinema film "Zulu", having opted for the part over another offer of a role in Joan Littlewood's stage show "Oh! What a Lovely War". He later said: "I earned 10 times as much money from (later in his career) advertising Bran Flakes as I did from the movie "Zulu"."


title: Glynn Edwards

text: From the 1970s to the 1990s, he played the role of Dave Harris, the part-owner and barman of the Winchester Club in ten series of the ITV hit drama "Minder".


title: Glynn Edwards

text: He also appeared in bit parts in numerous British television shows in the 1970s and '80s, including "Callan", "The Professionals", "Public Eye", "Spindoe", "Steptoe and Son", "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", "Dixon of Dock Green", "Man About the House", "Softly, Softly" and "The Saint".


title: Glynn Edwards

text: He was a regular in two series of the ITV legal drama "The Main Chance" (1972, 1975). He played supporting roles in the cinema films "Robbery" (1967), and the criminal underworld film "Get Carter" (1971).


title: Glynn Edwards

text: During his career Edwards played a number of sinister characters, particularly that of 'Mr Dix', a schoolteacher in the early-1970s sitcom "Please Sir!", and a menacing gamekeeper in ITV's "Thriller" (1973), and was often cast either as policemen or criminals.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: In 1985, he appeared in the rock music band Marillion's music video for its single release "Heart of Lothian", in which he played a barman, and starred in a popular TV commercial for McVitie's rich tea biscuits as "Jacko", saying, "Yeah, I'll make a statement. A drink's too wet without one!"


title: Glynn Edwards

text: His first wife was the actress Yootha Joyce, who also trained at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. They were married from 1956 to 1969. After their divorce, he married the former "Benny Hill Show" performer Christine Pilgrim, the marriage producing a son, Thomas (b. 1971). From the 1980s, he was married to Valerie Edwards.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: Edwards retained a lifelong interest in river boating, owning several vessels, and during the 1980s and 1990s he resided on a 40ft-long canal boat converted into a houseboat, named "Winchester" after the fictional private members' bar that he had run in the "Minder" television series, which was permanently moored on the south bank of the River Thames, at Thames Ditton and Surbiton.


title: Glynn Edwards

text: Edwards retired from acting following the end of "Minder" in 1994, and in his final years divided his time between living in Spain and Scotland.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Johanna Charlotte Wessels (born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as the former lead vocalist for the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Wessels has been trained in both jazz singing and classical singing. She was first trained in jazz, but later, her instructor suggested classical singing to her. However, Wessels has stated that she found classical training to be very restrictive, and so she likes to do something "in between the classical and the jazz stuff, and if you look at classical music with high vocal lines, then you kind of get to gothic very soon!"


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: She joined a gothic metal band named To Elysium around the age of fifteen or sixteen. She mentions in an interview that her parents had to sign a contract because she was still underage.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Wessels became involved with Delain in 2004 when she met Martijn Westerholt formerly of Within Temptation. Since the band was meant to be a studio project only, Westerholt asked if she could write some lyrics and vocalize. She thought it was going to be a one-time thing. In 2005 they signed a deal with Roadrunner Records. She was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: She departed the band in February 2021, with Delain reforming as a solo musical project of Martijn Westerholt as well as announcing that she would be launching a solo career. In Wessels' statement on her departure, she wished the other departing members and the fans well:


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: In May 2021 during an interview, she reflected on her departure from Delain in February, stating that she was grateful that she got to work with the other musicians in the band.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Wessels, along with Georg Neuhauser from Serenity and Oliver Philipps from Everon, formed a symphonic rock group named Phantasma. They were signed to Napalm Records and released a concept album titled "The Deviant Hearts". Wessels not only sings on the album, but also wrote her debut novella called "The Deviant Hearts" especially for it. The novella is included with the album's physical release.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: In August 2020, Wessels released the single, "Lizzie" which features Alissa White-Gluz as part of a collaboration.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Following her departure from Delain, Wessels had released a solo single, "Soft Revolution" via her Patreon which was Song of the Month in January 2021. On 14 May 2021, Wessels released a cover of Gerard McMahon's "Cry Little Sister", a song featured in the 1987 film "The Lost Boys". On 30 June 2021, she released a music video of the single, "Superhuman".


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: On 1 June 2021, Wessels announced the title of her first studio album, "Tales from Six Feet Under", a collection of multiple genres ranging from indie pop to synth-infused rock. It was released on 17 September 2021. All of the songs were made in her home studio, where she wrote, produced, and performed all the instruments on the record.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: On 28 June 2022, Wessels announced her second studio album, titled "Tales from Six Feet Under, Vol. II", which was released on 7 October 2022.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: Wessels also appeared on the EP "The Alchemy Project" by the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, on the song "Sirens – Of Blood and Water", alongside Amalie Bruun. A music video for this song was released on 11 November 2022.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: When asked in a Loudwire interview who she gets inspired by vocally she mentions Australian singer Sia, she admires Sia's voice and also her songwriting.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: On 15 January 2018, Charlotte Wessels said on her Instagram that Dolores O'Riordan's voice was one of her main inspirations to start singing.


title: Charlotte Wessels

text: She is a cousin of Dutch hardcore DJ "DaY-már". Wessels has an art history degree and also has a master's degree in gender studies. She is a vegan. She considers herself a feminist and she doesn't like the "female-fronted metal" term: "It's just really weird that the gender of one person in the band defines what kind of music you make! I think that it's one of the things that really indicates that the bias is still there."


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga is a duology of role-playing video games developed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. They are a spin-off of the "Megami Tensei" series. The first "Digital Devil Saga" was released in Japan in 2004, North America in 2005, and Europe in 2006. Its direct sequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, released in 2005 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe. The games were published in Europe by Ghostlight and in other regions by Atlus and its North American subsidiary Atlus USA.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga" follows the Embryon, a tribe who fights against five other tribes in a digital world called the Junkyard. After being infected with a demon virus that grants them demonic powers, the Embryon must fight with and devour the other tribes to ascend to "Nirvana". During the conflict, they shelter a woman named Sera, who has the power to calm their demonic powers. In "Digital Devil Saga 2", having escaped into the devastated real world, the Embryon are caught up in the fight against the Karma Society, who are intimately linked to the source of the disaster. The gameplay of both titles feature third-person navigation of playable characters around to-scale environments, and turn-based gameplay against demonic monsters and human enemies.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga" began development pre-2002 under the working title "New Goddess". The game's concept and original draft were written by Japanese author Yu Godai, who collaborated with Atlus scriptwriter Tadashi Satomi until withdrawing from the project for health issues. The gameplay concept of characters transforming into demons was based on an unused idea for "Shin Megami Tensei". The second game began development immediately after the first, with the main development effort going into refining and improving the gameplay. While their commercial performances varied, both games were heavily praised by critics for their story, graphics and gameplay. Since release, the game has inspired a mobile prequel, and Godai wrote a series of novels based on her original premise for the story.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: In the "Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga" role-playing games, players take control of the characters Serph, Heat, Argilla, Gale and Cielo, with the characters Sera and Roland becoming playable in "Digital Devil Saga 2". These characters are able to transform into a demon form, which is their main form in battle. Characters navigate to-scale environments, fighting enemies in both random encounters and story-focused boss battles. After each battle, experience points are awarded to characters. Character abilities are governed by Mantra Grids, a system where Mantras are bought using the in-game currency Macca, then mastering them using Atma Points gained from defeated enemies. The maximum number of abilities that a character can learn is eight. If two or more characters equip a certain ability, they can perform a stronger version of it through a combo. Each character can learn abilities from one of four categories: Physical, Magic, Shield and Auto.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The "Digital Devil Saga" games use a turn-based battle system, with three allied characters fighting in battle. Both player characters and enemies are governed by a mechanic called the Press Turn system: each character has a symbol representing a turn. The character can forfeit a turn to allow the next character an action; turns cannot be passed more than once. If an enemy's weakness is exploited or a character lands a critical hit, an extra turn is gained; if a character resists an attack, a turn is lost. In "Digital Devil Saga 2", characters will sometimes enter battle in a half-transformed "berserk" mode, which increases attack power while locking away magic skills and lowering a character's defense. While battle is focused around strengthening characters' demon forms, they can also fight in their human forms using conventional weapons, and can equip ammunition. A human character can perform a combo with one in demon form. The magic system uses nine magic attributes. Ice and Lightning magic have a chance of causing the "freeze" and "stun" status, while Expel magic reduces an enemy's hit points by a certain percentage, and Death magic causes an instant kill. Status magic can inflict status effects on enemies.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Each time a character's experience level raises, they receive stat boosts. While the protagonist can assign stat points at will, the other main characters each have certain specializations. Money is also dropped, which can be used to buy supplies from merchants. Atma is gained after each battle, but a greater amount is gained from eating enemies. If an enemy is "frightened", the amount of Atma is further increased. Characters can also be afflicted with a status ailment if they overeat. In "Digital Devil Saga 2", special Karma Ring items can be assigned to characters to grant stat boosts. Fitting different gems dropped from defeated enemies granting specific stat boosts and effects. Effects range from granting free status buffs on the player party to casting ailments on enemies. Importing save data from the first game enables some skills and abilities learned during the first game to be transferred to the characters that learned them.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The first "Digital Devil Saga" takes place in the Junkyard, a combat simulator program where it always rains. Throughout the story, a conflict takes place between six tribes: the Embryon, Vanguards, Solids, Maribel, Brutes and Wolves. Each tribe holds a particular territory, and initially are devoid of emotions: the only common ground is a great tower at the Junkyard's center called the Karma Temple, which acts as a meeting place for all the tribe leaders. The following game is set on Earth, which has been devastated by a phenomenon known as the "Black Sun", a manifestation of God's anger. The survivors of humanity are ruled by the Karma Society.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The main protagonists of the "Digital Devil Saga" duology are silent protagonist , leader of the Embryon; and , a woman who can commune with God. The other Embryon are the kind ; the hot-tempered the light-hearted ; and the highly logical . The main antagonist is , who is Sera's intersexual biological parent. In "Digital Devil Saga 2", two new main characters are introduced: Roland, the alcoholic leader of the Lokapala resistance group; and Madame Margot Cuvier, head of the Karma Society. All the main characters barring Cuvier become infected with the demon virus, a condition that causes them to turn into demonic beings and lust after human flesh.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: In an open field in the Junkyard, a giant egg-like object with tentacles with no apparent origin appears on the border between the Embryon and the Vanguards, causing a stand-off where both assume the other group placed it. During this confrontation the egg explodes and a virus is introduced that infects everyone in the Junkyard, turning them into demons. Branded with a mark representing their "Atma" and gradually awakening to basic emotions, the people of the Junkyard must devour their foes to satiate their demonic hunger or risk going berserk. Sera, a so-called cyber shaman, is found in the crater where the egg exploded, suffering from amnesia. She is taken in by the Embryon, revealing herself capable of calming their hunger with her singing. The Embryon first become conscious of their new powers when they meet the surviving Vanguards. During their time there, they are forced to kill the Vanguards' leader, Harley. Serph is then summoned to the Karma Temple along with the surviving tribe leaders. Once they are assembled there, a female being calling itself Angel orders the tribes to conquer their neighbors and ascend the Temple's tower to "Nirvana", bringing Sera as proof of their achievements. The Embryon decide to ally with the Maribel as a means of defeating the stronger tribes.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: After gaining the trust of the Maribel's leader Jinana, they are betrayed by her second-in-command Bat, who allies with the Brutes along with the Solids' leader Mick. Jinana, having refused to eat as she needed to, goes berserk and must be killed. The Solids then capture Sera, leading the Embryon into a fight to the death against Mick. They also successfully trick the Brutes' forces and Bat into a booby-trapped ship, killing them. During this time, the Wolves are subdued by the Brutes, whose leader Varin has awakened memories of a former life where he was known as "Colonel Beck", and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Angel to release him from the Junkyard. With help from the Wolves' deposed leader Lupa, the Embryon infiltrate the Brutes' castle, but Lupa is killed after going berserk. Later, the Embryon end up fighting Varin, who accuses Sera of being a monster before he dies. Sera regains her memories and runs to the Karma Temple with the Embryon in pursuit. There, Sera faces the human form of Angel, who threatens to delete the Junkyard with a computer virus if Sera does not return to the real world with her. The Embryon arrive and successfully fight Angel, but in the process release the computer virus. The Embryon, Sera and Angel only just escape as the Junkyard is destroyed.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: In "Digital Devil Saga 2", the Embryon appear in the real world, which is slowly being destroyed by the Black Sun: the only ones able to survive the sun's rays are those infected with the demon virus. Serph, Cielo, Argilla and Gale learn that Sera is the captive of Angel and Madame Cuvier at the Karma Society headquarters. With the help of Roland and a young boy named Fred, the group infiltrate the Karma Society's building. While they attempt to rescue Serah, Angel plans to subvert Cuvier and use the demon virus to create a society ruled by the strong. The Embryon are also faced by Heat, who is working with Cuvier on the promise of Sera's safety. Reaching the EGG, a man-made replica of God, the party rescue Sera, but Heat appears and seems to kill Serph. Both fall into the EGG, and God begins absorbing the Earth's data: in the chaos, Angel kills Cuvier, while the remaining Embryon and Sera, now able to assume a demon form herself, shut down the Power Plant in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the EGG. In the process, both Roland and Argilla are killed by a powerful demon. Returning to the EGG so Sera can speak with God, they are confronted by Heat, who has fused with the EGG and gone berserk. Inside the EGG, Serph is met by a higher being calling itself Schrödinger, who reveals the truth about what happened.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The Karma Society was founded to study God, who was losing faith in humanity due to their behavior. Sera was the only survivor of a group of children with the ability to communicate with God. To hide from the pain of the experiments, Sera created an artificial environment populated by benign versions of Karma Society staff: this environment was redesigned to become the Junkyard and the artificial beings would become its five tribes. The original Serph manipulated Sera and his team for his own ends while the original Heat attempted to protect her. When Sera saw Serph killing Heat while linked to the EGG, God felt her pain and attacked Earth. The original Serph was overwhelmed by a flood of data and became a demon before being killed. Now knowing the truth, Serph escapes from the EGG, killing Heat in the process. Sera then decides to head for a secondary Karma facility to communicate with God: on the way, Gale dies while killing Angel, and Cielo sacrifices himself so Sera and Serph can reach the transmission site. As Sera begins transmission, the base is destroyed, killing her and Serph. Their data travels to the sun—the physical manifestation of God—and merges into a new being called Seraph. Aided by the data avatars of the Embryon, Seraph fights God's avatar to prove humanity's worth. Upon victory, Seraph achieves enlightenment and travels with Schrödinger to new worlds, while God restores the sun and Earth. At the game's end, it is shown that the Embryon, Angel, and aspects of Sera and Serph have reincarnated, with a grown Fred acting as their caretaker.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Production on the initial "Digital Devil Saga" started prior to the beginning of active development on "" in 2002. During production, it was known under the working title "New Goddess". The project was formed in part to make the "Megami Tensei" series accessible to a broader audience while staying true to its roots. The games were directed by Katsura Hashino, a new director who had worked in lesser roles in previous "Megami Tensei" titles. The design director was Makoto Kitano, while the movie director was Ichiroh Itano, a noted anime director. Itano was responsible for storyboarding and character movement choreography. The team was divided into multiple divisions, each in charge of different aspects of the game's design. The battle system was taken from that used in "Nocturne", but with elements added to both differentiate it from other "Megami Tensei" games and incorporate the game's themes. During development of "Digital Devil Saga", the team were faced with repeated problems with fitting the entire experience on a single DVD: the amount of data was estimated to be two times that of "Nocturne".


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The original story was written by Japanese novelist Yu Godai. She was contacted in 2000 by Atlus through her then-publisher Kadokawa Shoten about collaborating on a video game scenario, something entirely new to her. Her submitted proposal for "Digital Devil Saga" was accepted, and she temporarily moved to Tokyo to work with Atlus on refining the project. During her time on the project, she collaborated with Tadashi Satomi, who had previously written scripts for the first three "Persona" games. Godai wrote her outline on the basis that both books and video games had stories broken into chapters, writing up the story up to the first boss battle in short story form to get a sense of the narrative and lore. Ultimately, due to a number of factors including health problems and disliking living in Tokyo, Godai left the project. Satomi's role as story writer for the duology necessitated discussions with other teams assigned to the game. Due to characters having dialogue in the field, the team needed to have extensive notes prepared.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Production of "Digital Devil Saga 2" began immediately after the release of the first game. To tease it prior to its official announcement, a large number of unfinished plot threads and vague hints relating to the main characters' previous lives were incorporated into the first game. For "Digital Devil Saga 2", the team expanded upon the systems implemented in the first game. Due to extra features added, the team sometimes felt that they could not fit it all on a single disc. The main priority was to ensure smooth motion and a quick transfer into battles and cutscenes. The game's setting was inspired in Satomi's mind by the frequent reporting of natural disasters and outbreaks of diseases around the world. Another theme he incorporated was the inherent contradiction of wanting to avoid violence while being forced to fight others in order to survive. According to Satomi, while the first game's motif was "rain", the second game's was "sun". Itano returned to his role as storyboarder and movement choreographer. A large amount of work was done to refine the gameplay experience, such as opening up the character customization system. The team used player feedback from the first game's systems to make their adjustments. For both games, Atlus received additional development support for artwork assets from Kusanagi Corporation.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The character and demon designs were done by regular series artist Kazuma Kaneko. At the start, Kaneko was given the instruction to give the characters tribal uniforms instead of normal clothes, and an Atma tattoo somewhere on their body to signify their demon power. The uniforms signified their eternal conflict within the Junkyard. To help bring individuality to the main characters, Kaneko create slight variations in them, such as giving them hoods or capes. The grey tribal uniforms were created so the main characters' key colors would stand out. Serph, as the player character and silent protagonist, was given few personality traits and designed with a stern expression. The aspect that separated him from other silent protagonist within the "Megami Tensei" series was that his name was spoken by the other characters rather than chosen by the player. To emphasize the fact that the world of "Digital Devil Saga" was unlike the typical setting for "Megami Tensei" titles, he gave all the characters hair and eye colors that would be naturally impossible in the real world. The only one not to have a strange hair color was Sera, signifying her unique status. The characters' demon forms were designed to be animal-like, signifying their urge to eat. They were given prominent mouths as demons, as the idea was that they would eat their foes when in demon form. Their eyes were removed as they stood out too much. Each character was designed around a specific elemental theme, which both flowed into the gameplay and matched an individual's personality: an example of this is Heat, who has an angry personality and uses Fire as his primary element.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Kaneko was the first to propose the game's concept, which was then worked on by other staff members. The initial game's themes were defined as "awakening" and "change", referenced in how the characters gradually awoke to their emotions and the static environment of the Junkyard was drastically changed. The Junkyard was designed to emphasize the desperation of the characters during their awakening. The concept behind the demon transformations originated during the development of "Shin Megami Tensei". Kaneko, who worked on "Shin Megami Tensei", had wanted the game's Chaos Hero to regularly switch between his human and demon forms. The idea did not appear in the finished game, but eventually reemerged and became the base for "Digital Devil Saga"s gameplay. The game's character models were created based on development knowledge from "Nocturne". Creating the models proved difficult due to the need to extensively use level of detail while staying true to Kaneko's distinctive designs. While "Nocturne" was defined by its "static" feel, the team wanted "Digital Devil Saga" to have a feeling of motion to contrast "Nocturne". Makoto Kitano was responsible for creating 3D representations of the game's demons, A noted element was the design of Cerberus, which combined elements of the three-headed version first designed for "" and the shape of sharks. One of the additional challenges was the fact that it was the first "Megami Tensei" title to feature extensive voice acting, inspired by the need to fully express the game's themes and story. Before the official voice actors were cast, Atlus staff provided the characters' voices. Due to the wish to appeal to a wider audience than previous "Megami Tensei" games, the proposed amount of violence and graphic imagery was cut down.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: The music for "Digital Devil Saga" was composed by Shoji Meguro, who had previously worked on multiple "Megami Tensei" games, with some additional tracks for the first game being written by Kenichi Tsuchiya. While he had previously been restricted in his music quality by the limited storage space of the CD medium, Meguro was able to play half the tracks using real-time streaming. Using the software, Meguro was able to fit in high-quality music alongside the sound effects and voice track. Nevertheless, he needed to make some compromises on tracks.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: For the first game, Meguro made heavy use of guitar-based rock music, taking his inspiration from music of the 1960s and 70s. It was meant to represent the vicious new nature of the environment, and of how the main protagonists gradually awoke to their humanity. Tsuchiya was in charge of environmental tracks that deviated from the normal layout and feel of the Junkyard. The game's battle theme, "Hunting", was originally going to be the boss theme, but its instrumentation was considered to be wrong and so it was changed to the normal battle theme. For the second game, Meguro changed the original's dark tone to give it a harsher feel and techno instrumentation, reflecting the state of the real world and clashing with the views of the main characters. He also reached out to an external firm to help with fitting in more complicated tracks with less loops, getting around some of the limitations he faced with the first game.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: Multiple theme songs were created for the games. The first game's opening theme, "Pray", was sung by Sera's voice actress Houko Kuwashima. "Pray" also formed the core musical theme for the games. For the North American version, the opening theme was changed to "Danger", composed by electronic band Etro Anime. The song, described as a "melancholy track", was designed to blend with the constant rain of the Junkyard. The opening theme for "Digital Devil Saga 2" was "Alive": it was written by Meguro, sung by Kayoko Momota, and had backing vocals by Yumi Kawamura. The ending theme song is "Time Capsule" by Japanese singer-songwriter As. The song was used in television commercials advertising the game in Japan, and was the singer's debut single.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga" was first announced in the Japanese director's cut version of "Nocturne" in February 2004. The game's formal title had only been decided upon shortly before its reveal. As part of the game's promotion in Japan, entertainer and model Mayuko Iwasa appeared in live-action advertisements in the role of Sera, and promoted the game at events. An eight-megabyte PlayStation 2 memory card was sold that featured artwork of Serph and his demon form. "Digital Devil Saga 2" was officially announced at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show. To promote "Digital Devil Saga 2", a special DVD containing selected music tracks and movie material was created as an over-the-counter giveaway for the initial print of the game. Both "Digital Devil Saga" games were re-released by Atlus in 2006 as part of their "Atlus Best Collection" budget release series.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga" was officially announced for the west at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo for release in the winter of that year. It was subsequently delayed into 2005, and a deluxe edition which would include a box for containing both "Digital Devil Saga" games was announced as a consolation. The second game's release window was officially announced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, to be published in North America by Atlus USA. The game arrived in stores in North America a week earlier than originally scheduled. Both "Digital Devil Saga" games were published in Europe by Ghostlight.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: As the original version featured a cast of well-known anime voice actors, the Atlus USA localization team sought out well-known English voice actors for the dub, and took extra care with syncing the English dialogue with the original characters' lip movements. "Digital Devil Saga" was the first "Megami Tensei" project to feature an extensive voice acting element. During localization, localization project manager Yu Namba made a spelling error during one of the early cutscenes where the name of Serph's demon form was shown: the demon's name was displayed as "Varna", when it was actually "Varuna". The error was not spotted until it was too late, and so remained in the game. One of the main concerns was to keep the characters' personalities intact when shifting from Japanese to English dialogue: a cited example of how this change was accomplished was Cielo, who was given a Jamaican accent to express the character's easy-going and friendly personality. After the release of "Nocturne", the ""Shin Megami Tensei"" moniker was attached to the "Digital Devil Saga" games to help with marketing.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: By the end of 2004, the first game sold 153,421 units in Japan, coming in at the 81st best-selling title in Japan for that year. The second game sold 90,812 units in Japan by the end of 2005, becoming the 144th best-selling game for 2005. "Digital Devil Saga" did not manage to meet its projected sales targets in Japan, and contributed to the company's console division posting a substantial loss for the 2004/2005 financial year, resulting in several staff members being laid off. According to a representative of Atlus USA, the games' sales performances in 2005 were "absolutely fabulous". In Europe, it was stated by its publisher that the first game had sold above expectations in the region. Speaking in 2013, a Ghostlight representative said that the "Digital Devil Saga" duology had "met with great success" in Europe. Upon their re-release on PlayStation Network, the games appeared in the top ten rankings in North America and Europe.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga" received positive critical reception: aggregate sites GameRankings and Metacritic show ratings of 80% and 78/100 respectively. General praise went to the story, characters and gameplay. The high difficulty, issues with repetition and pacing, and the cliffhanger ending drew criticism. "Famitsu" cited the game's significant shift away from the hardcore mechanics of the main series, positively noting the freedom of character customization. The reviewer for 1UP.com, despite missing the demon fusion systems from earlier "Megami Tensei" titles, thoroughly enjoyed the game, calling it "a great "Final Fantasy" alternative". Jeremy Dunham of IGN said that "Despite its repetition and unfinished storyline, ["Digital Devil Saga"] still has plenty to like", citing its plot and battle system. GameSpot's Bethany Massimilla said that "Digital Devil Saga"s combat and world design made it a compelling title worthy of the "Shin Megami Tensei" moniker. RPGamer's Derek Cavin said that "Digital Devil Saga" "manages to be a good game, despite its flaws". Eurogamer's Rob Fahey said that players expecting a traditional role-playing game would be disappointed, while stating that "Digital Devil Saga" delivered a generally positive impression while avoiding many cliches of the RPG genre. John McCarroll of RPGFan generally enjoyed his time with the game despite issues with camera control, praising the positive mixture of gameplay and story elements.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: "Digital Devil Saga 2" received an even better reception: its aggregate scores from GameRankings and Metacritic were 83% and 83/100 respectively. While critics generally cited a necessity for knowledge of the first game, the story and gameplay were generally cited as an improvement over the original. "Famitsu" was again fairly positive, enjoying the story and characters, while also noting the accommodations for first-time players. "Dengeki PlayStation" was highly positive about the game, praising its story and gameplay additions, though saying that the two games were a little too similar, and that people who had not played the first game would be confused by the story and character relations. 1UP.com's Shane Bettenhausen said that while the game shared many similarities with its predecessor, it was not as repetitive as other games such as the ".hack" series, and was still a good game. Masimilla said that "Digital Devil Saga 2" had managed to realize the first game's storytelling ambitions, enjoying the experience despite noting some design flaws. Fahey said that the game was "everything that an excellent sequel should be", generally praising its mechanical and narrative improvements over "Digital Devil Saga". Cavin said that it improved on nearly every aspect of the original game, recommending it to players of RPGs. McCarroll said "["Digital Devil Saga 2"] is easily the finest game I've had a chance to play this year and stands to be one of the great games of this generation".


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: In its reviews, RPGFan named both "Digital Devil Saga" games as "Editor's Choice". In 2011, "Digital Devil Saga" and its sequel "Digital Devil Saga 2" ended up topping the site's "Top 20 RPGs of the Last Decade" list. Kurt Kalata, writing for 1UP.com in an article concerning the controversial content of the "Megami Tensei" series, made mention of "Digital Devil Saga" due to its examination of the ethics of eating others to survive.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: A manga spin-off of "Digital Devil Saga" titled "Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner - Shinen no Matou" was published in Japan in 2005 by Jive. The manga revolves around a separate group of characters within the Junkyard. A five-volume light novels series titled have been authored by Yu Godai in 2011. While she had left the project early, her contract with Atlus enabled her to write her own work based on the premise. The novels are Yu's alternate take on her own story, redone without any of the restrictions involved with a video game narrative.


title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

text: , a mobile role-playing game, was developed by Interactive Brains for mobile phones and published by Atlus and Bbmf through the Megaten α service. Using gameplay systems similar to the console games, the story is an original narrative set within the "Digital Devil Saga" universe: when Serph awakens in an enormous tower with no memories, he and the other Embryon must explore the towers with Sera's help to recover his memories.


title: Alternative media (U.S. political left)

text: This is a list of alternative media supporting the views of the American political left. It covers alternative media sources including talk radio programs, TV shows, podcasts, investigative journalism, documentaries, blogs and other alternative media sources.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only one gear and have no brakes. Racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt, loosely packed shale, or crushed rock (mostly used in Australia and New Zealand). Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways, powersliding or broadsiding into the bends. On the straight sections of the track, the motorcycles reach speeds of up to .


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: There are now both domestic and international competitions in a number of countries, including the Speedway World Cup, whilst the highest overall scoring individual in the Speedway Grand Prix events is pronounced the world champion. Speedway is popular in Central and Northern Europe and to a lesser extent in Australia and North America. A variant of track racing, speedway is administered internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Domestic speedway events are regulated by FIM-affiliated national motor sport federations.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The early history of speedway race meetings is a subject of much debate and controversy. There is evidence to show that meetings were held on small dirt tracks in Australia and the United States before World War I. On 13 November 1905 motorcycle racing was held at the Newcastle NSW Rugby Ground, a distance of approximately 440 yards.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: American rider named Don Johns was known to have used broadsiding before 1914. It was said that he would ride the entire race course wide open, throwing great showers of dirt into the air at each turn. By the early 1920s, Johns' style of cornering was followed in the United States — where it was called "Short Track Racing" — by riders such as Albert "Shrimp" Burns, Maldwyn Jones and Eddie Brinck.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Motorcycle Speedway can be traced back to the early 1920s. One track that staged speedway, amongst others, was at the West Maitland Showground, whose first speedway meeting was staged on 15 December 1923. This track had a motorcycle riding entrepreneur as its Secretary and his personal account has him inviting his friends and their associates to do a few laps one Sunday morning, the noise attracted the attention of the Showground committee and approval to race at the "Electric Light Festival" was won. Motorcycle racing under lights was a huge success and its promoter was New Zealand-born John S. Hoskins. These pioneers introduced the Speedway signatures of No Left Footpeg and the Steel Shoe, ironically fashioned from worn coal shovels, manufactured in this Steel region.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Following the success of Maitland, Speedway meetings were conducted at Newcastle Showground in 1924. These events were very successful and led to the construction of Newcastle Speedway off Darling Street, Hamilton. Johnnie Hoskins became the Secretary of Newcastle Speedway Ltd. The Newcastle Herald reports the Grand Opening on 14 November 1925 attracted an audience of 42,000 at that time it was approximately one-third of Newcastle's entire population.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: After Maitland, Newcastle Showground is the second oldest Motorcycle Speedway track in the world. However, its first recorded motorcycle race was much earlier in 1908. The first Australian Motorcycle Speedway Championship was held at Newcastle Showground in 1926. Ironically it was won by American rider Cec Brown. Visiting English and American racers were common, for they were highly paid showmen, often winning a year's salary in just one night. It was very successful, so Newcastle Showground held the championship again in 1927. Very fitting that Newcastle Showground held the first National Speedway Championship anywhere in the world.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: In 1926 Johnnie Hoskins took his Speedway show to Sydney's Royal Showground. A very wet Sydney summer nearly sent Hoskins broke, so he took the show on the road to Perth, where one good season made him wealthy again. He and his riders decided to take the show to England, as the word had spread about this exciting sport. 14 April 1928, Johnnie Hoskins, 13 Australian Riders and their motorcycles sailed from Perth on the passenger ship Oronsay to introduce Speedway Solo motorcycle racing to England.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The first meeting in the United Kingdom took place at High Beech on 19 February 1928. There are, however, claims that meetings were held in 1927 at Camberley, Surrey and Droylsden, Lancashire. Despite being described as "the first British Dirt Track meeting" at the time, the meeting at Camberley on 7 May 1927 differed in that the races were held in a clockwise direction. Races at Droylsden were held in an anti-clockwise direction, but it is generally accepted that the sport arrived in the United Kingdom when Australians Billy Galloway and Keith McKay arrived with the intention of introducing speedway to the Northern Hemisphere. Both featured in the 1928 High Beech meeting. The first speedway meeting in the UK to feature bikes with no brakes and broadsiding round corners on loose dirt was the third meeting held at High Beech on 9 April 1928, where Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and "Digger" Pugh demonstrated the art for the first time in the UK. Proto speedway was staged in Glasgow at the Olympic Stadium (Glasgow Nelson) on 9 April 1928 and the first fully professional meeting was staged at Celtic Park on 28 April 1928. The first meeting in Wales was staged at Cardiff White City on Boxing Day 1928.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: In the 1928–1929 season at the Melbourne Exhibition Speedway, Australian Colin Stewart won the prestigious Silver Gauntlet, which required the rider to win the feature race 10 times in one season. He won it 12 times. He also achieved success at an international level, racing for Southampton Saints in 1929 and captained Glasgow in the Northern League in 1930 before moving to Wembley Lions in 1931, for whom he rode in just four matches, averaging 4.00 points per match. He also raced in the 1930 Scottish Championship which was won by Wembley Lions' Harry Whitfield.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The forerunner of the World Championship, the Star Riders' Championship, was inaugurated in Great Britain in 1929, but was split into two sections, as it was felt that the British riders were not yet the equal of the Australians and Americans. Frank Arthur won the Overseas Section and Roger Frogley the British. The following year the two sections were amalgamated and Vic Huxley proved to be the winner. Huxley was also runner-up three times and won the first British Match Race championship in 1931.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway racing typically took place on purpose-built tracks, although in Australia bikes shared larger speedways with Sprintcars, Speedcars (Midgets) and saloons, with tracks traditionally ranging from 1/3-mile showground tracks, such as the now-closed Claremont Speedway in Perth and the Sydney Showground, to smaller, purpose-built long motorcycle tracks, such as Gillman Speedway in Adelaide and Mildura's Olympic Park.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Each track is between 260 and 425 metres long and it takes approximately one minute to complete four laps. For example, 10 time Australian Champion Leigh Adams set a record time of 59 seconds on a track and produced an average speed of 83 km/h (51.86 mph). The speed on straight sections of the track reaches 110 km/h (70 mph) or more on longer tracks, but the limited speed on curves lowers the average.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: At the start of a race it takes between one and two seconds for the motorcycle to reach the "curve speed" (somewhat lower than the average), which is roughly estimated to be the equivalent of 2.5 to 3 seconds to reach (or 0 to 60 mph). The start of the race is an important aspect of the race overall. "Gating" correctly can help a rider gain an initial advantage over other riders but speed advantages can be made as a race progresses. Those riders willing to take a risk and opt for finding the grippy parts of the track rather than the race line, are sometimes rewarded with extra speed allowing them to pass other riders either on the outside or the inside.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Tracks used for professional speedway racing are regulated by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) who provide rules concerning construction, size and safety requirements. Speedway racing takes place on a level oval track consisting of two straights joined by two semicircles. Tracks must be between 260 and 425 metres (853 and 1394 ft) in length, this is measured at a distance of from the inner boundary. Tracks may be banked, but the gradient must under no circumstances exceed 5% in the straight, 10% in the bends, and must remain constant and grow from the inner edge to the safety fence. A white start line is marked across the track approximately mid-way along one of the straights. The starting area is also divided into four equal parts (known as gates) by white lines marked at right angles to the start line and extending back at least . Additional rules govern the placement of warning systems such as lights and also the construction of the starting mechanism. The minimum track width is on the straights and the bends must be at least wide. The minimum widths give each rider adequate space to safely navigate the track. The start line and starting gate assembly is halfway along one of the two straight sections of the track. Starting gates are simple spring-loaded mechanisms that raise two or three strands of tape to start the race.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The FIM regulations require licensed tracks to provide a garage or pit area for motorcycles as well as medical and press facilities. Track boundaries are marked by white lines or barriers on the inside and outside the track, any rider who crosses this boundary with both wheels will be disqualified unless they only did so in the interest of safety or were forced to by another competitor.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The track surface consists of four layers of grading. The topmost of which must be of shale, granite, brick granules or other loose material of which no individual piece can be over in size. Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways (powersliding or broadsiding) into the bends using the rear wheel to scrub-off speed while still providing the drive to power the bike forward and around the bend. The skill of speedway lies in the overall ability of the rider to control his motorcycle when cornering and thus avoid losing places through deceleration. The use of asphalt, concrete and tarmac for any layer is prohibited. The top layer must be levelled or "graded" at intervals during an event by tractors towing specially adapted rakes to evenly re-distribute the surface. Tracks are watered before and, if needed, during meetings to prevent the surface becoming too dry and to protect the public and the riders from dust.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Safety requirements include the use of suspended wire fences, air fences and wooden fences. Air fences are made up of inflated panels installed on the bends. The fence is designed to dissipate energy by allowing an impacted area to compress and transfer air into the rest of the fence through blow-off valves or restriction ports connected to the other sections. They are mandatory for tracks in the British Elite League, Polish Ekstraliga, Speedway Grand Prix and Speedway World Cup. Neutral zones outside the track provide safe run-off areas for riders and their machinery to minimise the potential risk of injury to spectators. The majority of tracks are dedicated to speedway or other sports such as sidecar speedway and banger racing. For larger events, the FIM occasionally sanctions the use of stadiums that install temporary tracks such as the British Grand Prix held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway uses a unique type of motorcycle, governed by the FIM's "Track Racing Technical Rules". In the past, bikes with upright engines were used (the name taken from the way the engine sits in the frame), but today most professional riders use laydown bikes as it is argued that they are easier to handle. As speedway bikes do not use brakes, the clutch is used as a release mechanism at the start of races. FIM regulations state that the motorcycles must have no brakes, are fueled by pure methanol, use only one gear and weigh a minimum of . By using engine and rear wheel sprockets the gear ratio can be adjusted as required for track conditions. The use of methanol allows for an increased compression ratio to the engine producing more power than other fuels and resulting in higher speeds (approximately when cornering).


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: In addition, all motorcycles must have a safety cut-out device fitted; this is defined as a switch that "must cut off the circuit of the electrical supply by the simple action of pulling a lanyard or a non-elastic string (with a maximum length of ) attached to the rider's right wrist." The high compression ratio of the engine can also assist in slowing down a machine; if the throttle is closed, the engine may stop. Riders can stop the bike by deliberately laying down the bike on the track, and this technique is used to avoid riders who fall in front of pursuing opponents. Before cut-outs were introduced, an engine was stopped in an emergency situation by removing the plug lead from the spark plug or shutting off the fuel supply.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Races (known as heats) consist of four riders racing over four laps from a standing start. Riders wear different coloured helmets, traditionally in team events red and blue denote home team riders, and white and yellow/black quartered colours (latterly plain yellow) denote visiting riders. The starting area is divided into a grid of four equal parts and the riders from each team must take their place in alternate grids or "gates". The colours also denote starting positions in individual events; Red is the inside gate (gate 1), blue starts from gate 2, white starts from gate 3 and yellow/black starts on the outside (gate 4). Riders must be able to get their bikes to the start line under their own power, without any external assistance and not by pushing the machine, then line up in parallel.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: A rider who is not at the start line within a reasonable period of time is also liable to be disqualified, although league matches in the UK allow teams to elect to start the disqualified rider fifteen metres back from the tapes or replace the disqualified rider with a team reserve. This period of time is standardised to two minutes from a time determined by the match referee and usually indicated by a bell, a rotating orange lamp or a digital clock readout. All riders must be at the tapes under their own power before the two minutes have elapsed. Additional time between races will be allowed by, and at the discretion of, the referee if a rider has two consecutive rides, to allow the rider time to prepare.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: A starting gate consisting of two or more tapes is erected across the start line. The riders must situate themselves not more than from this and not touch it once the green light comes on, they must also remain stationary until the tapes are raised. Failure to do so is known as a "tape infringement" and can result in a false start being recorded and the rider penalised (disqualified, or in league matches in Great Britain, a 15-metre penalty or replace the disqualified rider with a team reserve). The race is started with the raising of the start tape mechanism operated by the match referee and the riders must proceed around the track in an anti-clockwise direction without both wheels illegally leaving the track boundaries.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Once a race is under way, no rider can receive outside assistance, including push-starts, from others. Historically, pushers were allowed at the start of the race. A white line at the 30-metre mark used to designate the extent to which a push was allowed but due to safety concerns, assistance is now illegal.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Occasionally races consist of six riders but this is rare as most tracks are too narrow to accommodate the extra riders safely.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway operates a sliding scale for scoring (known as the "3–2–1–0" method). Three points are scored for first place, two points for second place and one point for third place. A rider does not score when finishing fourth, or failing to finish, or if excluded from a race. These points accumulate over the competition, with riders points either counting towards individual or team placings. In the event of a tie, the race is commonly awarded as a dead heat. If it is a tie for first place, they will both receive two points. A tie for second place earns each rider one point while a joint-last finish earns each rider zero points. Teams can use a tactical substitute rule once in a meeting. If that team is eight (six in World Cup) or more points in arrears, they may bring in the use of a different rider in their team lineup, to race in any heat except for heat 15. This may be different in World cup or event racing. If they are ten or more points behind, a rider with a scheduled ride may go out for double points, in which the riders points will be doubled if he beats a rider of the opposing team. Any rider taking a tactical substitute ride or double points ride is denoted by a black and white helmet colour as rather than one of the four usual coloured helmets. If that rider remains unbeaten by either opposition rider his scored points are doubled and also count towards the rider's calculated match average (CMA).


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The sport produces "Calculated Match Averages" (CMAs or averages) for every rider, these are calculated from the following:


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: CMAs scale from 3.00 to 12.00, any rider scoring above or below this range of values will be awarded the maximum or minimum respectively. These averages are used in leagues such as the Premiership in the UK to identify heat-leaders for the purposes of choosing which riders to enter for each race.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: At the start of a season, a rider retains their last recorded CMA (or assessed CMA if they have never previously established one) until they have competed in six home and six away matches. A new CMA is then issued that comes into effect seven days later. These are subsequently updated on the 15th of every month from May onwards, and come into effect on the first of the next month.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: These CMA's are used in most professional leagues and are altered or weighted depending on the league the rider gained the CMA in. A rider that has no recorded average will receive an indicative CMA for the start of the season that is assessed on their prior experience in the sport.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: An international individual speedway championship has taken various forms since its beginnings in the 1930s, with the official World Championship first held in 1936. The present FIM Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) championship organised by Speedway Grand Prix (Discovery Sports Events since 2015) has taken place since 1995. The SGP uses a scoring system based on each riders overall final position. The rider who has gained the most points at the end of the tournament is declared the World Champion. Polish rider Bartosz Zmarzlik is the current (2019) World Champion. The annual British Grand Prix is currently held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Scoring in Grand Prix events changed in 2005 with riders scoring 3–2–1–0 in their races and these points being carried forward to decide the winner of each Grand Prix. At the end of the series the highest scorer becomes the world champion.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: World Speedway Champions include Ivan Mauger (six-time World Champion), fellow New Zealander Barry Briggs (four times), Ole Olsen (three times), Ove Fundin (five times), Lionel Van Praag (inaugural World Champion in 1936), Hans Nielsen (nicknamed "The Professor", four-time World Champion), Tony Rickardsson (six times), Erik Gundersen and Jason Crump, both three-time World Champions, and the sports first two-time champion Jack Young who won in 1951 & 1952.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Currently, no world team championship is contested for senior riders. The first such championship was the Speedway World Team Cup, which was contested annually from 1960 to 2000. It was replaced by the Speedway World Cup, another annual event, in 2001. Both competitions featured teams from the major speedway countries, usually in a series of meetings over the space of a week in the summer. The final World Cup Champions were Poland in 2017.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Speedway World Pairs Championship was an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. Competing countries picked their top two riders to represent them (or in some cases, those who were available). The first competition was held in 1970 and the final competition was held in 1993. From 1994 the World Pairs was merged with the World Team Cup. As of 2018, a new pairs championship, the Speedway of Nations, has now replaced the Speedway World Cup on the sport's calendar.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Most European countries run their own domestic speedway leagues. The FIM affiliated governing bodies in each country operate league systems, normally comprising several divisions, in which the teams gain points throughout the season depending on results. Teams are placed into tables, placing them in order according to points accrued. Most commonly, each team races every other team in its league at home and away in each season, in a round-robin tournament. Meetings traditionally consist of two teams riding against each other with four riders in each race with two home team riders and two away team riders. Meetings usually feature fifteen heats and each rider is scheduled to ride four or five times. The team with the most points at the end of the meeting is the winner. Most league seasons end with play-offs – a series of meetings between the highest finishing teams to determine a league champion. The champions may be promoted to a higher division and the team finishing at the bottom are in some countries relegated to a lower division.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The majority of countries supplement the league system with one or more cup competitions. These are organised on a knock-out basis, the winner of each match proceeding to the next round and the loser taking no further part in the competition.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The major speedway nations in Europe are the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland and Denmark. These countries run a number of leagues and have regular fixtures throughout the traditional speedway season that runs from March to October. On a smaller scale, competitions are also held in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Ukraine and the United States. Some countries' top divisions feature highly paid star riders. In smaller countries and lower divisions, riders may be part-timers with a second job, or amateurs.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The United Kingdom has three main domestic leagues, the SGB Premiership, the SGB Championship, and the National League, as well as three 'junior' amateur leagues. It also has a youth championship.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway is one of the most popular sports in Poland and is governed by the "Main Commission for Speedway Sport (Główna Komisja Sportu Żużlowego, GKSŻ)" which is a part of the "Polish Motor Union" Polski Związek Motorowy (PZM). The PZM is a member of the FIM and the Union Européenne de Motocyclisme (UEM).


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The first speedway meetings in Poland were held in the 1930s and league racing began in 1948.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: There are three championships in Poland: individual (IMP), pairs (MPPK) and team (the DMP consisting of three leagues). The Junior under-21 championships also has three competitions: individual (MIMP), pairs (MMPPK) and team (MDMP). There are three leagues: "Extraleague", "First League" and "Second League". In the 2022 season, the Extraleague and First League had eight teams competing and the Second League had seven teams. The GKSŻ organizes the Golden Helmet, Silver Helmet (Under-21) and Bronze Helmet (Under-19) competitions. Individual meetings such as the "Criterium of Polish Speedway League Aces – Mieczysław Połukard Memorial", "Alfred Smoczyk Memorial" and "Edward Jancarz Memorial" are also popular.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Polish National team are the final champions of the now-defunct Speedway World Cup, having won the competition eight times in all. Poland has produced three Individual World Champions, Jerzy Szczakiel in 1973, Tomasz Gollob in 2010 and Bartosz Zmarzlik in 2019 and 2020. The Polish junior team won the Under-21 World Championship in 2005 and 2006 and since 2003 four Polish juniors have won the Under-21 Individual World Championship. In total, seven Polish riders have been World Champions at Under-21 level.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway in Sweden is governed by the "Swedish Motorcycle and Snowmobile Federation (SVEMO)". The first Swedish speedway league was founded in 1948 and copied the British format of league racing, including adopting the Swedish version of several British teams nicknames.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Elite League (Elitserien) was established in 1982 and has ten teams. At the end of each season the top four teams ride in the play-offs in semi-finals and a final and the winner of the final are the Elitserien champions. The team finishing bottom of the league are relegated to the National league (Allsvenskan). The Allsvenskan has seven teams and before the introduction of the Elitserien in 1982 was the top flight speedway league in Sweden. As with the Allsvenskan, the top four teams at the end of each season ride in the play-offs in semi-finals and a final. The Allsvenskan Division One is the third tier of Swedish speedway with seven teams. The team finishing the season in first place are champions and can apply for promotion to the Allsvenskan, subject to having suitable facilities and sufficient finances.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Other competitions include the Swedish Individual Championship and the Swedish Junior Individual Championship. The Swedish Individual Championship is contested by 18 riders in a Grand Prix format with 20 heats. The Junior Individual Championship is for riders aged twenty-one years and under.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway in Denmark is administrated by "Danmarks Motor Union (DMU)". The sport was introduced into Denmark in the 1930s but it didn't boom until the 1970s. Notable Danish speedway riders today include – Nicki Pedersen, Bjarne Pedersen and Hans Nørgaard Andersen. Former rider, Ole Olsen won the World Championship three times and his success helped popularise the sport in Denmark. Since retiring Olsen has become an FIM Speedway Grand Prix race director. A popular Danish rider in the 1960s was Arne Pander, and in the 1980s Erik Gundersen, Jan O Pedersen and Hans Nielsen (who was also an active racer through the 1990s).


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway meetings are held between April and September. The Danish League (Dansk Speedway Liga) has six teams with meetings traditionally held on Wednesday evenings. At the end of each season the top four teams compete in the play-offs in semi-finals and a final. The winner of the final are the league champions. There is no promotion or relegation and membership of the Danish League is by application only. At the end of each season the top five teams in the Danish League compete in the Danish Super Cup, an end-of-season competition, held as a single event. It is hosted by the winning team from the previous season.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Both Division One and Division Two are the second and third tier and are mostly for amateur riders. Meetings are held on Saturdays with a mid-summer break. Division One can have a maximum of eight teams, with the remaining teams riding in Division Two. Meetings are staged using a four-team format. In principle, the team finishing bottom of Division One is relegated and replaced by the top team in Division Two as long as their parent club does not already have a team in Division One. However, this does not always happen for financial reasons. There is also no promotion and relegation if the bottom team in Division One and the top team in Division Two are operated by same club.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Individual Speedway Danish Championship is a competition for riders holding a Danish passport and a valid DMU licence. Riders must submit their entries at least four weeks before the first meeting of the competition. Any riders who competed in the Speedway Grand Prix or World Championship Qualifying rounds during the previous season are seeded directly to the Final. The DMU may also seed other riders directly to the Final at their discretion. Either one or two semi-finals are staged depending on the number of riders entering the competition (excluding the seeded riders who go straight through to the Final). Riders are selected for these rounds according to the previous season's Danish averages. If one semi-final is held, the highest-placed riders (plus two reserves) qualify for the Final. If two semi-finals are held, the highest-placed riders (plus one reserve) from each meeting qualify for the Final. The winner of the Final is awarded a gold medal and declared Danish Individual Champion. The riders finishing second and third are awarded silver and bronze medals respectively. The final classification also determines which riders qualify for the World Individual Speedway Championship.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Danish Under 21 Individual Speedway Championship is a competition for riders holding a Danish passport, a valid DMU licence, and who are under 21 years of age on 1 January in the year of the competition. Riders wishing to compete must submit their entries at least four weeks before the first meeting of the competition. If there are 72 or more entries, four quarter-finals are staged. If there are between 54 and 71 entries, three quarter-finals are staged. If there are fewer than 54 entries, two semi-finals are held. Riders are selected for these rounds according to the previous season's averages in Danish matches only. When four quarter-finals are staged, the top eight riders (plus one reserve) in each progress to the semi-finals. When three quarter-finals are staged, the top ten riders (plus two reserves) from one round, and the top eleven riders (plus one reserve) from each of the other rounds, progress to the semi-finals. The top eight riders (plus one reserve) from each semi-final meet in the Final. The winner of the Final is awarded a gold medal and declared Danish Junior Individual Champion. Riders finishing second and third are awarded silver and bronze medals respectively. The top five finishers qualify for the World Junior Speedway Championship.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: There is a great depth of league speedway for all ages in Denmark. The "Youth Leagues" are for riders between eight and eighteen years of age and 80cc bikes are used. The "Micro Leagues" are for riders between three and ten years of age and 50cc bikes are used. And the "Old Boys League" is for riders over 33 years of age.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Denmark enter a team in the Speedway World Cup. They won the competition in 2006, 2008 and 2012. Previously they won the Speedway World Team Cup in 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1995 and 1997. Denmark also won the Speedway World Pairs Championship in 1979, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Although there was a short lived inter-state competition in Australia during the 1970s, due to the large size of the country riders have traditionally raced mostly at their local tracks, though the top riders often race away from 'home' for championship or other high-profile meetings.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Australian Individual Speedway Championship is the oldest continuously running national speedway championship in the world having been run since 1926 with the exception of 1942–1945 when racing was suspended during World War II, and 1955–1961 when the championship was not held. The first championship was held at the Newcastle Showgrounds in Newcastle, New South Wales and was won by American rider Cec Brown. For a number of years qualification for the Australian Final came from the various State Championships held around the country. The Australian Final was held in various Australian states, usually on a rotating basis. The top places in the Final would then progress to the next stage of the World Championship qualifying. At times the next stage varied from the short lived Australasian Final which included riders from New Zealand, the Overseas Final which saw Commonwealth riders race with the Americans, or the Commonwealth Final which was restricted to riders from Commonwealth nations. The Australian Solo Final was run in the traditional single meeting format from 1926 to 2002 (though in the early years of the championship there was often more than one title contested as championships were held over anywhere from 3–6 laps, often depending on the size of the track). Since 2003 the Australian Championship has been run over a series of rounds (usually 3–5 rounds).


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Australia also runs annual national Championship meetings for Under-16s (since 1982) and Under-21s (since 1987). These meetings are run in the traditional single meeting format and like the senior championship was for a number of years, the Finals are held in various Australian states on a rotating basis.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Australia enter a team in both the Speedway World Cup and the Under-21 World Cup. They won the World Cup in 2001 and 2002. Previously they won the Speedway World Team Cup in 1976 and 1999. The Under-21 team placed second in the 2012 Under-2 World Cup.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: For the first time, the Under-21 World Cup Final will be held outside Europe in 2015 with the Final scheduled to be held at the Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura on 31 October.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: The Speedway Grand Prix of Australia was held in the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne from 2015 to 2017. Previously the SGP of Australia was held in 2002 at Stadium Australia.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Introduced to Italy by occupying soldiers after World War II, speedway is most popular around the north-east of the country. The regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Lombardy and Veneto host race meetings with the latter also hosting the Speedway Grand Prix of Italy in the town of Lonigo. The most successful speedway rider from Italy was Armando Castagna. Castagna was the only Italian professional speedway rider in the history of the sport, and qualified five times for an Individual World Final. Another former rider, Giuseppe Marzotto makes the GM speedway engines.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: Speedway in Germany was overshadowed by its more popular track racing variant "Sandbahn" (Longtrack). However, the country occasionally hosts the Speedway Grand Prix of Germany and has produced one Speedway World Champion, Egon Müller in 1983. Another German rider is Martin Smolinski, who won the New Zealand Grand Prix in Auckland in March 2014. In 2018 German youngsters Norrick Blödorn and Ben Ernst won the world titles in 85 ccm and 250 ccm, showing the results of drastically improved support for young riders in the past decade.


title: Motorcycle speedway

text: On a smaller scale, it also occurs in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, USA, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Hungary and Latvia.


title: Zatara

text: Giovanni "John" Zatara is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He debuted as a superhero, starring in his own stories in "Action Comics" during the Golden Age of Comics. He first appeared in the first issue.


title: Zatara

text: He is commonly portrayed as a stage magician who also practices actual magic and is the father of mystic superhero, Zatanna. The character makes sporadic appearances within the fictional DC Universe, serving as a supporting character to Zatanna, was once of Batman's mentors in escape artistry, and is historically considered a proficient sorcerer of his generation. Originally, the character was also the human parent of Zatanna while her mother served as the homo magi parent. After the New 52 reboot, the character's origin changed, revealing that his family also descended from homo magi.


title: Zatara

text: Zatara has made various appearance in media, having been voiced by Vincent Schiavelli in "". Zatara would also be a supporting character in the "Young Justice" series (voiced by Nolan North), where he is portrayed as an immigrant and devout Catholic inspired by Superman to use his mystic talents to act as a superhero. Unlike his comic book iterations, the character within the series is also depicted as both an apprentice to Kent Nelson and an incarnation of Doctor Fate.


title: Zatara

text: He first appeared starring in his own story "Zatara Master Magician" by writer and artist Fred Guardineer in the anthology American comic book series "Action Comics", starting with the first issue (June 1938).


title: Zatara

text: According to writer Al Sulman, "the time came when [Fred Guardineer] didn't want to draw [the Zatara series] anymore, so the editor turned it over to my brother [Joe Sulman], and he began to draw the strip; but he had to imitate Fred Guardineer's drawing style, because the character had to look [the same], and it worked out fine".