f-s-p

I think there will be 2 GP's in Sweden and Poland in the future. Cant remember the population of Denmark at the moment, but speedway is very big in Denmark (you should have seen the setup of some of the U16 riders in the EC recently), but not big enough to support two meetings. Some countries have to stage two meetings. It is though in Sweden and Poland, and the reason for this years low number of spectators, is the f##kup with the Ullevi track last year. So harder work next year...

Thanks Rico for the advice. I dont know yet about our hotel, but I have "a man" working on it. We'we booked flight's and all, we'll be there. I'll study them more closely, when I'm recovered from my trip to SGP Gothenburg. Actually it was a lot more than that, 11 days, 7 meetings, 3700km sitting in a car+ 2*11h ferry rides. Gotta love it...

It was actually quite heavy, but I didn't get any spills on my jacket. 45 minutes after the final heat, I heard Hans say, that he had received 48 text messages, so he has friends, still. I honestly dont know yet, what to make of him. Nice to see pugwash that you are still going strong, I've been waiting for a reply on my e-mail, and the floods in Cornwall made the news in Finland, so I didnt know what to think.

Well done Hans indeed, for winning the trophy, Which I had the the rare opportunity to embrace after the meeting (the trophy I mean )

How do you pronounce the "thank you" in polish? I had read it from here before the wroclaw gp, tried it a couple of times, usually I got a funny looking smile back! Personally I think polish and checz people are good with their english, and the fact that the security persons at the track dont speak it, is because when they were at school, they were told russian is the language to learn. Anyway, we are going to bydgosz on friday to sunday, seeing and staying in Torun on sunday, then flying home from Warsaw on monday. Every little detail on getting to the track and back in torun and bydgosz would be greatly appreciated. Especially because I cant speak or read polish, and we got lost on the tram in Wroclaw and missed the practise.

Now that would be stupid with a capital S!

I was absolutely devastated in Copenhagen, because none of the organizers spoke finnish!! Can you believe that?? Also in Copenhagen, on the backstraight, in front of me (3people) and besides me (2), all danish and pissed as hell by heat 16. I almost got the rubbish beaten out of me, when they started arguing. I was the one in middle, while security was watching the racing and having coffee. My girlfriends sister has really been getting on my nerves in the last two years, because she's always moaning about us finns and the way we drink. The fact is, that she has no idea whats happening elsewhere. Yes she's been abroad, but she likes it "posh", so she has no idea about the real people. People drink to get drunk all over the world. You shouldn't generalise a nation on the actions of individuals. I've been holding this message back for three months now, saw the opportunity and...

Is this the official unofficial entrylist for GP predictions? If thats the case, then 1. Trick 2. Jason Crump 3. Antonio Lindback 4. Ryan Sullivan

Finnish U21: Tero Aarnio ( KeittiöJet in Finland and Eldarna in Sweden) Finnish U16 (80cc class): Kalle Katajisto (Snails in Finland and Kaparna in Sweden) Finnish Longtrack: Jari Ahlbom Finnish League: Leijona-Haukat (combined Helsinki and Lahti)

Finnish Championship, Seinäjoki, 24.7.2004 Kaj Laukkanen SeMK 3 3 3 3 3 15 Juha Hautamäki KMMK 2 3 3 3 3 14 Tero Aarnio KMMK 3 2 3 2 2 12 Jani Mäkelä SEMK 2 3 3 2 2 12 Juha Mäkelä SeMK 3 2 1 3 1 10 Rene Lehtinen SeMK 1 2 2 2 3 10 Kake Nieminen SEMK 3 3 2 X - 8 Toni Salmela FMS 0 2 0 3 3 8 Margus Mandre Eesti 1 1 2 2 2 8 Panu Karvonen KMMK 2 1 2 X 1 6 Joni Keskinen SEMK 2 1 0 1 0 4 Jani Eerikäinen 1 0 1 1 1 4 Teemu Lahti KMMK 0 0 1 0 2 3 Aarni Heikkilä FMS 0 0 1 1 1 3 Petri Koskela 1 1 0 0 0 2 Joni Kitala SSMK 0 0 0 1 0 1 Q 1: Keskinen Eerikäinen, Lahti Q 2: Koskela, Kitala, Heikkilä Q 3: Eerikäinen, Lahti, Heikkilä Heat 1: Laukkanen, Hautamäki, Mandre, Lahti 61,96 Heat 2: Aarnio, Ja Mäkelä, Lehtinen, Salmela 63,75 Heat 3: Nieminen, Keskinen, Eerikäinen, Heikkilä 64,13 Heat 4: Ju Mäkelä, Karvonen, Koskela, Kitala 66,05 Heat 5: Laukkanen, Lehtinen, Keskinen, Kitala 61,23 (new track record!) Heat 6: Hautamäki, Salmela, Karvonen, Eerikäinen 64,87 Heat 7: Nieminen, Aarnio, Koskela, Lahti 63,98 Heat 8: Ja Mäkelä, Ju Mäkelä, Mandre 65,64 Heat 9: Laukkanen, Nieminen, Ju Mäkelä, Salmela 62,97 Heat 10: Hautamäki, Lehtinen, Heikkilä, Koskela 64,66 Heat 11: Ja Mäkelä, Karvonen, Lahti, Keskinen 66,27 Heat 12: Aarnio, Mandre, Eerikäinen, Kitala 64,33 Heat 13: Laukkanen, Aarnio, Heikkilä, Karvonen(exl. tapes) 61,93 Heat 14, 2nd re-run: Hautamäki, Ja Mäkelä, Kitala, Nieminen (f, exl.) 65,43 Heat 15: Ju Mäkelä, Lehtinen, Eerikäinen, Lahti 67,25 Heat 16: Salmela, Mandre, Keskinen, Koskela 68,79 Heat 17: Laukkanen, Ja Mäkelä, Eerikäinen, Koskela 62,04 Heat 18: Hautamäki, Aarnio, Ju Mäkelä, Keskinen 65,22 Heat 19: Salmela, Lahti, Heikkilä, Kitala 70,03 Heat 20: Lehtinen, Mandre, Karvonen 68,52 B-Final: Lehtinen, Salmela, Ju Mäkelä® 66,63 A-Final: Laukkanen, Hautamäki, Aarnio, Ja Mäkelä 61,84 Racing suffered due to a poor first bend (soft and patchy). Laukkanen had to fight hard against Nieminen in heat 9. He missed the start totally (clutch broke), and was third exiting the first bend. For three laps he was allover Kake, and finally an all or nothing move going into turn 3 on the last lap, then cutting on the inside made him victoriuos by a margin of 50cm. Heat 14 Jani Mäkelä and Nieminen collided, and Nieminen hit the fence quite hard. This incident wrecked his number 1 bike, and in the first re-run, still a bit shaken, he fell on his own and was excluded. Basicly this demolished his chances of making it to the A-final, so he packed it in. A-final was from the tapes, no passing after first bend. Move of the meeting was made by Juha Hautamäki in heat 6, going wide and taking Salmela from the outside of second bend, just enough ahead to cut infront of him going in to turn one. Attendance was close to 500, weather was cloudy but dry.

Was won by Kaj Laukkanen. The title was his seventh, and like many times before, he had to battle for it. And like many times before, again, his biggest rivals were Kauko Nieminen and Juha Hautamäki. Joonas Kylmäkorpi didn't ride (I think he's still injured) and Sergei Darkin was a no show, due to his Coventry deal, I presume. I will post heat details and comments within 24hrs, but after driving home in absolutely terribly weather for 3hrs, stopping 3 times because cuoldn't see trough the rain, I think I need a relaxing chat with ms(?) Stella Artois and mr Newcastle, B.A.

The system. Alltough I already edited my post once, I came to realize it still wasn't what I was after. I've been thinking about this for some time now, and to me the best one at the moment seems to be the one they use(d?) in ELRC. 20 heats, after which 2 best to the final, and numbers 3-6 ride for 2 more slots in the final. That way the best 2 get the benefits of a good meeting, and they dont have to face elimination in a semifinal. The current GP system is OK, but I see no point in riding d,c and b finals like they do in Ice Racing GP's. Why bother with a d-final, when everyone has had a fair chance of qualifying for THE A-final? Generaölly about Ice racing, I do find it a bit boring. I cant understand why people call speedway scalextric, but I sort of get the idea when it comes to ice racing.

A and B SEMIFINAL, of which 2 best goes to the final. Thats what I think I know. The system they are using in the qualis. EDIT: Ice racing system is different, and it sucks

1. Jason Crump 2. Ryan Sullivan 3. Gregory Hancock 4. Leigh Adams

I know I read it from the star, about the Howe-Stead situation last year. At Wroclaw I asked Lukas about this, and at that moment before the meeting, he thought that he was getting Svab's place, because they were at the same draw? I think Hampel hit the shovel deep under his own feet by stepping down from the qualifiers, and took the first step towards the handle at Cardiff. He is going to be in the GP next year, but he is not making it easy for himself. He should have gone trough the quali's!

Pictures of the meeting have been posted by mr. Jurmu at www.teamlaine.com. On the left go to KUVAGALLERIA and then on the middle go for SPEEDWAYKUVAT. @ iris, honestly I dont know why this is. Maybe this was done ages ago, when world was still big, and it sounded good to keep us (as in me and the others) scandinavians where we were coming from...

1 Niklas Fridell Sweden 2 Mads Korneliussen Denmark 3 Rene Lehtinen Finland 4 Joni Keskinen Finland 5 Tero Aarnio Finland 6 Tobias Messing Sweden 7 Henrik Möller Denmark 8 Jan Mikke Bjerk Norway 9 Morten Risager Denmark 10 Fredrik Lindgren Sweden 11 Petri Koskela Finland 12 Eric Andersson Sweden 13 Rune Sola Norway 14 Rune Knudsen Denmark 15 Lars Hansen Denmark 16 Jonas Davidsson Sweden 17 Aarni Heikkilä Finland 18 Joni Kitala Finland (www.teamlaine.com)

I just want to see the GP on the box. We are coming to London for the sights, and I already checked my hotel, the Ibis Wembley, and they dont have skysports. Could somebody please tell me if there's a pub nearby showing the meeting, or is there a list of SkySports-bars in the web, like there's a list for Premiere- Sportsbar's here in Berlin?

Why is Holta not riding? That would mean Joonas Coldforest is taking his place, and I'm stuck at Ibis Wembley to watch it on TV (if they even have SS)! §$" 1. Crump 2. L. Richardson 3. Gregory Hancock 4. Bo Brhel Since I'm out for this years series, I'm going for the BIG ONE here. Don't take this the wrong way, but I had a good laugh reading your e-mail pugwash, and like we both know they are not making the track for Kaj at Cardiff, but he'll get more then 2 rides...

Heard that Fredrik Lindgren was the man of the day, easily the fastest, alltough lost a point in the early heats. Risager alltough with a big team, flashy bikes and gadgets looked mortal on the bike. And for Iris: I've been thinking about your question, and alltough at the moment even Finland has a member in the FIM commission (Ilkka Teromaa), I dont think that the Scandic Qualifier is a result of good lobbying. If you look at the older results in the books for the SGP-qualifiers, there has always been the Nordic final for the Scandinavians. So may this is just a relic.

I'm up for it! You can interview me in finnish and swedish too... Nicki isn't good at english, but at least it's somewhat fluent, even with the youknows. Compared to other motorracing World champions he's a pro with his english. The likes of Marcus Grönholm, Mika Häkkinen and Tommi Mäkinen all (finnish) suck at it. " Ai wont tu tänk te tiim änd te reis was kut pat te klats wos slipperi..." Just for the books, I'm not a fan...

Fisher has to go trough from this one. He did it last year in the semifinal at Abensberg, even while struggling with his machinery. So this time plain sail, I hope. Hopefully Knakowski makes it also, though I've seen him struggle if the track doesn't suit him.

Probably Dryml, he is the first reserve and a czeck(?) like Svab. Last year, when Howe had to withdraw from the final round, his place went to Stead instead of Kylmäkorpi, in that case it was about federations I think. Well now it's the same federation and first reserve, so go Lukas!!

The weather shouldn't provide any difficulties this time, sunny and almost +20C are todays figures. If thats the the case, I'll go for: 1. Crump 2. Gollob 3. Sullivan 4. Loram In case it rains, i'll go for JD

You mean like the one they have at Gothenburg... We`ll be there