Finnish News

[f-s-p 832]

Tomi Paavola might be the next one coming back. He's the driving force at Hyvinkää now where they have built an 80cc track and the bigger track is developed to meet the current specs a bit better!

 

Tomi "Silver Bullet" Reima called it a day yesterday at Seinäjoki. 18 years as a speedway rider was enough (for now) and he's retired. As a winner also since he beat Niko Siltaniemi in his last heat (and it was a good heat) and took the league honours with Haukat. Scored also his season best in his 9th meeting of the season. I believe he's not totally lost to the sport though and thats good.

 

The meeting yesterday was good as mentioned earlier. I made many mistakes with the results but they are OK now since 12 today. The weather was a bit iffy so they went trough it all very quickly. 1 hour 25 minutes from the start of the parade until the chequered flag on the last heat. I was once again all over the place so I had missed some tactical changes and such...

 

Hautamäki/Nieminen pairing was untouchable. A couple of times a rider might have challenged the pair until the start of the backstraight but then Nieminen would just sweep them aside and they'd be gone... Siltaniemi was really fast for Jokerit and Keskinen was good too. I think he's ridden his best season yet. Reima was the best he's been this season alltough he did one mistake and that cost Haukat a point in favour of Kotkat as Hautamäki passed him in the last bend in heat 13. The pass by Hautamäki was one of many by him this season and he's basically kept Kotkat in the game by himself having scored 45% of their points during the season. Kotkat had planned to keep a low profile this season but the surprise of the season in Pasi Pulliainen's performance changed their plans midway and suddenly Kauko Nieminen was in the team since he was available after his polish plans went down the drain.

 

For the champions Teemu Lahti's injury was a shock but in the end it went well, they won. Alex Edberg brought his best game to Finland yet and with tm Virtanen's tactical skills they managed to hang on alltough they scored only 2 points from 4 heats from their #1 in the last two meetings of the season. Timo Lahti was on form in these last two and was team riding like a real pro at Seinäjoki. At one point he could have as well grabbed the handlebars of Hyyryläinen and push him forward as he was trying to block an opponent behind them. He was riding REALLY slow compared to his own speed in that one. Reima lost only one point to an opponent and for that he can look in to the mirror to see who to blame.

 

Paholaiset didn't do that well since Jari Mäkinen and Aarni Heikkilä were away riding in Sweden. Mäkinen would probably stirred things up a little between the top teams as I think only Siltaniemi, Nieminen and Hautamäki would have been faster than him. But that was not to be and in the end Paholaiset were basically on track to make up the numbers.

 

The new meeting format has a couple of minor details to adjust but it worked a treat and the man behind it deserves the credit for creating it, our #1 Petri Meritähti.

 

Since the teams met each other 12 times during both halves of the season it's possible to sum it all up on a "traditional" sort of way. Here's how it would look:

 

Kevät 2010

Haukat 34 – Kotkat 38

Haukat 38 – Jokerit 31

Haukat 46 – Paholaiset 26

Kotkat 42 – Paholaiset 30

Kotkat 41 – Jokerit 31

Paholaiset 33 – Jokerit 39

 

Syksy 2010

Kotkat 33 (71) – Haukat 39 (73)

Kotkat 35 (76) – Jokerit 37 (68)

Kotkat 52 (94) – Paholaiset 19 (49)

Haukat 44 (82) – Jokerit 28 (59)

Haukat 51 (97) – Paholaiset 21 (47)

Jokerit 54 (72) – Paholaiset 18 (56)

 

Joukkue O - V - T - B - + - P

Haukat 8 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 253 - 13

Kotkat 8 - 4 - 2 - 2 - 253 - 10

Jokerit 8 - 3 - 3 - 1 - 233 - 7

Paholaiset 8 - 0 - 6 - 0 - 154 - 0

 

Averages need some fine tuning, they'll be online early next week.

 

So the right team won, congratulations Vikke on a job well done!

Edited September 12, 2010 by f-s-p

[f-s-p 832]

Extraliiga avereages from 2010:

 

Kuljettaja ---------------- Seura ------- O --- E --- P --- BP --- JP --- 1. --- 2. --- 3. --- 4. --- d --- ka --- ka _BP

Juha Hautamäki ------- Kotkat ------ 8 --- 40 --- 109 --- 4 --- 6 --- 32 --- 8 --- 0 --- 1 --- 0 --- 10,90 --- 11,30

Jari Mäkinen ----------- Paholaiset - 4 --- 20 --- 47 --- 0 --- 4 --- 10 --- 8 --- 1 --- 0 --- 1 ------ 9,40 --- 9,40

Timo Lahti -------------- Haukat ----- 8 --- 40 --- 92 --- 4 --- 0 --- 22 --- 8 --- 7 --- 2 --- 0 ------ 9,20 --- 9,60

Tero Aarnio ------------ Jokerit ------ 5 --- 25 --- 50 --- 3 --- 4 --- 8 --- 12 --- 2 --- 1 --- 2 ------ 8,00 --- 8,48

Teemu Lahti ----------- Haukat ------ 6 --- 30 --- 58 --- 4 --- 3 --- 11 --- 8 --- 9 --- 1 --- 1 ------ 7,73 --- 8,27

Joni Keskinen -------- Jokerit ------- 8 --- 40 --- 70 --- 8 --- 5 --- 12 --- 14 --- 6 --- 7 --- 1 ----- 7,00 --- 7,80

Niko Siltaniemi ------ Jokerit -------- 8 --- 40 --- 67 --- 11 --- 0 --- 11 --- 10 --- 12 --- 4 --- 3 -- 6,70 --- 7,80

Tomi Reima ---------- Haukat ------- 8 --- 40 --- 64 --- 10 --- 0 --- 9 --- 12 --- 13 --- 5 --- 1 --- 6,40 --- 7,40

Pasi Pulliainen ------- Kotkat ------- 7 --- 34 --- 50 --- 5 --- 6 --- 6 --- 13 --- 6 --- 9 --- 0 -------- 5,88 --- 6,47

Markku Autio --------- Jokerit ------- 5 --- 16 --- 22 --- 5 --- 0 --- 3 --- 5 --- 2 --- 4 --- 2 --------- 5,50 --- 6,75

Rene Lehtinen ------- Kotkat ------- 4 --- 20 --- 27 --- 5 --- 0 --- 3 --- 6 --- 6 --- 5 --- 0 --------- 5,40 --- 6,40

Marko Suojanen ----- Paholaiset - 8 --- 37 --- 42 --- 2 --- 1 --- 3 --- 10 --- 13 --- 6 --- 5 ----- 4,54 --- 4,76

Mika Loppi ------------- Kotkat ------ 5 --- 20 --- 18 --- 6 --- 0 --- 1 --- 3 --- 9 --- 5 --- 2 -------- 3,60 --- 4,80

Petri Koskela --------- Paholaiset - 6 --- 26 --- 23 --- 4 --- 0 --- 2 --- 4 --- 9 --- 10 --- 1 ------- 3,54 --- 4,15

Aarni Heikkilä -------- Paholaiset -- 6 --- 25 --- 20 --- 4 --- 2 --- 1 --- 3 --- 8 --- 7 --- 3 -------- 3,20 --- 3,84

Joni Kitala ------------- Haukat ------ 6 --- 17 --- 8 --- 2 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 5 --- 8 --- 1 --------- 1,88 --- 2,35

Jiri Nieminen --------- Jokerit ------- 4 --- 12 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 3 --- 7 --- 2 --------- 1,00 --- 1,00

Kauko Nieminen ------ Kotkat ------- 2 --- 10 --- 26 --- 4 --- 0 --- 6 --- 4 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 ------ 10,40 --- 12,00

Daniel Henderson ---- Jokerit ------ 1 --- 5 --- 10 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 5 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --------- 8,00 --- 8,80

Alexander Edberg --- Haukat ------ 2 --- 12 --- 23 --- 5 --- 0 --- 3 --- 5 --- 4 --- 0 --- 0 -------- 7,67 --- 9,33

Miikka Mäkelä -------- Kotkat ------- 1 --- 3 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 1 --- 1 --- 0 ----------- 4,00 --- 4,00

Marko Hyyryläinen -- Haukat ------ 2 --- 5 --- 5 --- 2 --- 0 --- 0 --- 2 --- 1 --- 2 --- 0 ----------- 4,00 --- 5,60

Jani Pirttinen --------- Kotkat ------- 2 --- 6 --- 5 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 0 --- 2 --- 3 --- 0 ------------ 3,33 --- 3,33

Janne Nyman -------- Paholaiset - 1 --- 5 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 1 --- 3 --- 0 ------------ 2,40 --- 2,40

Jani Eerikäinen ------- Paholaiset - 1 --- 5 --- 3 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 3 --- 2 --- 0 ----------- 2,40 --- 3,20

Jere Lehtonen -------- Paholaiset - 2 --- 9 --- 5 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 5 --- 2 --- 2 ----------- 2,22 --- 2,22

Jouni Viljanen -------- Paholaiset -- 2 --- 10 --- 4 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 4 --- 6 --- 0 --------- 1,60 --- 1,60

Appe Mustonen ------ Kotkat ------- 1 --- 5 --- 2 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 2 --- 3 --- 0 ---------- 1,60 --- 1,60

Jarkko Palmi ---------- Kotkat ------- 2 --- 6 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 4 --- 1 ---------- 0,67 --- 0,67

Jan-Eric Korkeamäki --- Jokerit --- 1 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 3 --- 0 ---------- 0,00 --- 0,00

 

You needed to be in three matches for your team to get a medal after the season so riders with 2 or less meetings have been put to the bottom of the list. Jari Mäkinen is the biggest surprise in this, he's had a good season even with his below par U21 final. Done only half the matches though, think he's been sick a couple of times and now this Swedish meeting last weekend. Joni Keskinen has been good also and alltough Pasi Pulliainen only has an average below six I stand by comments earlier, he surprised everyone on the first half of the season when he averaged almost 7,6 from his meetings.

 

Not so many foreigners this season in the EL:

2010: 30/2 = 28 finns...

2009: 29/8 = 21

2008: 34/6 = 28

... and that naturally is a good thing. Considering the Daniel Henderson did only one meeting for Jokerit and Joni Kitala's decision to retire after the season made Haukat turn to Edberg for the last two meetings. There's a lot to build on for next season but also a lot is happening behind the scenes that I do not want to worry about until the time comes.

 

There was a KC round and the final round of 80cc yesterday at Pori but I've not received the results yet. Finnish calendar looks like this for the remainder of the season:

September 18th: Pairs at Pori

September 19th: Kaupunki Cup at Pori

September 25th: Longtrack Challenge at Forssa

Possibly individual Kemppi speedway and a training day at Hyvinkää are still open.

 

Until next weekend it is!

Edited September 13, 2010 by f-s-p

[f-s-p 832]

Says in Speedway Star that Teemu Lahti could be on his way to join Tera at Scunthorpe. Be good to see him over here if this happens.

Teemu's crash should appear here in a few days, I've forwarded the pics under Teemu's approval. It was a broken collarbone and extensive ligament damage and he's out for 3 months. He was operated this tuesday by someone better thah the guy who recently did Jason Crump and he should get back to full fitness before next season. Still a shame, but like he said himself, thats what happens when your rear chain locks up the rear wheel entering turn one at Eskilstuna...

 

Pairs final this saturday at Pori, I'm told six teams are taking part.

[gypilgrim 0]

Teemu's crash should appear here in a few days, I've forwarded the pics under Teemu's approval. It was a broken collarbone and extensive ligament damage and he's out for 3 months. He was operated this tuesday by someone better thah the guy who recently did Jason Crump and he should get back to full fitness before next season. Still a shame, but like he said himself, thats what happens when your rear chain locks up the rear wheel entering turn one at Eskilstuna...

 

Pairs final this saturday at Pori, I'm told six teams are taking part.

 

Has Teemu given anything away about his 2011 plans ?

 

If he's like Tero he will do nicely for the Scorpions.

[f-s-p 832]

Has Teemu given anything away about his 2011 plans ?

 

If he's like Tero he will do nicely for the Scorpions.

If he's given the chance and the circumstances I'd say he'd love to come.

 

Kaupunki Cup 6/6

Pori (PMK) 12.9.2010

 

Forssa 15

Aarni Heikkilä 3332 11

Jani Eerikäinen 1120 4

 

Seinäjoki I 4

Jarkko Palmi 2121 4

 

Pori 18

Jouni Viljanen 1221 6

Marko Suojanen 3333 12

 

Lahti 13

Jiri Nieminen 2103 6

Janne Nyman 0322 7

 

Kauhajoki 9

Jan-Eric Korkeamäki 2113 7

Olli Heikkilä 0002 2

 

Erä erältä:

1. Heikkilä, Palmi, Eerikäinen 68,67

2. Suojanen, Nieminen, Viljanen, Nyman 66,00

3. Suojanen, Viljanen, Palmi 65,66

4. Nyman, Korkeamäki, Nieminen, O.Heikkilä 69,17

5. Suojanen, Viljanen, Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 64,87

6. Heikkilä, Nyman, Eerikäinen, Nieminen 68,42

7. Nieminen, Nyman, Palmi 68,75

8. Heikkilä, Eerikäinen, Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 67,29

9. Suojanen, Heikkilä, Viljanen, Eerikäinen 64,58

10. Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 73,84

Tuomari: Harri Heikkilä, katsojia 43.

 

1/6 this coming sunday at the same track. I'm not commentating on the standings of the KC. Teams have been riding with one rider, no shows by teams and practically everything else you can think of.

Edited September 17, 2010 by f-s-p

[f-s-p 832]

37th Pariajon SM-finaali

Pori (PMK) 18.9.2010

 

Seinäjoen MK (Kotkat) 23

Kauko Nieminen 23222 11

Juha Hautamäki 32331 12

Rene Lehtinen

 

Kauhajoen MK (Jokerit) 21

Niko Siltaniemi 02333 11

Joni Keskinen 1322 8

Markku Autio 2 2

 

Pirkan MM (Wasamat) 15

Aarni Heikkilä 21100 4

Jari Mäkinen 33R23 11

 

Porin MK (Paholaiset) 14

Marko Suojanen 3d301 7

Petri Koskela 23110 7

 

Salpausselän MK (Haukat) 10

Jiri Nieminen 12113 8

Janne Nyman 00002 2

 

Satakunnan UA (-) 7

Jouni Viljanen 111 3

Jere Lehtonen 02T11 4

 

Erä erältä:

1. Mäkinen, Heikkilä, Viljanen, Lehtonen 65,56

2. Suojanen, Koskela, J.Nieminen, Nyman 66,57

3. Hautamäki, Nieminen, Keskinen, Siltaniemi 63,63

4. Mäkinen, J.Nieminen, Heikkilä, Nyman 65,10

5. Koskela, Lehtonen, Viljanen, Suojanen d ei aikaa

6. Keskinen, Siltaniemi, Heikkilä, Mäkinen R 65,10

7. Nieminen, Hautamäki, J.Nieminen, Nyman 65,41

8. Siltaniemi, Keskinen, Viljanen, Lehtonen T 64,91

9. Suojanen, Mäkinen, Koskela, Heikkilä 65,63

10. Hautamäki, Nieminen, Lehtonen 64,84

11. Siltaniemi, Autio, J.Nieminen, Nyman 64,70

12. Hautamäki, Nieminen, Koskela, Suojanen 64,37

13. J.Nieminen, Nyman, Lehtonen 67,77

14. Siltaniemi, Keskinen, Suojanen, Koskela 65,51

15. Mäkinen, Nieminen, Hautamäki, Heikkilä 65,37

Tuomari: Matti Koivuoja, katsojia 330.

 

Jari Mäkinen became only the second rider this season to beat Kauko Nieminen in Finland. Tero Aarnio broke that duck in the individual final earlier at Kauhajoki. Mäkinen winning the Kotkat pairing that had already secured the title had lifted some eyebrows and opinions had been voiced at the track, but thats speedway. Marko Suojanen had shed a chain while leading in heat 5.

 

This was the last chance of the season for Juha Hautamäki to continue his winning streak that started back in 2005. He won double then (individual and league), league in 2006 (only! ), triple both 2007 and 2008, double again in 2009 (pairs and league) and now only pairs. Having scored 45% of the points Kotkat scored this season in the Extraliiga, I think it safe to say that if you want to win, get him.

 

I have a feeling that this meeting will be talked about later on the year. And not about the racing or other more important matters, but who organised it and why.

Edited September 19, 2010 by f-s-p

[f-s-p 832]

Kaupunki Cup 1/6

Pori (PMK/FMS) 19.9.2010

 

Lahti 16

Jiri Nieminen 1322 8

Janne Nyman 2213 8

 

Forssa 15+3

Jani Eerikäinen 1021 4

Aarni Heikkilä 2333 11+3

 

Pori 15+2

Jouni Viljanen 032 5

Jere Lehtonen T1 1

Marko Suojanen 333 9+3

 

Seinäjoki 7+3

Jarkko Palmi 3112 7+3

 

Kauhajoki 7+2

Olli Heikkilä 1000 1

Jan-Eric Korkeamäki 2211 6+2

 

Erä erältä:

1. Suojanen, Nyman, Nieminen, Viljanen 68,79

2. Palmi, Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 70,02

3. Suojanen, Heikkilä, Eerikäinen 67,04

4. Nieminen, Nyman, Palmi 64,01

5. Viljanen, Korkeamäki, Lehtonen, O.Heikkilä 71,21

6. Heikkilä, Nieminen, Nyman, Eerikäinen 68,10

7. Heikkilä, Eerikäinen, Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 68,53

8. Suojanen, Viljanen, Palmi 71,66

9. Nyman, Nieminen, Korkeamäki, O.Heikkilä 69,22

10. Heikkilä, Palmi, Eerikäinen 68,80

Uusinta 1: Palmi, Korkeamäki 71,18

Uusinta 2: Heikkilä, Suojanen 66,91

Tuomari: Harri Heikkilä, katsojia 61.

 

Kaupunki Cup averages by rider.

Kuljettaja ------------ O --- E --- P --- 1. --- 2. --- 3. --- 4. --- d --- ka

Marko Suojanen --- 3 --- 13 --- 36 --- 12 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 11,08

Mika Loppi ----------- 4 --- 22 --- 56 --- 13 --- 8 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 10,18

Aarni Heikkilä ------- 4 --- 19 --- 47 --- 12 --- 5 --- 1 --- 1 --- 0 --- 9,89

Jani Eerikäinen ----- 5 --- 26 --- 58 --- 14 --- 6 --- 4 --- 2 --- 0 --- 8,92

Jiri Nieminen --------- 6 --- 31 --- 66 --- 10 --- 16 --- 3 --- 2 --- 0 --- 8,52

J-E Korkeamäki ----- 5 --- 27 --- 55 --- 8 --- 12 --- 7 --- 0 --- 0 --- 8,15

Janne Nyman ------- 3 --- 13 --- 23 --- 3 --- 6 --- 2 --- 2 --- 0 --- 7,08

Miikka Mäkelä ------- 3 --- 17 --- 30 --- 5 --- 6 --- 3 --- 2 --- 1 --- 7,06

Jarkko Palmi --------- 5 --- 25 --- 41 --- 6 --- 9 --- 7 --- 2 --- 1 --- 6,56

Jouni Viljanen ------- 6 --- 30 --- 37 --- 2 --- 9 --- 13 --- 4 --- 2 --- 4,93

Reima Heikkilä ----- 3 --- 17 --- 14 --- 1 --- 2 --- 7 --- 6 --- 1 --- 3,29

Olli Heikkilä ---------- 6 --- 31 --- 21 --- 0 --- 3 --- 14 --- 14 --- 0 --- 2,71

Rene Lehtinen ----- 1 --- 5 --- 14 --- 4 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 11,20

Jani Pirttinen -------- 1 --- 5 --- 14 --- 4 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 11,20

Petri Koskela -------- 1 --- 5 --- 13 --- 3 --- 2 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 10,40

Markku Weckman - 1 --- 6 --- 9 --- 0 --- 3 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 6,00

Hannu Hietamäki -- 1 --- 6 --- 7 --- 0 --- 2 --- 3 --- 1 --- 0 --- 4,67

Teemu Mattila ------ 1 --- 2 --- 2 --- 0 --- 1 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1 --- 4,00

Jere Lehtonen ------ 2 --- 7 --- 6 --- 1 --- 0 --- 3 --- 1 --- 2 --- 3,43

Markku Larronmaa - 2 --- 12 --- 10 --- 1 --- 1 --- 5 --- 4 --- 1 --- 3,33

Jukka Nieminen ---- 1 --- 5 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 3 --- 0 --- 2 --- 2,40

Reino Koivuluoma - 1 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 2 --- 1 --- 0,00

 

Not gonna say anything about the standings, dont have the time to go through the results with the rulebook.

 

EDIT2: Though I did do this since the movie on the tv is sh1te. It has nothing to do with the official final standings, but gives you a clue on whats been going on.

 

Team M - +

Forssa 6 - 115

Pori 6 - 110

Lahti 6 - 99

Seinäjoki II 4 - 78

Seinäjoki 6 - 73

Kauhajoki 6 - 73

Lahti II 1 - 9

Edited September 19, 2010 by f-s-p

[Vicar 2]

Pirkan MM (Wasamat), Salpausselän MK (Haukat), Satakunnan UA - those teams are from Pirka, Salpaussela and Satakuna?

[Dekker 239]

If he's given the chance and the circumstances I'd say he'd love to come.

And Timo?

[f-s-p 832]

Pirkan MM (Wasamat) TAMPERE, Salpausselän MK (Haukat) LAHTI, Satakunnan UA PORI.

 

And Timo?

Dont think Timo is in any hurry yet. He's done/will get to 40+ meetings this season + training camps and a few tracks with an hours drive from home that he can practise at freely (not that he's had time). Also contracts and connections all over the place. Staying away one more season would only help him, in my opinion. Then he could laugh half the offers away when the time comes. Because even now, every team wants him in Europe.

[f-s-p 832]

Longtrack Challenge at Forssa tomorrow starts 5 PM local time. The track is in excellent condition I'm told today and the forecast of heavy rain during the meeting turned to nice but cloudy during last night. So it should be good.

 

Draw:

1. Richard Wolff, Tsekki

2. Rene Lehtinen, Suomi

3. Pavel Ondrasik, Tsekki

4. Matthias Kröger, Saksa

5. Jerome Lespinasse, Ranska

6. Aki-Pekka Mustonen, Suomi

7. Daniel Rath, Saksa

8. Richard Hall, Iso-Britannia

9. Jannick de Jong, Hollanti

10. Theo di Palma, Ranska

11. Martin Smolinski, Saksa

12. Mark Stiekema, Hollanti

13. Glen Phillips, Iso-Britannia

14. Gabriel Dubenard, Ranska

15. Tom Perry, Iso-Britannia

16. Bernd Diener, Saksa

17. Sirg Schützbach, Saksa

18. Herbert Rudolph, Saksa

19. Pasi Pulliainen, Suomi

20. Tommi Ahlgren, Suomi

 

It says on speedway.org that Pullainen will ride instead of Ondrasik. The theoretical chance of having qualified for the semis before heat 9 (practically with 20 points you'll be in the GP next year too) then goes to Tommi Ahlgren.

Edited September 25, 2010 by f-s-p

[f-s-p 832]

speedway.org is apparently doing live updates from this one every 3 heats.

 

Weather is OK and one person even claims to have seen the sun.

[britmet 233]

How many go thru ?

 

.

[DutchGrasstrack 804]

7 go through.

 

Lineup for 2011:

 

FINLAND:

Joonas Kylmakorpi

Aki Pekka Mustonen

 

THE NETHERLANDS:

Theo Pijper

 

GERMANY:

Richard Speiser

Stephan Katt

Jorg Tebbe

Martin Smolinksi

Herbert Rudolph

Matthias Kroger

 

GREAT BRITAIN:

Andrew Appleton

Glenn Philips

Richard Hall

 

FRANCE:

Mattieu Tressarieu

Jerome Lespinasse

 

Wildcard 1: ?

Wildcard 2: ?

Wildcard 3: ?

[f-s-p 832]

Since the results are known I wont go in to them until tomorrow morning. A drink and the GP sounds a winner at this point.

 

Good track, held up, everything ran smooth, weather was OK alltough there was serious showers predicted at 9PM but it was still dry when I left 9.30.

 

Smolinski was untouchable, easy (looking) winner. Rudolph a clear 2nd with Hall and Phillips riding a rerun for third. Hall got the lead from the start in that one but Phillips did his best to challenge. I think it was lap one when they collided at the start of the front straight and the lap after Phillips got in front. Only to have his engine blown up a lap later. Schutzbach rode a rerun for the last place in next years GP against Lespinasse. Lespinasse took the lead with SS passing him entering lap two. He lead for two laps and then his engine blew up on the backstraight of lap 4. Didn't see it myself but I'm told there was stuff flying and bikes kicked afterwards.

 

For the Finns Mustonen was as good as the results show. Dont think it was an EF why he retired in the final, someone said he'd taken a shower where it hurts the most or similar. Pulliainen had bike trouble in the start of the meeting after having ridden really well in practise. Lehtinen started well, then messed his start in his second (announcers comment) and suffered mechanical gremlins later on. Was outclassed in his semi.

 

For the brits Perry was disappointed but somehow I got the impression that it was never gonna be his day today. Hall was good but Phillips really was put to the test a couple of times. Andrew Appleton was there also to scout out the place. With the organization that went on today, I think it's a given that you can change the TBA in next years LT calendar with Forssa, FINLAND! I didn't speak to everyone, but enough people did love the place. With around 1700 paying to get in, it was financially saved also, so come you can all come and see it done proper in 2011 also!