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11 hours ago, moomin man 76 said:

Martin Haarahiltunen out of the European Championship final with an elbow injury.

His place will be taken by Ove Ledström, who had travelled with him as his mechanic.

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RUSSIAN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINALS

SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 & SUNDAY DECEMBER 13

DAY 2

Semi Final 1 - Ufa:

1. Nikita Bogdanov (Ufa) 29 (15+14)

2. Daniil Ivanov (Togliatti) 27 (13+14)

3. Igor Kononov (Togliatti) 26 (12+14)

4. Igor Saydullin (Kamensk-Ural) 20 (12+8)

5. Ivan Chichkov (Ufa) 20 (8+12)

6. Eduard Krysov (Yaroslavl) 18 (8+10)

7. Evgenei Saydullin (Togliatti) 18 (10+8)

8. German Khazmurzin (Kamensk-Ural) 17 (9+8)

9. Sergei Makharov (Lukhovitsy) 16 (10+6)

10. Dmitri Bulankin (Ufa) 14 (6+8)

11. Elisey Vydrin (Ufa) 12 (5+7)

12. Evgenei Sotnikov (Penza) 7 (4+3)

13. Nikolai Makharov (Lukhovitsy) 6 (2+4)

14. Sergei Volodin (Yaroslavl) 4 (4+0)

Semi Final 2 - Shadrinsk:

1. Dmitri Khomitsevich (Kamensk-Ural) 28 +3 (13+15)

2. Dmitri Koltakov (Kamensk-Ural) 28+2 (15+13)

3. Dinar Valeev (Ufa) 27 (13 +14)

4. Ivan Khuzhin (Kamensk-Ural) 23 (11+12)

5. Nikita Tarasov (Ufa) 19 (13+6)

6. Dmitri Borodin (Shadrinsk) 18 (9+9)

7. Vladimir Fadeev (Togliatti) 17+3 (7+10)

8. Evgeni Sharov (Glazov) 17+2 (9+8)

9. Saveli Vedyanov (Togliatti) 15 (9 +6)

10. Artem Burmistrov (Shadrinsk) 12 (4+8)

11. Matvei Volkov (Shadrinsk) 9 (6+3)

12. Andrei Anisimov (Togliatti) 7 (3+4)

13. Pavel Glotkin (Shadrinsk) 6 (2+4)

14. Kirill Zevakov (Kamensk-Ural) 6 (4+2)

15. Vlas Nekrasov (Izhevsk) 3 (2+1)

16. Ivan Volkov (Glazov) 3 (0+3)

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Conkers, Happy Xmas etc to you and yours. Watching the European Ice racing now, what are the standings of the Russians. As 36 of them were racing elsewhere, are the three in Poland 37, 38 and 39 in Russia? Or, why did three get sent to Poland and miss there own championship. 

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Top three in last year's  Russian Ice Championship (exc seeded World champion) got a shot at FIM Ice Gladiators. Next three spots got the Euro nomination. As only 6/7 are going thru to the final it looks like the three Russians riding in Poland today have been seeded to Russian Ice Final. So the Russians  riding in today's European are approx. 5th/6th/7th best Russian ice racers.

Edited by arnieg
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Some good racing this afternoon in the European Championship, interspersed with long delays for track maintenance. However, with the cancelled GP Qualifier, it will be interesting to see how they determine the non-Russian GP riders.

From what I have seen this afternoon, the only riders who can confidently expect a GP place (assuming they wish to compete) are Svensson, Ledstrom and Weber. The others will be there to simply make up the numbers.

Haarahiltunen no doubt will get a place if fit to compete...

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1 hour ago, BuxtonTiger said:

Conkers, Happy Xmas etc to you and yours. Watching the European Ice racing now, what are the standings of the Russians. As 36 of them were racing elsewhere, are the three in Poland 37, 38 and 39 in Russia? Or, why did three get sent to Poland and miss there own championship. 

Solyannikov was there as 2019/20 U-21 Champion, whilst Toloknov and Kolenkin were there as they finished out of the Top 4 of the Russian Championship and as a result get to ride in the European Championship. As far as I am aware, all three could be seeded to the Russian Final in two weeks, as only 13 went through from the two Semis. But I may be wrong.

Quote

From what I have seen this afternoon, the only riders who can confidently expect a GP place (assuming they wish to compete) are Svensson, Ledstrom and Weber. The others will be there to simply make up the numbers.

That is the problem. Weber is a shoe in, as is Niklas Svensson  - Stefan said he doesn't want to ride in the GPs anymore, but he's said that before. Ledstrom has technically retired, but he may have a go after today. Haarahiltunen will probably be there, as I reckon he'll be fit by then. As for the rest, you are probably right, although Harald Simon is a good rider and can match the Russians. 

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Must admit I gave up after 8 heats. Only saw one interesting heat and the track prep seemed to take forever.....was it just rustiness, but Zorn looked well off his top form and Bauer looks as if he hasn't really improved much at all....

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EUROPEAN FINALTomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, Sunday, December 13, 2020

Dmitri Solyannikov (Rus)    18 
Konstantin Kolenkin (Rus)    15 
Nikita Toloknov (Rus)    14 
Stefan Svensson (Swe)    10
Johann Weber (Ger)    11
Ove Ledström (Swe)    11
Franky Zorn (Aut)    9
Andrej Divis (CzR)    7
Jasper Iwema (NL)    6
Aki Ala-Riihimaki (SF)    5
Luca Bauer (Ger/ITA)    5
Jiri Wildt (CzR)        4
Michal Knapp (PL)    4
Benedict Monn (Ger)    3
Lukas Hutla (CzR)    2
Acts Suolammi (SF)    1

Last Chance Heat:
Toloknov, Svensson, Ledstrom , Weber fx

Final:
Solyannikov, Kolenkin, Toloknov, Svensson

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1 hour ago, Conkers said:

EUROPEAN FINALTomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, Sunday, December 13, 2020

Dmitri Solyannikov (Rus)    18 
Konstantin Kolenkin (Rus)    15 
Nikita Toloknov (Rus)    14 
Stefan Svensson (Swe)    10
Johann Weber (Ger)    11
Ove Ledström (Swe)    11
Franky Zorn (Aut)    9
Andrej Divis (CzR)    7
Jasper Iwema (NL)    6
Aki Ala-Riihimaki (SF)    5
Luca Bauer (Ger/ITA)    5
Jiri Wildt (CzR)        4
Michal Knapp (PL)    4
Benedict Monn (Ger)    3
Lukas Hutla (CzR)    2
Acts Suolammi (SF)    1

Last Chance Heat:
Toloknov, Svensson, Ledstrom , Weber fx

Final:
Solyannikov, Kolenkin, Toloknov, Svensson

Atte finished last...

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1 hour ago, iris123 said:

Must admit I gave up after 8 heats. Only saw one interesting heat and the track prep seemed to take forever.....was it just rustiness, but Zorn looked well off his top form and Bauer looks as if he hasn't really improved much at all....

Zorn did indeed look well off the pace...in his final heat, he was taken from behind by Rihimaki, before the latter lost control on the badly rutting 3rd-4th bend.

To be honest, Rihimaki probably lost around 4pts from race rustiness...

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I echo lots of the previous sentiments, a fair number of rather dull races, a long time cleaning the track and in all honesty a fairly weak field. If I was to be totally pessimistic and blunt I'm not sure a meeting like that would really enhance interest in ice speedway. I've thought Zorn has looked toothless for a few years now, usually makes starts pretty well and then just rolls round with seemingly no fight. As others say, Luca Bauer who you would think as a young rider would have his mojo after seemingly gaining confidence throughout his first heat totally fizzled out. Surely his old man who seemingly pulls no punches wants to give him a boot up the arse.

Enough of the negatives, great stuff from Stefan Svensson and Ove Ledstrom. Is it a sabbatical or full time retirement he ( Ledstrom) was going to take? Weber did well too, always willing to push it to, and beyond, the limit. I was reading his teamate has relatively little experience on motorbikes but like the Eishans Herr Monn had aggression, something the aforementioned Bauer could do with. Great coverage from the Polish TV channel. At risk of sounding like an anorak I thought the sound was very good, almost like you were actually there!!!

Finally, well done to the top three and the outright winner.

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13 hours ago, iris123 said:

Must admit I gave up after 8 heats. Only saw one interesting heat and the track prep seemed to take forever.....was it just rustiness, but Zorn looked well off his top form and Bauer looks as if he hasn't really improved much at all....

What would make ice racing better? I watched the 3rd set of heats just to see what the Finns were up to, then went out. When I came back the grading took so long I was out of excuses and forced back out... 

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4 hours ago, f-s-p said:

What would make ice racing better? I watched the 3rd set of heats just to see what the Finns were up to, then went out. When I came back the grading took so long I was out of excuses and forced back out... 

For me the sport is very good when run well. That generally means Russia. They have the equipment, the know how and the riders to make a great meeting. Normally the Russian Final(s) are the highlights. But when you see the group of tractors out on the track they do a super job and the riders are fairly even through the card, give or take. The Euro meeting is always a bit hit and miss because of the difference in class. Yesterday the riders were strung out after the first bend and very few had the ability to make up much ground.

I did make the mistake probably of watching a Russian stream of the meeting, with a monotone talk over by some Russian guy, and when away from my laptop I couldn't tell if a race had started or not......and so I kept looking back and it was still track prep !!! I thought at Longtrack in particular they had extra long breaks to get as much money from food and drinks, but there was no real excuse yesterday. Not sure what the polish tv company thought about it all

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The track preperation is something that they organizer will improve for sure. It was their first time running an ice event, and it won't be the last. I think the overall organisation was quite good, and it wasn't easy with all these COVID regulations and everything.

No crowd was allowed so the whole event was funded by TV rights and sponsors. Everybody in the paddock had to be COVID tested as well. 

They had the paddock on the back straight, but when a crowd will be allowed they will move it to outside in a tent or something. The stadium has retractable stands, so they can have spectators on the back straight too.

Speaking about riders: Svensson was awesome. 62 years of age but still very good. Too bad this was his last international event. Zorn his time is over. He can still do the starts, but then he looks scared. Ledstrom was on the pace as well on completely borrowed equipment. Bike from Haarahiltunen, kevlars from Bauer, helmet from Svensson.

My photo's from yesterday: https://www.baansportfansite.nl/nieuws/2026/russische-dominantie-tijdens-het-ek-ijsspeedway-in-tomaszow-mazowiecki

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