f-s-p

As it turned out the track at Kauhajoki pulled me down from the cloud's and returned to the real world. It looked great for the first set of heats, but the crushed granite that it's made of has not binded and holes appeared after heat 4. They had put salt and water in it, plenty, and it looked great and hard, but it just didn't hold up. The younger riders did still attack it pretty well, which led to some close calls. Katajisto is still riding pretty well, but he does look a bit dangerous. Especially on a track like this, but it's a good thing he has the confidence to do it. But when his first crash come's (and it is coming), I just hope it's not a big one and not caused by a crap track. Reima was the rider to show most effort with Palomäki collecting the points with a slightly less aggressive style. Eerikäinen fell on his own and hurt his knee a little and withdrew himself of the meeting. Mäkinen lifted between turns 3-4 and fell off but was OK. Hautamäki was pretty fast but was unable to win from gate 4 as Mäkinen and Reima both gated in front. Nobody won from gate 4. Next meeting for me is the Kauniskangas Open on the 2nd of June (70% certain) and then the U19 qualifier at Seinäjoki on the 9th of June. Finnish riders in it are Mäkinen, Lahti and Katajisto with Mustonen (17) and Autio (18) as the reserves. But I am making my last bash as s carefree student to Estonia on thursday to see Gerd Riss and co in the Alexeia2007 Longtrack meeting at the Tallinna hippodrome. Then hopefully after my medical check today is cleared I will start in my first "real" job next week after my studies finished 8 months ago.

2nd round at Kauhajoki today. Keittiöpiste 39 Tero Aarnio R6^13R2 12 Teemu Lahti 1123 7 Toni Stenberg 0 0 Juha Hautamäki 2333333 20 Kopparberg 32 Mikko Rahko 110 2 Timo Villanen 210 3 Jyri Palomäki 3212R 8 Tomi Reima 332224^3 19 Jokerit 23 Jani Eerikäinen 20F 2 Markku Autio 30201 6 Juho Ruuska 1001 2 Kalle Katajisto 02334^1 13 Paholaiset 20 Jouni Viljanen 00 0 Petri Koskela 02R12 5 Appe Mustonen 22110 6 Jari Mäkinen 3131d1 9 Erä erältä: 1. Mäkinen, Eerikäinen, Rahko, Aarnio 63,34 2. Autio, Villanen, Lahti, Koskela 62,78 3. Palomäki, Mustonen, Ruuska, Stenberg 62,91 4. Reima, Hautamäki, Mäkinen, Katajisto 61,80 5. Aarnio^, Katajisto, Villanen, Viljanen 63,44 6. Reima, Mustonen, Aarnio, Autio 61,88 7. Mäkinen, Palomäki, Lahti, Eerikäinen 63,08 8. Hautamäki, Koskela, Rahko, Ruuska 61,60 9. Hautamäki, Reima, Eerikäinen F, Koskela R 60,37 10. Katajisto, Lahti, Mustonen, Rahko 63,03 11. Hautamäki, Autio, Palomäki, Viljanen 60,65 12. Aarnio, Reima, Mäkinen, Ruuska 63,09 13. Lahti, Reima, Katajisto, Mäkinen d 63,43 14. Katajisto, Palomäki, Koskela, Aarnio R 64,40 15. Hautamäki, Katajisto, Koskela, Villanen 61,86 16. Hautamäki, Reima^, Mäkinen, Autio 61,22 17. Hautamäki, Koskela, Autio, Palomäki R 61,76 18. Reima, Aarnio, Katajisto, Mustonen 62,28 Katsojia 198 PAHOLAISET......2...51...6 JOKERIT............2...45...6 KOTKAT............1...46...5 KEITTIÖPISTE...1...39...5 KOPPARBERG....1...32...4 HAUKAT............1...10...2

Extraleague opener today at Pori. Paholaiset 31 Jari Mäkinen 32133 12 Appe Mustonen 1221 6 Marko Suojanen F 0 Petri Koskela 222^322R 13 Jokerit 22 Jani Eerikäinen 12222 9 Markku Autio 2101 4 Juho Ruuska 1000 1 Kalle Katajisto 11222 8 Kotkat 46 Rene Lehtinen 23333 14 Benny Johansson 33331 13 Joni Keskinen 331R 7 Kaj Laukkanen 3333 12 Haukat 10 Janne Nyman 00110 2 Kalle Kivistö 0101 2 Niko Siltaniemi 20001 3 Aarni Heikkilä 0012 3 Erä erältä: 1. Mäkinen, Lehtinen, Eerikäinen, Nyman ** 2. Johansson, Autio, Mustonen, Kivistö ** 3. Keskinen, Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Suojanen F 67,91 4. Laukkanen, Koskela, Katajisto, Heikkilä 64,40 5. Lehtinen, Koskela, Autio, Siltaniemi 66,97 6. Keskinen, Mustonen, Katajisto, Nyman 68,02 7. Laukkanen, Mäkinen, Kivistö. Ruuska 63,83 8. Johansson, Eerikäinen, Koskela^, Heikkilä ** 9. JOhansson, Katajisto, Mäkinen, Siltaniemi 66,13 10. Koskela, Eerikäinen, Keskinen, Kivistö 66,67 11. Lehtinen, Mustonen, Heikkilä, Ruuska ** 12. Laukkanen, Koskela, Nyman, Autio 64,71 13. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Kivistö 66,95 14. Johansson, Koskela, Nyman, Ruuska 66,75 15. Mäkinen, Heikkilä, Autio, Keskinen R 66,08 16. Laukkanen, Eerikäinen, Mustonen, Siltaniemi 64,04 17. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Siltaniemi, Koskela R 68,45 18. Mäkinen, Eerikäinen, Johansson, Nyman 68,86 ** = they had problems with the timer, some heats were left without a time. EDIT: The track at Pori was packed so hard that the 12 Finnish U21 riders from the 16 riders present all were able to really ride and not just worry if the next rut would take them through the fence. I think the local people did very well in making the track as it was. I feel very encouraged by what I saw today, but I've heard that the track tomorrow at Kauhajoki is from the different end of the scale and I'll wait until monday evening until I'll start praising that Finnish speedway has been saved. I will say now that when Katajisto outgated Mäkinen and Benny Johansson and kept them behind him for three laps I was very surprised. As must have Johansson been also, since he made the move to pass him as a simple "This will just not go to the record books like this" burst from the outside in turn 2 on the last lap.

Here's the results from last weekend. Pori-LahtiForssa Kaupunki Cup 12.5.2007 Pori 54 Marko Suojanen 33212 11 Jouni Viljanen 1010 2 Appe Mustonen 3222 9 Tomi Kauppi 1313 8 Petri Koskela 33333 15 Mika Vuoristo 2011 4 Roope Mattsson 31F1 5 LahtiForssa 37 Kalle Kivistö 2032M 7 Markku Weckman 020 2 Aarni Heikkilä 222331 13 Ari Tuomisto 0112 4 Janne Nyman 2232R 9 Esa Yrjölä T100 1 Johan Ahponen 10F 1 Erä erältä: 1. Suojanen, Kivistö, Viljanen, Weckman 68,56 2. Mattsson, Vuoristo, Ahponen, Yrjölä T 70,58 3. Mustonen, Heikkilä, Kauppi, Tuomisto 66,52 4. Koskela, Nyman, Mattsson, Ahponen 65,49 5. Kauppi, Mustonen, Heikkilä, Kivistö 68,95 6. Suojanen, Nyman, Yrjölä, Viljanen 67,31 7. Koskela, Heikkilä, Tuomisto, Vuoristo 67,00 8. Kivistö, Weckman, Viljanen, Mattsson F 69,60 9. Nyman, Mustonen, Kauppi, Yrjölä 69,60 10. Heikkilä, Suojanen, Tuomisto, Viljanen 67,60 11. Koskela, Kivistö, Vuoristo, Weckman 66,00 12. Heikkilä, Mustonen, Mattsson, Yrjölä 67,10 13. Koskela, Nyman, Suojanen, Kivistö M 67,00 14. Kauppi, Tuomisto, Vuoristo, Ahponen F 71,00 15. Koskela, Suojanen, Heikkilä, Nyman R 67,50 Kauhajoki-Seinäjoki Kaupunki Cup 13.5.2007 Kauhajoki 55 Jani Eerikäinen 3321 9 Kalle Katajisto 223333 16 Markku Autio 2333d 11 Juho Ruuska 0211 4 Timo Villanen 2223 9 Jonne Perälä 300 3 Olli Heikkilä 1101 3 Seinäjoki 36 Tero Aarnio 11322 9 Toni Stenberg 0011 2 Petteri Koivunen 111 3 Niko Siltaniemi 334^2F 12 Appe Mustonen 3120 6 Jouni Viljanen 20002 4 Pasi Mattila 0000 0 Erä erältä: 1. Eerikäinen, Katajisto, Aarnio, Stenberg 63,59 2. Perälä, Viljanen, Heikkilä, Mattila 69,40 3. Siltaniemi, Autio, Koivunen, Ruuska 63,71 4. Mustonen, Villanen, Heikkilä, Mattila 65,40 5. Eerikäinen, Ruuska, Aarnio, Stenberg 63,50 6. Autio, Katajisto, Mustonen, Viljanen 63,39 7. Siltaniemi, Villanen, Koivunen, Perälä 64,95 8. Katajisto, Siltaniemi^, Stenberg, Heikkilä 63,26 9. Autio, Mustonen, Ruuska, Viljanen 63,55 10. Katajisto, Eerikäinen, Koivunen, Viljanen 63,76 11. Aarnio, Villanen, Stenberg, Perälä 64,77 12. Autio, Viljanen, Heikkilä, Mattila 66,15 13. Villanen, Aarnio, Eerikäinen, Mustonen 64,00 14. Katajisto, Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Mattila 65,00 15. Katajisto, Aarnio, Autio d, Siltaniemi F 63,67 The Extraleague starts tomorrow at Pori and then Kauhajoki on sunday. Time to update my info on the Finnish riders! Your's too when I get the time.

Heard it in the UK from a source about as good as Niemi himself in 2005 and still sticking to that one... Alltough I read from a finnish magazine dated maybe 2003? that Niemi had opened a bar somewhere in in the Canary Islands, on the west coast of Africa. Fixed scooters as a side job. No news on Teromaa, but I will find out something... Here's an interestin meeting for you people to see... The first ever Finnish final! SM Finaali 23.10.1955 Velodromi, Helsinki Kauko Jousanen 33333 15 Antti Pajari 32333 14 Simo Ylänen 23303 11 Jorma Rihkajärvi 21323 11 Aulis Tuominen 21232 10 Pertti Mikkola 03222 9 Erkki Ala-Sippola 30222 9 Paavo Mikkola 32110 7 Pekka Tenko 13111 7 Raimo Kivinen 12030 6 Toimi Koskela 20101 4 Nils Staaf 12001 4 Reino Niemi 00112 4 Pentti Paajanen 01200 3 Kalevi Lahtinen 102 3 Antti Mattila 01100 2 Heta by heat: 1. Pajari, Rihkajärvi, Staaf, Mikkola T 72,9 2. Pa.Mikkola, Koskela, Tenko, Mattila 76,3 3. Jousanen, Ylänen, Kivinen, Paajanen 72,0 4. Ala-Sippola, Tuominen, Lahtinen, Niemi 5. Tenko, Staaf, Paajanen, Niemi 6. Ylänen, Pa.Mikkola, Rihkajärvi, Lahtinen 7. Jousanen, Pajari, Tuominen, Koskela 71,2 8. Mikkola, Kivinen, Mattila, Ala-Sippola T 73,8 9. Jousanen, Ala-Sippola, Pa.Mikkola, Staaf 10. Rihkajärvi, Tuominen, Tenko, Kivinen N 11. Kivinen, Lahtinen, Koskela, Staaf 12. Ylänen, Mikkola, Niemi, Koskela 13. Pajari, Paajanen, Mattila 14. Jousanen, Rihkajärvi, Niemi, Mattila 15. Pajari, Ala-Sippola, Tenko, Ylänen 73,1 16. Tuominen, Mikkola, Pa.Mikkola, Paajanen 17. Ylänen, Tuominen, Staaf, Mattila 18. Rihkajärvi, Ala-Sippola, Koskela, Paajanen 19. Pajari, Niemi 20. Jousanen, Mikkola, Tenko 2173 people watching. Heat times missing because they weren't in the paper.

Hyvinkää is the closest but they dont have a team and dont host meetings anymore this season. Lahti is quite close and still have meetings left this season. Check the other thread.

It was a good meeting in my opinion. Good racing on a good track with a few highlights that would still keep me smiling if there wasn't that night in the car waiting for the ferry and the ever so boring daytime ferry ride back home. The Finnish lads were just as good as the scorechart shows. Risager looked good from the first ride he took in practice and had the confidence to win it. Tomas H Jonasson would have won it if he just could have waited a few meters more to fool around. He was leading heat 18 after battling it out for two laps with Gustavsson and Klindt. He already had 11 points and the win would have taken him to 14 points and victory! He had a maybe 10 m lead as he exited the last bend. Closing on to the line I think he wanted to do a wheelie AND look back while doing it. Law's of physics denied him of that and as he turned his head back the bike lifted too much and threw him off. The bike finished on its back wheel and Jonasson on his face. Referee Mick Bates excluded him because he was not in contact with his bike when he crossed the line. That cost Jonasson 330 CHF in points money. Jari was very nervous and somehow had forgotten almost evrything he'd learn. He was close to his normal self in his last ride but other than that.. Keskinen won both Lahti and Jari, but he was well off the pace also. It's so true when they say that the grass is greener on the other side...

From piraterna.se via jarimakinen.fi, held at Platenstadion, Motala, Sweden. Start time 15.00 local 12th of May 2007 Riders: 1. Ricky Kling, SWE 2. Nicolai Klindt, DEN 3. Viktor Bergström, SWE 4. Carl-Johan Raugstad, NOR 5. Patrick Hougaard, DEN 6. Klaus Jakobsen, DEN 7. Robin Törnqvist, SWE 8. Joni Keskinen, FIN 9. Thomas H Jonasson, SWE 10. Kenneth Hansen, DEN 11. Jari Mäkinen 12. Dannie Söderholm, DEN 13. Billy Forsberg SWE 14. Teemu Lahti, FIN 15. Morten Risager, DEN 16. Simon Gustafsson, SWE 17. Andreas Messing, SWE 18. Linus Eklöf, SWE I'm going...

Juha Mäkelä broke his collarbone yesterday in a crash in Sweden. His team Filbyterna met Gävle and Mäkelä collided with a fellow Finn Teemu Lahti. Apparently Lahti was on the inside as the track caught him and he hit Mäkelä as he was unable to put the bike down. Both bike's were wrecked if not 100% then not much less. More bad news since Lahti had fell earlier and was already on his 2nd bike and is supposed to ride in the U21 qualifier tomorrow. Mäkelä also was on a spare bike in that heat, using Tomi Reima's 2nd bike. Thats now wrecked too! That's speedway. Mäkelä is expected to be out for 3-5 weeks. EDIT: Pictures from the meeting here.. Click on fler bilder

Just like last year, the final info on JK must have come really late, since I heard riders were getting call's on friday!!! The Finns would have had a decent team with Finnish #1 and #2 + Joonas who's as good as the others combined. Such a shame about his shoulder, a real shame. The Swedish team was poor, but I think the others were about right. We were supposed to have the best on offer.

Seinäjoki 58 team pic! Juha Mäkelä 3332 11 Joni Keskinen F222 6 Rene Lehtinen 33333 15 Aarni Heikkilä 1012 4 Tero Aarnio 3333R 12 Petteri Koivunen 3101 5 Niko Siltaniemi 1112 5 jj. Tarja Koivunen Kauhajoki 31 team pic! Markku Autio 1111 4 Jani Eerikäinen 2232R 9 Tero Villanen R010 1 Kalle Katajisto 22032 9 Timo Villanen 2120 5 J-E Korkeamäki 2001 3 Juho Ruuska 0000 0 jj. Anssi Hautala Heat by heat: 1. Mäkelä, Eerikäinen, Autio, Keskinen F.rem 66,61 2. Koivunen, KOrkeamäki, Siltaniemi, Ruuska 69,19 3. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Heikkilä, Villanen R 4. Aarnio, Villanen, Siltaniemi, Ruuska 65,89 5. Lehtinen, Eerikäinen, Autio, Heikkilä 64,85 6. Mäkelä, Keskinen, Villanen, Korkeamäki 66,96 7. Aarnio, Katajisto, Koivunen, Villanen 68,50 8. Eerikäinen, Keskinen, Siltaniemi, Ruuska 66,16 9. Lehtinen, Villanen, Heikkilä, Korkeamäki 66,26 10. Mäkelä, Keskinen, Villanen, Katajisto 67,34 11. Aarnio, Eerikäinen, Autio, Koivunen 64,94 12. Lehtinen, Siltaniemi, Korkeamäki, Villanen 65,45 13. Aarnio, Mäkelä, Autio, Villanen 65,63 14. Katajisto, Heikkilä, Koivunen, Ruuska 67,68 15. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Eerikäinen R, Aarnio R 65,45 I didn't count bonus points, because I dont think they pay for them... Might keep track of them anyway... EDIT: Video clips from the meeting here, last 6 heats. A pretty good meeting at Seinäjoki today, well worth the 5 € it was to get in. Track prep was either a disaster or a perfect success, depends how you look at it. The new material put on the track is between 0-12 mm crushed granite, awful stuff! Track was very soft and it showed as the meeting progressed. But it suited the homeboys, since they had 3 members of the Finnish SWC squad and Joni Keskinen who will ride in the U21 qualifier in Sweden next week... Which brings up the question why they were taking part in a meeting, that is supposed to be organized to let the riders have a chance that cant cut it in the Extraleague. Lehtinen, Mäkelä, Aarnio did as they should, rode well. Keskinen lost twice to Eerikäinen, BIG surprise as Eerikäinen (rode better than I've seen him ever!) passed him in the first one. I hurt my jaw quite badly as it hit my chest when I saw it happen... He was about to pass Mäkelä on the same lap too, but Mäkelä saw it coming and blocked it well. Katajisto was fantastic. Think about K. Bjerre and take half of him off and you get the idea how KK looked on the bike! But he kept it on and attacked the track. He did admit that his arms werent quite strong enough, but he managed to hold on. Went afterwards and had a chat with him as he was changing his gear. His right thigh was deep blue all around... Siltaniemi rode less aggressively but managed also well. Autio didn't impress and Korkeamäki who is supposed to be in the Longtrack qualifier next weekend only stood out because of a new white MX- racing shirt. Awful pic's I know, I'm off to the store this week!

Here's some! This was his first time on a speedway bike this season. He did some "ice road racing", a bit like motoGP but on ice during the winter, and last summer he did some some road racing too. He had a very clear goal what he wanted to achieve in speedway before the end 2004, but since then he's been splitting his effort's (stands for finances too) between the ice, road and speedway. That doesn't add up too well I'm afraid. ForssaLahti 48 Kalle Kivistö 3211 7 Markku Weckman 2120 5 Aarni Heikkilä 33232 13 Ari Tuomisto 011M 2 Janne Nyman N332 8 Esa Yrjölä 32022R 9 Heikki Tapani 21100 4 Pori 45 Marko Suojanen 1N6^RR 7 Mika Suojanen 00NN 0 Appe Mustonen 22223 12 Roope Mattsson 12131 8 Petri Koskela 33333 15 Mika Vuoristo N001 1 Johan Ahponen 1RR1N 2 Heat by heat: 1. Kivistö, Weckman, Suojanen, M.Suojanen 73,01 2. Yrjölä, Tapani, Ahponen, Vuoristo R 73,53 3. Heikkilä, Mustonen, Mattsson, Tuomisto 69,53 4. Koskela, Yrjölä, Tapani, Ahponen R 68,09 5. Heikkilä, Mattsson, Tuomisto, M.Suojanen 69,44 6. Koskela, Kivistö, Weckman, Vuoristo 68,53 7. Nyman, Mustonen, Mattsson, Yrjölä 70,56 8. Suojanen, Weckman, Tapani, Ahponen R 72,81 9. Koskela, Heikkilä, Tuomisto, Vuoristo 67,39 10. Mattsson, Mustonen, Kivistö, Weckman 71,90 11. Nyman, Yrjölä, Ahponen, Suojanen R 70,44 12. Heikkilä, Mustonen, Vuoristo, Tapani 69,08 13. Koskela, Nyman, Kivistö, Suojanen R 79,49 14. Mustonen, Yrjölä, Mattsson, Tapani 73,62 15. Koskela, Heikkilä, Mustonen, Yrjölä R 68,86

I think Kylmäkörpi is not riding, not sure about Laukkanen.

I must have missed something big, since I most certainly did not expect Ulamek to be the wild card. Same goes for Gapinski and Jerdezejks.

Teemu Lahti was happy with his performance at the P&P and will make the trip to Sweden again next week, when Gävle's season start's in the Swedish 1st division. At the P&P he rode alongside Kolodziej and admitted he was fast! He also crashed once into the fences in practise, didn't hurt himself though. He also had some mechanical gremlins in his #1 bike. Jari Mäkinen has taken the cast of his hand and is healing well, I just hope he has the head to keep away from the bike as long as possible. His season would have started this coming weekend here in Finland, but he's not coming over. I have been asking this from him for around 2 months now, but it's still not sure how he will be treated in the Swedish speedway system. When a rider is riding on a Swedish license, he'll be able to ride in all the leagues. For example Tomas H. Jonasson, who rides tuesdays in Elitserien, wednesdays in the 1st division and Thursday's in the Allsvenskan. All this is possible if the partner club contracts are there. Now Jari is a part of the MSF club that has a team in both the Allsvenskan and the 1st division. If he had a Swedish license he'd ride both leagues (if good enough of course), but he's on a Finnish license, so it's unclear if it's possible. It would be great if he could do it. His dad has been doing his bikes over here for a week or two now and heads to Sweden this friday. He's gonna be there for 2 weeks, over the U21 qualifier and the league meeting after that. But read more about him from his own site! A training camp was finally held here at Seinäjoki. Candidates for the SWC team and the U19 qualifier were invited to take part, but decisions were made only about the SWC team. Some time ago there was a press release about the squad from which the team would be picked with Laukkanen, Nieminen and Kylmäkorpi all certain of their places in the team. Only eight riders were present, some protesting, some just unable to take part. For the record this day had been moved around, too many times if you ask me. By a series of heats four riders took part in a final deciding the last two places in the team that will ride in Abensberg. Hautamäki and Aarnio (he was not in the squad) took the slots with Lehtinen getting the reserve place. 1. Laukkanen, Aarnio, Lehtinen, Petteri Koivunen 61.69 2. Hautamäki, Lahti, Joni Keskinen, Markku Autio 63.20 Final: Hautamäki, Aarnio, Lehtinen, Lahti 64.78 Note that the time by Laukkanen in the first one is actually very good. His track record is 61,23 from 2004 when the track was an absolute disaster in the Finnish final. From the top of my head I'd say no one has been that close to it since then. The local club has done a lot of work with the track during the winter. 25 loads of new material have been driven to the track, and it was packed hard last week. How hard it actually is, I'll see that next sunday. The track at Lahti has also been receiving some treatment, they've had a few soft spots appearing every time it rains, so they have improved the plumbing (??) a lot. Pori has also received new material as the people there have been re-doing the banking. All in all I'd say I'm hopefull/worried/excited how all the tracks will cope this season. The Finnish season kicks of with the Kaupunki Cup next weekend. Rounds are staged at Hyvinkää on saturday and Seinäjoki on sunday. This "league" will be ridden by 4 teams with Elite league format of seven riders and 15 heats? The teams will consist mostly of the same riders that are in the Extraleague. For what I've seen about the teams listed, all riders are able to take part. So this summer we'll have two leagues with the same riders with different formats. Jan-Erik Korkeamäki will replace Ilmo Suutari in one of the longtrack qualifiers and Juha Hautamäki will travel to the EC pairs qualifier with Laukkanen and Kylmäkorpi.

For what I know, it keeps the pressure in the absorber. So when the front lifts, it's pushes the fork down, so that the front wheel stays on the track longer. So for giving more/longer steering as the bike would otherwise lose control regarding the front wheel. Excatcly the same that AJ was after with his black carbon fork. Only cheaper...

Anyone have any idea where Kaj Laukkanen was from Gniezno's team last sunday. He was supposed to ride last sunday?

Jari Mäkinen will stay out of the action for at least one week more, hopefully two. Normal time for his fingers to heal is around 4 weeks, thats about exactly the time between the crash and the U21 qualifier. Teemu Lahti is in Sweden today riding in Rospiggarna's press and practise session. The current Finnish U21 Champion has been thrown head first in to the deep end lining up with the likes of Janusz Kolodziej against Greg Hancock and co. We'll see tomorrow how it went!

I know he's in the FIM track racing commission and was the coach for the finnish national team in the late 90's. I'll know more tomorrow. EDIT: sorry I forgot, I'll try to find something out soon...

Kemppi Speedway 16.6.1980 Lahti, SsMK Ari Koponen 33333 15 Olli Turkia 33332 14 Olli Tyrväinen 22333 13 Heimo Kaikko 31232 11 Hannu Lehtonen 33122 11 Ossi Henriksson 22321 10 Pekka Turkia 23210 8 Matti Hyyryläinen 02113 7 Markku Helminen 21220 7 Timo Kiansten 120R3 6 Ari Heinonen 20F12 5 Markku Haapala 112N1 5 V-P Kunelius 0F121 4 Harri Lankinen 10100 2 Gunnar Eriksen SWE 0100 1 Asko Sorvo 1 1 Risto Flink 1 1 Riku Helminen F 0 Esa Jämsäläinen 00000 0 Erä erältä: 1. Lehtonen, P.Turkia, Helminen, Kunelius 2. O.Turkia, Henriksson, Kiansten, Hyyryläinen 3. Kaikko, Heinonen, Haapala, Jämsäläinen 4. Koponen, Tyrväinen, Lankinen, Eriksen 5. P.Turkia, Kiansten, Eriksen, Jämsäläinen 6. Lehtonen, Hyyryläinen, Haapala, Lankinen 7. Koponen, Henriksson, Helminen, Heinonen 8. O.Turkia, Tyrväinen, Kaikko, Kunelius F 9. Tyrväinen, P.Turkia, Hyyryläinen, Heinonen F 10. Koponen, Kaikko, Lehtonen, Kiansten 11. O.Turkia, Helminen, Lankinen, Jämsäläinen 12. Henriksson, Haapala, Kunelius, Eriksen 13. Kaikko, Henriksson, P.Turkia, Lankinen 14. O.Turkia, Lehtonen, Heinonen, Eriksen 15. Tyrväinen, Helminen, R.Helminen F, Kiansten R 16. Koponen, Kunelius, Hyyryläinen, Jämsäläinen 17. Koponen, O.Turkia, Sorvo, P.Turkia 18. Tyrväinen, Lehtonen, Henriksson, Jämsäläinen 19. Hyyryläinen, Kaikko, Flink, Helminen 20. Kiansten, Heinonen, Kunelius, Lankinen I heard that Timo Laine keeps a bee farm somewhere near Turku.

In case Anders wants he can go and have a chat with Jari in Vetlanda, since he'll be there with Örnarna. Today for sure I think, dont know about tomorrow. Jari has also commented his crash in his blog on his website. On another note he told that the guys at this class (at the speedway gymnasium) have been wrecking bikes this week like there's no tomorrow! Few crashes here and there! I dont really know how much that is but Jari for example has ridden so much this spring already that they have to change the piston to his engine. Some say that makes 60-70 heats, some say 100.

Jari Mäkinen crashed heavily in Målilla, Sweden at a training session last sunday. He lost control of his bike as it lifted, and was thrown back first in to the fence. His right hand got between the fence and the bikes handlebar, which caused a bad fracture of his thumb and another finger. His hand is now in plaster, and he will nurse himself back from a concussion as well, which he got himself at the same incident. He plans to return on the 28th of April at Seinäjoki. Let's all hope for a speedy recovery for Jari!

Tero Aarnio is now taking the anticipated step back. He is selling some of his equipment in order to get new one's and also changing carburettors. You can go and check out www.teroaarnio.net from his gallery, there is a video clip from Sweden from 2005 when he beats Juha Hautamäki easily. After that it's been hard for Aarnio, he has struggled badly and both 2006 and 2007 seasons have started very expensively with 2-3 blown engines in the first weeks of the season. Hope he gets things sorted.

Loads of riders were at Hyvinkää training today. At the same time the Extraliiga "conference" was held here in Tampere. A lot of confusion was surrounding the Extraliiga and hence all speedway, since nothing had been heard after the conference in November. Then all of a sudden there was a calender out a month ago that went against most of the decisions made. Then on top of that, there was a point when there were five different calendars out, yet the man in charge of the calender had not sent but one, and that was supposed to be just an early draft! Today, after an hour of "we thought - you said - he said - they said - it said - I heard" a decision was made, that the Finnish Extraliiga Championship will be decided by a 12 round series. No finals will be ridden. This was in practice already decided in November, but somehow things werent clear anymore yesterday. the Joker-rule will apply as in SWC. No guest's, 4 man teams with 4 teams a meeting, pretty much as it was last year. GOOD! Extraliiga Calendar for 2007 Spring round 19.5. Pori................ Paholaiset - Jokerit - Kotkat - Haukat 20.5. Kauhajoki....... Jokerit - Kopparberg - Paholaiset - Keittiöpiste 3.6. Seinäjoki.......... Kotkat - Keittiöpiste - Kopparberg - Haukat 26.6. Vaasa............. Kopparberg - Paholaiset - Jokerit - Kotkat 1.7. Lahti................. Haukat - Paholaiset - Kopparberg - Keittiöpiste 21.7. Kuusankoski.... Keittiöpiste - Jokerit - Kotkat - Haukat Autumn round 22.7. Seinäjoki......... Kotkat - Keittiöpiste - Paholaiset - Jokerit 27.7. Pori................. Paholaiset - Kopparberg - Keittiöpiste - Kotkat 28.7. Kauhajoki........ Jokerit - Paholaiset - Kotkat - Haukat 3.8. Vaasa............... Kopparberg - Keittiöpiste - Jokerit - Haukat 12.8. Lahti............... Haukat - Jokerit - Kotkat - Kopparberg 19.8. Kuusankoski.... Keittiöpiste - Kopparberg - Paholaiset - Haukat Haukat stands for Hawk's from Lahti, Kotkat/Eagles-Seinäjoki, Paholaiset/Devils-Pori, Jokerit/Joker's-Kauhajoki, Kopparberg (-Vaasa) is a cider brand (bought the name) and Keittiöpiste (-Kuusankoski) sell's kitchen furniture (bought the name). The (actual) team names are traditional, only the Jokers are new since they've only had their track since last year. Finnish Individual final at Kuusankoski 17.6.2007 Pairs Championship at Lahti 4.8.2007 Kemppi Speedway at Lahti 10.6.2007 (traditional Finnish meeting, winner takes home a welding machine for the 30th time this year. Kemppi also sponsors in F1 this year!) 2nd Kauhajoki Speedway at Kauhajoki 30.6.2007 Finnish Individual Longtrack Final 25.8.2007 Kauniskangas Open at Haapajärvi 2.6.2007 (50 year Anniversary meeting for the local club) U21 Finnish final at Seinäjoki 7.7.2007 Seinäjoki Speedway 18.7.2007