Conkers

I don't normally get MCN. Any chance you could scan it in for me and mail it please Matt? If it is mine I can bill them

World Team Championship Day 2, Inzell, Germany Russia 55 (26 +29) Nikolai Krasnikov 11 + 15 (3,3,3,3,3) = 26 Yunir Baseev 10 + 10 (2,2,2,1,3) = 20 Danil Ivanov 5+ 4 (2,2) = 9 Austria 46 (24 + 22) Harald Simon 1+0 (0,0) = 1 Markus Skabraut 5+ 6 (2,2,1,1) = 11 Franz Zorn 18+14 (3,3,2,3,2,3) = 34 Germany 37 (17 + 20) Gunther Bauer 16 + 16 (3,3,3,1,3,3) = 32 Stefan Pletschacher 1 +4 (2,0,0,2) = 5 Florian Fürst DNR + 0 (0,0) = 0 Sweden 31 (16+15) Per-Olof Serenius 5+ 9 (0,3,1,2,2,1) = 14 Stefan Svensson 11+6 1,1,2,1,1,0) = 17 Per-Anders Lindstrom DNR Finland 27 (16+11) Antti Aakko 11 + 7 (1,1,1,3,1) = 18 Kai Lehtinen 1+0 (0,0) = 1 Tommy Flyktman 4+4 (0,3,0,0,1) = 8 Czech Rep. 27 (15+12) Antonin Klatovsky 10 + 8 (1,f, 3,0,2,2) = 18 Jan Klatovsky 5 + 4 (0,x, 0,2,1,1) = 9 Andrei Divis DNR Netherlands 25 (9 + 16) Johnny Tuinstra 2 + 1 (1,0,X) = 3 Rene Stellingwerf 5 + 7 (2,1,2,0,2) = 12 Sven Holstein 2+ 8 (2,0,3,3) = 10 Good performance by the Russians, who only dropped a single point today when Franky Zorn split them to get a second. Superb performance by Zorn only dropping two points - one to Krasnikov and the other to Gunther No-Mates. Franky top scored this weekend which has the Russian forums buzzing that he is doing so well. One Forum even said that he was "the most terrible rival to the Russians" Bauer also had another good day, only beaten by the Russians, although a better performance by Pletschacher (though not as good as Bauer). Credit to the Dutch side too who finished fourth today but last overall. Holstein and Stellingwerf showing that they are more than capable of replacing Johnny Tuinstra.

European Championship Final, Lukovitsy, 1.2.09 Final Results (Russia unless stated) 1. Dmitri Bulankin 14, 2. Igor Kononov 13, 3. Mikhail Bogdanov 12+3, 4. Mikhail Zelepukin 12+exc, 5. Ilya Drozdov 11, 6. Sergei Makharov 10, 7. Maxim Zakharov 9, 8. Eduard Krysov 9, 9. Andrei Gavrilkin 6, 10. Jan Pecina (CzR) 4, 11. Jussi Njuonen (SF) 3, 12. Henri Malinen (SF) 3, 13. Nikolai Buzmakov (res) 3, 14. Martin Leitner (A) 3, 15. Mats Svensson (S) 3, 16. Heinz Goldi (CH) 2, 17. Josef Kreuzberger (A) (res) 2, 18. Maxim Korchemakha 1 Apparently when Korchemakha fell in the semi final 3rd place run off he damaged his hand. The doctors advised against him riding today but he rode in his first heat and then agravated the injury and was forced to withdraw.

Looks like the Russians are the only ones riding as a team, but Zorn is unbeaten. Gunther "No Mates" Bauer has at least vindicated his comments as 16 points says that he is undoubtedly the top German rider and the rest are a long way behind! Both Swedes appear to have fallen in their final race gifting the Austrians a 5-0. One comment from Jacqueline at the track was the Ice was very soft. Considering she told me it was -5 there today. Makes you wonder what they did to the track

Semi Final, Lukhvitsy, Russia: 31.1.2009 Results: 1. Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 15 2. Sergei Makharov (Rus) 12+3 3. Ilya Drozdov (Rus) 12+2 4. Maxim Korchemakha (Rus) 12+fx 5. Mikhail Zelepukin (Rus) 11 6. Eduard Krysov (Rus) 11 7. Andrei Gavrilkin (Rus) 9 8. Heinz Goldi (CH) 7 9. Henri Mailinin )(SF)6+3 10. (Res) Nikolai Buzmakov (Rus) 6+2 11. Josef Kreutzberger (A) 5 12. Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) 4 13. Mark Uzzell (GB) 3 14. Robert Gjersfold (S) 3 15. Claude Gaydeyne (F) 3 16. Martin Behal (CzR) 0 17. Kevin Rowland (GB) 0 Final: 1.2.2009 If the scores are correct then the finalo should look like this: 1. Henri Mailinin (SF) 2. Mikhail Zelepukin (Rus)l 3. Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 4. Jan Pecina (CzR) 5. Andrei Gavrilkin (Rus) 6. Sergei Makharov (Rus) 7. Igor Kononov (Rus) 8. Maxim Korchemakha (Rus) 9. Heinz Goldi (CH) 7 10. Eduard Krysov (Rus) 11. Martin Leitmer (A) 12. Maxim Zakharov (Rus) 13. Mats Svensson (S) 14. Mikhail Bogdanov (Rus) 15. Jussi Njuronen (SF) 16. Ilya Drozdov (Rus) Res: 17. Nikolai Buzmakov (Rus)** 18. Josef Kreutzberger (A) EDIT: For the full line up ** = Buzmakov was reserve for the Semi and scored 6 from three rides and according to the score sheet came 10th.

European Semi Final, Lukhvitsy, Russia: 31.1.2009 1. Heinz Goldi (CH) 2. Ilya Drozdov (Rus) 3. Martin Behal (CzR) 4. Josef Kreutzberger (A) 5. Oleg Dozaev (Ukr) 6. Mikhail Zelepukin (Rus) 7. Mark Uzzell (GB) 8. Maxim Korchemaha (Rus) 9. Claude Gaydeyne (F) 10. Sergei Makharov (Rus) 11. Robert Gjersfold (S) 12. Dmitri Bulankin (Rus_ 13. Kevin Rowland (GB) 14. Henri Mailinen (SF) 15. Andrei Gavrilkin (Rus) 16. Eduard Krysov (Rus) Res: 17. Ilya Ulyanov (Rus) 18. Nikolai Buzmakov (Rus) Final: 1.2.2009 1. Jussi Njuronen (SF) 2. 5th Semi Final 3. 1st Semi Final 4. Jan Pecina (CzR) 5. 7th Semi Final 6. 2nd Semi Final 7. TBC (Rus) 8. 4th Semi Final 9. 8th Semi Final 10. 6th Semi Final 11. Martin Leitmer (A) 12. TBC (Rus) 13. Mats Svensson (S) 14. TBC (Rus) 15. 16. 3rd Semi Final Res: 17. 10th Semi Final 18. 11th Semi Final

So it's Gunther No Mates from now on is it ? So I was half right on Verhoef then

Thanks Jackie. I think the bloke who was filling in the programme at the other end needs to learn to read. I followed the meeting on the speedway-forum.de site and he had Kirchner in second and Max Neidermaier last. I've deleted my original post now anyway.

German Championship, Inzell 29.1.09 Line Up: 1. Franz Mayerbüchler 2. Marian Kreklau 3. Günther Bauer 4. Anton Zmaga (RUS) 5. Sebastian Gegenbauer 6. Stefan Pletschacher 7. Mario Schwaiger (A) 8. Johann Weber 9. Dmitri Tschatschin 10. Florian Fürst 11. Reinhard Greisel 12. Christoph Kirchner 13. Max Niedermaier 14. Anton Weber 15. Martin Posch (A) 16. Peter Mader 17. Karl Ebner (A)

There's no line up I can find for the weekend, but there are no Dutch riders shown in the listing on Speedway.org. (mind you they have been wrong before). As for the replacement for JT, Rene Verhoef is the obvious choice, unless they want to take a chance on Van Der Steen? Or you could try and coax Bootsma out of retirement Or would Thijs be free

Draw for World Ice Racing Championship Rounds 1 & 2, Krasnagorsk, 7th/8th Feb 2009: 1 Harald Simon (A) 2 Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) 3 Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 4 Dmitri Khomitsevich (Rus) 5 Gunter Bauer (D) 6 Ivan Ivanov (Rus) 7 Pavel Tschajka (Rus) 8 Vitali Khomitsevich (Rus) 9 Stefan Svensson (S) 10 Franz Zorn (A) 11 Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 12 Danil Ivanov (Rus) 13 Per-Olof Serenius (S) 14 Junir Baseev (Rus) 15 Antti Aakko (SF) 16 Kai Lehtinen (SF) Reserves: 17 Marcus Skabraut (A) 18 Tommy Flyktman (SF) In round 2, the reserves will replace the two lowest scorers, who in turn drop to reserve for that round.

If that is the case, I make the 18 riders for the Finals are: Franz Zorn (A) Harald Simon (A) Marcus Skabraut (A) (Res) Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) Gunter Bauer (D) Johnny Tuinstra (NL) Danil Ivanov (Rus) Dmitri Khomitsevich (Rus) Ivan Ivanov (Rus) Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) Pavel Tschajka (Rus) Vitali Khomitsevich (Rus) Yunir Bazeev (Rus) Per-Olof Serenius (S) Stefan Svensson (S) Antti Aakko (SF) Kai Lehtinen (SF) Tommy Flyktman (SF) (res) Edit after checking Speedway.org However, if the Poles do take their seeded spot then I think Lehtinen will be reserve and one of the other reserves will be out.

World Championship QR Day 2, Sanok 26.1.2009 Scores (Day 1 + 2) 1. Yunir Baseev (Rus) - (3,3,3,2,3) 14 + (3,3,3,3,3) 15 = 29 2. Paveł Tschajka (Rus) - (1,3,3,3,2) 12 + (2,3,3,3,3) 14 = 26 3. Per Olof Serenius (S) - (3,3,2,3,3) 14 + (3,2,3,1,2) 11 = 25 4. Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) - (1,2,3,3,3) 12 + (2,3,2,2,2) 11 = 23 5. Johnny Tuinstra (NL) - (2,1,2,2,3) 10 + (3,3,1,3,2) 12 = 22 6. Kai Lehtinen (SF) - (w,2,3,2,1) 8 + (1,2,2,3,3) 11 = 19 +3 7. Per Anders Lindstrom (S) - (2,2,2,3,2) 11 + (3,2,d, 2,1) 8 = 19 +2 8. Stefan Pletschacher (D) - (0,w,2,1,2) 5 + (2,1,0,2,3) 8 = 13 9. Martin Leitner (A) - (3,1,1,d,1) 6 + (1,1,2,2,1) 7 = 13 10. Mario Schwaiger (A) - (3,0,1,0,1) 5 + (0,2,2,0,2) 6 = 11 11. Henri Malinen (SF) - (2,1,1,0,2) 6 + (0,0,3,1,1) 5 = 11 12. Jouni Seppanen (SF) - (1,3,1,1,0) 6 + (2,1,1,1,w) 5 = 11 13. Jan Pecina (CzR) - (0,2,0,2,0) 4 + (1,1,1,0,1) 4 = 8 14. Michał Widera (Pl) - (1,1,0,1,d) 3 + (1,0,0,0,0) 1 = 4 15. Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) - (2,w,d,1,0) 3 + NS = 3 16. Mirosław Daniszewski (Pl) - NS + (0,0,1,1,0) 2 = 2 17. Zdzisław Żerdziński (Pl) - (0,0,0,0,w) 0 + NS = 0 Heats (2nd Day) 21. Baseev, Tschajka, Lehtinen, Schwaiger 22. Serenius, Klatovsky, Leitner, Malinen 23. Tuinstra, Seppanen, Pecina, Daniszewski 24. Lindstrom, Pletschacher, Widera 25. Tschajka, Serenius, Pletschacher, Daniszewski 26. Tuinstra, Lehtinen, Leitner 27. Klatovsky, Schwaiger, Pecina, Widera 28. Baseev, Lindstrom, Seppanen, Malinen 29. Tschajka, Leitner, Pecina, Lindstrom 30. Serenius, Lehtinen, Seppanen, Widera 31. Malinen, Schwaiger, Daniszewski 32. Baseev, Klatovsky, Tuinstra, Pletschacher 33. Tschajka, Klatovsky, Seppanen 34. Lehtinen, Pletschacher, Malinen, Pecina 35. Tuinstra, Lindstrom, Serenius, Schwaiger 36. Baseev, Leitner, Daniszewski, Widera 37. Baseev, Serenius, Pecina 38. Lehtinen, Klatovsky, Lindstrom, Daniszewski 39. Pletschacher, Schwaiger, Leitner, Seppanen (u/w) 40. Tschajka, Tuinstra, Malinen, Widera Run Off for 6th Place 41. Lehtinen, Lindstrom Looks Johnny T made it by sheer guts

Christian Weber wrote in Speedway Star on 17.1.09, "Only the top four from this [saalfelden] meeting are certain of a place in the finals, while the fifth has to wait until all three qualifiers are completed to learn if a rider from each of the nations that host either a qualifier or a final round, has made it through. If not, the fifth placed rider will lose his qualifying spot in favour of a seeded rider from the host nations." I'm sure I read somewhere that this would happen when the fixtures were finally confirmed. So if this is correct, Poland will get a slot in the Finals, as will the Netherlands if neither country has a rider in the top 5/6. If you remember, they did it last year with Johnny Tuinstra when the KNMV had no representative, so they have set a precedent and the PZM could argue that they staged a QR, so they get a seeded rider. But can they give it to Knapp if he hasn't ridden in a qualifying round? Otherwise they'll have a rider who is half a lap behind the rest whenever he races, as their choice may not be as experienced as Knapp.

World Championship QR Sanok, Day 1 Finishing Order 1. Yunir Baseev (Rus) - (3,3,3,2,3) 14 2. Per Olof Serenius (S) - (3,3,2,3,3) 14 3. Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) - (1,2,3,3,3) 12 4. Paveł Tschajka (Rus) - (1,3,3,3,2) 12 5. Per Anders Lindstrom (S) - (2,2,2,3,2) 11 6. Johnny Tuinstra (NL) - (2,1,2,2,3) 10 7. Kai Lehtinen (SF) - (w,2,3,2,1) 8 8. Jouni Seppanen (SF) - (1,3,1,1,0) 6 9. Martin Leitner (A) - (3,1,1,d,1) 6 10. Henri Malinen (SF) - (2,1,1,0,2) 6 11. Mario Schwaiger (A) - (3,0,1,0,1) 5 12. Stefan Pletschacher (D) - (0,w,2,1,2) 5 13. Jan Pecina (CzR) - (0,2,0,2,0) 4 14. Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) - (2,w,d,1,0) 3 15. Michał Widera (Pl) - (1,1,0,1,d) 3 16. Zdzisław Żerdziński (Pl) - (0,0,0,0,w) 0 17. Mirosław Daniszewski (Pl) - NS Heats 1. Serenius, Tuinstra, Tschajka, Pecina 2. Schwaiger, Dosaev, Widera, Lehtinen (u/w) 3. Baseev, Lindstrom, Klatovsky, Pletschacher 4. Leitner, Malinen, Seppanen, Żerdziński 5. Seppanen, Pecina, Widera, Pletschacher (u/w) 6. Baseev, Lehtinen, Tuinstra, Żerdziński 7. Tschajka, Lindstrom, Malinen, Dosaev (u/w) 8. Serenius, Klatovsky, Leitner, Schwaiger 9. Lehtinen, Lindstrom, Leitner, Pecina 10. Klatovsky, Tuinstra, Malinen, Widera 11. Tschajka, Pletschacher, Schwaiger, Żerdziński 12. Baseev, Serenius, Seppanen, Dosaev 13. Klatovsky, Pecina, Dosaev, Żerdziński 14. Lindstrom, Tuinstra, Seppanen, Schwaiger 15. Tschajka, Baseev, Widera, Leitner 16. Serenius, Lehtinen, Pletschacher, Malinen 17. Baseev, Malinen, Schwaiger, Pecina 18. Tuinstra, Pletschacher, Leitner, Dosaev 19. Klatovsky, Tschajka, Lehtinen, Seppanen 20. Serenius, Lindstrom, Widera , Żerdziński Results from http://live.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel2.htm Got to give it to Posa - 61 in March and still mixing it! I do think whoever is nominated by the Poles as their "Seeded" rider is really going to struggle though.

Had a busy day myself and only cut and pasted the results from the other meetings. Completely forgot about the Team Championship. Russian Super League Round 3 24.1.09 Ufa 25 Nikolai Krasnikov 18, Dmitri Bulankin 7, Sergei Baltachev DNS Togliatti 24 +3 Ivan Ivanov 9, Dmitri Khomitsevich 8, Vitalli Khmoitsevich 7+3 Lukovitsy 24 +2 Sergei Makharov 13, Ilya Drozdov 11+2 Sterliamak 17 Igor Kononov 12, Vladimir Chapello 5,Sergei Zazakov 0 Kamensk-Ural 13 Eduard Krysov 7, Danil Goloshekin 6, Dmitri Tikhonov 0 Novosibirsk 12 Maxim Korchemakha 11, Andrei Zhdanov 1 Saransk 11 Andrei Gavrilkin 6,Maxim Zakharov 5, Maxim Lushnikov DNS Krasnikov giving plenty of warning that he intends to retain his World Championship, whilst a big slip for the Saransk team. League Table: Bashkortostan Ufa 24 Mega-Lada Togliatti 18 Lukhovitsy 11.5 Mordovia Saransk 11 Kaustic Sterlitamak 10 Kamensk-Ural 6.5 Siberia Novosibirsk 6 Round 4 25.1.2009 Ufa 27 Nikolai Krasnikov 16, Dmitri Bulankin 9, Sergei Baltachev 2) Togliatti 26 Dmitri Khomitsevich 15, Vitalli Khomitsevich 11, Ivan Ivanov 0 Kamensk Ural 17 Danil Golosheykin 9, Eduard Krysov 8, Dmitri Tikhonov DNR Saransk 16 +3 Maxim Zakharov 10, Andrei Gavrilkin 6, Maxim Lushnikov DNR Lukhovitsy 16+2 Sergei Makharov 9, Ilya Drozdov 7 Novosibirsk 12 Maxim Korchemakha 9, Andrei Zhdanov 3, Alexander Kochetov DNR Sterlitamak 11 Igor Kononov 11, Vladimir Chapalo 0, Sergei Zazakov 0 League Table: Bashkortostan (Ufa) 32 Mega-Lada Togliatti 24 Mordovia Saransk 15 Lukhovitsy 14,5 Kamensk- Ural 11,5 Kaustic Sterlitamak 11 Siberia Novosibirsk 8. Have a look at this Crash sequence too: ON THIS LINK

Sanok Cup, Sanok, Poland 24.1.2009 Results from http://live.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel1.htm Elimination Heats: 1. Cavigelli, Żerdziński, Kopik, Uzzel 2. Saetre, Pecina, Daniszewski, Widera 3. Schwaiger, Leitner, Dosaev, Jansson 4. Bazeev, Flyktman, Lehtinen, Behal (w/u) 5. Kopik, Widera, Behal, Dosaev (ns) 6. Lehtinen, Jansson, Uzzel, Daniszewski 7. Flyktman, Schwaiger, Pecina, Cavigelli 8. Bazeev, Leitner, Saetre, Żerdziński (d) 9. Leitner, Pecina, Jansson, Kopik 10. Schwaiger, Lehtinen, Saetre, Widera 11. Stellingwerf, Lindstroem, J. Klatovsky, Flyktman (d) 12. Bazeev, Aakko, Pletschacher, Kreklau 13. Serenius, Holstein, Simon, Schwaiger 14. A. Klatovsky, Malinen, Lietner, Seppanen (w/u) 15. J. Klatovsky, Kreklau, Simon (ns), Seppanen (ns) 16. Flyktman, Pletschacher, Schwaiger, Leitner (t) 17. Serenius, Stellingwerf, Aakko, Malinen 18. Bazeev, A. Klatovsky, Holstein, Lindstroem (u) 19. Pletschacher, J. Klatovsky, Lindstroem, Aakko 20. Holstein, Malinen, Flyktman, Kreklau Semi-Finals 21. A. Klatovsky, Malinen, Pletschacher, Serenius 22. Holstein, J. Klatovsky, Stellingwerf, Bazeev (w/u) Final B: 23. Bazeev, Serenius, Pletschacher, Stellingwerf Final A: 24. A. Klatovsky, J. Klatovsky, Holstein, Malinen Final Positions 1. Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) 2. Jan Klatovsky (CzR) 3. Sven Holstein (NL) 4. Henri Malinen (SF) 5. Junir Bazeev (Rus) 6. Per Olov Serenius (S) 7. Stefan Pletschacher (D) 8. Rene Stellingwerf (NL) 9. Tommy Flyktman (SF) 10. Marian Kreklau (D) 11. Per Anders Lindstrom (S) 12. Antti Aakko (SF) 13. Mario Schwaiger (A) 14. Martin Leitner (A) 15. Harald Simon (A) 16. Juni Seppanen (SF) 17. Kai Lehtinen (SF) 18. Jo Saetre (N) 19. Michał Widera (Pl) 20. Jan Pecina (CzR) 21. Peter Jansson (S) 22. Tomasz Kopik (Pl) 23. Zdzisław Żerdziński (Pl) 24. Thomas Cavigelli (CH) 25. Mark Uzzell (GB) 26. Mirosław Daniszewski (Pl) 27. Martin Behal (CzR) 28. Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) Interesting that the Klabo brothers finished in seniority order

It took a lot of work to get the interview with Graham into the Star, and it was only managed by Graham getting 8th in the Golden Spike, and by a lot of pestering. The Sanok cup will see Mark getting a mention in the report but a good showing for him in the European Championship next weekend may do the cause a bit of good. Don't hold your breath waiting for an interview though, as these things do take a long time. I do share your enthusiasm for Mark though, and although I've seen him race just the once, I do follow his progress with great interest, as I do when any of our "(Not So) Famous Five" race.

International Open Meeting, St Johann in Pongau, Austria 17.1.2009 Only just found results for this meeting on Speedway.org Franz Zorn (A) (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) 15 Antti Aakko (SF) (3, 2, 3, 2, 3) 13 Johnny Tuinstra (NL) (3, 3, 2, 3, 2) 13 Stefan Pletschacher (D) (2, 0, 3, 2, 3) 10 Markus Skabraut (A)(2, 3, 2, 2, 1) 10 Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) (2, 2, 1, 3, 2) 10 Jan Klatovsky (CzR) (1, 1, 1, 3, 3) 9 Per Olov Serenius (S) (3, 2, 2, 2, D) 9 Rene Stellingwerf (NL) (0, 3, 3, 1, 1) 8 Florian Fürst (D) (2, 1, 1, 0, 2) 6 Max Niedermaier (D) (1, 1, 2, 1, 1) 6 Grzegorz Knapp (Pl) (0, 2, 0, 0, 2) 4 Martin Leitner (A) (1,A, 1, 1, 1) 4 Peter Jonsson (S) (0, 1, 0, 1, 0) 2 Josef Kreuzberger (A) (1, 0, 0, 0, 0) 1 Sebastian Gegenbauer (D) (D, M, N, N, N) 0 FINAL: Zorn, Aakko, Tuinstra, Pletschacher Support Races: Mario Schwaiger (A) (1, 1, 3, 3,) 8 +3 Christoph Kirchner (D) (3, 3, 1, 1) 8 + 2 Johann Weber (D) (0, 2, 2, 0) 4 Andrei Divis (CzR) (2, T, D, 2) 4

We have five riders: Mark Uzzell (based in Sweden), Graham Halsall, Rob Irvine, Roger Newton and Kevin Rowland. Mark and Kevin ride in the European Championship next weekend in Lukhovitsy, Russia, whilst Mark was due to ride in Togliatti last weekend but the Russian Embassy successfully cocked up his Visa application that he couldn't have multiple entries/exits just once in/once out. Mark, Graham and Roger rode in the Alpenarena Cup last weekend, and the results are a couple of posts back, but to save you time Mark was 11th on 5, Graham 14th on 5 and Roger 15th on 3. Not bad considering that it was Roger and Graham's first competitive meetings since practice. As for the standard, well I think they do really well considering that they have to travel north to Sweden to train, and their "home" track is Assen (well it's the nearest one to the UK! - Yes I know, Mark's home track is probably in Sweden, but you get my point) and they only ride there when invited. Roger Newton and I have been friends for years and he works for British Aerospace. If he wants to train or race he has to take his hols and then travel to a meeting. He took a week off to have 4 races in Switzerland and get there and back at his own expense. Graham is nearly 60 and was our number 1 for several years, but with the birth of his new little girl, he appears to have cut back on his racing. Graham came 8th in the Golden Spike a few years back and there was a two page article on him in Speedway Star. Sponsorship for the lads is none existent, so all of them have to fund their own racing. Compare that to Franz Zorn, who come winter has sponsorship that the Brits could only dream about. It's a pity that Tee-Mill Tours folded as they were huge sponsors of the British Team in the 80s but if the profile of Ice Racing was raised in the UK (like if we could find a kind billionaire to fund and build a permanent Track in the UK which they could use all year around! ) then the guys may just break into the World Championship. And having written all that, I've just checked my post and Pam has already answered it! Edited to add Kev's surname

I think the PZM want Knapp to ride as their nominated rider as he's possibly on a par with some of the western riders. Having seen one or two of the other poles ride, they are lacking in experience and would be half a lap behind the others. But I have to agree, ice racers are a tough breed.

Zmaga seems to be getting about a bit as he's due to ride in the Sanok cup tonight. What do you know about him Joni?

Swiss Championship/Alpenarena Cup, Flims Switzerland 17.1.2009 Pos/Startnr./Name/Country/Points/B Final/A Final/Total 1. 3 Dimitri Tschatschin D 12/-/3/15 2. 5 Anton Zmaga RUS 11/-/2/13 3. 9 Patrik Sohlberg S 9 /3/1/13 4. 19 Charly Ebner A 11/-/0/11 5. 1 Gerhard Greisl D 10/2/-/12 6. 16 Fredrik Johannsson S 9/1/-/10 7. 11 Simon Gartmann CH 9/0/-/9 8. 8 Lukas Rösti CH 8 9. 10 Thomas Cavigelli CH 6 10. 13 Dirk Fricke CH 6 11. 4 Mark Uzzell GB 5 12. 15 Philip Weiss CH 5 13. 12 Dani Müller CH 5 14. 17 Graham Halsall GB 5 15. 6 Roger Newton GB 3 16. 2 Michal Widera PL 2 17. 7 Markus Birn CH 1 18. 14 Tomek Kopik PL 1 19. 20 Jarno Möri CH 1 20. 18 Piotr Hejnowski PL 0 Swiss Championship: Pos/Startnr./Name/Points/Final/Total 1. 11 Simon Gartmann 9/3/12 2. 8 Lukas Rösti 8/2/10 3. 10 Thomas Cavigelli 6/1/7 4. 13 Dirk Fricke 6/0/6 5. 12 Dani Müller 5 6. 15 Philip Weiss 5 7. 7 Markus Birn 1 8. 20 Jarno Möri 1 Points scored in the meeting determine the top 4 for the Swiss Championsjip. Simon Gartmann retains his title. Results from Eisspeedway.CH

World Championship QR Day 2 TOGLIATTI Ivan Ivanov Rus 29 (15+14) Nikolai Krasnikov Rus 28 (14+14) Danil Ivanov Rus 27 (13+ 14) Stefan Svensson S 22 (11+ 11) Harald Simon A 20 (9+ 11) Tommy Flyktman SF 17 (8+ 9) Hans-Olov Olsen S 15 (9+ 6) Sven Holstein NL 14 (8+ 6) Res: Mikhail Zelepukin Rus 13 (5+ 8) Res: Sergei Karachintsev Rus 12 (5+ 7) Heinz Goldi CH 9 (5+ 4) Marian Kreklau D 7 (3+ 4) Ulf Ledstrom S 6 (3+ 3) Martin Posch A 6 (2+ 4) Jo Saetre N 6 (5+ 1) Janne Vilponen SF 3 (1+ 2) Joni Kontoniemi SF 3 (3+DNR) Claude Gaydeyne F 2 ( 1+ 1)

Looking at the comments on the Russian Forum, the Finns Kontemiemi and Vilponen couldn't get to grips with the track. Simon could have scored more as well but was excluded in his last ride. Reading what was said, I think he crossed the inside line when he was in second. Holstein is improving well. He could be the Seeded KNMV rider ahead of Johnny T and Rene if he rides Day 2 like he did today.