Conkers

World Team Ice Racing Championship Inzell, 31/1 - 1/2/09 Draw: Finland: 1 Antti Aakko, 2, Kai Lehtinen, 15. Tommy Flyktman Team Manager: Jouni Seppänen Germany: 3. Gunther Bauer, 4. Stefan Pletschacher, 16. Florian Fürst Team Manager: Jürgen Liebmann Sweden: 5. Per-Olof Serenius, 6. Stefan Svensson, 17. Per-Anders Lindstrom Team Manager: Sören Johansson Russia: 7. Nikolai Krasnikov, 8. Yunir Baseev, 18. Danil Ivanov Team Manager: Valeri Ivanov Austria: 9. Harald Simon, 8. Marcus Skabraut, 19: Franz Zorn Team Manager: Robert Tesar Czech Republic: 11. Antonin Klatovsky, 12. Jan Klatovsky, 20. Adrei Divis Team Manager: Milan Spinka The Netherlands: 13. Johnny Tuinstra, 14. Rene Stellingwerf, 21. Sven Holstein Team Manager: Bert Eijbergen Looks like Franky has opted to represent his country in Germany rather than defend his European title in Lukhovitsy. Mind you racing a few miles up the road from your home beats the hassle of driving to Russia.

Some pictures from practice at Togliatti HERE They are using the speedway track with a nice thick layer of ice.

I stand corrected on that! I checked my post a few pages back, Gaydeyne has replaced Mark, as Mark was drawn at number 4. Anyway, on to Sanok and the draw has been announced: World Individual Ice Racing Championship QR 3 Sanok 25/26th Jan 09 1. Jan Pecina (Czech Republic) 2 Johnny Tuinstra (The Netherlands) 3 Pavel Tschajka (Russia) 4 Per-Olof Serenius (Sweden) 5. Grzegorz Knapp (Poland) 6. Kai Lehtinen (Finland) 7. Oleg Dosaev (Ukraine) 8. Mario Schwaiger (Austria) 9. Stefan Pletschacher (Germany) 10. Yunir Baseev (Russia) 11. Per-Anders Lindstrom (Sweden) 12. Antonin Klatovsky (Czech Republic) 13. Jouni Seppanen (Finland) 14. Zdzislaw Zerdzinski (Poland) 15. Henri Malinen (Finland) 16. Martin Leitner (Austria) Reserves 17. Piotr Hejnowski (Poland) 18. Tomasz Kopik (Poland)

Mark was good enough to send a rather helpful e-mail to me last night too. Claude Gaydeyne has taken one of the Swiss slots, whilst the GB slot has been allocated to a German, which is why Marian Kreklau is riding. (Mark believed that Dmitri Tschatschin had his slot) Oh well, typical Russian bureaucracy eh? Good luck in the European Semi Mark!

Draw for World Championship QR at Togliatti 16/17.1.09 1 Jo Saetre (Norway) 2 Heinz Goldi (Switzerland) 3 Ivan Ivanov (Russia) 4 Claude Gaydeyne (France) 5 Joni Kontoniemi (Finland) 6 Stefan Svennson (Sweden) 7 Marian Krekleau (Germany) 8 Hans-Olov Olsen (Sweden( 9 Sven Holstein (The Netherlands) 10 Nikolai Krasnikov (Russia) 11 Janne Vilponen (Finland) 12 Martin Posch (Austria) 13 Ulf Ledstrom (Sweden) 14 Harald Simon (Austria) 15 Tommy Flyktman (Finland) 16 Danil Ivanov (Russia) Reserves: 17 Mikhail Zelepukin (Russia) 18 Sergei Karachintsev (Russia) I was under the impression that Mark Uzzell was to ride in the Togliatti Round. He appears to have been replaced by Claude Gaydeyne. Has the GB place been taken or will we have a rider in Sanok? Mark - Over to you!

FIM Speedway World Championship Grand Prix and FIM Speedway World Cup Tony Olsson appointed Assistant Race Director The FIM has appointed Tony Olsson as Assistant Race Director in the FIM Speedway Grand Prix and FIM Speedway World Cup. Tony Olsson, currently working as Track Racing Coordinator at the Swedish Motorcycle Federation (SVEMO) was a professional speedway rider in England from 1986 to 1997 and Speedway Team Manager for Sweden from 2001 to 2004. Tony will start in his new position as from 1st April 2009 and will work alongside Ole Olsen. Tony holds a FIM Clerk of the Course license since 2005 and has officiated in that position at the 2006 Speedway Grand Prix Challenge in Vetlanda, at the 2007 Speedway Grand Prix in Eskilstuna and at the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix in Gothenburg. He briefly replaced Ole Olsen as Race Director at the Speedway Grand Prix in Eskilstuna in 2006. Asked about his new position, Tony declared: “I am thankful to SVEMO for wishing me good luck and I am really thrilled at this new challenge in my career in speedway after having been a rider, a team manager and a clerk of the course”. Roy Otto, President of the FIM Track Racing Commission (CCP) stated: “We are happy that Tony has accepted our proposal and we express our gratitude to SVEMO for their understanding in releasing Tony from his current occupation. It is important to be able to count on Tony’s commitment to replace one day Ole Olsen in a position that Ole occupies with great charisma, competence and authority since the birth of the Speedway Grands Prix in 1995. For the FIM, planning and managing generation transition of FIM officials is of crucial importance.”

Got to agree guys, Aakko let Dmitri K cut right across him and was straight to the back. Zorn and Bauer had a goods scrap for a lap or so. Looking at the footage of Franky's other race he was so far in front, this qualifier went to plan.

Wonder if the FIM will take any action against him for not turning up? Nice pics BTW.

Wasn't he the reserve in Saalfelden or are there two riders with that name

World Individual Ice Racing Championship QR 1 - Saalfelden, Austria 11.1.09 1. Dmitri Khomitsevich RUS (3,3,3,3,3) 15 2. Franz Zorn A (2,3,3,3,3) 14 3. Gunther Bauer D (1,3,3,3,3) 13 4. Vitaly Khomitsevich RUS (3,2,3,2,2) 12 5. Antti Aakko SF (0,3,2,3,3) 11 6. Marcus Skabraut A (3,2,2,2,1) 10 7. Rene Stellingwerf NL (2,1,2,2,1) 8 8. Jan Klatovsky CzR (1,2,2,1,2) 8 9. Johan Lundquist S (3,1,0,0,2) 6 10. Peter Koij S (2,1,1,2,0) 6 11. Sebastian Gegenbauer D (1,2,1,1,1) 6 12. Florian Furst D (ex,1,1,1,2) 5 13. Max Neidermaier (2,0,0,0,0) 2 14. Josef Kreuzberger A (1,0,0,0,1) 2 15. Jussi Hytonen SF (0,0,1,0,0) 1 16. Andrej Divis CzR (0,0,0,1,0) 1 17. Henry Van Der Steen DNR Pretty much decided in the first race this meeting, when the line up was Zorn ®, Bauer (, Akko (w) and Dmitri K. (y) Vitali K dropped points to his brother, Zorn and Bauer Results were done live on the Speedway-Forum.de site which had a great self updating scoresheet! Excellent Stuff! Considering this was originally supposed to be the toughest round, it was pretty predictable on the scoring. Maybe all the changes to the original line up watered down the meeting somewhat.

Have a look on their website : http://www.dmv-lg-suedbayern.de/Startseite/startseite.html If you look on the tab "Eintrittspreise" on the left it gives the start times and prices. Doesn't say what time the Turnstiles open, but it's usually 2-3 hours ahead of the start time.

Cup Of Russia, Sterlitamak, 11.1.09 Day 2 Igor Kononov (Sterlitamak) 28 (14+14) Dmitri Bulankin (Ufa) 26 (12+14) Ilya Drozdov (Lukhovitsy) 22 + 3 (13+9) ------------------------------------------------ Mikhail Bogdanov (Uchaly) 22 + 2 (10+12) ------------------------------------------------ Mikhail Zelepukin (Togliatti) 20 (8+12) Maksim Korchemakha (Novosibirsk) 20 (9+11) Eduard Krysov (Kamensk-Ural) 20 (9+11) Maksim Zakharov (Saransk) 14 (9+5) Nikita Alekseyev (Ufa) 14 (7+7) Andrei Gavrilkin (Saransk) 11 (5+6) Sergei Baltachev (Ufa) 10 (5+5) Sergei Karachintsev (Togliatti) 10 (4+6) Sergei Makarov (Lukhovitsy) 7 (5+2) Stanislav Arkhipov (Ufa) 6 (4+2) Dmitri Karpukhin (Saransk) 5 (5+0) Sergei Zazakov (Sterlitamak) 3 (0+3) Daniel Golosheykin (Kamensk-Ural) 2 (1+1) Nikolai Ryabokon 0 (0+0) Well done to Igor Kononov after his poor show in the Russian Final last week. Bulankin too who didn't have to rely on his team mates to get the second place. Top three are into the European Championship with Bogdanov at reserve

Cup Of Russian, Sterlitamak, Day 1 - 10/1/09 Igor Kononov (Sterlitamak) (3,2,3,3,3) 14 Ilya Drozdov (Lukhovitsy) (2,3,3,3,2) 13 Dmitri Bulankin (Ufa) (1,3,3,2,3) 12 Mikhail Bogdanov (Uchaly) (3,3,2,2,-) 10 Eduard Krysov (Kamensk-Ural) (ef,3,2,1,-) 9 Maksim Zakharov (Saransk) (2,1,2,2,2) 9 Maksim Karchemakh (Novosibirsk) (0,2,2,3,2) 9 Mikhail Zelepukin (Togliatti) (ex, 0,2,3,3) 8 Nikita Alekseyev (Ufa) (3,2,0,1,1) 7 Sergei Makarov (Lukhovitsy) (2,3,-,-,0) 5 Andrei Gavrilkin (Saransk) (f,ex,3,1,1) 5 Sergei Baltachev (Ufa) (1,1,0,1,2) 5 Dmitri Karpukhin (Saransk) (2,1,1,0,1) 5 Stanislav Arkhipov (Ufa) (0,0,1,2,1) 4 Sergei Karachintsev (Togliatti) (1,1,1,1,ex) 4 Daniel Golosheykin (Kamensk-Ural) (1) 1 Sergei Zazakov (Sterlitamak) (0,0,0,0,0) 0 Nikolai Ryabokon (0) 0

This is their site but it is all in German. http://www.eisspeedway-berlin.de/ Gates open on Saturday at 2pm, with racing at 5pm, and gates open Sunday at 11am with racing starting at 2pm. You should be able to get standing tickets on the gate, but there is a facility to buy them in advance. Are you only going on the Sunday then?

Are you attending? Looking at the list of riders you've posted, they are probably using "retired" riders to simply have demonstration races so as to not upset the KNMV

Reading the News about this on DGT's site, it looks like they have put a temporary track down. From the location given, a quick look on Google Maps shows it appears to be in a field between the two roads mentioned in the piece. Good for them! Seems it's the first meeting to be held in the "open air" for some time. (I suppose since Assen put the roof on and the other tracks all stopped staging Ice Racing) Must be colder than Buxton in the Netherlands then!

Cup Of Russia- Sterlitamak 10/11th January Qualifying riders: (Not in riding order) Dmitri Bulankin (Ufa) Maxim Zakharov ([saransk) Edward Kysov (Kamensk- Ural) Ilya Drozdov (Lukhovitsy) Mikhail Bogdanov (Uchaly) Sergei Baltachev (Ufa) Sergey Makarov (Lukhovitsy) Igor Konanov (Sterlitamak) Stanislav Arkhipov (Ufa) Andrei Gavrilkin (Saransk) Dmitri Carpuchin (Saransk) Sergey Karachintsev (Togliatti) Nikita Alekseyev (Ufa) Sergey Zazakov (Sterlitamak) Mikhail Zelepukin (Togliatti) Maxim Korchemakha (Novosibirsk) Reserves: Daniel Golosheykin (Kamensk- Ural) - Nikolai Ryabokon (Ufa) The top 4 should be the Russian representatives in the European Championship.

Is this place Warten, Boarnsterhim (North West of Assen) near Leeuwarden? I cant seem to find a Wartena on Google Maps.

I think Joni was referring to This sidecar I didn't go last year but Posa was given a ride around the track by Sven Holstein, and I'm sufre I was told he did some demo laps too with his regular passenger. Mind you that old Harley that Assen use has seen some useage over the years!

I've had a message from Roger Newton that he Rob Irving and Graham Halsall are to ride in the Alpenarena Cup on Saturday 17th January. Full line up: 1 Gerhard Greisl (D) 2 Zdzislaw Zerdzinski (Pl) 3 Robert Irving (GB) 4 Peter Mader (D) 5 Anton Zmaga (Rus) 6 Roger Newton (GB) 7 Markus Birn (CH) 8 Lukas Rösti (CH) 9 Patrik Sohlberg (S) 10 Thomas Cavigelli (CH) 11 Simon Gartmann (CH) 12 Dani Müller (CH) 13 Dirk Fricke (CH) 14 Tomek Kopik (Pl) 15 Philip Weiss (CH) 16 Fredrik Johansson (S) 17 Graham Halsall (GB) 18 Piotr Hejnowski (Pl) 19 Charly Ebner (A) 20 Jarno Möri (CH) It will also be the Swiss Championship forming part of the meeting. Lost of Swiss riders of varying abilities in the meeting this year. There should be two other Swiss riders there but according to Speedway.org there are two Swiss riders in Togliatti that weekend too, which must mean Heinz Goldi and one other but for the life of me I can't think who it would be. I bet the guy writing the Press releases is getting pretty fed up having to change it every few days. Are Biro sponsoring the meeting perhaps?

They also had some Demo races at Inzell in 1994 and 1998 between two sidecars. They were 500cc chairs.

I posted a couple of pages back that the MFR were making a big thing about the fact that this year their riders would qualify from the Russian Final for the World Championship. Then they nominate riders for a meeting, only to replace them later. (Dmitri rides at 4 and Vitali rides at 9 BTW). I can see why Bulankin was making a fuss over his run-off exclusion, as he was 8th and therefore should have qualified on merit. Archipov was last , failing to score and yet was through. I bet there were some really red faces in the MFR offices that afternoon as they tried backpeddaling on that one.

It says on Speedway.Org "Das Rennen wurde wegen der Bahnverhältnisse nach dem 18. Lauf abgebrochen. 
Gewertet wurden 16 Heats." but that's all I can find about it. I understand someone that Jackie knows was there, perhaps she may be able to enlighten us further? EDIT Just had a text from Jackie who says The Ice was very bad after Ht 18, it was broken in the first corner and it was too dangerous, so the Jury called it off. The info came from Stefan Pletschacher. i My goodness Doug, you are getting cynical as you get older. Well done to Franky Zorn in Steingaden. Should be nicely warmed up for his home qualifier on Sunday

So Archipov should ride next weekend in Austria, which is possibly why Bulankin was making a fuss as he finished in 8th. Maybe in his mind he should have been considered ahead of his team mate who failed to make any impression on the meeting. No doubt we'll see if he rides next week. Thanks Joni

Perhaps Joni can answer this: With Archipov failing to score, will he be ruled out of the 2009 World Championship? Also, will Bulankin be the final qualifier or is he out too? Maybe that was the reasoning behind his protest. Got to agree with you Doug, the Ufa riders were obviously team riding in the final heat.