Conkers

Russian Final Day 2 Saransk Nikolai Krasnikov (Ufa) 25 +3 [12+13], Danil Ivanov (Togliatti) 25 +2 [12+13], Yunir Bazeev (Saransk) 24 +3 [12+12], Ivan Ivanov (Togliatti) 24 +2 [12+12], Vitali Khomitsevich (Togliatti) 20 [11+9], Pavel Tschajka (Lukhovitsy) 17 + 3 [9+8], Dmitriy Khomitsevich (Togliatti) 17 + 2 [7+10], Dmitriy Bulankin (Ufa) 17 + Ex [7+10], Maxim Zakharov (Saransk) 15 [9+6], Edward Krysov (Kamensk- Ural) 14 [8+6], Ilya Drozdov (Lukhovitsy) 12 [6+6], Mikhail Bogdanov (Uchaly) 10 [8+2], Sergey Baltachev (Ufa) 10 [4+6], Sergey Makarov (Lukhovitsy) 5 [2+3], Igor Kononov (Sterlitamak) 4 [1+3], Stanislav Arkhipov (Ufa) 0 [0+0] They had three runs offs and Bulankin was excluded for crossing the inside line. According to the Russian Forums he made something of a lengthy protest about his exclusion. Ivan beaten by Baseev for third place and Krasnikov beat Danil for the first place. Sounds like it was a great final from the descriptions. Sadly it won't be on the net as there was no TV coverage. Looking back it may be that they will show the Ufa GP next month

Beat me to it Doug! Archipov is a big shock as he was No. 4 in the world last year. Looks like Krasnikov and Dmitri K suffered engine failues or were excluded depending who you believe

Result from Růžená (CZ) Thanks to Jacqueline who sent me a text. Results direct from the event 1. Jan Klatovský, CZ 12 2. René Stellingwerf, NL 11 3. Stefan Pletschacher, D 10 4. Antonín Klatovský, CZ 9 5. Martin Leitner, A 9 6. Florian Fürst, D 8 7. Mario Schwaiger, D 7 8. Charlie Ebner, CH 7 9. Josef Kreuzberger, A 5 10. René Verhoef, NL 4 11. Johann Bruckner A 3 12. Andrej Diviš, CZ 3 13. Jan Pecina, CZ 3 14. Martin Běhal, CZ 2 15. Zdzislaw Zerdzinski, PL 2 16. Piotr Hejnowski, PL 1 17. Tomasz Kopik, PL 0 18. Henry v.d. Steen DNR Elimination Heat: Fürst , Kreuzberger, Kopik, van der Steen

Looking at that line up Joni, Franky has his work cut out in his opening ride! Here's the line up for the Russian Final this weekend. (copied from the Russian Forum): 1. Edward Krysov (Kamensk-Ural) 2. Vitalli Khomitsevich (Togliatti) 3. Dmitri Bulankin (Ufa) 4. Yunir Baseev (Saransk) 5. Nikolai Krasnikov (Ufa) 6. Pavel Tschajka (Lukhovitsy) 7. Stanislav Arkhipov (Ufa) 8. Maxim Zakharov (Saransk) 9. Dmitri Khomitsevich (Togliatti) 10. Sergei Makarov (Lukhovitsy) 11. Danil Ivanov (Togliatti) 12. Mikhail Bogdanov (Uchaly) 13. Ilya Drozdov (Lukhovitsy) 14. Sergei Baltachev (Ufa) 15. Ivan Ivanov (Togliatti) 16. Igor Konanov (Sterlitamak) Spare 17. Andrey Gavrilkin (Saransk) 18. Dmitri Carpuchin (Saransk) After last year's success (!) in the predictions lark, I'll go for Ivan Ivanov ahead of Krasnikov and Vitalli Khomitsevich for the honours this weekend.

And quite good footage it is too! (Must remember to check your site in future Jesper)

The results of the Annual indoor event at Exloo are on this link And there is some video footage on this link

Sweden is one hour ahead of the UK. I suppose too many beers are out of the question with the price of ale in Sweden?

You've got to think that Austria will be the main challengers against the Russians when they get to Inzell for the Team final. Wolfslayer - sent you a PM if you can contact me re the Photos.

Santa Cup Starting line ups: (from IsRacing.net) Örnsköldsvik 26/12 1 Stefan Svensson ÖMK Rundbana 2 Sven Holstein Holland 3 Tommy Flyktman Finland 4 Peter Koij SMK Gävle 5 Franz Zorn Austria 6 Rene Stellingwerf Holland 7 Hans-Olov Olsén Strömsund MK 8 Ulf Ledström ÖMK Rundbana 9 Posa Serenius SMK Gävle 10 Harald Simon Austria 11 P-A Lindström Jämtlands MK 12 Mats Svensson Bollnäs MK 13 Antti Aakko Finland 14 Jan Klatovsky Czech Rep 15 Per Bruhn SMK Gävle 16 Hans Tjärnberg ÖMK Rundbana 17 Johnny Tuinstra Holland 18 Jo Saetre Norway 19 Heinz Göldi Switzerland 20 Robert Gjersvold Strömsunds MC Startlista Strömsund 27/12 1 Franz Zorn Austria 2 Tommy Flyktman Finland 3 Ulf Ledström Sweden 4 Tomas Höglund Sweden WC 5 Antti Aakko Finland 6 Peter Koij Sweden 7 Hans-Olov Olsén Sweden 8 Lars Ringbert Sweden WC 9 Posa Serenius Sweden 10 Jan Klatovsky Czech Republic 11 René Stellingwerf Netherland 12 Jo Saetre Norway 13 Stefan Svensson Sweden 14 Johnny Tuinstra Netherland 15 P-A Lindström Sweden 16 Josef Kreuzberger Austria WC 17 Harald Simon Austria 18 Johan Lundkvist Sweden 19 Sven Holstein Netherland 20 Mats Svensson Sweden Startlista Bollnäs 29/12 1 Antti Aakko Finland 2 Mats Svensson Sweden 3 Jonas Norell Sweden WC 4 Johan Lundkvist Sweden 5 Stefan Svensson Sweden 6 Tommy Flyktman Finland 7 Jan Klatovsky Czech Republic 8 Johnny Tuinstra Netherland 9 Posa Serenius Sweden 10 Tobias Åström Sweden WC 11 P-A Lindström Sweden 12 Hans-Olov Olsén Sweden 13 Franky Zorn Austria 14 Peter Koij Sweden 15 René Stellingwerf Netherland 16 Per Bruhn Sweden WC 17 Harald Simon Austria 18 Ulf Ledström Sweden 19 Jo Saetre Norway 20 Sven Holstein Netherlands

Thanks for that Jackie & Bavarian. You'd think I knew it was Epiphany being married to a Catholic and having my children brought up as Catholics. Didn't realise that it was a public holiday in parts of Europe. I'd love to go to Steingaden, but I'm back to work that day!

Line up for the Steingaden Ice meeting on January 6th . This is a Tuesday afternoon, is it some sort of Holiday in Germany that day? 1. Christoph Kirchner (D) 2. Rene Stelligwerf (NL) 3. Simon Gartmann (CH) 4. Stefan Pletschacher (D) 5. Gunter Bauer (D) 6. Sebastian Gagenbauer (D) 7. Harald Simon (A) 8. Markus Skabraut (A) 9. Franz Zorn (A) 10. Jan Klatovsky (CzR) 11. Per-Olof Srenius (S) 12. qualifier 1 13. Antti Aakko (SF) 14. Max Neidermaier (D) 15. Peter Koy (S) 16. qualifier 2 17. qualifier 3 18. qualifier 4 The last four places will be announced shortly. They plan to have a pre-meeting race to decide who rides where in the order between these riders.

Saransk TV showed the Russian Final last year andthe local Ufa TV showed the GP two years ago, both were streamed live on the internet. The only downside for me is that I have to use the kids PC to watch as the stream only works on Internet Explorer, and not Safari or Firefox. Iris 123 and I regularly scan the Russian forums looking for links so if we find them we usually try to post them.

Results Day 1 - Shadrinsk: 1. Vyacheslav Svitek (-,-,0,0,2) 2 2. Dmitry Khomitsevich (3,2,2,3,3) 13 3. Michael Homutinin (1,0,1,0,0) 2 4. Mikhail Bogdanov (2,2,2,3,1) 10 5. Michael Zelepukin (1,3,1,3,2) 10 6. Dmitry Bryuhovskih (0,1,3,2,1) 7 7. Yunir Baseev (3,3,3,1,2) 12 8. Daniel Golosheykin (2,1,2,0,3) 8 9. Eugene Dydykin 0 10. Alexander Rodin (2,0,0,2,2) 6 11. Artem Novik (-,2,1,1,0) 4 12. Nikolai Krasnikov (3,3,3,3,3) 15 13. Andrew Gavrilkin (2,f,1,2,2) 7 14. Vitaly Khomitsevich (3,3,3,2,3) 14 15. Daniel Belonogov (1,1,0,-,0) 2 16. Yevgeny Sharov (0,0,2,1,1) 4 17. Maxim Melehin 2 18. Maxim Yagovkin DNR Looks like Nikolai Krasnikov wants to take everything this year! EDIT Rodin's score ammended after receiving official results

According to the Speedway.org site, you've been drawn at No. 4 in Togliatti, Mark. Looks like the following riders will contest the Santa Cup according to IsRacing.net along with the Swedish riders: Franz Zorn (Austria), Antti Aakko (Finland), Harald Simon (Austria), Tommy Flyktman (Finland), Jo Saetre (Norway), Johnny Tuinstra (Holland), Sven Holstein (Holland), Réné Stellingwerf (Holland), Jan Klatovsky (Cz Rep) The Swedish riders will be those who qualify for the World/European Championships at Strömsund on Dec 21st, plus each organising club will have three wild card riders.

Rob, I'm afraid I'm biased as Ron is a mate and we've known each other for over 35 years, but he does run a good trip and I rarely hear any complaints about them. The hotel in Groningen is a good one and his coach is very modern. I do know loads of people who travel with Eurorider who won't travel with anyone else.

Some great pictures of last weekends Super League Rounds HERE

Any news who will be riding where Mark?

Russian Super League Round 2: Novosibirsk BASHKORTOSTAN (Ufa) 24 + 3 Dmitri Bulankin DNR Stanislav Archipov (2,2,X,2,1,2) 9 (Clipped straw bales and dislodged it 3rd ride) Nikolai Krasnikov (3,3,3,3,3,X) 15 +2 (Went inside the red line onto the centre final race) MEGA-LADA (Togliatti) 24 + 2 Danil Ivanov (0,2,3,1,0,2) 8 Dmitri Khomitsevich (3,3,2,3,2,3) 16 +3 Vitalli Khomitsevich DNR MORDOVIA (Saransk) 24 + 1 Maxim Zakharov (2,3,3,3,2,f) 13 + 1 Yunir Baseev (1,2,2,2,1,3) 11 Andrei Gavrilkin DNR LUKOVITSY 18 Pavel Tschajka (1,2,2,1) 6 Sergei Makarov (1,1) 2 Ilya Drozdov (3,0,2,0,3,2) 10 SIBERIA-INCREASE (Novosibirsk) 14 Andrei Zhdanov DNR Alexander Kochetov (0,0,0,0,3,3) 6 Maxim Korchemakha (1,1,1,3,2,0) 8 CAUSTIC (Sterlitamak) 11 Sergei Zazakov (0,2,0,0) 2 Vladimir Chapelo (0,0) 0 Igor Conanov (2,1,1,1,3,1) 9 KAMENSK-URAL 10 Edward Krysov (0,3,1,1,0,1) 6 Danil Golosheykin (1.0.X,2,1,0) 4 Dmitri Tikhonov DNR They had a run-off for first place with Krasnikov beating Dmitri K, with Zakharov excluded League Table: UFA 16, TOGLIATTI 12, SARANSK 10, LUKOVITSY 6.5, STERLITAMAK 6, NOVOSIBIRSK 4, KAMENSK-URAL 3.5 EDIT: Results given originally were wrong.

Russian Super League Round 1: Novosibirsk BASKORTOSTAN (Ufa) 27 Dmitri Bulankin (1,2) 3 Stanislav Archipov (2,2,2,3) 9 Nikolai Krasnikov (3,3,3,3,s,3) 15 MEGA-LADA (Togliatti) 21 Ivan Ivanov (2,1,1,1,3,2) 10 Vitalli Khomitsevich (3,0,3,3,2,0) 11 Dmitri Khomitsevich DNR MORDOVIA (Saransk) 18 Maxim Zacharov (1,2,3,1,3) 12 Yunir Baseev (0,0,2,2,1) 5 Andre Gavrilkin (1) 1 CAUSTIC (Stelitamak) 17 Vladimir Chapelo (0) 0 Sergei Zazakov (1,1) 2 Igor Conanov (3,3,2,2,3,2) 15 KAMENSK-URAL 15 Edward Krysov (0,1,1,1,2,1) 6 Danil Golsheykin (1,2,2,3,1,0) 9 Dmitri Tikhonov DNR LUKOVITSY 14 Pavel Tschajka (0,0) 0 Sergei Makarov (1,0,1) 2 Ilya Drozdov (3,3,2,1,1,3) 13 SIBERIA-INCREASE (Novosibirsk) 13 Andrei Zhdanov DNR Alexander Kochetov (0,0,3,2,1,0) 6 Maxim Korchemakha (2,2,x, in,2,1) 7 Apparently 2,500 fans braved the sub-zero conditions in Siberia to watch the opening meeting of the season.

The Line up for Rounds 1 & 2 of the Russian Super League this weekend at Novosibirsk: Bashkortostan (Ufa): Nikolai Krasnikov, Dmitri Bulankin, Sergey Baltachev, Stanislav Arkhipov Caustic (Sterlitamak): Vladimir Chapalo, Igor Conanov, Ilya Ruzanov, Nikita Parthenon Mordovia (Saransk): Maxim Zakharov, Yunir Bazeev, Dmitriy Carpuchin, Andrey Gavrilkin ROSTO (Novosibirsk): Maxim Baraboshkin, Maxim Korchemakha, Alexander Kochetov, Constantine Ovdin Kamensk- Ural: Edward Krysov, Danil Golosheykin, Dmitriy Tikhonov Lukhovitsy: Sergey Makarov, Ilya Drozdov, Pavel Tschjaka, Mega-Lada (Togliatti): Vitalli Khomitsevich, Dmitriy Khomitsevich, Ivan Ivanov, Danil Ivanov Meeting starts on Saturday at 9am Moscow time (about 6am UK time) and there are live updates on the RusSpeedway Forum

Speedway.org have the EC semi in Lukovitsy on 31/1 - 1/2, and the EC Final on 22/3 at a venue tba. Judging by the weather here in North West the last few days, I bet we really could stage an Ice meeting in Buxton! Maybe Richard could apply and stage the EC final. After all, Roger tested his bike there a couple of seasons back and it's so cold there in June we could stage it then!

Spoke to Roger Newton this afternoon, he sets off tomorrow to get the Harwich - Hook ferry then will be driving up to Sweden alone. He tells me Graham won't be going for personal reasons, which I'm assuming will be the recent arrival. Anyway, the Russian Championship quarter finals are next weekend, so it's over to Babelfish reading about how many glasses a Pavel Seagull collects (Mind you Google's translator is convinced that Bolton have an Ice Speedway team in the Swedish league)

Just had a read of that Joni, not very convincing on his part. Also looks like they are having the Sanok qualifier over two days now, with the Sanok Cup on the Saturday, and the qualifier being Sunday and Monday!

I think Thilo and Ottie have made a mistake, as the line up box shows 7 teams. Tried ringing Graham Halsall, but I can't get a reply, and Roger Newton hasn't rang me back. Where is Mark when you need him?

Seems odd that the track may be suddenly (?) unsuitable and doesn't meet requirements. I thought they staged the European Final there a couple of years ago (2006 ?). Nothing to do with the fact that Flims have been forced to cancel the qualifier then? I'll check if we have a team in Inzell, but I think Roger told me that the FIM like countries who have tracks in the Team event these days, although I know GB were in a couple of the qualifiers a few years back.