Conkers

I take it that it would be financial reasons that they don't want the hassle?

Just had a look on the Flims Website and it looks like they are having the Swiss Championship/Alpenarena Cup meeting on the 17.1.2009 "with further details to follow...." but no mention of any other meetings, so maybe they aren't going to stage the Euro Semi. Mind you a few of the top riders don't like the Apenarena track claiming it is too rough, from what Roger tells me. Maybe that's the reason?

You should see what the internet translators do to your site Joni The ticket order form for Assen (English Version) is HERE All three nights are available, with the Friday night seat tickets at €10 and standing at €5, it's a real bargain for 24 heats of Ice Racing IMHO.

FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX AND FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP 2009 CALENDAR CONFIRMED BSI Speedway has today confirmed the full calendar for the 2009 FIM Speedway Grand Prix Series and FIM Speedway World Cup. Once again there will be 11 Grands Prix and four World Cup events in 2009, with Italian track Terenzano making its Grand Prix debut on 26 September. Poland will be the location for the 2009 FIM Speedway World Cup Final (18 July) and Race Off (16 July) with Denmark and Great Britain hosting Event 1 (11 July) and Event 2 (13 July) respectively. The full 2009 calendar is detailed below: 2009 CALENDAR FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX SERIES DATE TITLE CITY COUNTRY 25/04/09 FIM Czech Republic Speedway Grand Prix Prague Czech Republic 09/05/09 FIM European Speedway Grand Prix Leszno Poland 30/05/09 FIM Swedish Speedway Grand Prix Gothenburg Sweden 13/06/09 FIM Dansk Metal Danish Speedway Grand Prix Copenhagen Denmark 27/06/09 FIM British Speedway Grand Prix Cardiff Great Britain 01/08/09 FIM Latvian Speedway Grand Prix Daugavpils Latvia 15/08/09 FIM Scandinavian Speedway Grand Prix Malilla Sweden 29/08/09 FIM Nordic Speedway Grand Prix Vojens Denmark 12/09/09 FIM Slovenian Speedway Grand Prix Krsko Slovenia 26/09/09 FIM Italian Speedway Grand Prix Terenzano Italy 17/10/09 FIM Bydgoszcz Speedway Grand Prix of Poland Bydgoszcz Poland 2009 CALENDAR FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP DATE ROUND CITY COUNTRY 11/07/09 Event 1 Vojens Denmark 13/07/09 Event 2 TBC Great Britain 16/07/09 Race Off Leszno Poland 18/07/09 Final Leszno Poland _________________

Just got this from BSI/IMG FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX AND FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP 2009 CALENDAR CONFIRMED BSI Speedway has today confirmed the full calendar for the 2009 FIM Speedway Grand Prix Series and FIM Speedway World Cup. Once again there will be 11 Grands Prix and four World Cup events in 2009, with Italian track Terenzano making its Grand Prix debut on 26 September. Poland will be the location for the 2009 FIM Speedway World Cup Final (18 July) and Race Off (16 July) with Denmark and Great Britain hosting Event 1 (11 July) and Event 2 (13 July) respectively. The full 2009 calendar is detailed below: 2009 CALENDAR FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX SERIES DATE TITLE CITY COUNTRY 25/04/09 FIM Czech Republic Speedway Grand Prix Prague Czech Republic 09/05/09 FIM European Speedway Grand Prix Leszno Poland 30/05/09 FIM Swedish Speedway Grand Prix Gothenburg Sweden 13/06/09 FIM Dansk Metal Danish Speedway Grand Prix Copenhagen Denmark 27/06/09 FIM British Speedway Grand Prix Cardiff Great Britain 01/08/09 FIM Latvian Speedway Grand Prix Daugavpils Latvia 15/08/09 FIM Scandinavian Speedway Grand Prix Malilla Sweden 29/08/09 FIM Nordic Speedway Grand Prix Vojens Denmark 12/09/09 FIM Slovenian Speedway Grand Prix Krsko Slovenia 26/09/09 FIM Italian Speedway Grand Prix Terenzano Italy 17/10/09 FIM Bydgoszcz Speedway Grand Prix of Poland Bydgoszcz Poland 2009 CALENDAR FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP DATE ROUND CITY COUNTRY 11/07/09 Event 1 Vojens Denmark 13/07/09 Event 2 TBC Great Britain 16/07/09 Race Off Leszno Poland 18/07/09 Final Leszno Poland

Should you have added "weather pemitting"? :) Only six weeks then Jacky!

Just had a look on Franky Zorn's website, and found that he plans to ride at the following meetings: 06.01.2009 STEINGARDEN (GER) - INTERNATIONAL 17.01.2009 ST.JOHANN IM PONGAU (AUT) - INTERNATIONAL 23-24.01.2009 - SANOK (PL) - Sanok CUP These are in addition to his meetings in Saalfelden (WC Qualifier), The WTC, and the World Championship meetings. He also plans to be in Erfurt for the European Championship, where he defends his title. Interesting that they plan to run the Sanok Cup and are still shown as hosting the WC Qualifier, despite the fact that all the stories point to them not staging the Qualifier. Can anyone in Poland confirm what Ice meetings they plan to hold at Sanok in 2009? Also can any of our Czech friends confirm if they plan any Ice meetings at Divisov in 2009?

Had a chat with Roger Newton recently, and he is off to Sweden the first week of December to train with the Brits (weather permitting). He was saying that with the European Championship being planned for Erfurt in March, then the British allocation may drop from 2 riders to one. For some reason, not everyone likes the trek to Russia, (for a number of reasons outlined by Mark last year) so when it's held outside Russia, everyone wants to enter. Erfurt is set for 22nd March 2009. The UEM still have the Santa Cup listed as follows: 27.12 Gävle Motorstadion 28.12 Lukashov, Östersund 29.12 Kallehov, Örnsköldsvik 30.12 Rolandshof, Bollnäs plus they have SVEMO organising a meeting on 6th December - can't find anything on IsRacing about it.

The Chelsea story is just that - a rumour. EDIT According to IsRacing.net the project manager, Tomas Lindstrom has said that they wanted to start building the artificial track early but the contractors who are installing the new freezing plant don't think it will be ready on time and if it was they may not be able to have a track if the temp is above +3' C. It looks like they were planning to freeze the Ice Track and the infield, but the owners think they wouldn't have the ice thick enough and it may damage the freezing base. It looks like their plan to stage the Team Final there in the future has also been scuppered because of this. The organisers were offered an alternative Speedway Track but the possibility of not enough natural ice has put paid to that, and they investigated the possibility of a mobile freezing plant, as it would cost over a million SKr to pay for it. (If there is anyone who can translate the interview properly, I'd be obliged, as the Google translator is pretty poor)

Have a look at the thread in the Speedway General Discussion (Link Here)

Assen will start selling tickets for the Ice Racing on November 15th They will be available on THIS LINK

FIM Track Racing World Championships FIM Individual Speedway World Championship Grand Prix April 25 Czech Republic Prague May 9 Poland Leszno May 30 Sweden Göteborg June 13 Denmark Copenhagen June 27 Great Britain Cardiff August 1 Latvia Daugavpils August 15 Sweden Malilla August 29 Poland Bydgoszcz September 12 Slovenia Krsko September 26 Tba tba October 10 Italy tba November 14 Australia (tbc) Melbourne Individual Speedway WC Qualifying rounds 06/06 Lonigo-ITA (Qualif. 1) 07/06 Divisov-CZE (Qualif. 2) 07/06 Wiener Neustadt-AUT (Qualif. 3) 27/06 Gorican-POL (Qualif. 4) 04/07 Motala-SWE (Semi-Final 1) 04/07 Daugavpils-LAT (Semi-Final 2) 20/09 Coventry-GBR (Grand Prix Challenge) FIM Speedway World Cup 02/05 Terenzano-ITA (Qualif. 1) 03/05 Daugavpils-LAT (Qualif. 2) July 11 Event 1 Denmark Vojens July 13-14 Event 2 Tba tba July 16 Race-Off Poland Leszno July 18 Final Poland Leszno Ind. Ice Racing World Championship 11/01 Saalfelden-AUT (Qualif. 1) 17-18/01 Stockholm-SWE (Qualif. 2) 25/01 Sanok-POL (Qualif. 3) 07-08/02 Krasnogorsk-RUS (Final 1) 14-15/02 Ufa-RUS (Final 2) 07-08/03 Berlin Wilmersdorf-GER (Final3) 14-15/03 Assen-NED (Final 4) Ice Racing Team Final 31/01-01/02 Inzell-GER Long Track World Championship 16/05 Artigues-de-Lussac-FRA (Qualif. 1) 07/06 Bielefeld-GER (Qualif. 2) 27/09 Pfarrkirchen-GER (Long Track Challenge) 20/06 Marianske Lazne-CZE (Final 1) 13/07 Marmande-FRA (Final 2) 30/08 Herxheim-GER (Final 3) 06/09 Morizes-FRA (Final 4) 12/09 Vechta-GER (Final 5) Team Long Track World Championship 16/08 Eenrum-NED (Final) Speedway Junior World Championship 25-26/04 Neustadt Donau-GER (Qualif. 1) 17/05 Krsko-SLO (Qualif. 2) 17/05 Rye House-GBR (Qualif. 3) 17/05 Mseno-CZE (Qualif. 4) 18/05 Elgane-NOR (Qualif. 5 Scandinavia) 21/06 Miskolc-HUN (Semi-Final 1) 27/06 Kumla-SWE (Semi-Final 2) 04/10 Gorican-CRO (Final) Team Speedway Junior World Championship 01/06 Abensberg-GER (Qualif. 1) 07/06 Pardubice-CZE (Qualif. 2) 06/09 Gorzow-POL (Final) Individual Grass Track Youth Gold Trophy 125cc 25-26/07 Tayac-FRA Individual Speedway Youth Gold Trophy 80cc 09-12/07 Rybnik-POL Track Racing Sidecar 1000cc World Championship 04/07 La Réole-FRA (Final) Looks like the Russian Proposal to change the Ice Racing World Championship to the GP format (20 heats, 2 semi finals & Final) didn't go through so we are stuck with 20 heats + D,C,B,A Finals

I was being ironic (wish I knew what it meant mind!)

Sheffield was certainly on the cards a few years ago, as Neil Machin was going to promote the venue. They were planning to build something along the lines of the artificial ski slopes which are springing up, with a 400 meter oval next to it. There was talk in the early 1970s of a venue adjacent to an Ice Rink in Aviemore, although it never got further than the talk. (They staged indoor Ice meetings at Aviemore rink though) Unfortunately the cost of a 400m oval is prohibitive if you don't get the punters to skate on it. The high maintainance costs of these ovals have seen a reduction in the tracks in the Netherlands over the years, as Eindhoven, Deventer and Groningen have all gone, and Hoogeveen hasn't been used for Ice Racing since Nikolai Nitchenko was killed there doing demo laps for potential sponsors. Even the ice rink next to the Assen Ice Track has gone and is now a mexican bar when the Ice Racing isn't using it as a pits area. Berlin has Wilmersdorf in the west, and The Sportforum in the old east. They staged the Masters of Spikes there for several years, but the Speed skating people decided that they were losing too much money to the Ice Racing, so they kicked them out! (I remember going to the MoS one year and there was an Ice Hockey Match in one of the rinks, a figure skating competition in another, and a public skating session in the third, plus the Master of Spikes on the oval) Manchester has the Chill Factore at the Trafford Centre which is an artificial ski slope. It opened to massive crowds, but it will be a few years before they recoup the £31 million it cost. They built a new Ice Rink in Altrincham which replaced the old Devonshire Road rink, it is starting to recoup it's investment, only because they have three public skating sessions a day (schools tend to use one of them), and the rink is the minimum size for Ice Hockey so as to have one game a week. As Mark says, (and he should know!) the Ice needs to be thicker than for speed skating. Iris123 and I have fond memories of trying to step off the track onto the centre at Wilmersdorf, a good 15 inches drop from Track to the centre, and not falling on our backsides! Building up the track to that thickness takes time. And as for the temperature, I remember at Assen a few years ago, it was warm on the Saturday, so they turned up the refridgeration unit, and the racing was held up for 30 minutes as they tried to clear the fog off the covered section of the Assen track. What you have to remember is that the Russian Tracks are in areas where it is cold. My Daughter's friend is Russian, and her Mum is from a village near Krasnagorsk. She knows about the Ice Racing and says they could ride on the Ice a lot longer than many other countries. I don't think the potential owners of such a facility in the UK would lose money from Public sessions to let the bikes in. Even though the Dutch have tracks where they can have Ice Racing, the riders have to travel to Sweden or Russia to train. I think Motorclub Assen get the track for about a week before the meeting and they allow the bikes on from Thursday Night to Sunday, then return the Stadium to the owners. Unless there is a Speedway daft Millionaire out there who wants to build an Ice track, I think the Brits will have to spend their winters training in Sweden, then chasing the Ice round Europe.

I think you'll find this is about two years old, as Pulse appear to have loads of old American TV Sport that never made it to Speed Channel. James Mann was originally from Bolton as I did a pic of him for them when I used to send them pictures. He now lives in Missouri according to the Speedwaybikes.com website, as does Anthony Barlow.

The Tickets for Berlin's rounds of the World Championship on March 7th/8th can be ordered now. Fill details are on this THIS LINK Interesting line at the bottom of the page : If the event must to be stopped or cancelled due to act of God, reimbursement cannot be claimed. Didn't know Ole Olsen was involved in the Ice! No tickets for Assen out yet.

Jason Crump in the Manchester Evening News: Crump Interview

When I stood on the track it was very spongy, but if you kicked the surface it was very solid. It looks better in the photo than it actually was.

I've added some pictures from earlier today to my site - They would have been up sooner but I've had to write something about the events as well. Have a look: SGP 11 edited for a mis-print

Information on the Russian Forum Russian Championship: Quarter Finals:- December 13/14th - Novosibirsk; Shadrinske; Sterlitamake; Ufa Semi Finals:- December 20/21st - Kamenske; Ufa Final:- January 3/4th 2009 - Saransk The Top 8 from the Final will be the Russian representatives in the World Championship. Positions 9 - 18 in the Final plus positions 10 - 13 from each of the Semi Finals will contest in the Cup of Russia at Sterlitamake on 10/11th January 2009, with the top 4 from that meeting representing Russia in the European Championship. They are making quite a thing of this that it's the first time in 50 years that the riders will qualify on the track rather than have seeded riders. The season opener which was held over two weekends in November at the Blagoveshchenk track (which is near the Chinese Border and the Pacific Ocean!) won't be held. Looks like the local authorities are re-building the Stadium for the Football team but they will be able to freeze it for Ice Racing. Their Top Rider, Pavel Tschajka is joining The Moscow area team, Lukovitski with Ilja Drozdov. The team Championship will be ran in two leagues. The only change to the Super League is that Togliatti are promoted and will replace Blagoveshchenk. other than that it still contains Ufa, Novosibirsk, Sterlitamake, Saransk, Lukovitski and Kamenske. Kamenske should have been relegated to the Major League, but because of Blagovenshchenk's withdrawal they stayed up. The Super League Rounds will take place on Dec 6th/7th at Novosibirsk, 24/25th Jan 2009 at Ufa and 21/22nd Feb 2009 at Togliatti. The Major League will consist of Shadrin, Uchally, Samara, Tyumen, plus second teams from Togliatti, Saransk and Lukovitski. Major League Rounds are Jan 17/18th 2009 at Shadrinsk and Feb 28/Mar 1st 2009 at a venue to be decided. The Russian Junior Championship semi Finals are on the weekend of 7/8th Feb at Novosibirsk and Saransk, with the Final at Shadrinsk on 14/15th February. The Junior League will consist of teams from Stelitamak, Shadrin, Novosibirsk, Ufa, Uchaly, and Kamensk-Ural. The two rounds will be on 27/28th Dec at Togliatti (which will be the "Test Meeting" for the Ice Track at the Speedway Centre) and Jan31/Feb 1st at Ufa. I just hope that I've read all the statement correctly as the translator was a bit literal! The full statement is on this link but you'll have to use a translator.

Had a message from GB Ice Racer Graham Halsall this Morning, which I thought may (just about) qualify as Ice Racing News. Graham's wife Julie gave birth to a Baby Girl at 2,04am on 25.9.2008. They have named their new arrival Miley Alice. Congratulations to the proud parents.

Nothing like firm dates. And the UEM prove these are nothing like firm dates! Last time I heard he was living somewhere in the old East Germany, and was trying to set up some sort of business. That was in 2002. Perhaps Jacqueline or Iris123 know a bit more?

I was looking on the Russian Forum for some updated news and found a couple of links showing some of the Ice Racers taking part in the Bashkortostan Motocross Championship with some great photos from Anatoly Ermolenko. May 11th Meeting - Won by Dmitri Bulankin June 12th Meeting - has a Pic of Krasnikov pulling a wheelie. Always wondered why some of them didn't ride conventional speedway.

I was only 8 days earlier than last year! Anyway, Ice Racing starts for me when the Cheap flights for March come on line. This year they were late - middle of July. (BTW I was in Costco last week and they have the Christmas stuff in already!)

Just had a look on the UEM calendar issued 12/8/08 (get it here - Excel file), and they have the dates for the Santa Cup listed: 27.12 Gävle Motorstadion 28.12 Lukashov, Östersund 29.12 Kallehov, Örnsköldsvik 30.12 Rolandshof, Bollnäs Nothing on IsRacing.net about it yet, but it is early days yet. Nothing about an U-21 Ice Racing Championship on the UEM site yet (but then again, their photos of the Speedway appear to still be promoting the clockwise riding aspect of the sport, whilst their Ice Racing pic appears to be a Telford style meeting, again in a clockwise format).