Conkers

Tipical! The one afternoon I want to watch the coverage and the network is stuttering and stopping and I've not seen one race from start to finish! Anyone else suffering or do I send a snotty letter to Orange?

Standings (after 2 rounds) 1 Ivan Ivanov Rus 50 2 Nikolai Krasnikov Rus 38 3 Mikhail Bogdanov Rus 38 4 Vitali Khomitsevich Rus 32 5 Franz Zorn A 28 6 Danil Ivanov Rus 26 7 Stanislav Archipov Rus 22 8 Stefan Svensson S 22 9 Sergej Baltachev Rus 18 10 Marcus Skabraut A 14 11 Harald Simon A 13 12 Antonin Klatovsky CzR 13 13 Dmitri Bulankin Rus 12 14 Antti Aakko SF 12 15 Johnny Tuinstra NL 11 16 Gunther Bauer D 8 17 Max Neidermaier D 5 18 Per Olof Serenius S 0 Unexpected leader after two rounds in Ivanov, but I think he has a point to prove after sitting out last year in that pointless dispute in Russia. With the next two meetings on the softer artificial tracks of Assen and Berlin, can Franky spring a surprise and get on the rostrum? Looking forward to the next broadcast this afternoon, just hope that the fans stop getting in the way of that start line camera

According to the Wife (who is a nurse) the cervical vertebrae is in the neck. Depends which one as to how serious it is, but it could be a stable fracture or an unstable fracture (after that my eyes glazed over as she went into medical speak!). Depending on treatment it could be serious. Their viewing figures should be quite high for out of country viewers then!

I would suspect that they are enforcing the medical reason on Posa, but I thought Bulankin was limping a bit after that crash yesterday, maybe he's injured?

World Ice Racing Team Final in Saransk Russia 03./04.03.2007 Finland 1 Antti Aakko 2 Tommy Flyktman 15 Jouni Seppänen Sweden 3 Per-Olov Serenius 4 Stefan Svensson 16 Torleif Burman Austria 5 Martin Leitner 6 Josef Bruckner 17 Harald Simon Czech Rep. 7 Antonin Klatovsky 8 Jan Klatovsky 19 Andrej Divis Germany 9 Günther Bauer 10 Sebastian Gegenbauer 19 Dmitri Tschatschin Russia 11 Nikolai Krasnikov 12 Vitaly Khomitsevich 20 Younir Bazeev Netherlands 13 Johnny Tuinstra 14 René Stellingwerf 21 René Verhoef Interesting that only Harald Simon has any major international experience in the Austrian side, wonder if they want to rest Franky Zorn to give him a good run in Assen and Berlin?

Aakko won the D final, and will take a spot in the meeting tomorrow, probably replacing Tuinstra or Klabo, with Neidermaier taking the other spot. Posa should ride tomorrow, but if he doesn't then they may do the same with his rides spreading them amongst the reserves. If Aakko does well tomorrow then he may ride the rest of the series. He only lost the lead when the Russians passed him, I thought to a loss of concentration. Is Day 2 on the feed tomorrow? Anyone able to advise?

There is some discussion on this in this thread: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ind...23entry854523

I think Bulankin went over the blue line when he passed Zorn!

Just got it on screen - Fantastic!

By my calculations the title race starts like this: 1 Ivan Ivanov Rus 25 2 Nikolai Krasnikov Rus 20 3 Mikhail Bogdanov Rus 18 4 Vitali Khomitsevich Rus 16 5 Franz Zorn A 14 6 Danil Ivanov Rus 13 7 Dmitri Bulankin Rus 12 8 Stanislaw Archipov Rus 11 9 Stefan Svensson S 10 10 Harald Simon A 9 11 Sergej Baltachev Rus 8 12 Marcus Skabraut A 7 13 Antti Aakko SF 6 14 Gunther Bauer D 5 15 Antonin Klatovsky CzR 4 16 Johnny Tuinstra NL 3 17 Per Olof Serenius S 0 18 Max Neidermaier D 0 EDIT: Bulankin and Archipov in wrong order - corrected. Missed the final on the link, but if it's on tomorrow, I'll be watching.As for the Serenius story, it sounds like the Russian mind games working overtime. No doubt we will learn more in the coming weeks. Two weeks to Assen guys!!!!

Actually, it's 48 heats for the GPs (20 +a,b,c,d Finals at each meeting)

Line Up for this years Roloef Thijs Bokaal, Friday 9/3/2007: Johann Bruckner (Austria) Martin Leitner (Austria) Martin Posch (Austria) Andrej Divis (Czech Rep) Jan Klatovsky (Czech Rep) Tommy Flyktman (Finland) Jouni Seppanen (Finland) Claude Gadeyne (France) Sebastian Gegenbauer (Germany) Stefan Pletschacher (Germany) Dmitri Tschatschin (Germany) Graham Halsall (England) Grzegorz Knapp (Poland) Zdzislaw Zerdzinski (Poland) Dmitri Khomitsevitsj (Russia) Andrej Shishegov (Russia) Torleif Burman (Sweden) Joakim Soderstrom (Sweden) Simon Gartmann (Switzerland) Heinz Goldi (Switzerland) Lukas Rosti (Switzerland) Sven Holstein (Netherlands) Rene Stellingwerf (Netherlands) Rene Verhoef (Netherlands) Reserve: Anton Weber (Germany) Piotr Hejnowski (Poland) If you are there for the full Ice Racing weekend, remember to give Graham Halsall plenty of support on the Friday night, as he really does appreciate your backing. The meeting will be the old 24 heat GP knock out formula and last time they staged it like this, Graham managed to reach his second heat in the final 16 when he suffered an engine failure.

Good heavens, iris123, you were up early again on a weekend! Thanks for posting the results, I prefered to get up late after some fine Wychwood Ales with a home made Chinese meal last night.

Not being a German speaker (although ordering beer isn't a problem!) I had a look at the Scorechart on Speedway.org, and he got a "D" as his first ride. If this is an engine failure he probably blew an engine. I tried a translation website for the Russian forum, but that was no help. Perhaps iris123 may be able to help?

Do the UEM operate a policy of 8 riders from a single Federation? Looking at the results, only POSA and Jan K managed to break through the Russian lines, with Tschatshin getting a reserve berth. By my reckoning the Final should be: 1 Harald Simon (A) 2 Vladimir Chapalo(Rus)(8 t Place) 3 Dmitri Karpukhin (Rus) (3rd Place) 4 Antti Aakko (SF) 5 Maxim Lushniko (Rus) 6 Jan Klatovsky (CzR) (6th Place) 7 Peter Poij (S) 8 Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 9 Mikhail Zelepukhin (Rus) (5th Place) 10 Igor Kononov (Rus) (1st Place) 11 Ildar Kamalov (Rus) 12 Per- Olof Serenius (S) (4th Place) 13 Sergej Baltashev (Rus) (2nd Place) 14 Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) 15 Marian Krecklau (D) 16 Dmitri Khomitsevisch (Rus) (7th Place) R: 17 Roman Akimenko (Rus) (9th Place) R: 18 Dmitri Tschatschin (D) (10th Place)

Thanks for the info, Toonarmy084, send my regards to Mark. Is he venturing south to Assen in three weeks? Any news of a replacement for Mark in Russia? (no doubt another Russian!)

European Championship in Uchally, Russia. Semi Final, Sat 17.2.2007 1 Igor Kononov (Rus) 2 Sergej Baltashev (Rus) 3 Andrej Divis (CzR) 4 Dmitri Tschatschin (D) 5 Jan Klatovsky (CzR) 6 Per- Olof Serenius (S) 7 Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) 8 Graham Halsall (GB) 9 Kei Lehtinen (SF) 10 Roman Akimenko (Rus) 11 Mark Uzzel (GB) 12 Jo Saetre (N) 13 Rene Stellingwerf (NL) 14 Dmitri Karpukhin (Rus) 15 Anton Weber (D) 16 Dmitri Khomitsevisch (Rus) R: 17 Mikhail Zelepukhin (Rus) R:18 Vladimir Chapalo(Rus) Final, Sun 18.2.2007 1 Harald Simon (A) 2 8th Place from Semi 3 3rd Place from Semi 4 Antti Aakko (SF) 5 Maxim Lushniko (Rus) 6 6th Place from Semi 7 Peter Poij (S) 8 Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 9 5th Place from Semi 10 1st Place from Semi 11 Ildar Kamalov (Rus) 12 4th Place from Semi 13 2nd Place from Semi 14 Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) 15 Marian Krecklau (D) 16 7th Place from Semi R: 17 9th Place from Semi R: 18 10th Place from Semi Taken from Speedway.org

When did they cancel Flims? Yes I'll see you at Assen, hopefully this year we can meet up

Looks like the Golden Spike will now be contested over two rounds - Flims 24/2 and Erfurt 25/3. I am also reliably informed that Tommy Flyktman is confirmed for the Roloef Thijs Bookall in Assen, 9/3.

Correct, Klabo managed it last year, and I hope Antti Aakko does the same, as it's silly that he is reserve. However if Johnny Tuinstra finishes down the field, the Wild card rule comes in and the rider above Johnny is reserve for day 1, same goes for Berlin if Bauer has a nightmare in Assen, he will get the wild card for Berlin. Officially though, both Aakko and Neidermaier should start day one at each event as reserve.

The Draw for the first two rounds of the Ice Racing at Ufa: GP 1/2 in Ufa RUS - 24/25.02.2007 1. Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 2 Markus Skabraut (A) 3 Ivan Ivanov (Rus) 4 Harald Simon (A) 5 Mikhail Bogdanov (Rus) 6 Günther Bauer (D) 7 Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 8 Antonin Klatovsky(CzR) 9 Per Olov Serenius (S) 10 Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 11 Segej Baltashev (Rus) 12 Daniil Ivanov (Rus) 13 Franz Zorn (A) 14 Vitaly Khomitsevich (Rus) 15 Stefan Svensson (S) 16 Stanislav Arkhipov (Rus) R. 17 Max Niedermaier (D) R. 18 Antti Aakko (SF) (Taken from Speedway.org) As with previous years, the two reserves will replace the lowest scoring riders from the first day on the second day, but will revert to reserve for R3 (unless they score well and finish so far up the field it makes a mockery of the racing.)

Been at Telford most of the day, and no Hotspots to check the results. The rule used to be no more than 6 from any one country, but they increased it to 8 after the USSR broke up. That means there will be 8 Russians, and 8 others. The results seem to indicate that some of the western riders are Rusty to say the least, but with Franky challenging for the top spot in Inzell, it could be an interesting championship. Franky beat his Russian "Jinx" last year, so I expect him to be a spoiler this year. Well done to Bauer and Johnny T getting into the Final, I look forward to Gunther challenging the Russians too. Posa and Svensson through too, so with Aakko at reserve for R1, he may be able to just miss the one round? World champion 2007 - I have to go for Krasnikov, with Khomisevich 2nd and I'd like to see Zorn third but I suspect it will be Ivanov or Bogdanov

Looking at the Assen website this morning, looks like the first two round of the Golden Spike, scheduled for next Saturday, 17th Feb, at St. Johann and Sunday 18th Feb at Steingarden have been canceled as the weather is still too warm.

Do they have a web view facility (similarly to the "Listen/Watch again" feature on the BBC? Could be an interesting piece.

Weekend Qualifying Round Line ups: Saransk, Russia (10/11.2.2007) 1. Oleg Dosaev (Ukr) 2. Vitaly Khometsevich (Rus) 3. Marian Kreklau (D) 4. Andrej Divis (CzR) 5. Jounir Bazeev (Rus) 6. Dmitri Tschatschin (D) 7. Antti Aakko (SF) 8. Stanislav Arkhipov (Rus) 9. Per Olov Serenius (S) 10. Dmitri Khomitsevich (Rus) 11. Anton Weber (D) 12. Kai Lehtinen (SF) 13. Peter Koij (S) 14. Antonin Klatovsky (CzR) 15. Torleif Burman (S) 16. Mark Uzzel (GB) R17. Sergei Baltachev (Rus) R18. Artiom Samorodov (Rus) Inzell, Germany (10.11.2.2007) 1. Günther Bauer (D) 2. Jan Pecina (CzR) 3. Franz Zorn (GB) 4. Joakim Söderström (S) 5. Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 6. Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 7. Jan Klatovsky (CzR) 8. Stefan Pletschacher (D) 9. Mikhail Bogdanov (Rus) 10. Tommy Flyktman (SF) 11. Andreas Roth (D) 12. Aki Ala Riihimäki (SF) 13. René Stellingwerf (NL) 14. Stefan Svensson (S) 15. Martin Leitner (A) 16. Raimo Henriksson (SF) R17. Franz Mayerbüchler (D) R18. Helmut Weber (D)