Conkers

Answering my own question here - Graham Halsall rang me this Morning - He had a real good few of days in Switzerland and was extremely pleased with the result and his own performance. As to where the other riders were (apart from Stefan - broken collar bone.) Graham said that after practice on Saturday they decided not to ride as it was too bumpy and rutted. I understand that Flims may be a "Natural" track (ie no Ice Plant next to it) which may have something to do with it. Graham is back home now with a trip to Divisov in two weeks for R4 of the GSS.

Line up for the European Championship Semi Final on Thursday 26th January, and the seeds to the Final on the 28th/29th January. All three meetings are being held at Penza, Russia Semi: 1 Sebastian Gegenbauer (D) 2 Josef Kreuzberger (A) 3 Heinz Göldi (SUI) 4 Tomi Kirilov (FIN) 5 Stanislav Arkhipow (RUS) 6 Juri Polikarpov (RUS) 7 Jan Pecina (CZ) 8 René Verhoef (NL) 9 Paul Johannson (S) 10 Dimitri Tschatschin (D) 11 Artjom Samorodov (RUS) (Grandson of Boris!) 12 Peter Jansson (S) 13 Roger Newton (GB) 14 Turli Carigiet (SUI) 15 Glaude Cadeyne (F) 16 Mark Uzzell (GB) Finale: 1 7. Semi Final 2 1. Semi Final 3 Antti Akko (FIN) 4 6. Semi Final 5 René Stellingwerf (NL) 6 Harald Simon (A) 7 2. Semi Final 8 5. Semi Final 9 8. Semi Final 10 3. Semi Final 11 Peter Koij (S) 12 Sergej Baltachev (RUS) 13 Antonin Klatovsky (CZ) 14 Dimitri Bulanki (RUS) 15 Marian Kreklau (D) 16 4. Semi Final Reserves 17 9. Semi Final 18 10. Semi Final FOOTNOTE: There may be a possibility that the two Brits may not be able to ride due to a delay from the Russian Embassy with their Visas. Mark Uzzell now lives in Sweden and had to come back to the UK to apply for his which he is certainly NOT happy about. I was only told this about two or three hours ago hence the edit.

Poor old Stefan! On his day, he can be an exiting rider, and has the skill and ability to be top rider - then he goes and injures himself as he hits a purple patch.

Golden Spike R3 - Flims Result: 1. A. Klatovsky 15 2. Skabraut 14 3. Stellingwerf 12 4. Gegenbauer 10 5. J. Klatovsky 10 6. Tschatschin 9 7. Weiss 8 8. Halsall 8 9. Weber 6 10. Göldi 6 11.Cavigelli 6 12. Gadeyne 5 12. SV. Holstein 4 13. M. Schweiger3 ( A) 14. Carigiet 2 15.Gartmann 0 From Inspeed.de Standings (After 3 Rounds): Antonin Klatovsky Cz 37 Jan Klatovsky Cz 29 Robert Eibl D 27 Viatcheslav Nikulin D 27 Marcus Skabraut A 26 Rene Stellingwerf Nl 26 Stefan Pletschacher D 20 Tommy Flyktman SF 19 Dmitri Tschatschin D 19 Johnny Tuinstra Nl 18 Graham Halsall GB 16 Sebastian Gegenbauer D 16 Martin Leitner A 15 Heinz Goldi CH 15 Thomas Cavageli CH 10 Phillip Weiss CH 8 Claude Gaydene F 7 Johan Bruckner A 3 Martin Posch A 3 Josef Kreutzberger A 1 One question - Where were Eibl, Nikulin, Tuinstra, Pletschacher, Flyktman and Leitner? Are they missing this one to prepare for the European Championship next week? Or were they exercising their "ignore your lowest score" option by missing a round. Either way it makes a small mockery of the series. Next round of the GSS is at Divisov in the Czech Republic on 11th February - NOTE CHANGE OF DATE Especially if you are a rider!!!

The fact that Heinz has a wooden leg was the subject, but it merited two paragraphs and a small photo. The Star uses the briefest of news in the International section, most of it from Christian Weber but I do some of the reports (usually Assen and last year Berlin) which when the Champion is crowned gets some good coverage. I've done a couple of paras about Graham from last night after I rang Roger Newton (one of the Brit Ice Racers) for some background, but they may use Webers report there too, mind you I did send them a shot of Graham

YES!!!!!!!!!!! Well done Graham, and well done to Heinz Goldi - not only is he Swiss Champion, but he got a mention in Speedway Star this weekend!

If that is the case with Saransk and Krasnogorsk, I suspect that the Ufa Track may be used for one of the Internationals and as they are having a cold spell then maybe a track near Moscow - unless of course the NMFR decide to compromise with the MFR in order to swell their coffers.

Starting draw for the Golden Spike Meeting on Saturday 21.1.06 at Flims, and the Swiss Championship on Friday 20.1.06 Swiss Championship (Friday Night) 1 Lukas Rösti CH 2 Jan Pecina CZ 3 Walter Kerle A 4 Heinz Göldi CH 5 Philip Weiss CH 6 Roland Winkler CH 7 Josef Kreuzberger A 8 Hans-Peter Forcher A 9 Robert Irving GB 10 Hans Hafner CH 11 Simon Gartmann CH 12 Johann Bruckner A 13 Turli Carigiet CH 14 Thomas Cavigelli CH 15 Klaus Forcher A 16 Hans Weber D Golden Spike Series (Saturday Night) 1 Heinz Göldi CH 2 Graham Halsall GB 3 Claude Gadeyne F 4 Viatscheslav Nikulin D 5 Dimitri Tschatschin D 6 Johnny Tuinstra NL 7 Markus Skabraut A 8 Martin Leitner A 9 Tommy Flyktmann SF 10 Jan Klatovsky CZ 11 Robert Eibl D 12 Thomas Cavigelli CH 13 René Stellingwerf NL 14 Antonin Klatovsky CZ 15 Philip Weiss CH 16 Wild Card TBC GSS U-21 Championship 21 Simon Gartmann CH 22 Mario Schwaiger A 23 Sven Holstein NL 24 Hans Weber D

I envy you, as I'd like to be there with you! The draw is usually made about a week before. Check Speedway.org as they usually have it listed. As you are there from Thursday to Monday, if you get a chance have a half day in Berchtesgaden and Koningsee, lovely part of the world.

I think I've spotted the mistake - in the Speedway.org scorechart, Lindstrom is shown as M (which I assume is Mechanical breakdown but I may be wrong) so his score reads 2,M,2,2,1 but he finishes with 9 - so he may be the Ht 17 winner as Gartmann is shown secind in Ht 5 where Lindstrom is shown 2nd in the above chart.

According to the Inspeed site, the top 9 at Saalfelen was: 1. Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 2. Mikhail Bogdanov (Rus) 3. Franz Zorn (A) 4. Markus Skabraut (A) 5. Slava Nikulin (D) 6. Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 7. Stefan Svensson (S) 8. Tommy Flyktman (SF) 9. Antonin Kaltovsky (Cz) No scores as yet. Kuusankoski: 1. Ilya Drozdov (Rus) 2. Antti Aakko (SF) 3. Posa Serenius (S) 4 Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 5. Kai Lehtinen (SF). 6. P-A Lindström (S) 7. Andreas Roth (D) 8. Fredrik Olsson (S) 9. Sebastian Gegenbauer (D) 10 Heins Göldi (CH) 11 H-O Olsen (S) 12 Simon Gartman (CH) 13. Reinhart Greisel (D) 14. Graham Halsall (GB) 15. Denis Saifutdinovs (Lat) 16 Claude Gadeyne (F) Again no scores Bad luck for Graham finishing 14th, better luck in the GSS

Line ups for the Ice Racing World Championship Qualifying rounds: QR 1 - Kuusankoski, Finland: 1) P.A. Lindstrom (S) 2) Reinhard Greisel (D) 3) Per-Olof Serenius (S) 4) Graham Halsall (GB) 5) Heinz Goldi (CH) 6) Antti Aakko (SF) 7) Sebastian Gegenbauer (D) 8) Fredrik Olsen (S) 9) Andreas Roth (D) 10) Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 11) Denis Saifutdinovs (Lat) 12) Kai Lethinen (SF) 13) Claude Cadeyne (F) 14) Ilya Drozdov (Rus) 15) Hans Olov Olsen (S) 16) Simon Gartman (CH) Res: 17) Krister Biskop (SF) 18) Jussi Hytonen (SF) Graham Halsall has a tough draw as he faces Posa in his first ride, Bulankin in his third, Aakko in his fourth, and Drozdov in his final ride. His second race is proably his easiest as he faces Fredrik Olsen, Letinen and Gartman, and has the inside gate. QR 2 Saalfelden, Austria: 1) Antonin Klatovsky (Cz) 2) Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 3) Franz Zorn (A) 4) Franz Mayerbuchler (D) 5) Rene Stellingwerf (NL) 6) Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 7) Thomas Cavigelli (CH) 8) Stefan Svensson 9) Markus Skabraut (A) 10) Josef Siska (Cz) 11) Viatcheslav Nikulin (D) 12) Turli Carigiet (CH) 13) Mikhail Bogdanov (Rus) 14) Tommy Flyktman (SF) 15) Dmitri Tschatschin (D) 16) Martin Leitner (A) Res: 17) Martin Posch (A) 18) Sven Holstein (NL) taken from Thilo and Claudia's Speedway.org site, which is usually very reliable, but as Iris 123 points out in the Golden Spike thread - The Russian entries could be in doubt due to the ongoing dispute between the rival Russian Frederations.

Further to the "was there or wasn't there a final", Speedway Star carried a paragraph on each meeting in their international news section. The Saturday meeting was decided after 20 heats with a run off between Skabraut, Pletschacher and Nikulin for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th place. Sunday was decided on the 20 heats but there was an additional "top scorers race" which was won by Flyktman ahead of Tony Klatovsky and Slava. So it appears that the GSS has started moving in the direction of the shambles it has been in previous years.

I took the results from a Swedish website via a dutch one, who both reported a final for both days. The scores came from Inspeed. Remember my knowledge of other languauges doesn't stretch beyond the basics, but both days they reported a final. Mind you the Golden Spike organisation has been a bit hit and miss for the last two years, so I'm not surprised that there may or may not be a final. Still, it's the WC Qualifiers next week, so theres a two week gap to Flims

Golden Spike Standings (after 2 rounds): l 1 2 Robert Eibl D 27 2 7 Viatcheslav Nikulin D 27 3 1 Antonin Klatovsky Cz 22 4 4 Stefan Pletschacher D 20 5 8 Tommy Flyktman SF 19 6 9 Jan Klatovsky Cz 19 7 3 Johnny Tuinstra Nl 18 8 6 Martin Leitner A 15 9 12 Rene Stellingwerf Nl 14 10 5 Marcus Skabraut A 12 11 10 Heinz Goldi CH 9 12 14 Graham Halsall GB 8 13 11 Thomas Cavageli CH 4 14 13 Claude Gaydene F 2

Updated result of the Weißenbach round this afternoon FINAL: 1. Tommy Flyktman (FIN) 2. Antonín Klatovský (CZ) 3. Viatsheslav Nikulin (D) 4. Robert Eibl (D) Scorers: 1. Nikulin, 15 2. Antonin Klatovsky 13. 3. Eibl 12. 4. Flyktman 11. 5. Dmitri Tschatschin (D), 10. 6. Tuinstra 9, 7. Jan Klatovsky 9. 8. Pletschacher 8. 9. Stellingwerf 7. 10. Leitner 6. 11. Sebastian Gegenbauer (D), 6. 12. Göldi 5. 13. Halsall 3. 14. Posch 3. 15. Cavigelli 1. 16. Gadeyne 1. No Junior Scores/Results as yet. Nikulin looks like he could be returning to the sort of form he showed ten years ago, but well done to Tommy Flyktman - could be a spoiler in the WC Qualifiers.

ICE RACER AT 17!!!!!!!!!!! If he is as good as this at such a young age, he has a bright future in front of him. The last rider the Dutch produced who was so good was Anne Van Der Helm, who helped the Netherlands to their third place in the team final in 1992, then quit to stick to the grass tracks after one season on the Ice (I believe there were some politics as well but.....) With all due respect to riders like Roleof Thijs, Robert Jan Munnicom, Tjitte Bootsma and Johnny Tuinstra, if Sven keeps up this sort of progress, the Assen club could finally achieve their dream of parading a Dutch World Ice Racing Champion.

Round 1 Result from St. Johann im Pongau, Austria: FINAL: 1. Robert Eibl 2. Markus Skabraut 3. Stefan Pletschacher 4. Viatcheslav Nikulin Scores 1. Robert Eibl (D), 15 2. Markus Skabraut (A), 12 3. Stefan Pletschacher (D), 12 4. Viatsheslav Nikulin (D), 12 5. Jan Klatovský (Cz), 10 6. Antonín Klatovský (Cz), 9 6. Johnny Tuinstra (NL), 9 6. Martin Leitner (A), 9 9. Tommy Flyktman (SF), 8 10. René Stellingwerf (NL), 7 11. Graham Halsall (GB), 5 12. Heinz Göldi (Ch), 4 13. Thomas Cavigelli (Ch), 3 13. Johann Brückner (A), 3 15. Claude Gadeyne (F), 1 16. Josef Kreuzberger (A), 1 Excellent start for Robert Eibl, but an equally good start from injury from Johnny Tuinstra, finishing 6th in his first meeting after breaking a collarbone and missing the Santa Cup. Surprise is Jan Klatvsky beating his older brother. Great start for Graham Halsall too, with his 11th place. U 21 Races: 1. Sven Holstein (NL), 11 2. Martin Posch , 9 3. Mario Schwaiger (A), 4 Nice start to the season for Sven who at 19 looks a good prospect for the Dutch. Next round is tommorrow at Weißenbach, Austria. Results from Inspeed.de

30/12 Result Hedemora 1.Posa Serenius 2.Franz Zorn 3. Anti Akko 4.Robert Eibl 5.Stefan Svensson 6.Markus Scabraut 7.Tommy Björklin 8.Torleif Burman 9.Harald Simon 10.P-A Lindström 11.Peter Koij 12.Mikael Persson 13.Renë Stellingwerf 14.Antony Klatovsky 15.Jan Klatovsky 16.Stefan Hedström 17.Hans-Olov Olsén 18.Peter Jansson 19.Paul Johansson 20.Marian Kreklau Final Placings (excludes wild cards) 1. Antti Aakko 87 2. Franz Zorn 85 3. Robert Eibl 81 4. Posa Serenius 71 5. Stefan Svensson 68 6. Antonin Klatovsky jun. 57 7. Markus Skabraut 56 8. Torleif Burman 51 9. Harald Simon 43 10. Peter Koij 42 11. P.-A. Lindström 39 12. Tommy Björklin 32 13. Rene Stellingwerf 26 Good start to the season for Antti Aakko and Franky Zorn. And if Eibl can step up a gear in the World Championships it may give the German fans plenty to shout about. As for Posa - isn't he amazing? At 57 he is still the top Swedish rider, but good to see Stefan making an impression again. All the results have come from Inspeed.de and Isracing.net

27/12 Result Östersund 1 Franz Zorn 2 Antti Aakko 3 Robert Eibl 4 Antonin Klatovsky 5 Ulf Engenström 6 Stefan Svensson 7 Peter Koij 8 Markus Skabraut 9 Torleif Burman 10 Posa Serenius 11 Tommy Björklin 12 Hans Olov Olsén 13 Martin Ljungkvist 14 Harald Simon 15 P-A Lindström 16 Jan Klatovsky 17 René Stellingverf 18 Johan Lundkvist 19 Heinz Göldi 20 Marian Kreklau 28/12 Result Gävle 1. Anti Akko (11) 2. Posa Serenius (11) 3. Frans Zorn (11) 4. Robert Eibl (10) 5. Antony Klatovsky (7) 6. Stefan Svensson (10) 7. Markus Scabraut (9) 8. P-A Lindström (7) 9. Harald Simon (6) 10. Torleif Burman (6) 11. René Stellingverf (5) 2. Tomas Ekström (4) 13. Tommy Björklin (4) 14. Peter Koij (4) 15. Jan Klatovsky (4) 16. Micke Persson (4) 17. Peter Lunqvist (3) 18. Hans-Olov Olsén (3) 19. Marian Kreklau (1) 20. Peter Jansson (0) 29/12 Result Bollnäs 1. Robert EIBL 2. Stefan Svensson 3. Antti AKKO 4, Franz ZORN 5. Antonin KLATOVSKY 6, Torleif BURMAN 7. Markus SKABRAUT 8. Per-Olof SERENIUS 9. Harald SIMON 10. Peter KOIJ 11.Tommy FLYKTMAN 12. P-A LINDSTRÖM 13. Hans-Olov OLSÉN 14. Stefan HEDSTRÖM 15. Tobias ÅSTRÖM 16. Jan KLATOVSKY 17. René STELLINGVERF 18. Marian KREKLAU 19. René VERHOEF 20 Tomas EKSTRÖM Looks like Antti Aakko is currently in first place overall with Franky Z in second and Robert Eibl third. Last round is tonight and by my reckoning started five minutes before this post.

It strikes me that the Russians will settle this fued before the first rounds in January, otherwise they may find that their domination in 2006 may fall to riders like Zorn, Aakko and Posa.

Do you think he'll be fit for the Golden Spike/World Championship, or is he out for the forseeable future?

Wildcards Östersund 27 Dec: Martin Ljungqvist Ulf Engenström Johan Lundkvist With only five days to go do any of our Swedish Friends have the other wild cards please? Also, it appears that Johnny Tuinstra isn't riding in the series. Anyone have any information on that too?

Unless of course he has a son riding? On a different note I see the that the "Blue Beru Power Team" of Beru Spark Plug sponsored riders will be: Günther Bauer (Manager) 1.Posa Serenius 2.Stefan PLetschacher 3.Robert Eibl 4.Nikolaj Krasnikov Wonder if Nikolai is still going to be sponsored by Jurgen Baumgarten's JB German Oil too, given the "cool" relationship between their respective companies?

Surely this can't be Rais Mustafin? Is it a relative? To the best of my knowledge, Rais last rode in the late 1980s and was dropped from the 1988 qualifiers after he "upset" the MFR under the Soviet banner. He was in Assen in 2004 with Juri Ivanov, and Vladimir Suchov. Rais was chatting to 2003 Champion Dmitri Bulankin in the pits, whilst the Ivanov and Suchov were chatting with Vitali Khometsevich, the champion elect. All three must have been pushing 50, but were looking exactly the same as when I last saw them racing.