Conkers

The owner of Ryan Air, Michael O'Leary, was on Radio 4 the other day. He says that he wants to get rid of hold baggage as this slows up the turnaround time, and means they have to pay for baggage handlers, check in desk etc. His idea - take the smallest piece of hand luggage you can and buy what you need when you get there. You know the sort of things - Clothes, Toiletries, cameras.... I KID YOU NOT! Just one thing struck me when he said this - How do you get all the stuff you bought (clothes, toiletries, cameras....) home? Does one leave it there? After hearing this I made sure that it wasn't April 1st! If you don't believe this story, I found This Link

Someone gave me a video a few years ago with some Ice racing on it, and at the end was PC and another Speedway Rider taking on two Flat Trackers on a long track which resembled a Horse racing circuit in the background. It was a cold day looking at the weather conditions, the fact that whenever they breathed or spoke, the breath was condensing in the air. It was unused footage of Speedway v Flat Track on Flat track bikes. Could this have been Chasewater? BTW Does anyone ever remember seeing Longtrack at Prestatyn Trotting Track in 69 or 70?

If I remember correctly, the Chopper Bike Championship started life as a find raiser for the Belle Vue Joint Fan Clubs in the 1970s, and they ran up to the end of the Bammy era. One was organised in the late 1980s after the move to Kirky Lane at a sports centre in Stockport, and I know someone wanted to organise one in the mid 90s as a fund raiser for Wilky. However, the problem of Public Liability Insurance came up and the individual would have lost a lot of money even with sponsorship and would have raised bog all. They were a fun evening, as all the Aces riders would be there, as well as locally (and not so locally) based riders would turn up. The racing was anarchic to say the least and no-one really took it that seriously, although you did get some great little races. The safety fence was tables on the side in a sort of oval, and the inside line was usually marked out in chalk, or with cones I'm a little hazy on that. When THF owned the complex, they would hold in one of the suites adjacent to the Stadium, I think it was the Elizabethan Suite, and Bammy bought the Exhibition Halls, he staged it there too.

Jesse is involved with the Ice Racing in Switzerland I understand, although he doesn't race any more from what I was told.

There aren't that many pits left up north since that Government full of Chinless Southern Softees sold the Miners down the river, Steve. As for Ferrets and Pidgeons; Knotting them in the corners then using them as headcovering, is a cruel, barbaric practice that was outlawed along with bearbaiting and cock fighting at the end of the 19th Century.

Despite the language barrier of the commentary, the clips I've downloaded are quite good. Perhaps Barry Briggs could get another couple of the riders over to the UK again as he did a few years ago? Thanks for the link, it is a great site.

Can you elaborate? Is it Ice racing or the World championship Method used in Ice Racing that Sucks? (I understand that the reason they don't use the Knock-out heat format used in the Speedway GP is that it is copyright to Ole Olsen. They do use the old GP knockout method culminating with an A & B final in some individual meetings, but they run the FIM 20 heats and 4 finals system in the World Championship. The bottom line is that there isn't as much money in Ice Racing so travelling across the frozen wastes of Russia to get two rides a day would mean a lot of riders wouldn't do it.)

Interesting stuff! I remember something about this is "Speedway Post" in 1969/70 - and was trying to convince my mate at school about Japanese speedway! Don't those bikes have the look of early speedway bikes (apart from the Handlebars of course!). Anymore Video of the Autorace meeting?

Couple of good Mullardisms I heard tonight (which my son confirmed as we fell about laughing) "That'll sort the riders from the crowd" and "They've got their fingernails crossed!" Worthy of Private Eye submission for Colmanballs (which I've already done before anyone else thinks of doing it) Anyone hear any other good ones?

Am I alone in thinking that the Speedway World Cup ad is a load of twaddle?

Just heard from the USA that Kelly Moran will make his 2004 East Coast Speedway debut this weekend at Action Park East, Greene, NY on Saturday, then ride at Champion Speedway, Owego, NY on Sunday. Hope he is still riding there in August when I'm there!

QUOTE Or even Nile, Morbid Angel, 1349, Source of Tides, Supersuckers, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Carpathia (Welsh Band!), Hammerfall. Anyway - everyone knows that Metal and Bikes go together!

Just had information from Arriva Trains Wales. They are running extra trains after the meeting from Cardiff (the main station near to the Stadium) to Newport at the following times:- 22.15hrs 22.45hrs 23.15hrs 23.30hrs Hope this helps anyone who needs the info. They are running a strengthend servie which I assume means longer than average trains. See you there!

I've just checked the Railway Timetables. Last year there were additional trains running from Cardiff to Newport after the meeting. Whilst the time tables don't show them, does anyone know if they are putting extra trains on after the GP? Otherwise the trains at 10.20 and 11.20 are going to be very overcrowded!

I've seen Bruce ride on Ice and he rode his bike around the Kirky Lane Track a few years back in a time of something like 55 seconds. The last time I saw him ride on the Ice was 1988 when he qualified for the World Individual Final in Eindhoven. For once there was a huge British contingent with a rider to cheer for! We even outnumbered the Swedes and the Germans and made more noise. Pity really as Bruce had a poor meeting that year. See him regularly in ther pits at Assen, and he was at Joes Testimonial. He hopes to be at Assen in March next year - provided he has any money left from his winter trip to New Zealand! Interesting fact: Bruce was one of three New Zealanders to represent GB on the Ice. The others were Goog Allen and Ivan Mauger!

Berlin Day 2 Result (Again from Speedway.org - Thanks Thilo & Claudia) 1) Dmitri Bulankin 2) Vitali Chomicevich 3) Ivan Ivanov 4) Nikolai Krasnikov 5) Juri Polikarpov 6) Gunter Bauer 7) Junir Baseev 8) Vladimir Loumpov 9) Stefan Svensson (rode in the C Final only) 10) Antti Aakko 11) Per-Olof Serenius 12) Franz Zorn 13) Robert Eibl 14) Markus Skabraut 15) Stefan Pletschacher 16) Antonin Klatovsky 17) Kyril Drogalin (Rode in meeting - didn't take part in Finals) Overall: Bulankin 158 Chomicevich 154 Krasnikov 132 Ivanov 131 Loumpov 116 Aakko 88 Bauer 85 Baseev 85 Serenius 81 Polikarpov 80 Drogalin 63 Klatovsky 61 Eibl 51 Zorn 47 Svensson 36 Pletschacher 30 Sacharov 20 Skabraut 16 Tuinstra 10 Bootsma 4 Well done Dmitri - What a great Ice Season!

Day 1 Result (from www.speedway.org - Thanks Thilo & Claudia!) 1) Krasnikov 2) Bulankin 3) Serenius 4) Chomicevich 5) Bauer 6) Ivanov 7) Loumpov 8) Baseev 9) Polikarpov 10) Zorn 11) Aakko 12) Skabraut 13) Svensson 14) Klatovsky 15) Pletschacher 16) Eibl 17) Drogalin - Took his first ride then must have been injured as Svensson took his place from then on. I'm assuming S means fell or similar Standind with one round to go:- Chomicevich 134 Bulankin 133 Krasnikov 116 Ivanov 113 Loumpov 105 Aakko 79 Baseev 73 Serenius 73 Bauer 72 Polikarpov 66 Drogalin 63 Klatovsky 58 Eibl 45 Zorn 40 Pletschacher 26 Svensson 26 Sacharov 20 Skabraut 11 Tuinstra 10 Bootsma 4 This one will go to the wire!!!!!

Berlin is a good race track, but I think the spectating facilities leave a lot to be desired. I would agree Inzell is a cracking track, and possibly the nicest location of any track I've ever been to. I'm working through my photos and should have a few on my site in the next few days, as I have a few commitments to fulfill with mags first. As for the Posa crash in the Sunday A Final, I thought Ivanov took him out, but looking through a viewfinder - sometimes you miss a few things. The Swedish Manager was having a right good go at the Referee after the meeting on Sunday, as he felt Posa had been hard done to. Funny the referee didn't come into the press conference at the end of the meeting either. The Swedish press were a bit miffed at that too! Oh well, if anyone is going to Berlin on Saturday/Sunday I would love to be there with you. Bulankin is going to be a good bet for World Champion, and I reckon Krasnikov is a future World Champion, and at 19 he was brilliant Anyone who was there Friday will have seen the three Russian Kids who rode, and if they are an example of what is coming up in Russia, then the rest of the Ice World need to pull their fingers out, those kids are going places - Dani Ivanov - 17!!!! Dmitri Chomicevich - 18!!!! Artem Samorodov - 20!!!

Just as a footnote to the weeekend, here are the results from Friday's meeting at Assen: Roelof Thijs Bokaal Final Placings: 1) Dmitri Chomitsevich (Russia) 2) Dani Ivanov (Russia) 3) Johnny Tuinstra (Netherlands) * 4) Artem Samorodov (Russia) 5) Marian Kreklau (Germany) 6) Raimo Henriksson (Finland)* 7) Jimmy Flyktman (Sweden) 8) Tommy Flyktman (Sweden) 9) Markus Skabraut (Austria)* 10) Tjitte Bootsma (Netherlands)* 11) Anton Weber (Germany) 12) Tommy Bjorklin (Sweden)* 13) Josef Siska (Czech Rep) 14) Sami Rasanen (Finland)* 15) Rene Verhoef (Netherlands)* 16) Jan Klatovsky (Czech Rep)* 17) Graham Halsall I(Great Britain)* 18) Rene Stellingwerf (Netherlands) 19) Martin Leitner (Austria)* 20) Mark Uzzell (Great Britain)* 21) Heinz Goldi (Switzerland)* 22) Thomas Cavigelli (Switzerland)* 23) Reinhart Greisel (Germany) 24) Hand Van Der Steen (Netherlands) * = Golden Spike Competitor GOLDEN SPIKE SERIES FINAL TABLE 1) Johnny Tuinstra - 52 pts 2) Markus Skabraut - 46 3) Jan Klatovsky - 33 4) Raimo Henriksson - 30 5) Tommy Bjorklin - 28 6) Sami Rasanen - 26 7) Tjitte Bootsma - 25 8) Martin Leitner - 23 9) Rene Verhoef - 22 10) Graham Halsall - 21 11) Robert Eibl (Germany) - 20 12) Heinz Goldi - 18 13) Thomas Cavigelli - 16 14) Mark Uzzell - 11 15) Rob Irving (Great Britain) - 7 16) Andreas Roth (Germany) - 4 17) Roger Newton (Great Britain) - 4 18) Jochen Reischmann (Germany) - 2 Golden Spike Rounds were at Films, Switzerland; Erfurt, Germany & Assen, Netherlands. Also, I did speak to a couple of Forum members, Wolfslayer and his mates. and if you were there I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did! Will Bulankin do it in Berlin, or will Vitali hit form again?????

I will be on the look out for you See you next weekend!!

If anyone is going to Assen and will be there on the Friday night, here is the line up by Country. Germany : Anton Weber, Hans Siegl, Reinhart Greisel Austria : Markus Skabraut, Martin Leitner Switzerland : Heinz Goldi, Thomas Cavigelli Netherlands: Tjitte Bootsma, Johnny Tuinstra, Rene Verhoef, Rene Stellingwerf, Hans Van Der Steen, Johan ten Napel Czech Rep.: Hans Klatovsky, Josef Siska GB:Graham Halsall,Mark Uzzell Finland: Sami Rasanen,Raimo Henriksson Sweden: Tommy Bjorklin, Tommy Flyktman, Jimmy Flyktman Russia: Dimitri Khomitsevich, Danil Ivanov This will be the last round of the Golden Spike trophy as well as the Roelof Thijs Bokaal. Those riders underlined will be competing for Golden Spike Points. Current series Leader is Johnny Tuinstra (32pts), with Markus Skabraut in 2nd Place (31pts) and Jan Klatovsky (24pts) 3rd. Graham Halsall is in =8th place on 14 points with Heinz Goldi. Last year Graham just missed out on a top 8 place due to a mechanical problem, so if he has a good meeting he could get to the semi Finals. .

The draw for the riders at Assen has been made and they will line up on the Saturday in the following order: 1- Franz Zorn; 2 - Kirill Drogalin; 3- Gunther Bauer; 4- Dimitri Bulankin;5 - Stefan Pletschacher; 6 - Anti Aakko; 7 - Ivan Ivanov; 8 - Johnny Tuinstra (Sunday Tjitte Bootsma will be at No. 8); 9 - Vitali Chomicevich; 10 - Robert Eibl; 11 - Juri Polikarpov; 12 - Per-Olof Serenius; 13 - Nikolai Krasnikov; 14 - Vladimir Loumpov; 15 - Junir Baseev; 16 - Antonin Klatovsky. Reserves: 17 Stefan Svensson; 18 - Maksim Zacharov

I should be around the Stadium all three days, I also have a green & Black Lowe-Pro camera rucksack so I shouldn't be too hard to spot. From the description of your jacket Wolfslayer, I think I have seen you before at the Ice Racing. See you all there!

I'll be in Berlin for the Master of Spikes in December, but I can't get to Berlin this year for the last rounds. Maybe next year though!

If you are going to Assen Wolfslayer, I am the balding bespectacled photograher in the Blue coat with the Black Flame design hat. I am there from Friday to Sunday, so Please let on if you are there and see me! (That goes for anyone else going to Assen too! - only 16 days to Go!!!! Can't wait!)