f-s-p

This is Eteläpuisto, the former track at Tampere as it is today. Built in 1953 with the aid of the city council and the help of hundreds of volunteers it saw most of the biggest stars until it closed in 1986. A few picutres from the seventies here, here, and here. As Eteläpuisto closed a new track was ready and waiting in Teisko, Kaanaa. Some 50 km north of the city centre. Kaanaa also witnessed Tomasz Gollob winning the Champions cup before riders like Leigh Adams and Gary Havelock. Later in 1995 Jason Crump won the U21 title at Kaanaa. Around that time a track was being built to Nokia in co-operation between Nokian Pyry and Pirkan Moottorimiehet. Nokia had a team in the early fifties and they were riding in "keskuskenttä", an athletics track beside the current Nokia ice hockey arena. They were without a track for almost 50 years until the track at Koukkujärvi opened. It was used for a few years until the to club's had a fallout. It's in no condition to stage a meeting but it's used by a few riders every season still. Kaanaa staged it's last (so far) meeting in 2005. Facilieties at Kaanaa are probably the best of the Finnish tracks. The track itself is crap and the enviroenmental issues are closing the whole motorsport complex in a few years. In Nokia they are starting to build a MX track next to the speedway track. After almost 3 years in court an appeal was rejected by the highest authority and it's now all systems go. The "little green people" were given a fine for 200 € when their appeal was rejected. They did manage to get a statement in to the planning permission that only one race meeting during the season can take place at the are that includes speedway, car racing and now MX. Things might change in a few years, but for now it seems there wont be any speedway staged near the city that ruled the sport between 1960 and 1990. From 4 teams in the Championship league in the eighties Tampere is now down to 2-4 riders depending how you look at it.

We already have a full team riding in the Swedish league, it's just that they all ride in different clubs. Your idea is great though, that's probably why they are currently trying to fix a Finnish team to the Swedish ice racing league for next winter. So far so good on that front, we will see if it really happens.

from one end to the nother... here it goes... Agree with Schumi, F-S-P's coverage of the Finnish scene is so good it often doesn't need any comment but rest assured your excellent updates are well read and appreciated! Thank you, I agree What sort of admission fee do clubs charge for a typical League meeting? 10 €, I think Pori only take 5 or 7 € What are crowd figures like for these meetings? This year league has had 200-300, last year Pori had 1000 since they gave away 6000 free tickets prior to the season start in scholls and such. I'd say this season 200 seems norm, 300 sounds great. Are most of the riders basically amateur's, racing for the love of the sport? Amateurs yes. Juha Hautamäki has just added a "part time rider" in his status on his website. Riders like Palomäki, Reima, Mäkelä?, Aarnio and Hautamäki ride enough during the summer that there might be a small pay in it for them, but surely it distracts them from their working. Then there's riders like Jari who are too young to work (and cant do anything yet) so daddy pays. Every rider in Finland works during the winter. When you go to a meeting in Finland what sort of facilities are there for supporters at the tracks? Do they all have seating area's? Can you buy food and a drink? Do clubs have a track shop selling souvenirs? Do they always issue a programme?? Do they play Finnish Death Metal music between races!! Some play music, some dont. Pori, Seinäjoki, Kauhajoki, Lahti all have good facilieties, including toilets. Usually there are no souvenirs. Finnish programs are seasonal? this year with the scorechart folded in the same package for every meeting. For example the facilities at Kuusankoski are non excistent. Coffee, sausage, soda, candy you can buy at every track. I think only Seinäjoki has the license to sell beer. Is there activity at Finnish tracks which don't stage league mmetings, for instance maybe practice sessions or individual club meetings? Yes, but I dont know when. Haapajärvi was supposed to have a individual meeting early June but they cancelled it because there were not enough riders. They even had a 170 € check for the eventual winner... Big money! And finally any chance of a revival of a League club in Helsinki? At the moment cant see Helsinki ever getting a track. But the club has a very keen speedway promoter in Kalevi Kyyhkynen. He's been paying the points money for the Leijonat-team in the recent years. Unfortunately he wasn't able to take part in the league this year. They can ride their home meetings in Hyvinkää. Here are the Finnish league tracks with GPS coordinates someone has copypasted from online services. If anyone ask's, it wasnt me... Routakallio Routakalliontie, 60280 Seinäjoki Lat: N 62º 44' 42.81" Long: E 22º 54' 39.21" Kauhajoki Sotkantie, 61800 Kauhajoki Lat: N 62º 24' 34.60" Long: E 22º 14' 31.48" Kuusankoski Kuusaantie, 45720 Kuusankoski Lat: N 60º 53' 27.46" Long: E 26º 38' 8.89" Lahti Lakkilantie, 15610 Lahti TRACK PICTURE here!! Lat: N 60º 57' 18.88" Long: E 25º 42' 19.48" Pori Vauhtimontuntie, 28800 Pori Lat: N 61º 33' 46.65" Long: E 21º 33' 38.23" Back to Jari once more... His brother was coming home from Sweden yesterday and sent me an SMS saying how Jari is so great and all that and how well he rode. The usual stuff that anyone will say after a few drinks. But he knows the stuff since he was himself a former rider (never really good) and now he's his #1 sponsor financially. So if he's happy, I think we all should be happy. Hopefully everything goes well in Wittsock. I'm now off to celebrate the midnight sun...

Thats as far as I get with some of the polish one's! One piece of news yet untold is that Team Finland will track the same team in SWC Vojens as it did in the qualifier. So you will see what Tero Aarnio is made of. This was the story from our team manager after Aarnio blew all his engines and finished rock bottom in our national final.

Indeed. At least when I was an ice hockey ref I usually was where it was happening... It would help if the ref in question had a history in riding the bike. Then he'd be able to say how harsh a move actually is. The lineup for the Wittstock meeting is here. We will see if Jari get's any points...

I dont know where his brother was standing, but he said there was no contact. Probably Jari's words. Not that it matters...

I dont really know the rules that well... But they gave Tero Aarnio 8? in 2005 when he was supposed to ride for Kings Lynn. Thats because he had a few matches for Rospiggarna in the Elitserien when they won it. I think Jari needs a bit of toughness and to improve his gating. His speed is developing nicely though. And indeed doesn't he look good on the bike. His brother was there yesterday and said that he was excluded in his first a little easily and that the pass he made in heat 16 was "a mans work". Can you confirm this? Something happened to Hautamäki in between 2004 and 2005 and all of a sudden he just started to look like a speedway rider. I'm sure if he'd take the chance he'd make it as a 2nd string in the PL.

86 posts in German News and 3900 views. Thats 45 per post. I've had 36 per post... I've been looking at this for a few months now. Not that it REALLY bothers me but I have taken notice. Both of Aarnio's engine's died on him. According to his mechanic the pistons took contact with the bore (dont know the term in english) and they were finished. Now a story is telling (I'd say reliable) he went out and bought a brand new JRM and scored 12 from 5 today. He has some real issues with his equipment. I guess he just hasn't always known whats really best for him. Katajisto is now 15 and just learning the trade. Dont know about his english but I'd keep him here growing up for a year or two more.

Not bothered probably. Was riding in Sweden in a grasstrack meeting the day before. Kauko Nieminen would have missed two meetings in the UK (originally at least) if he would have fllew over. The fact is that no promoter gives a flying duck if you're the Finnish Champ. But if you miss a meeting in the league over in UK youre crusified. The Finnish Indivual Championship is an expense when you think about it in a bigger scheme of things, not much more for a pro rider.

Oh come on you people, isn't it enough that iris123 gets 20% more views for his news from Germany (like they have any good riders! ) but a hundred have seen the Championship results and havent bothered to comment! Jari Mäkinen and Tero Aarnio are riding in Wittstock next saturday.

Did anybody see the Indianerna match, how was Laukkanen riding? I noticed he (once again) won some and lost some of his heats. Beat Billy Forsberg in one and lost in the next...

Some comments from yesterday: Juha Hautamäki won it, fair and square. He met Laukkanen in heat 15 when both riders were on 12 points. Hautamäki had blue and Laukkanen yellow. I have a pretty good series of pictures from the 10 m line to the middle of the backstraight. They turn in with Laukkanen slightly in front, but he drifts wide. In the middle of the turn Hautamäki first locks a bit and then lifts abit and Laukkanen lifts on the outside just fractions of a second later. Entering backstraight Hautamäki takes the lead and manage's to prododuce a lead of some 20 metres at one stage. On lap three Laukkanen manages to get his act back together and comes via the inside line to challenge Hautamäki again, but cant pass. Laukkanen was the fastest all day when it come's to times. His four heat wins were all under the last track record of 61,7 +/- 0,3 s . But that just wasn't enough. Laukkanen pretty much blamed the track prep for his loss and said his motor touched the track because of the grooves and it cost him the championship. He said he's booked to ride in Berwick late this month and when the new averages come out he thinks he can get a new team place in the UK. I asked him whether he's dropping down to premiere he said he wouldn't necessarily call it dropping down. He has everything (except a team spot) sorted until the end of the season and plans to keep his base in Manchester. All the qualifiers are now insight and he said that the way he's riding at the moment someone will surely give him a chance. He looked in good physical condition and seemed very confident about the remainder of the season. Just for some reason his avg in all the big leagues (Elitserien, Elite, Polish 1st) were around 5 (+/-0,4) last week when I did the math.

Juha Hautamäki is the new Finnish Individual Speedway Champion! Juha Hautamäki 33333 15 Kaj Laukkanen 33323 14 Jyri Palomäki 23232 12 Rene Lehtinen 12332 11 Teemu Lahti 22123 10 Tomi Reima 23T31 9 Kalle Katajisto 11223 9 Joni Keskinen 32201 8 Niklas Karlsson 31112 8 Markku Autio 02320 7 Juha Mäkelä 2R2R1 5 Janne Nyman 11012 5 Marko Suojanen R011T 2 Petteri Koivunen 011-- 2 Tero Aarnio 1M--- 1 Appe Mustonen 00010 1 Toni Stenberg 000 0 Aarni Heikkilä DNS Erä erältä: 1. Hautamäki, Lahti, Katajisto, Autio 62,69 2. Laukkanen, Palomäki, Aarnio, Suojanen R 61,13 new track record 3. Keskinen, Reima, Lehtinen, Koivunen 64,09 4. Karlsson, Mäkelä, Nyman, Mustonen 65,08 5. Laukkanen, Lahti, Koivunen, Mustonen 61,08 new track record 6. Palomäki, Keskinen, Katajisto, Mäkelä R 64,28 7. Hautamäki, Lehtinen, Karlsson, Suojanen 62,34 8. Reima, Autio, Nyman, Stenberg 64,65 9. Lehtinen, Palomäki, Lahti, Nyman 62,73 10. Laukkanen, Katajisto, Karlsson, Reima T 60,58 new track record 11. Hautamäki, Mäkelä, Koivunen, Stenberg 62,04 12. Autio, Keskinen, Suojanen, Mustonen 64,82 13. Reima, Lahti, Suojanen, Mäkelä R 62,17 14. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Mustonen, Stenberg 64,32 15. Hautamäki, Laukkanen, Nyman, Keskinen 62,18 16. Palomäki, Autio, Karlsson 65,68 17. Lahti, Karlsson, Keskinen, Stenberg 63,51 18. Katajisto, Karlsson, Suojanen T 66,53 19. Hautamäki, Palomäki, Reima, Mustonen 62,98 20. Laukkanen, Lehtinen, Mäkelä, Autio 60,71 Crowd 312

The weather prognosis has been getting better and better as the week has progressed and now shows cloudy but no chance of rain for sunday. Excellent! It's been raining a bit or quite a lot depending where you live over here but that's only a good ting since saturday should be a clear day too so the track will be well watered.

Isn't Avesta a very small village? Maybe people dont travel so easily to see the team now that TRick is gone. Avesta even sponsored TRick so he'd stay and ride for Masarna...

Actually I did not even pay for my ticket... But 150 would still be reasonable for me to see Sullivan, Loram, Protasiewciz and to a lesser extent Henka, Laukkanen, Walasek, Bjerre...

Last year I went to see Kumla vs Piraterna and it was 150 kr to get in. This year the U21 qualifier at Motala was only 50 kr. Think its all very reasonable.

After Trick retired last season (or when ever it was) attendances dropped 30-60% in Avesta.

from Piraterna.se Motalas kvartfinal: Sverige 3 (Lindgren, Max, Davidsson) England 2 Tyskland 2 Norge 2 Danmark 2 ( Bjerre, Jensen) Polen 2 (Balinski, Hlib) Finland 2 (Laukkanen, Nieminen) USA 1 plats. I remember Kylmäkorpi riding in Miskolc, but was told last week he's in Terenzano. So go figure

The 53rd Finnish final next sunday at Kuusankoski Quali 1: Kalle Kivistö, Toni Stenberg, Mika Vuoristo Quali 2: Juho Ruuska, Janne Nyman, Aarni Heikkilä Quali heat winners will take numbers 15 and 16, second placed riders become reserves. 1. Teemu Lahti 2. Kalle Katajisto 3. Juha Hautamäki 4. Markku Autio 5. Kaj Laukkanen 6. Jyri Palomäki 7. Marko Suojanen 8. Tero Aarnio 9. Petteri Koivunen 10. Joni Keskinen 11. Aki- Pekka Mustonen 12 Tomi Reima 13. Rene Lehtinen 14. Juha Mäkelä 15. Karsinta 1 voittaja 16. Karsinta 2 voittaja 17. Karsinta 1 toinen 18. Karsinta 2 toinen

I had read it too, but didn't remember...

Back to the topic possibly... I received a good old fashioned letter from a fellow who was touring Russia with some Finnish ice racing riders this spring. He told me that the Lada factory in Togliatti is putting in big money to modernize the current speedway stadium at the city to get (big money already spent??) a SGP round for 2008 or was it 2009... Not that it matters...

30th Kemppi Speedway, Lahti 10.6.2007 Tomi Reima 3333 12 Teemu Lahti 3233 11 Petri Koskela 1331 8 Kalle Katajisto 2312 8 Janne Nyman 2222 8 Aarni Heikkilä 1213 7 Joni Kitala 2102 5 Jouni Viljanen 3R10 4 Kalle Kivistö F121 4 Toni Stenberg dF21 3 Markku Weckman 1000 1 Heikki Tapani dN00 0 1. Lahti, Katajisto, Heikkilä, Stenberg d 66,75 2. Reima, Nyman, Koskela, Kivistö F 68,07 3. Viljanen, Kitala, Weckman, Tapani d 72,69 4. Katajisto, Nyman, Kitala, Viljanen R 66,97 5. Reima, Lahti, Kivistö, Weckman 67,68 6. Koskela, Heikkilä, Stenberg F, Tapani N 68,34 7. Lahti, Kivistö, Katajisto, Kitala 66,63 8. Reima, Nyman, Heikkilä, Weckman (time missing) 9. Koskela, Stenberg, Viljanen, Tapani 69,47 10. Reima, Katajisto, Koskela, Tapani 65,94 11. Heikkilä, Kitala, Kivistö, Viljanen 69,44 12. Lahti, Nyman, Stenberg, Weckman 67,19 Semifinaali: Katajisto, Heikkilä, Koskela, Nyman N 67,56 Finaali: Reima, Lahti, Katajisto, Heikkilä 65,97 The late Kenny Olsson rode for Keittiöpiste in the Finnish Extraliiga and his good friend Emil Lindqvist for Kopparberg Speedway. Rumours are out saying Lindqvist is set to retire, but there's no confirmation to this yet...

Today for starters... He seemed a bit quiet when I spoke with him after the meeting, there might have been some nerves involved... Maybe it was just the "big meeting"...

Kalle's gating is terrible... There's no other word for it. Reactions are great but he doesnt really know what to do next. Need's a lot of practise. Raun was a disappointment yes.