Schwantz34

Missed the live feed, hopefully nothing worse than the broken bone for Krasnikov. Get well soon to both

Training from Russia, all the big hitters are there and anticipating some good racing. Whoever does these videos makes a great job, usually online a day or two after any event. From the stuff I've seen so far, aside from Ivanov, Khomitsevich, Koltakov, Valeev and Kononov I'd say Nikita Bogdanov is looking very fast

I echo lots of the previous sentiments, a fair number of rather dull races, a long time cleaning the track and in all honesty a fairly weak field. If I was to be totally pessimistic and blunt I'm not sure a meeting like that would really enhance interest in ice speedway. I've thought Zorn has looked toothless for a few years now, usually makes starts pretty well and then just rolls round with seemingly no fight. As others say, Luca Bauer who you would think as a young rider would have his mojo after seemingly gaining confidence throughout his first heat totally fizzled out. Surely his old man who seemingly pulls no punches wants to give him a boot up the arse. Enough of the negatives, great stuff from Stefan Svensson and Ove Ledstrom. Is it a sabbatical or full time retirement he ( Ledstrom) was going to take? Weber did well too, always willing to push it to, and beyond, the limit. I was reading his teamate has relatively little experience on motorbikes but like the Eishans Herr Monn had aggression, something the aforementioned Bauer could do with. Great coverage from the Polish TV channel. At risk of sounding like an anorak I thought the sound was very good, almost like you were actually there!!! Finally, well done to the top three and the outright winner.

Thankyou racers and royals, watched some of the executorig training videos from Russia and it's really whetted my appetite for ice speedway. Can't wait for next Sunday

I see from the Heerenveen site that they are not planning any event for next year as it's not viable without spectators. Feint hopes of a last minute trip to Berlin if it happens, if not then that's going to be two years without ice speedway Need to get to at least two events in 2022

Thanks Conkers, I've requested vouchers

Can anyone give an educated guess on when Heerenveen 2021 would take place? Had booked flights this year with KLM and one of their options is to amend our booking free of charge

Call me a pessimist but I just can't see it going ahead, if the Dutch are reacting slowly then you've got to imagine it will be nearing it's peak in two weekends time. If it doesn't perhaps a postponement or would that be too optimistic?

I don't doubt the overheads are extremely expensive but for me to stand one day and sit the next a generous cost is about 100 euros. There are say 3000 fans which would give 300,000 never mind sponsorship, VIP packages etc. All guesswork and supposition, all I'm saying is that if the shoe was on the other foot and you had to cancel attending because of unforseen circumstances would the organisers show the same sympathy? It's just such a shame it couldn't have run behind closed doors and say for talkings sake every ticket holder was e mailed a link to full meeting coverage which would be taken by tv fim anyway. While I realise this probably wasn't an option left open, if something like that could have happened then I'd suggest more people would be open to donating their ticket money

It's all pretty grim no matter what way you look at it but surely that way it just pushes the problem forward a year? ie no or very little ticket money next year. I don't know what to make of all these sporting organisations playing the financial struggle card, more often than not the common man ( or woman of course!!) makes a sacrifice in their ongoing financial struggle of life to further line the pockets of the organisers. I know it's unforseen but Inzell must make a mint every year, surely some money has to be put aside for a rainy day.

Slightly nervous about Heerenveen too, it would soften the blow a bit if there was some kind of TV coverage of the European rounds but it would seem tv fim are only leaving the best shot clips of the 2020 season to view on YouTube

I've watched some of the FIM TV highlights and it seems to be a foot injury, given his form before it though hopefully the rumours are about a return!! Next question, I read somewhere that Jimmy Olsen was banned due to weed being found in his system. Does he intend to return when the ban is up?

Was watching some older ice speedway on YouTube and was well impressed with a rider Sergey Karachintsev who seemed one of the only ones able to take it to Koltakov ( at that time). Not sure how old he was, has he retired or is he out with injury?

Was reading the German forum there, they seem to be slating the meeting in general and don't miss Zorn for not restarting in the bronze final

Hi Steve I'll keep my eyes peeled for the union jack, standing at the first corner on Saturday and sitting somewhere on the start/ finish on Sunday. Went to Heerenveen in 2017 for my first meeting and really enjoyed it although I felt the Herris fencing round the side spoils the view a bit ( for some reason they don't have it in Inzell). Can't come soon enough and although I probably preferred the last 2 years at Inzell, Amsterdam is easier to do in a weekend from Glasgow than Munich or Salzburg. I hear what you're saying about the rider in second potentially having more points with the old scoring system. But, like my British Superbike analogy I feel the champion at the end of the year will be a deserving champion whether or not they would have been should the scoring be as per last year. Enjoy Inzell and if I get a chance I'll say hi at Thialf

Does the new system not make it easier for 3rd and 4th to catch up with the top two, technically making it a more open title race? Not saying I agree with it but seeing as I'm going to Heerenveen, the more riders with a shot at the title the better

Weber was excellent this weekend, very exciting to watch. To harp back to the scoring, the new system has kept the top of the table close whereas Steves old table shows Ivanov and Khomitsevich way out in front with a gap nigh on impossible to close ( with the old scoring).

Steve, I know what you're saying but it's totally hypothetical. Ivanov might have tried harder in some of the heats etc if it was the old scoring system. Don't know if you follow British Superbikes but they introduced a " showdown" about 10 years ago, without going in to the detail basically it's a manipulation of the points to ensure the championship goes down to the final round. On at least one occasion thereafter the champion would not have been champion if the traditional scoring system had been used. Although others say they didn't deserve their championship I say you can't use ifs buts and maybes to insinuate they were less deserving. All of course IMHO

Great ride by Weber second day, and incredible stuff by Ivanov to stay on board in that final. I watched one of the Russian YouTubers videos containing all races from both days, you can't help but be disappointed by some of the westerners like Schaap, Ebner and even fan favourite Zorn. To me it looks like Zorn must have a decent budget and Simon the opposite, aside from being a quick starter Zorn has very little fight about him whereas Simon gets stuck in

All too short but Kazakhstan highlights from FIM TV

Thanks fsp, interesting stuff

Thanks fsp, where would you get " soft" ice then?

Good news, nasty incident. If you watch the first lap the front on Webers bike was trying to tuck at that bit too, couldn't see from shaky footage whether that happened to Zorn, Weber or both when the accident happened. Does the brittle state of the ice mean it is soft ice? I read about riders claiming ice being soft or hard and I'm not quite sure about the characteristics of each, can anyone help?

The racing in the Russian super league is tremendous, some of those younger lesser known riders are really stepping up. Thought Ledstrom had a great first day, not so good on the second and Haaruhiltunen beating Krasnikov on day two was a great race