Bavarian

The Mongolian ice speedway racers are an interesting topic. The Russians had introduced the ice speedway sport to Mongolia sometime in the mid-1960s. They were racing in the Grand Sports Stadium in the capital City of Ulan Bator for about 20 years. With the end of the communist era, the ice speedway racing ceased in Mongolia. They had problems to get bikes and equipment. There seems to have been an attempt to rekindle the enthusiam around the year 2000. A couple of Mongols rode in the 1999/2000 World Championship qualifying round at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, a one-day meeting over twenty heats, held on December 17, 1999. The two Mongolian riders were Sereener Myagsuren, who scored five points and finnished tenth, and Basuren Battsengel, who scored four points and finished thirteenth. Another Mongolian rider competed in the following year's world championship in a qualifying round at Yekaterinburg in Russia. That was a guy by the name of B. Khadbaator. Over the two days of racing he scored only three points and finished last out of the sixteen riders in this meeting. That was the last time the world has seen an Mongolian ice speedway rider. But let's take a look at the Mongolian riders' international performances of the 1960s and '70s: Back in 1966, the inaugural year of the F.I.M. Ice Racing World Championship, a couple of Mongols rode in the semi-final Meeting at Novosibirsk, but failed to qualify for the finals. There names were Sambu Lam and Mirgom Tusvin. In 1967, a Mongolian rider by the name of Salbu Seszbudee made his first appearance in the world championship, finishing thirteenth with 8 points over two days of racing in the semi-final round held at Novosibirsk. This was the meeting were New Zealand's Ivan Mauger finished sixteenth with just a coule of points over the two days of racing. Another New Zealander, Goog Allen, scored nine points and thus finished just one ahead of the Mongolian. In 1968 the first Mongolian qualified for the world final. Two of them contested the semi-final at Sterlitamak in Russia, and it was Salbu Serszbudee who qualified with seventeen points (9+8) over the two days of racing, finished in seventh place, with the top eight going forward to the world final at Ufa. The other Monglian in this meering was Sadambagin Oschirsuch, who did not make the cut, finishing eleventh with ten points. The 1968 World Final at Ufa was held over four days of racing and won by Gab Kadyrov. The Mongolian Salbu Serszbudee finished very credible twelfth with a total of 15 points. For some reason unknown to me Serszbudee was not riding in the 1969 World Championship rounds. The Monglian riders in the semi-final round in Moscow were Dasdors Damdisuren (12th place with fifteen points) and Tuvsin Serengin (15th place with five points). Salbu Serszbudee was back in 1970, and indeed finished among the top eight in the semi-final round Held at Ufa. Seventh place with sixteen points quaified him for the world final, while the second Mongol in this meeting Dasdors Damdisuren was eliminated in fifteenth place with only four points. The fact that the 1970 world final was the first one held outside of Russia, at Nässjö in Sweden, may have proved problematic for the Mongolian, who did not make the long journey and forfeited his place, thus missing the chance to ride in his second world final. In 1971, when the world final for the first time was held at Inzell in Germany, the two Mongolians did not progress from their semi-final round in Moscow. Salbu Serszbudee narrowly missing the cut in ninth place with eighteen points, and Dasdors Damdisuren finishing twelfth with thirteen points. The Mongolians had only one rider in the semi-final rounds of 1972, when the world final was again Held at Nässjö in Sweden. Salbu Serszbudee rode in the semi-final at Ufa in Russia, scoring ten points, finishing eleventh and thus failing to progress to the final. Again, Mongolia received just one place in the 1973 World Championship qualifying rounds. A new rider, Sokol Handmaa rode in the semi-final at Ufa but failed to impress. with just five points from his ten rides over the two day meeting, he eded up in fourteenth place. Dasdors Damdisuren re-appeared an represented Mongolia in the world Championship semifinal of 1974 at Ufa in the USSR. Disappointingly this rather experienced rider could score just three points over two days of racing, ending up in fifteenth place overall. 1975 saw the international debut of an other up-and-coming Young hopeful, who would become one of the leading riders in Monglia during the late 1970s and the 1980s, and who would make an unlikely comeback on the world stage in 1999. That was Basuren Battsengel. He rode in the 1975 world semi-final at Laningrad, but got no more than three points, which gave him the thirteenth place in the overall standings. In 1976 the two qualifying rounds were both in Western Europe in Berlin (Germany) and Grenoble (France). This may have been too far away to travel for the Mongols, so they withdrew and were not seen again in the F.I.M. Ice Racing World Championship until their all-too-short-lived comeback in 1999/2000/2001. I feel it is a shame that the F.I.M. has done absolutely nothing to help a nation like Mongolia to continue with the sport.

Of the East German speedway riders, Thomas Diehr was the one I remember, who took up Ice racing in the early 1990s, and was quite good at it. The bearded one came a few years later, that was Marian Kreklau, but he was not so good.

yes

Russians with a Belarus license, others had a Polish (the Ivanovs) or German (Nikulin) license. Afaik there was no ice racing in Belarus.

Mine has arrived on time (Friday mornings) here in Bavaria in the last couple of weeks again, after a few delays over the Christmas/New Year period. No complaints here!

Does Poland really need (want) Chugunov in their national team? Chugunov should remain loyal to the Russian national team, just like Emil and Artem do, who also have Polish and Russian passports, but stay on the Russian side. But it is up to him to decide where belongs to.

Scotland v England 1981 National League Test Match at Powderhall Stadium, Edinburgh

I enjoyed reading the five part Rhodesia Speedway History by Brian Burford in the Speedway Star over the past five weeks. That was an excellent read, absolutely fascinating stuff.

Intersting documentary on the life and 1960/70s speedway and ice racing career of the Soviet Union's Gabdrakhman Kadyrov (it is in Russian language only, though) https://youtu.be/W6zkgYSRp9A

don't know why, but there were no sidecars racing today.

Deserved win fro Ryan Douglas in the A-final of the Mildura Solo Masters. He was unbeaten tonight. 1st Ryan Douglas 2nd Jason Crump 3rd Jordan Stewart

Probably a broken leg for Medson. Not too bad, he is concious, that's the good News. Could have been worse.

Same here where it is snowing in Bavaria this morning. Isn't it great to see the people over there enjoying their speedway, not having to constantly worry about the Corona virus. Seems to be all pretty normal going in Australia. This was a rather tame race meeting so far until that nasty accident just now in the B-final. Rob Medson was thrown over the back straight fence after a collision, and so far has not got up to his feet again. Hope he's o.k. - it is a rather lenghty delay now, and they have not moved the injured rider so far. Doesn't look good.

anybody watching ? that was a really nasty accident for Robert Medson just now when he was thrown over the safety fence after that collision on the back straight. Let's hope he is not too badly injured.

No need to be so negative here @Pinny Adam Ellis is not selected as a heat leader, but as a second string. He is a promising up and coming rider, who deserves to be in the team, but not in a heat leader role. The heat leaders in my select are Woffinden, Lambert, and Craig Cook - all three riders with SGP experience. I'd love to see this Great Britain (England) team in action - just give them a chance to prove themselves. For a start, a three (or even five) match test series with the Aussies should be run this season. I''m sure the fans would want to support this, gettin' the opportunity to see Woffy and Lambert riding in the UK. Maybe even TV would be interested to cover this.

There is live coverage of a speedway meeting at Mildura in Australia this Saturday (January 9, 2021) and the Internet stream is free for all to watch ! It starts early in the morning at 7:30am GMT - just follow the link https://iframe.dacast.com/live/ba332cd1-4450-6e61-d904-b6d64465d538/4ef1764a-392a-de04-2cb8-1c24eec53302 ATPI Mildura Solo Masters (12) Jason Crump Justin Sedgmen Jordan Stewart Cooper Riordan Ryan Douglas Dakota Ballantyne Jack Morrison Fraser Bowes Robert Medson Aden Clare Patrick Hamilton Dayle Wood Support Solos (4) Brenton Kerr John Doolan Lachlan Hill Jason Stewart 250cc Solos (5) Jackson Milner Riley McCarthy Lewis Monaghan Riley Plum Mick Codgell Sidecars (4) Neale Hancock/Brendan Johnson Byren Gates/Mick O’Loughlin Simon Cohrs/Reece Farr Nathan Cock/Jack McMahon

Here is a link to the LIVESTREAM of the Mildura Solo Masters on Saturday morning (Jan 9, 2021) starts at 8.30 a.m. (GMT) http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38544

The two Test matches between Australia and Great Britain that Woffy helped to organise last January in Perth were a great experience for the young British riders. And it was a great event for the local speedway folk of Western Australia, too. Please let us have more of this. The British team should get much more opportunities for competitive action each year.

Flat Track Canada at Welland, Ontario

and in Australia

and at another track somewhere in India

Flat Track practise at John Singh Speedway, Jaipur, India

Same here. I only ever became a speedway fan because of the league and International teams racing. Just like the othe sports I follow, rugby, football, cricket, ice hockey, and most of all speedway. What I enjoy most in all of these Sport are the International matches. And therefore what I miss most in recent years in Speedway is a meanigful Team v Team competition / tournament for full international sides. Something like a Test Championship or a genuine World Cup tournament for the best speedway nations could be a flagship for the sport, just as good, if not better, than the SGP.