Joni

Here's the list with riders that have been invited to take part in the traditional international race in Assen (on the Friday night before the World Championship Final): René Stellingwerf (NL) Sven Holstein (NL) Simon Reitsma (NL) Gerrit Schukken (NL) Christoph Kirchner (GER) Max Niedermaier (GER) Henri Malinen (FIN) Jo Saetre (NOR) Martin Leitner (AUS) Martin Posch (AUS) Miroslaw Daniszewski (POL) Dmitri Koltakov (RUS) Eduard Krysov (RUS) Andrej Divis (CZ) Jan Klatovsky (CZ) Lukas Volejnik (CZ) Tommy Flyktman (SWE) Robert Henderson (SWE) Fredrik Johansson (SWE) Per-Anders Lindström (SWE) Simon Gartmann (SWI) Ronny Häring (SWI) Pawel Strugala (SWI)

Especially when they were asked to do that by the trainers of the reserve riders...

Official story: crash & technical problems. And maybe it's the truth...

It was a nice Russian circus again today (just like the Semifinals in Uchaly & Ufa, where Russian reserve riders, with 'a little help' could become European champion). But: the two Russian reserve riders (Baltachev & Novik) have, in consultation with their federation, decided to give their places in the EC Final back and stay reserve riders also on Sunday. This means that Leitner & Flyktman both placed themselves for the Final.

Bazeev was there and didn't miss the practice. Knapp only just arrived this morning. They will probably let him ride a few rounds before the race.

Here's the (preliminary) list of participants for the international race in Assen on the 12th of March (don't miss it!): René Stellingwerf - Netherlands Sven Holstein - Netherlands René Verhoef - Netherlands Florian Fürst - Germany Christoph Kirchner - Germany Max Niedermaier - Germany Stefan Pletschacher - Germany Mats Järf - Finland Henri Malinen - Finland Jussi Nyrönen - Finland Jo Saetre - Norway Johann Bruckner - Austria Martin Leitner - Austria Martin Posch - Austria Mario Schwaiger - Austria Mirosław Daniszewski - Poland Michał Widera - Poland Stanislav Arkhipov - Russia Sergej Karatsjintsev - Russia Andrej Shishegov - Russia Andrej Divisš - Czech Republic Tommy Flyktman - Sweden Robert Henderson - Sweden Paweł Strugała - Suisse res.1 Josef Kreuzberger - Austria res.2 Reinhard Greisel - Germany More info: www.ijsspeedway-assen.nl

Look for pictures (including one of Simon's crash) on www.ijsspeedway.nl

Yep, those are the ones i meant...

Then you haven't been in Assen last year...

Surprisingly..., the MFR now states that their secretary has made a silly mistake by sending entry forms for Arkhipov and Krasnikov. I don't know what the FIM will say about this, but it appears that the Khomitsevich brothers are now coming to Saalfelden.

The MFR has officially entered Arkhipov in the qualifying round in Saalfelden, so that cannot be changed. But of course, he can still break a leg or something like that… I can't see why Bulankin should be the final qualifier, as the Russians have only 7 starting places this year. But I haven't read the Russian forum yet (that's usually one big mountain of crap to dig through...).

Not all Russian nominations for the WC have already been made. As far as i know, only the first 3 from last year have been placed automatically.

Here's the starting list for the first (and by far the strongest) Qualifying Round in Saalfelden: 1. Franky Zorn - Austria 2. Günther Bauer - Germany 3. Antti Aakko - Finland 4. Nikolai Krasnikov - Russia 5. René Stellingwerf - The Netherlands 6. Jan Klatovsky - Czech Republic 7. Markus Skabraut - Austria 8. Florian Fürst - Germany 9. Stanislav Arkhipov - Russia 10. Andrej Diviš - Czech Republic 11. Peter Koij - Sweden 12. Sebastian Gegenbauer - Germany 13. Jussi Hytönen - Finland 14. Johan Lundkvist - Sweden 15. Johann Bruckner - Austria 16. Dmitri Tschatschin - Germany

The only Polish word for speedway that I know is "żużel". But in the Polish language this word can have many different endings, like "żużlu" or "żużlowe".

Nikolai Ermolenko writes on the Russian speedway forum that the EC for junior riders probably will be postponed till 2010, and that Saransk will organize the final for the EC.