Conkers

These results from www.inspeed.de - looks like the Russians are on a roll. Will it all change in Assen though? Round 2 - Ufa, Russia, Day 1 21.2.2004 1. Lumpov 25 2. Chomitsevich 20 3. Bulankin 18 4. Krasnikov 16 5. Baseev 14 6. Ivanov 13 7. Aakko 12 8. Polikarpov 11 9. Bauer 10 10. Eibl 9 11. Drogalin 8 12. Zorn 7 13. Klatovsky 6 14. Pletschacher 5 15. Svensson 4 16. Serenius 3 Day 2 - 22.2.2004 1.CHOMITCEVITCH 25 2.KRAZNIKOV 20 3.IVANOV 18 4.BULANKIN 16 5.BASEEV 14 6.DROGALIN 13 7.LUMPOV 12 8.KLATOVSKY 11 9.EIBL 10 10.BAUER 9 11.POLIKARPOV 8 12.AKKO 7 13.SERENIUS 6 14.SVENSSON 5 15.PLETCHACHER 4 16.ZORN 3 OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER 2 ROUNDS 1. Chomitsevich 84 2. Bulankin 74 3. Lumpov 73 4. Ivanov 67 5. Krasnikov 52 6. Drogalin 51 7. Baseev 50 8=. Bauer 41 8=. Klatovsky 41 10. Aakko 38 11. Polikarpov 34 12. Eibl 32 13. Serenius 27 14. Pletschacher 16 15. Svensson 14 16. Zorn 13 17. Sacharov 12 18. Skabraut 4 Apologies for the lack of heat details

OOps - do you have the full results/heats please? Sorry should have put this in the other reply

Do you have any heat results or a scorechart by any chance? If you do could you e-mail me or post them, Please? Thanks in advance Ian

I spoke to Thomas Schiffner at Assen last year about the Ice Racing coverage. He (or at least his company) hold the TV rights apparently to show Ice Racing. Eurosport didn't commission him to do it for the last two years, so unless Sky or another broadcaster commission it then there will be no Ice on TV

I've received the first day results from the two Semi Finals held in Sweden and Russia. Lukovishy (RUS) 1. Stanislav Archipov (RUS) 15 2. Dmitrij Bulankin (RUS) 14 3. Juri Polikarpov (RUS) 11 4. Maxim Zacharaov (RUS) 11 5. Vitali Komicevich (RUS) 10 6. Alexander Balashov (RUS) 9 7. Franz Zorn (A) 9 8. Junir Bazeev (RUS) 9 9. Maxim Baraboshkin (RUS) 8 10. Stefan Pletschacher (D) 6 11. Antonin Klatovsky jr. (CZ) 5 12. Markus Skabraut (A) 4 13. Ulf Engenström (S) 4 14. Tommy Flyktmann (S) 2 15. Jimmy Flyktmann (S) 2 16. Raimo Henriksson (FIN) 1 Örnsköldsvik (S) 1. Guenther Bauer (D) 13 2. Vladimir Lumpov (RUS) 13 3. Posa Serenius (S) 12 4. Ivan Ivanov (RUS) 12 5. Nikolai Krasnikov (RUS) 12 6. Antti Aakko (FIN) 11 7. Robert Eibl (D) 9 8. Kyril Drogalin (RUS) 9 9. Stefan Svensson (S) 6 10. Tjitte Bootsma (NL) 5 11. Tomas Ekström (S) 5 12. Tommy Björklin (S) 5 13. Jonny Tuinstra (NL) 3 14. Seppo Klemetillä (FIN) 2 15. Mikael Persson (S) 2 16. Marian Kreklau (D) 1 Looks like the Russians are dominant once again, but is this going to be Gunther Bauers Year????

I contacted a mate in germany about Slava and got this reply for you: "He has got problems with his intervertebral disc (hope this is the correct term for it). He tries to come back next year. As he has got a german passport now, I wonder which place we would have made if he would have been fit for the team championchip. Although, place one wouldn't be possible, I guess." Hope this helps Ian

Hi Rob, so who will be the Brits in Assen then? (Apart from Graham obviously). If you are there I will need photos of you, so get those leathers clean! If you speak to Roger and Mark send them my regards Ian

Thought you would be interested to hear that Rob Irving was the top scoring Brit in a B meeting in Sweden a couple of weeks ago. I only got the brief results in a text message, but Rob scored 2, Roger and Mark failed to score and Graham didn't take part (he was in an A meeting) Well done Rob!

Many thanks for that GSF. Ian

This must be a first - Sweden not in the top three - I am certain this is the first time they have never finished off the rostrum! BTW GSF - Can you post the results from the German Championship last Thursday please? Either that or e-mail them to me? conkersm98fr@hotmail.com

Okay. I've done some digging for you. There are FOUR Brits riding, Graham, Roger and Mark, plus Rob Irving! You'll find their results at this site IsRacing.net. It's all in Swedish, but if you look around there are links to results (Resultat),Racing Dates (Kalender) and the names of all those riding in the Sweden this winter (forare anmalda till serien). Rob Irving doesn't appear to have ridden yet, although he may have been at Training and ridden in meetings not listed, although I can't find any listed for the first weekend (3/4-1-04). Graham and Mark are racing in Series A. Mark also rides in Series B along with Roger. It may be that Rob should have ridden in one of the series, but Mark has had to double up. Either way, he may well be the same Rob that your friend knows. As I said in an earlier post, I haven't heard his name mentioned before, but if he has been away for a few years as Duncrusadin says then I won't have heard of him. I hope he hasn't had a dunk in the river after all!

Posa will be 56 on 9th March - Makes him the oldest man on the International Scene. Nicest Bloke you could meet!

Here is the draw for the World Championship Semi Finals to be held over the weekend of 7/8-2-2004. Both are 2 Day meetings. Semi Final 1 - Lukhovitsky, Russia: 1. Markus Skabraut (A) 2. Tommy Flyktman (S) 3. Stanislav Arkhipov (Rus) 4. Juri Polikarpov (Rus) 5. Antonin Klatovsky (Cz) 6. Vitali Chomicevic (Rus) 7. Ulf Engenstrom (S) 8. Markus Schwaiger (D) 9. Alexander Balashov (Rus) 10. Raimo Henriksson (Fin) 11. Junir Baseev (Rus/BMX)* 12. Franz Zorn (A) 13. Dmitri Bulankin (Rus) 14. TBA (Rus) 15. Stefan Pletschacher (D) 16. Maxim Baraboshkin (Rus) 17. Teppo Toivola (Fin)(Res) 18. Mika Kastren (Fin)(Res) Semi Final 2 - Ornskoldsvik, Sweden: 1. Ivan Ivanov (Rus) 2. Marian Kreklau (D) 3. Harald Simon (A) 4. Kirill Drogalin (Rus/BMX)* 5. Gunter Bauer (D) 6. Vladimir Loumpov (Rus) 7. Tjitte Bootsma (NL) 8. Stefan Svensson (S) (or Per-Olof Sernius) 9. Tommy Bjorklin (S) 10. Antti Aakko (Fin) 11. Robert Eibl (D) 12. Per-Olof Serenius (S) (or Stefan Svensson) 13. Johnny Tuinstra (NL) 14. Nikolai Krasnikov (Rus) 15. Mikael Pearson (S) 16. Seppo Klemettila (Fin) 17. Tomas Ekstrom (S) (Res) 18. Kent Peltonen (S) (Res) * = These two riders are both Russians but ride on Bylorussian licences.

There are three Brits currently on the Ice - Graham Halsall - Linconshire Plant Hire Operator & Enduro rider (for fun!); Mark Uzzell - Swindon based Grasser; and Roger Newton - Macclesfield Grasser and designer at BAe. That's not to say your friend Rob hasn't been to Sweden with Graham and the others for a Training camp, but I've never heard the name Rob. Don't dunk him in the river JUST yet, as will see all three in March at Assen, and I can ring Roger in a couple of weeks after the first two rounds of the Golden Spike are over. I did have Roger's meeting schedule which is meetings every weekend for a few weeks. One thing to try and ask is the names of the two Americans who trained with the Brits for the last few years. If he has been to training camp he'll know their names. If you e-mail me at admin@iancharlesphotos.net I'll tell you, in case he reads this.

The third Ice racing Qualifier was held on Saturday at Oulu. These results passed to me by Mariusz Bielicki from Total Speedway, a Polish Speedway Site Ice Racing Individual World Championship - Qualifying Round: Oulu (17.01.2004) 1. Nikolai Krasnikov (RUS) (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) - 15 (1 - Final) 2. Antti Aakko (FIN) (3, 3, 3, 2, 3) - 14 (2 - Final) 3. Ivan Ivanov (RUS) (3, 2, Ex, 2, 3) - 10 (3 - Final) 4. Juri Polikarpov (RUS) (2, 3, 2, 1, 3) - 11 (4 - Final) 5. Vladimir Lumpov (RUS) (2, 3, 3, 3, 1) - 12 (3 - semi-final) 6. Marian Kreklau (GER) (Ex, 2, 2, 3, 2) - 9 (3 - semi-final) 7. Stephan Pletschacher (GER) (3, 1, 1, 3, 2) - 10 (4 - semi-final) 8. Seppo Klemettila (FIN) (1, 2, 2, 2, 2) - 9 (Ex - semi-final) 9. Tomas Ekstrom (SWE) (1, 1, 3, 2, 1) - 8 10. Kent Peltonen (SWE) (2, 0, 2, 1, 2) - 7 11. Tomi Kirilov (FIN) (2, 1, 1, 0, 1) - 5 12. Reinhard Greisel (GER) (1, 2, 0, 1, 0) - 4 13. Jan Pecina (CZE) (0, Ex, 1, 1, 1) - 3 14. Martin Posch (AUT) (0, 1, 1, Ex, 0) - 2 15. Mark Uzzel (GBR) (1, 0, 0, 0, 0) - 1 16. Martin Behal (CZE) (0, 0, 0, Ex, 0) - 0 Good first effort by Swindon based grass tracker, Mark Uzzell. Looking at the field as a whole, he had quite a tough debut in the World Championship. He is also in the Golden Spike series which culminates at Assen in March. That uses the 'old' GP knockout (24 heats) format. Also nice to see Stefan Pletschacher back after his injury in Berlin in December 2002.

Does anyone have the heat details too?

There were two World Individual Ice Racing Meetings over the weekend in Saalfelden, Austria, and Kuusankoski, Finland. The results were supplied to me by a third party, and I suspect there is a mistake unless there are two riders, both called Tommy Flyktman. Either that or he has developed the art of being in two places at once .* The top 8 go through to the Semi Finals, and there is the third qualifier (which is listed by the FIM as QR 2) next weekend in Olou, Finland. I understand that Graham Halsall tried hard but was unable to match the opposition. Good to see Johnny Tuinstra doing well, he is going to be big this year! Saalfelden 11.01.2004: 1. Maxim Baraboshkin (RUS) - 14 (1 - final A) 2. Franz Zorn (AUT) - 14 (2 - final A) 3. Alexander Balashov (RUS) - 13 (3 - final A) 4. Johnny Tuinstra (HOL) - 10 (4 - final A) 5. Robert Eibl (GER) - 12 (3 - semi-final) 6. Markus Skabraut (AUT) - 10 (3 - semi-final) 7. Tommy Flyktman (SWE) - 9 (4 - semi-final) 8. Ulf Engenstrom (SWE) - 9 (4 - semi-final) 9. Mika Kastren (FIN) - 7 10. Frode Burmann (SWE) - 5 11. Rene Verhoef (HOL) - 5 12. Anton Weber (GER) - 4 13. Sami Rasanen (FIN) - 3 14. Thomas Cavagnelli (SUI) - 2 15. Christian Narr (AUT) - 2 16. Heinz Guldi (SUI) - 1 Kuusankoski 1. Kirill Drogalin (RUS) (3, 3, 2, 3, 3) - 14 (1 - final A) 2. Dimitri Bulankin (RUS) (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) - 15 (2 - final A) 3. Junir Bazeev (RUS) (2, 2, 3, 3, 3) - 13 (3 - final A) 4. Markus Schwaiger (GER) (2, 3, 3, 2, 2) - 12 (4 - final A) 5. Tjitte Bootsma (HOL) (3, 2, 0, 3, 2) - 10 (3 - semi-final) 6. Mikael Persson (SWE) (1, 3, 2, 2, 1) - 9 (3 - semi-final) 7. Stanislav Arkhipov (RUS) (3, 2, 1, 1, 3) - 10 (R - semi-final) 8. Tommy Bjorklin (SWE) (1, 1, 3, 2, 1) - 8 (4 - semi-final) 9. Teppo Toivola (FIN) (2, 1, 2, 0, 2) - 7 10. Jimmy Flyktman (SWE) (2, 1, 2, 1, 0) - 6 11. Aki Ala-Riihimaki (FIN) (Ex, 2, Ex, 2, 0) - 4 12. Rene Stellingwerf (HOL) (0, 0, R, 1, 2) - 3 13. Jouni Seppanen (FIN) (Ex, 1, 1, 0, 1) - 3 14. Graham Halsall (GBR) (0, 0, 1, 1, 0) - 2 15. Jussi Hytonen (FIN) (1, 1) - 2 16. Arek Kucharski (SUI) (0, 0, 1, 0, Ex) - 1 17. Christian Hulshorst (GER) (1, 0, 0, R, -) - 1 *It was actually his brother Jimmy Flyktman - so I corrected it on 13.1.2004

I've done that - See you in Assen?

If it's any help, I have the phone number for tickets - you can contact me with a private message if you want the number. The whole of the main straight seating is sold out btw