f-s-p

Not my intention to be petty, but this meeting is not showing in Finland. Instead Canal+ is showing football from yesterday Arsenal vs ManU... And from my correspondence with the company inquestion, they are not showing much at all this year...

Actually you have 18 hours.

Sounds like he's just happy to be the center of attention... Waiting for a full meeting report shortly!

I got a call from the track yesterday and was worried that something had happened, but it was a friend who said that he wouldn't believe what happened with Timo's arrival if he had not sit next to him all the way... Well like I said earlier on this forum, Timo adapts well to new circumstances and I guess this somewhat proves it. I would have been surprised if Mäkinen would have made the cut, maybe its one step closer to the big one again and just maybe he's ready in Malmö in four weeks. EDIT: A bit weird that speedway.org says that Kilndt and Haupt are both through and speedway-forum.de says there was a run off. The UEM papers say that 8+2 are through, so if there was a runoff and Wojakzek was the ref, he should be banned again.

Keeping the Polish speedway matches away from UK TV's. Standard business procedure if you ask me...

I wouldnt be at all surprised to see Timo Lahti in the top 8.

I'm the king of the world! Henkilökohtainen jääspeedway Sandvik, Ruotsi 18.3.2011 Stefan Svensson SE 333333 15 Peter Koij SE 32323 13 Andrej Gawrylkin RU 33232 13 Antonin Klatovsky CZ 33d33 12 Per Olof Serenius SE 11332 10 Robert Henderson SE 23212 10 Christoph Kirchner DE 21203 8 Janne Vilponen FI 12221 8 Grzegorz Knapp PL 12R12 6 Per-Anders Lindström SE 203d2 7 Martin Posch AT 21111 6 Andrej Divis CZ 021F0 4 Jo Saetre NO 10020 3 Miroslaw Daniszewski PL 01110 3 Jouni Seppänen FI d0100 1 Gerrit Schukken NL 00010 1 Erä erältä: 1. Svensson, Kirchner, Knapp, Divis 2. Koij, Posch, Saetre, Daniszewski 3. Gawrylkin, Henderson, Serenius, Seppänen d 4. Klatovsky, Lindström, Vilponen, Schukken 5. Svensson, Koij, Serenius, Lindström 6. Henderson, Knapp, Posch, Lindström 7. Gawrylkin, Vilponen, Kirchner, Saetre 8. Klatovsky, Divis, Daniszewski, Seppänen 9. Svensson, Gawrylkin, Posch, Klatovsky d 10. Koij, Vilponen, Seppänen, Knapp R 11. Serenius, Kirchner, Daniszewski, Schukken 12. Lindström, Henderson, Divis, Saetre 13. Svensson, Saetre, Schukken, Seppänen 14. Gawrylkin, Knapp, Daniszewski, Lindström F 15. Klatovsky, Koij, Henderson, Kirchner 16. Serenius, Vilponen, Posch, Divis F 17. Svensson, Henderson, Vilponen, Daniszewski 18. Klatovsky, Serenius, Knapp, Saetre 19. Kirchner, Lindström, Posch, Seppänen 20. Koij, Gawrylkin, Divis, Schukken Semifinaali: Klatovsky, Henderson, Serenius, Kirchner Finaali: Svensson, Gavrilkin, Klatovsky, Koij d

It was bit of an embarrasement sitting on a livingroom sofa in Edinburgh and watch Taylor Poole on TV when I've told everyone it was gonna be Timo Lahti. It was not my mistake though and he's now in. I really do hope that he'll still ride the big Finnish meetings, it would be a real lost to us (Finnish speedway) if he didn't. Jouni Seppänen was elected to the management board of the Finnish federation a week ago. Track racing has it's own rep in the board again after a few years of absence. The Finnish 80cc riders are riding in Eskilstuna this (easter) weekend and a few riders are at Varkaus practising speedway. A week a go the now traditional season opener in Hallstavik was organised and things went well again. Teemu Lahti had a really good weekend and was the best man on show. Niko Siltaniemi totally wrecked one of his bikes but is OK. Also Miikka Hyyryläinen and Vili Mattila had dates with the fence but no serious damage there either. Jari Mäkinen had a mechanical nightmare in sundays meetings and Timo Lahti was absent with his Eastbourne practise session in Arlington. Results from sundays pairs meeting in Hallstavik 17th April 2011 Stefan Hurtig 020001 3 Peter Wall 211112 7 Niko Siltaniemi 333F3 12 Jiri Nieminen 10121 5 Robin Messing 11323 10 Linus Lydin 322RF 7 David Hillborg 022R2 6 Jari Mäkinen 2NR3R 5 Aarni Heikkilä R2111 5 Teemu Lahti 33333 15 Jere Lehtonen 0d1Fd 1 Marko Suojanen 32322 12 Erä erältä: 1. Siltaniemi, Wall, Nieminen, Hurtig 2. Lydin, Mäkinen, Messing, Hillborg 3. Suojanen, Hurtig, Wall, Lehtonen 4. Siltaniemi, Lydin. Messing, Nieminen 5. Lahti, Suojanen, Heikkilä R, Lehtonen d 6. Messing, Lydin, Wall, Hurtig 7. Siltaniemi, Hillborg, Nieminen 8. Lahti, Heikklä, Wall, Hurtig 9. Lahti, Messing, Heikklä, Lydin R 10. Suojanen, Hillborg, Lehtonen, Mäkinen R 11. Lahti, Nieminen, Heikklä, Siltaniemi F 12. Messing, Suojanen, Lydin F, Lehtonen F 13. Mäkinen, Wall, Hurtig, Hillborg R 14. Siltaniemi, Suojanen, Nieminen, Lehtonen d 15. Lahti, Hillborg, Heikkilä, Mäkinen R

I just wrote a reply on the Eastbourne thread to stir. Had already decided to just sit back and laugh on the wondering about who this guy is. He's been around for a few years now and every meeting he's done is been documented on this forum. Finnish meetings on the Finnish thread and Swedish meetings on the Swedish thread. I think he's the best we (Finland) have to offer for years! Mikael Teurnberg has a view on things with his experience around the world of speedway and 18 months ago he rated Timo in the top5 in Europe in the riders born that year (whatever it is ). Very level headed and on top of that he's an athlete, not your regular speedway rider. I heard Deano is gonna be his spanner and we laughed pretty big on the scenario that this toothpick of a rider is gonna be spannered by... Deano. As a rider he knows what he's doing, adapts well to circumstances and does what he wants with HIS bike. Now that he's riding for Eastbourne he's been given A bike thats not his and maybe not even good enough by his standards so who knows what he's gonna do. If the management dont give him enough meetings to get him an average and make him an asset, they are...

It was reported in the Spar early the following season that some 5000 tickets were delivered to the unhappy fans left without speedway in the Gelsenkirchen fiasco.

It was Teemu, his older brother that was coming to Scunny. Ask him again, he might do good this time providing he stays fit through the training camp in Hallstavik during the weekend. I think BSPA declared Aarnio fit to ride this week on their website.

Timo Lahti to Eastbourne Eagles, rides next monday against the Wolves, taken from lracing.tk.

I agree on all that, but still think that a change of this size (going from oneoff to three and now seven!) needs changes on the financial side as well. Kauko Nieminen was drawed to Balakovo last year for the raceoff in in the GP qualis and he said there would have been flights for him and a mechanic (+engine) available for around 2000 euros while the winning prize money was 2300 euros. He was told about a local frame for him to use but later that said frame was nowhere to be found. Driving to Balakovo from Seinäjoki Finland was 3500 km each way and to do that in the middle of the season is a no go. On top of the time it takes alone there's all kinds of insurances that are all VERY specific when Russia is the target of your travel. I guess I dont have to mention that they are not cheap either as around 1000 euros was mentioned. One of the Polish riders was held at the border for 20 hours basically for fun. A joint venture of all the riders gathering their gear somewhere and the local club taking them to the track was also proposed, but the locals did not want to take the risk. And before mark246 says all this is not a problem for ice racers, I know that. But then again ice racers ride a LOT less that the speedway riders that are in these competitions.

Whatever the reasons, in my opinion, the money in speedway is not big enough to support this miniGP for the U21's. Doesn't matter who it is from the 15+1+2 or similar group of riders attending (Balakovo or Bahia Blanca) someone DEFINATELY will finish in the middle of the rankings and will make the designated 650 euros for his efforts...

This year the points money (in U21 championship) for the semifinalists in Balakovo are between 1175 for the winner and 400 for 18th. From the final the winner gets 1650 and 18th gets 475., All amounts are in Euros. Balakovo is put on the middle of the season again to highlight that the FIM idiots did not learn anything from the disaster that hit them in 2010. I hope I made my point. I'll give this the thumbs up when they tell that someone is paying the riders transport in full.

Jari Mäkinen -> www.jarimakinen.fi Timo Lahti -> www.lracing.tk Niko Siltaniemi -> www.nikosiltaniemi.fi Kalle Katajisto -> www.kallekatajisto.co.uk Mika Loppi -> Promising young lad, 16 or 17 years this season and was 3rd in the Finnish U21 final last year. He might be in facebook for more info. For some reason I dont even have his DoB or PoB...

Mäkinen and Siltaniemi (+Katajisto) ride for them. They'll kick your äss if you dont give them respect!

It's the real deal. They were asking about names last fall but then decided for the traditional one from the clubs history. Not my favourite, but there's a track and a club again at Hyvinkää!

There's been a change in the Finnish calendar regarding SM-liiga. Here's the udpdated calendar with the change in bold: SM-liiga fixtures: 14th May, Pori: Paholaiset - Sand Blowers - Kotkat - Keittiöpiste. 24th May, Seinäjoki: Kotkat - Keittiöpiste - Paholaiset - Sand Blowers. 14th June, Kuusankoski: Keittiöpiste - Paholaiset - Sand Blowers - Kotkat. 16th July, Hyvinkää: Sand Blowers - Kotkat - Keittiöpiste - Paholaiset. 23rd July, Seinäjoki: Kotkat - Sand Blowers - Paholaiset - Keittiöpiste. 20th August, Kuusankoski: Keittiöpiste - Kotkat - Sand Blowers - Paholaiset. 23rd August, Pori: Paholaiset - Keittiöpiste - Kotkat - Sand Blowers. 27th August, Hyvinkää: Sand Blowers - Paholaiset - Keittiöpiste - Kotkat. The change come's from the withdrawal of the joint adventure of two Tampere clubs to have a longtrack meeting at the local track Teivo. After that failed, it was clear that the date would be given to SM-liiga depending it would be approved by the clubs. The Finnish season starts in ten days, when the training group traditionally visits Hallstavik for three day's practise. SM-liiga opener at Pori is also the season opener over here. Finnish riders for the Scandinavian qualifier at Malmö are Siltaniemi, Timo Lahti, Jari Mäkinen and Kalle Katajisto. Finnish riders for the EC quali at Stralsund are Timo Lahti and Jari Mäkinen. Finnish team for the U21 quali in Ukraine is Katajisto, Mäkinen, Siltaniemi, Timo Lahti and Mika Loppi. Palomäki has said they need to go through, there's no other option. Finnish news has not quite developed as in previous years, but once the season gets going it'll be allright again.

What an idiot, should have waited for Svensson to take his helmet off.

From the very top to the bottom... Honestly, who ever wrote it was pretty well on top of the standings...

Not really sure about the/which joke your making, but I'm told this piece of April 1st news was a HUGE success in Finland with people calling around wondering what the heck is going on...

Niko Siltaniemi to cover for the damper affected Rafal Dobrucki for the Pirates. First meeting April 6th against the Wolves. See here!

Mats Järf was just on TV for full fifteen minutes with an (sort of) indepth interview. Seem's even more committed than I thought and pretty much talked about the "right stuff". By this I mean how he's gonna work harder to beat the Russians instead of moaning how they are pro's and he's not. So definately, he's coming to the world scene big time in the next few years.

I thought Henri Malinen rode over his wrist and he'd be done for the season aswell...?