f-s-p

There's a meeting at Hallstavik this sunday also, wonder what will happen there regarding the silencers. Timo Lahti has also been talking about riding on saturday at Vetlanda.

Finnish season starts this weekend with a training camp at Hallstavik, Sweden. Last time I spoke to our head coach Jyri Palomäki, the camp will go ahead alltough there's been a lot of snow at the track during the winter. Also Juha Hautamäki and Timo Lahti will ride at Vetlanda this coming weekend, or so I'm told. 80cc riders will head up to Hallstavik a week later. Many of them have been practising at Eskilstuna already this season. Kalle Katajisto was the first to get competitive action this season, alltough Kylmäkorpi had a practise very early on in March. Nieminen followed and now during the past few weeks Jari Mäkinen has been to Poland and Sweden and Niko Siltaniemi, Joni Keskinen and the Lahti bros all were at Eskilstuna. So it's all systems go now! With the silencers Finland was waiting what Svemo is gonna do and now we know that. Personally I thought I had enough info on the subject and was convinced that Svemo would allow the old one's too until the end of the year and Finland would follow. If we follow now, we risk losing most of the KC riders, since most of them ride for fun. What a mess, I see no point in keeping up with the conversation anymore other than to just laugh to the whole thing at times.

It says on a Swedish website that the Karlstad track, home of Solkatterna is getting 3m SEK for a face lift so I doubt Solkatterna would fold at this point.

Finnish calendar as published April 2nd. SM-finaalit 7.8. ~ Speedway ~ SM-finaali ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK 24.7. ~ Speedway ~ SM-karsinta ~ Kuusankoski, KMMK 17.7. ~ Speedway ~ U21 SM-finaali ~ Lahti, SsMK 24.8. ~ Speedway ~ Pariajon SM-finaali ~ Kuusankoski, KMMK Extraliiga 22.5. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 1/8 ~ Pori, PMK 1.6. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 2/8 ~ Seinäjoki SeMK 5.6. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 3/8 ~ Lahti, SsMK 12.6. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 4/8 ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK 14.8. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 5/8 ~ Lahti, SsMK 17.8. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 6/8 ~ Pori, PMK 28.8. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 7/8 ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK 11.9. ~ Speedway ~ Extraliiga 8/8 ~ Kotkat, SeMK Kaupunki Cup 23.5. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 1/7 ~ Pori, PMK 30.5. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 2/7 ~ Seinäjoki SeMK 6.6. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 3/7 ~ Lahti, SsMK 13.6. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 4/7 ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK 15.8. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 5/7 ~ Lahti, SsMK 29.8. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 6/7 ~ Seinäjoki, SeMK 12.9. ~ Speedway ~ Kaupunki Cup 7/7 ~ Pori, PMK U16 Henkilökohtainen 80cc Suomen Cup 5.6. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 1/6 ~ Lahti, SsMK 6.6. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 2/6 ~ Lahti, SsMK 12.6. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 3/6 ~ Seinäjoki SeMK 13.6. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 4/6 ~ Seinäjoki SeMK 28.8. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 5/6 ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK 29.8. ~ Speedway ~ 80cc Suomen Cup 6/6 ~ Seinäjoki, SeMK Federation training camps 16.4. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri ~ U21 – Hallstavik (SE) 17.4. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri ~ U21 – Hallstavik (SE) 18.4. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri ~ U21 – Hallstavik (SE) 24.4. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri ~ 80cc – Hallstavik (SE) 25.4. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri ~ 80cc – Hallstavik (SE) 15.5. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri + kilpailu ~ 80cc+micro ~ Pori, PMK 12.8. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri U21 ~ Lahti, SsMK 13.8. ~ Speedway ~ Leiri U21 ~ Lahti, SsMK 3.-5.9. ~ Speedway ~ U21 Joukkue ~ Leiri – (SE) National meetings 13.5. ~ Speedway ~ Yyteri Speedway ~ Pori, PMK 29.5. ~ Speedway ~ Kauhajoki Speedway ~ Kauhajoki, KauhjMK tbc ~ Speedway ~ Kemppi Speedway ~ Lahti, SsMK 1.7. ~ Speedway ~ U21 Suomi vs. Teurnberg Swedish select ~ Lahti, SsMK 2.7. ~ Speedway ~ U21 Suomi vs. Teurnberg Swedish select ~ Pori, PMK Longtrack 8.5. ~ maarata ~ Leiri ~ Vaasa, VaMK 15.5. ~ maarata ~ Leiri + Kansallinen kilpailu ~ Heinola, HeMK/SsMK 16.5. ~ maarata ~ Leiri + Kansallinen kilpailu ~ Heinola, HeMK/SsMK 3.7. ~ maarata ~ SM-finaali ~ Forssa, FMS 21.8. ~ maarata ~ Kansallinen ~ Vaasa, VaMK

To be a Slovenian speedway reporter... All surnames are 6 characters at the most and first names usually never over 5... No Koivuluoma's, Korkeamäki's, Hautamäki's and such...

AMZS is the 4th federation, is that Slovenia?

Do that! Loads of changes to the calendar as expected but the finalized edition should be out next week. These are accurate for sure: Season opener Yyteri Speedway May 13th, Pori Individual final August 7th, Kauhajoki Individual championship qualifier July 24th, TBC Kuusankoski or Seinäjoki U21 final July 17th, Lahti Pairs final August 24th, Kuusankoski Extraliiga rules are pretty clear for next season alltough I can still see possibilities for unnecessary "situations" and changing of views... Loads of snow at the moment around the tracks, one was told holding 60cm at the moment. Come on spring!

I'll get back to this later, have some winding up to do at the spring conference and just came back from a short break, with kids There was one by you (23) that was identical with Ian's, just that yours was better. I spent a good while watching it to find out who's taken it before I realised that there were actually two pics the same. Front cover is waiting for applications, this one was pretty good again... Holsted is a given.

According to www.speedwaysanomat.fi... Timo Lahti and Kalle Katajisto have been told that they are representing Finland in the U21 and U19 international qualifiers. Both are also in the Finnish SWC lineup. There are still two places open for the U21 WC qualifiers and a separate miniqualifier for these two places will take place at Hallstavik, Sweden at the federation training camp between 16th and 18th of April.

Dude, you're doing it wrong!

Any comments on Russia having over 2000 ice racing riders Sounds A LOT!

Interesting note on your story Ian: "Ivan Ivanov also fell on Saturday, in heat 14 and suffered concussion. Although the referee decided on all four back, Ivanov did not ride and was replaced by Rene Stellingwerf..." Sounds like the ref has messed up here. Checked this too and still think so. Had noticed the same about Krasnikov from your pics from Assen and even mentioned it in my report. Sounds like everyone had fun and I'm glad everything I sent got delivered.

There's always a ballot! It would have most probably been a dead boring meeting for any spectator (friends and relatives of the riders excluded) if heat 20 would have been heat 1. There are sides and there are sides to this matter.

It's called a ballot!

Read somewhere that Seppänen will ride the whole meeting.

I was going through the FIM allocations and it seems that Finland has 3+1 places in the U21 qualis with 3 at Holsted and 1 at Gdansk. Sweden also has 1 at Gdansk and the danes 3 at Lendava. Holsted is 6 DMU, 6 SVEMO, 3 SML and 1 NMF. So they are breaking the Scandinavian tradition bit by bit...

Jouni Seppänen will be celebrating 25 years of ice racing at Östersund on March 28th. A meeting with a traditional 16 rider/ 20 heat formula will start at 2 PM local time. If you fancy seeing Per Olov Serenius, Stefan Svensson, Tjitte Bootsma, Jarmo Hirvasoja, Erkki Aakko, Jari Ahlbom and Håkan Storm pulling on their leathers, be there. After the meeting there's a celebration at the club house where all the spectators are welcomed.

Serenius was asked to do it but he said no. Wasn't interested in doing all the hassle for only to ride on sunday. + there are important domestic meetings for him lined up the week after. This from race website in swedish.

Finnish riders for the longtrack and grasstrack qualis: Longtrack WC 29.5. Artiques de Lussac, Ranska: Rene Lehtinen 31.7. Werlte, Saksa: Aki-Pekka Mustonen ja Markus Helin Grasstrack EC 10.7. Aduard, Hollanti: Rene Lehtinen 18.7. Truro, Iso-Britannia: Pasi Pulliainen ja Petri Kärki. Finnish team for the Lonigo qualifier of SWC Timo Lahti, Kalle Katajisto, Kauko Nieminen (captain), Juha Hautamäki and Tomi Reima. There's a draft of the Finnish calendar out already but I dont see any reason to post it as there's gonna be changes to it. It's likely it wont be confirmed until April. It was April 2nd last year, we'll see if it's a joke this year or is it gonna take longer.

RT pokal as seen by me from spw-forum.de. Andrej Gavrilkin RU 3333 Andrej Shishegov RU 3232 Sergej Karachintsev RU 21321 Tommy Flyktman SE 333320 Rene Stellingwerf NL 3132213 Stefan Pletschacher DE 31312 Martin Leitner AT 3312201 Mario Schwaiger AT 02200 Fredrik Johansson SE 32201 Henri Malinen FI 131 Max Niedermaier DE 22200 Stanislav Arkhipov RU d3R Florian Fürst DE 01 Miroslaw Daniszewski PL 02201 Robert Henderson SE 2121d Christoph Kirchner DE 1331F Josef Kreuzberger AT 131 Andrej Divis CH 201 Jussi Nyrönen FI 200 Charly Ebner AT 120 Lukas Volejnik CZ 01 Pawel Strugala PL F1 Michal Widera PL 00 Martin Posch AT 10 Erä erältä: 1. Leitner, Henderson, Saetre, Strugala F 2. Johansson, Divis, Kirchner, Widera 3. Stellingwerf, Nyrönen, Kreuzberger, Daniszewski 4. Flyktman, Niedermaier, Posch, Volejnik 5. Kreuzberger, Saetre, Volejnik, Widera 6. Kirchner, Daniszewski, Strugala, Posch 7. Leitner, Niedermaier, Stellingwerf, Divis 8. Flyktman, Johansson, Henderson, Nyrönen 9. Stellingwerf, Daniszewski, Kreuzberger, Nyrönen 10. Kirchner, Henderson, Divis, Saetre 11. Gavrilkin, Johansson, Leitner, Schwaiger 12. Flyktman, Niedermaier, Malinen, Arkhipov d 13. Shishegov, Stellingwerf, Henderson, Fürst 14. Pletschacher, Karachintsev, Kirchner, Daniszewski 15. Arkhipov, Leitner, Daniszewski, Henderson d 16. Malinen, Schwaiger, Fürst, Kirchner F 17. Gavrilkin, Shishegov, Karachintsev, Niedermaier 18. Flyktman, Stellingwerf, Pletschacher, Johansson 19. Karachintsev, Schwaiger, Johansson, Arkhipov R 20. Pletschacher, Leitner, Malinen, Niedermaier 21. Gavrilkin, Karachintsev, Stellingwerf, Leitner 22. Shishegov, Flyktman, Pletschacher, Schwaiger 23. Stellingwerf, Pletschacher, Leitner, Schwaiger 24. Gavrilkin, Shishegov, Karachintsev, Flyktman Katsojia 3500

National service is compulsory for all men in Finland and last's between 6 to 12 months nowadays. If he plays (wants to play) his cards right it will only benefit him with his speedway.

In the army and hopefully turning in to a man. EDIT: On the other hand there's the old saying that the army turns even the best men in to lazy äss drunks.

With out putting too much pressure on the guy I have a quote saying he's the next Finnish world champion, first that is... This was though before he'd done a lap on a 500cc, but as a person he's the sort of guy who could take the steps to really become something. He did a few laps at the end of last season but none of "my people" saw it so no comment on that. For a couple of years now I've always felt a bit confused while Stekkers has been talking about losing these young riders while in their teens. Well he has 80 of them and Finland has 8 and I'm starting to get the picture.

Official info on team lineups in Finnish speedway. The spring conference wont be until March 28th so the calendar come's out... who knows!? Extraliiga 2010 Haukat (SsMK) Timo Lahti, Tomi Reima, Teemu Lahti, Joni Kitala, Kalle Katajisto ja jj. Vikke Virtanen Kotkat (SeMK) Juha Hautamäki, Rene Lehtinen, Appe Mustonen, Jarkko Palmi, Mika Loppi, Teemu Mattila, Markku Larronmaa ja jj. Mikko Koskinen Paholaiset (PMK) Jari Mäkinen, Marko Suojanen, Aarni Heikkilä, Petri Koskela, Jouni Viljanen, Jere Lehtonen ja jj. Panu Karvonen Jokerit (KauhjMK) Tero Aarnio, Niko Siltaniemi, Joni Keskinen, Jiri Nieminen, Markku Autio ja jj. Timo Kujanpää Kaupunki Cup 2010 Seinäjoki I (SeMK) Jarkko Palmi, Teemu Mattila ja jj. Rauno Palmi Seinäjoki II (SeMK) Mika Loppi, Markku Larronmaa ja jj. Veli-Matti Loppi Lahti I (SsMK) Jukka Nieminen, Jiri Nieminen ja jj. Raija Nieminen Lahti II (SsMK) Janne Nyman, Kalle Kivistö ja jj. Jukka Malin Pori (PMK) Jouni Viljanen, Jere Lehtonen ja jj. Petri Meritähti Kauhajoki (KauhjMK) Jan-Erik Korkeamäki, Olli Heikkilä ja jj. Jussi Heikkilä Forssa (FMS) Reima Heikkilä, Jarkko Kunnaskari, Jani Eerikäinen ja jj. Aarni Heikkilä

Exactly. Yet everything is a mess in Finland and we should be accustomed to this even better than the people in Poland.