f-s-p

Thats putting 64 riders to compete for the biggest prize of the year while they are still out of their sorts after the winter. OR they all could spend the winter in OZ practising and spending 10k a month on living and bikes. Would bump up the cost of the sport a bit? The basic fault I see with the current system is that it measures the riders capability to perform in the GP the year before. Then again I just wrote that it wouldn't be a good move to do it before the season either ?! Also making the season even longer will keep the young and coming riders even further at the back and out of the series, since topflight speedway isn't really making the money for the riders it should when compared to the cost involved.

I was thinkin along the lines of "last weeks tarabanko" in the early heats of the meeting, but actually found myself weeping on the living room floor when Hampel GAVE his heat 16 battle to Jonsson. Robin Bergqvist was also a disappointment. I think Hampel wil never again win Crump. Hearing Crump say to him when they were picking the gates for heat 17 that you take whatever you take and I'll take whats left and take care of the others was something I've not heard of before.

Season finisher from Pori, the last round of the Kaupunki Cup. Pori won the series, final standings will be updated later. Pori 24 Jouni Viljanen 221 5 Appe Mustonen 3333 12 Jari Mäkinen 232 7 Forssa I 10 Reima Heikkilä 0100 1 Jari Tapani 11331 9 Kauhajoki 17 Jere Mattila 33032 11 Teemu Mattila 22120 7 Lahti 11 Jukka Nieminen 10012 4 Markku Weckman 01123 7 Haapajärvi 21 Niko Siltaniemi 33313 13 Juho Ruuska 22202 8 Forssa II 6 Johan Ahponen 11211 6 Erä erältä: 1. Mustonen, Viljanen, Tapani, Heikkilä 67,52 2. J.Mattila, Mattila, Nieminen, Weckman 70,35 3. Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Ahponen 67,15 4. Mustonen, Mäkinen, Ahponen 67,49 5. J.Mattila, Mattila, Tapani 70,88 6. Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Weckman, Nieminen 66,59 7. Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Mattila, J.Mattila 66,35 8. Tapani, Ahponen, Heikkilä 74,55 9. Mäkinen, Viljanen, Weckman, Nieminen 67,02 10. Tapani, Weckman, Nieminen, Heikkilä 72,84 11. Mustonen, Mäkinen, Siltaniemi, Ruuska 65,88 12. J.Mattila, Mattila, Ahponen 71,41 13. Weckman, Nieminen, Ahponen 72,42 14. Mustonen, J.Mattila, Viljanen, Mattila 67,85 15. Siltaniemi, Ruuska, Tapani, Heikkilä 66,09 Katsojia 110 Kaupunki Cup final table PORI ------------6 - 116 - 39 (väh. 1 sarjapiste 24.8.) FORSSA-------- 6 - 103 - 33 HAAPAJÄRVI -- 6 - 109 - 31 (väh. 1 sarjapiste 8.6.) KAUHAJOKI --- 6 - 94 - 27 LAHTI ---------- 6 - 77 - 22 FORSSA II ---- 6 - 53 - 13 (väh. 1 sarjapiste 21.9.) These figures include point deductions from Pori (August 24th, Haapajärvi June 8th and Forssa II September 21st) Racing wise Finnish season 2008, over and out!

The final 80cc Cup standings have now been confirmed as follows. 1. Mika Loppi ------------- 175 2. Miikka Hyyryläinen -- 125 3. Vili Hautala ----------- 122 4. Jiri Nieminen ---------- 113 5. Jooa Partanen ------- 106 6. Niilo Vuolas ----------101 7. Jarkko Palmi --------- 98 8. Tomi Lahti ------------77 9. Vikke Kuhanen -------77 10. Vili Mattila ---------- 71 11. Jere Lehtonen ------ 53 12. Antti Vuolas -------- 15 13. Aapo Lohvansuu ---- 8

Extraliiga finished today at Pori for 2008. A few good heats and battles and good heat times on a track that has been really slick all year. Some rain made it wet which produced a fair deal of material and lines enabling the track record holder Kaj Laukkanen to get around 62,5 in one heat, only 1 second from the record. Kalle Katajisto helped Marko Suojanen to crash out of the meeting in a replica crash from the Sky televised meeting where Kylmäkorpi hurt himself in mid June. Jari Mäkinen was quite poor and clearly struggling with something, no idea what. Tomi Reima pinched a second point off Juha Hautamäki's otherwise clean Extraliiga record in heat two. Other than that Hautamäki (and Laukkanen) were clearly above others. I'll start with the results soon, but the fact remains that Kotkat won the league, Keittiöpiste too 2nd place and HaukatRoyals were 3rd. It wasn't a bad season. <b>Paholaiset 29</b> Appe Mustonen 1222^22 11 Jari Mäkinen 1221 6 Marko Suojanen 11N 2 Cesary Owizyc 310222 10 <b>Haukat-Royals 25</b> Tomi Reima 32131 10 Juha Mäkelä 22211 8 Joni Kitala 0111 3 Aarni Heikkilä 1111 4 <b>Kotkat 43</b> Juha Hautamäki 23333 14 Kaj Laukkanen 33333 15 Rene Lehtinen 3333 12 Petteri Koivunen 200d 2 <b>Jokerit 15</b> Fedor Poptsov DNS Kalle Katajisto R326^d 11 Jani Eerikäinen 20020 4 Teemu Mattila 000000 0 Erä erältä: 1. Reima, Hautamäki, Mustonen, Mattila 65,35 2. Laukkanen, Mäkelä, Mäkinen, Katajisto 62,40 3. Lehtinen, Eerikäinen, Suojanen, Kitala 66,13 4. Owizyc, Koivunen, Heikkilä, Mattila 67,42 5. Hautamäki, Mäkelä, Owizyc, Eerikäinen 65,59 6. Lehtinen, Mäkinen, Heikkilä, Mattila 66,13 7. Katajisto, Mustonen, Kitala, KOivunen 63,18 8. Laukkanen, Reima, Suojanen 62,45 9. Laukkanen, Mustonen, Heikkilä, Eerikäinen 63,34 10. Lehtinen, Katajisto, Reima, Owizyc 65,07 11. Hautamäki, Mäkinen, Kitala, Mattila 64,28 12. Katajisto^, Mäkelä, Mustonen^, Koivunen 65,53 13. Hautamäki, Owizyc, Heikkilä, Katajisto d 64,88 14. Laukkanen, Owizyc, Kitala 64,99 15. Lehtinen, Mustonen, Mäkelä, Mattila 66,28 16. Reima, Eerikäinen, Mäkinen, KOivunen d 66,28 17. Hautamäki, Mustonen, Mäkelä, Mattila 65,69 18. Laukkanen, Owizyc, Reima, Eerikäinen 64,16 Katsojia 185 EDIT: Overall classification from the federation... Jokerit was at Pori with a team with only 3 riders so they had one point deducted from their total. KOTKAT_________8 - 303 - 36 KEITTIÖPISTE____8 - 220 - 30 HAUKAT/ROYALS_8 - 223 - 27 PAHOLAISET_____8 - 199 - 24 JOKERIT________ 8 - 182 - 23 (22 with the deduction) The rule says that if you dont have a full team, you will get 1 point taken off from your total. Final points will have to change if they want to go by the rules so that Jokerit will end up with only 22 points.

Make it Edinburgh then!

Poole 2003 when Povazhny organised Dryml and Karlsson to the hospital and giving a helping hand to Laukkanen (who qualified) and Kylmäkorpi (1st reserve of the meeting to 1st reserve of the series -04).

Waaayyyyyyyyy out of his depth in the SGP qualifying semi at Terenzano, apparently his home track.

Yes, and Rospiggarna will get in to the history books as the 5th in the Elitserien 2008. It's all clearly written on speeedway.nu. In swedish .

Was it really about total points scored, or simply about the winner of a pair advancing to the semifinal stage?

A bit off topic but... Due to the disaster in nordic skiing doping has been the topic of all topics in Finland for years now. Currently Kari-Pekka Kyrö (who took most of the blame during the Lahti fiasko) has surfaced again and is naming people and telling it how it is and how it was. His main argument is, that the talents of the world, such as Usain Bolt is, are very few. And since 95 % of all athletes are on dope, why should the talented one's be clean. Kyrö's main argument here is that by using doping they give themselves the chance to rise to the same level that the less talented are (who are using). Ato Boldon was quoted saying during the Olympics that when he was on his peak, he used 44-46? steps to run 100m. Bolt is now apparently on 40-42... Which of course is an advantage and a mark of something special.

They can lock it up their a$$ all next year.

WHY CANT I SEE IT! It just says no broadcast or decoded. It looked just fine two hours ago.

Where ever you are, you are listening it in Finnish? Just cant wait until 8 am tomorrow when I phone the cable company. This was the first time since the first round of the regular season I was actually waiting for it to start and really wanted to see it.

the bästårds at Canalplus have changed the channel to +extra and I cant see this tuesdays meeting live! Bloody Finnish ice hockey...

So it was a first bend incident? I was just talking to a friend that Sullivan was actually close to winning the world title back in -03. If he had qualified for next year, he'd had deserved it, but he shouldn't be even considered for a wild card in 2009.

Yes, sunday at 2pm. Admission is free if you have your ticket from saturday. Poster here! EDIT: Teemu Lahti had surgery on his shoulder last week. All the damage was repaired by no-other than Ilkka Tulikoura himself. The damage was severe enough for even Tulikoura, as he's quoted as saying it was even a challenge for him. Lahti hurt his shoulder in a crash at Pori mid May, when he put his bike down to avoid a crash with Kalle Katajisto who practically braked in the middle of the 2 bend. Lahti fell a bit weird and hit the fence shoulder first. Ilkka Tulikoura is a world famous sports surgeon, seeked to save the careers of pro athletes around the globe. 50 views per post here we come...

Did anyone see what happened to Sullivan in his last? He had all the right Gods behind him at Terenzano to qualify, just wondered if he used all his luck there.

64 places were up for Natinonal federations to apply for. Then they had the chance to give them to the riders they wanted. How come thats not "open".

Next weekend will see out the Finnish speedway season of 2008. Final rounds of the Extraliiga and Kaupunki Cup are staged at Pori. Forecast looks decent with just above +10 temperatures and partly cloudy skies. Some rain during the week to keep the track moist. All that isleft after that is Rene Lehtinen at Addouard fighting for a place in next years Longtrack GP after Mustonen and Laukkanen didn't qualify for the UEM pairs final this saturday from last saturdays qualifier at Hungary. Also worth pointing out that the rumour has it that the FIM will rig the longtrack rules so that Kylmäkorpi will get a wild card for next years series. No statement regarding the 80cc Cup table has been given. Finnish News for 2008 are soon all seen...

That would sound fine.

What will happen with Allsvenskan and 1st division is the big question the Finns are waiting an answer to. Nobody seems to know at the moment. If they ride both and keep the 1st division closed it's no good, but if they decide to open it it would be great for Finnish speedway. I know Masarna, Smederna and Rospiggarna are all after Katajisto, but it would be stupid of him to go straight in to Elitserien. Siltaniemi has also been scouted out and if Timo Lahti keeps his pace of progress during early next season he will be outright bought from his parents before the season is over.

He'd get a s1tload of money but not a place in next years series.

Seura........O.....P......+ Kotkat.........7....31...260 Keittiöpiste ..8....30...218 Haukat........7....24...198 Jokerit.........7....21...167 Paholaiset....7....19...170 Only thing left to resolve at Pori is who gets the wooden spoon. Haukat will get 2 points just by showing up with a full team and thats it. This is how I saw the 80cc Cup end. This is not official, only the best eight rounds count for each rider. That is taken in to consideration. Rider --------------- Club ---- M ---- H ---- P ---- 1st -- 2nd -- 3rd - 4th - Other - Avg - Cup points Mika Loppi ------------ SeMK ---- 7 --- 35 --- 103 --- 33 --- 2 --- 0 --- 0 --- 0 --- 2,94 --- 175 WINNER Miikka Hyyryläinen --- SsMK --- 10 --- 45 --- 81 --- 13 --- 20 --- 2 --- 2 --- 8 --- 1,80 --- 125 SILVER Vili Hautala ---------- KauhjMK - 8 --- 35 --- 68 --- 13 --- 10 --- 9 --- 3 --- 0 --- 1,94 --- 122 Bonze Jiri Nieminen ---------- SsMK --- 9 --- 42 --- 79 --- 19 --- 9 --- 4 --- 3 --- 6 --- 1,88 --- 113 Jooa Partanen -------- KMMK --- 9 --- 41 --- 73 --- 13 --- 15 --- 4 --- 6 --- 3 --- 1,78 --- 106 Niilo Vuolas ---------- HjMK ---- 10 --- 44 --- 75 --- 13 --- 10 --- 17 --- 2 --- 2 --- 1,70 --- 100 Jarkko Palmi -------- SeMK ----- 7 --- 28 --- 55 --- 9 --- 9 --- 4 --- 0 --- 2 --- 1,96 --- 98 Vikke Kuhanen ----- SsMK ----- 10 --- 41 --- 47 --- 3 --- 14 --- 9 --- 8 --- 7 --- 1,15 --- 78 Tomi Lahti ---------- KMMK ----- 7 --- 28 --- 51 --- 9 --- 8 --- 8 --- 1 --- 2 --- 1,82 --- 77 Vili Mattila ---------- KauhjMK -- 7 --- 29 --- 34 --- 2 --- 11 --- 6 --- 2 --- 8 --- 1,17 --- 71 Jere Lehtonen ------- PMK ------ 6 --- 24 --- 31 --- 2 --- 10 --- 5 --- 1 --- 6 --- 1,29 --- 53 Antti Vuolas --------- HjMK ----- 2 --- 8 --- 8 --- 0 --- 2 --- 4 --- 1 --- 1 --- 1,00 --- 14 Aapo Lohvansuu --- HjMK ------ 1 --- 4 --- 5 --- 0 --- 1 --- 3 --- 0 --- 0 --- 1,25 --- 9

Kotkat secured the Extraliiga title today by just showing up with a full team. There was an incident in the last heat, where all the riders wanted the same piece of the track at the same time and it ended with Marko Suojanen and Joni Kitala hitting the fence. Suojanen was furious and run after Aarnio as he blamed him and tried to punch him but missed. Aarnio then threw away his bike and tried to confront Suojanen but enough people were already there and the fight was not to be. In my eyes it the incident was real speedway and a clear all4back but atleast people got their tickets worth of entertainment. Aarnio was good and helped Keittiöpiste secure the silver medal in the league. Tomi Reima did well also, but the bumpy track caused him some back problems and he's off to the doctors on wednesday. Keittiöpiste 36 Teemu Lahti 2311 7 Tero Aarnio 33332 14 Timo Lahti 33230 11 Aleksey Poptsov 310d 4 Haukat-Royals 28 Tomi Reima 326^212 16 Juha Mäkelä 113 5 Joni Kitala 1210d 4 Aarni Heikkilä 2001 3 Paholaiset 26 Appe Mustonen 12321 9 Marko Suojanen d34^32d 12 Jari Mäkinen R211 4 Cesary Owizyc 100 1 Kotkat 25 Niko Siltaniemi R1123 7 Rene Lehtinen 21226^3 16 Joni Keskinen 200R 2 Petteri Koivunen 0M0 0 Erä erältä: 1. Reima, Lahti, Mustonen, Siltaniemi 64,0 2. Aarnio, Lehtinen, Mäkelä, Suojanen d 63,8 3. T.Lahti, Keskinen, Kitala, Mäkinen R 62,4 4. Poptsov, Heikkilä, Owizyc, Koivunen 64,3 5. Suojanen, Reima, Poptsov, Keskinen 63,4 6. Aarnio, Kitala, Siltaniemi, Owizyc 65,3 7. Lahti, Mäkinen, Lehtinen, Heikkilä 64,5 8. T.Lahti, Mustonen, Mäkelä, Koivunen M 63,3 9. Reima^, Suojanen^, Lahti, Keskinen 62,8 10. Mustonen, Lehtinen, Kitala, Poptsov 65,8 11. Aarnio, Reima, Mäkinen, Koivunen 63,8 12. Suojanen, T.Lahti, Siltaniemi, Heikkilä 64,0 13. T.Lahti, Lehtinen, Reima, Owizyc 62,9 14. Mäkelä, Siltaniemi, Mäkinen, Poptsov d 65,3 15. Lehtinen^, Suojanen, Lahti, Kitala 65,0 16. Aarnio, Mustonen, Heikkilä, Keskinen R 65,1 17. Siltaniemi, Reima, Mustonen, T.Lahti 65,3 18. Lehtinen, Aarnio, Kitala d, Suojanen d 64,9