f-s-p

Outrup will rule!

I'm told he has bought a new frame, yes. I guess he had to if the welding joints from his last years bike's (seven seasons with one frame!) were tearing apart because they could't take it anymore...

There's an "open" training camp next weekend in Funasdälen or something, 30+ riders present. There's a VERY interesting debate going on in swedish whether or not it's legal to publish the names of the riders that are there (without permission?) in internet so that people would know if they wanted to go and watch or not. Swedes...

No... Maybe you should put isracing.net as the source though....

Teams for the Swedish ice racing league this season: ÖMK Rundbana (Stefan Svensson, Hans Tjärnberg, Ulf Ledström, Patrik Solberg, Marian Kreklau Tyskland, Rene Stellingwerf Holland, Niklas Svensson, Benny Johansson) Jämtlands MK (Per-Anders Lindström, Johan Lundkvist, Hans-Olof Olsén, Lars Ringbert, Robert Gjersvold, Seppo Sirra, Johan Bruckner Österrike, Jo Saetre Norge, Espen Berglund Norge) SMK Gävle (Dmitri Tschatchien Tyskland, P-O Serenius, Peter Lundkvist, Per Bruhn, Peter Koj, Peter Jansson, Joakim Plyhm, Totte Nilsson) Bollnäs MK (Tomas Andersson, Stefan Hedström, Jonas Lindholm, Jonas Norell, Tobias Åström, Sven Holstein Holland, Stefan Pletschacher Tyskland, Markus Skabraut Österrike, Réné Verhoef Holland) Funbo MS (Antti Aakko Finland, Joakim Söderström, Tommy Flyktman Finland, Torleif Burman, Paul Johansson, Börje Ivarsson, Frode Burman, Rickard Edlund, Franz Zorn Österrike, Anders Sjöden) Njurunda MK (Magnus Lundgren, Gösta Sundelin, Ulf Byström, Tomas Ekström, Tomas Höglund, Lars Eriksson, Danne Isaksson, Mark Uzzel England, Grzegorz Knapp Polen, Zdzislaw Zerdinzinski Polen) Team Finland (Kai Lehtinen, Joni Kontoniemi, Timo Kankkunen, Raimo Henriksson, Aki Ala-Riihimäki, Jukka Mantere, Kai Ilkka, Christer Biskop, Jussi Hytönen, Jouni Seppänen, Ari Tuomisto) Racing calendar for Finland/Sweden 2007/08 January 5th International Seinäjoki, SeMK 6th Finland - Gävle - Jämtland - Funbo, league Forssa, FMS 8th Bollnäs - Gävle - Finland - Njurunda, league Bollnäs, Sweden 19th ÖMK - Gävle - Jämtland - Njurunda, league Örnsköldsvik, Sweden 20th Jämtland - Funbo - Bollnäs – ÖMK. league Östersund, Sweden 26th Individual meeting Kokkola, Finland 30th Gävle - Bollnäs - ÖMK – Funbo, league Gävle, Sweden February 2nd Funbo - ÖMK - Njurunda – Finland, leagueMorgongåva, Sweden 9th Finland vs Sweden Tampere, Finland 10th Nordic final Forssa, FMS 17th Njurunda - Bollnäs - Jämtland – Finland, league Njurunda, Sweden 22th Swedish Championship, qualifier Gävle, Sweden March 1st League final, organised by the winner of the league Sweden 18th International meeting Örebro, Sweden 21st Swedish Champioship, final Uppsala, Sweden The Finnish Championship final will be added sometime... It will be held at Seinäjoki. The funny thing once again regarding Finnish news is that I received an email last sunday from Germany asking about dates that were known by the german ice racing riders but there was no official info about any of them in Finland/in Finnish... The situation regarding our speedway league for next season is looking really bad. I've spoken with all the teams (eleven in total) I could see taking part in it and only two were gonna. Thats not the four it takes to make a league. There's still two weeks for the deadline, but cant see the situation changing.

The story I heard from the FIM congress was that the UEM asked the people at Inzell to move their ice racing qualifier because they've apparently already given the date for Sanok. The reply I'm told was legendary and so the dates now clash. Dont know if this is one of the reasons why, but it really looks like the UEM are taking a step back by introducing thursday as a racenight for their qualifiers. And of course there's the possibility that even though they are during the week, they are national holidays in the countries in question. But even in that case, I think it devalues the product , like I've seen written so many times in the Elite thread.

I just went through the calendar and and was quite surprised to see it filled with meetings on thursdays for example. The U19 team EC starts in MARCH! and is finished in May... Now that'll be a top quality meeting in Rawicz on the 22nd of May when they decide which is the top team.

He had retired...

"My" club was asked to organize such an event, but I dont think we've yet heard the actual sum that it would have cost us. The "rumoured" sum was close to being ridicolous.

Have to admit I'm quite surprised. Good for him!

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Finnish News! Just to give a positive start for next season I gladly inform you all that Jari Mäkinen has been given the “U21 rider of the year“ award by Speedwaysanomat, The Finnish track racing magazine. First ever name to be added to the list that will hopefully become very long. Mäkinen stood out like a skyscaper in a country village in domestic racing compared to his rivals. Only Teemu Lahti challenged him for the award but the U21 final from Seinäjoki dipped the scales in Mäkinen’s favour. Check out the JMS-website for a story and a picture of the rider and his trophy. The Finnish ice racing season is also starting with several riders taking part to the training camp in Sweden early in December. The Finnish governing body SML is also helping out by giving some financial backing for this effort. The ccokup by the international federations UEM and FIM has given an extra weekend for the Finnish ice racing calendar. These two bodies couldn’t reach an agreement with some dates, so the European final and World’s qualifiers will be raced on the same weekend. Excellent news for the Finnish clubs, since during the last few seasons there has barely been a free weekend for the Individual final. The calendar for the ice racing season looks promising, with plenty of meetings due to take place if the weather permits. Anyone thinking about a city visit to Tampere should take note that on the 9th of February an ice racing test match between Finland and Sweden will take place at the Pyynikki stadion. Pori will host the Scandinavian round of the U21 World qualifying rounds. The meeting is scheduled for the 31st of May. This looks like the meeting of the year in Finland. In the last couple of years Pori has been known for the excellent effort they have put in to their meetings in the form of track preparation, services and other entertainment (in Finnish, not SGP scale) . Riders in the lineup will without a doubt include such names as Morten Risager (last year), Tomas H Jonasson, Simon Gustavsson, Nicolai Klindt… With the Finns Jari Mäkinen on his home track and Teemu Lahti as THE gater in Finland. These naturally not yet 100 % certain. The Finnish U21 final will be ridden at Hyvinkää, so everyone thinking about a city visit to Helsinki should keep note of the date that will be published in this thread early in the year 2008. Alltough it looks like there wont be a full 16 rider lineup this time, some good racing is expected. Pairs final will be in August at Kauhajoki and the Individual final was given to Haapajärvi with a preliminary date in June. Just to keep the positive flow going the only thing I will mention regarding our league is that the closing date for entering Extraliiga or whatever it will be called next year is December 15th. EDIT: There's a link in my signature to my gallery where you can see pictures of Finnish speedway. New pictures will be added weekly...

You told him allright, set him straight!

Very surprised to learn all of these are as young as they are. Alltough 25 isn't all that young anymore when tlking about trying to "burst" on to the world level. I was 100 % certain that Laguta was over 30 after I saw him in the Latvian GP -06.

It has taken it's time but just realised last week what a huge blow it is against Finnish speedway that Allsvenskan only has six teams. the 1st division has been closed shop before, but there are 14 team places missing next season in the Allsvenskan! Mäkinen and Hautamäki can consider themselves to be very lucky to have contracts already.

Does that make the info official? This is not a dig against you...

I think thats pretty impressive! Especially considering what other speedway nations had in comparison. Did Poland really have 4 quarterfinals, or is this just the system thats ready to be used when enough riders want to take part?

How much more wrong could I have been...

The "minutes" from the annual meeting were published yesterday and they indeed clearly state that if not more than four clubs enter the league based on the Danish format there wont be a Finnish Champion at all next year. Instead other competions will be ridden. I think it was 1953 when the first Finnish league title was decided. There was a gap in the 60's and 70's but a Finnish champion has been declared every year for the past 30+ years. Next year it seems there wont be one, since the man in charge thinks that we need to do it with a new format that put's 2+2 riders in each heat. The goal is to have six teams in the league and to ride on sundays with three matches taking place simultaneously and in total giving five matches both home/away. Compared to what we had last season this would mean so much more work and finances that I just cant see it happen.

They should go for Okoniewski, even though I even cant put a face to that name. They dont need another rider who "If he feels like it he can do it. We know he can do it if he wants to, but he can also be crap". This is pretty much a direct quote from Indianernas team manager after Laukkanen was given a contract for this season after scoring a maximum in Indianernas club championship meeting against (Elit-level) nobodys.

Indianerna to struggle again in 2008. Cant see Kennett doing anything spectacular at Kumla. At least they are not after Klingberg! Or are they... Cant see Laukkanen getting a new deal after how everything went last season. But then again, he's probably still there for the season opener. EDIT: Hefenbrock, Madsen... How will they do in 2008, especially at Sannahead...

Kopparberg Speedway finished third in the Finnish Extraliiga last (2007) season. Current info is that it wont be back next year. They had team kevlars and bike covers and all. In fact they had it all except a decent backing from the mother club. Go and see pictures from the link in my signature. There's a few... "Joukkuekuvat" has a team pic.

Couple of Finnish dates here for future postponement. December 29th, the Finnish 2007 final looks like it's gonna go ahead. February 9th, Finland vs Sweden test match at Tampere February 10th Nordic final, somewhere in Finland March 1st National meeting at Kokkola (already someone said it would be February 2nd) There will be another weekend of international racing too in February? when the Swedish teams come over for a league round at Forssa and the same weekend Seinäjoki will host a meeting too. Seinäjoki is also staging the Finnish 2008 final.

OK, thank you...

OK, thank you. Feels kind of weird that websites like speedway.org and isracing.net are both listing dates as confirmed while the UEM itself hasn't made anykind of press release or update their calendar.

A lousy joke poorly presented... sorry. But I'm quite serious in saying that this switch was made so Germany has a better chance of qualifying. Not to improve the chances of the yanks as I thought at first. Regarding the topic, have you got the UEM calendar or any knowledge of it? The dates seem to be widely known but what's the source of the info...