f-s-p

KRZYSZTOF Kasprzak scored only three points in Monday's meeting with Polonia Bydgoszcz. His father blames his club – Unia Leszno – for that. "Just before the meeting Krzysztof was informed that he would start from a reserve position. He was stunned," says Zenon Kasprzak, one of Poland's best speedway riders in the past. "If he had started in the main body, he would have scored many more points, that is sure. But the club's bosses wanted to make places for two foreign riders. It happened at the cost of Krzysztof," blasted Zenon. Unia Leszno coach Zbigniew Jader decided not to comment on this attack. But Krzysztof Kasprzak is disappointed, just as his father. "During the last five years I saved Leszno many times. And how am I treated now?" asks Kasprzak, who has just been given a wild card for Speedway Grand Prix in Wroclaw (6 May). This is from speedwayworld.tv, and makes no sense to me.

Reigning finnish ice racing champion Pekka Karttunen has called it a day, and finished his career. This because the authorities decided that the finnish final was ridden wrongly and the results do not stand. Apparently there was a protest from Oulu MK, because Raimo Henrikkson was disqualied from one heat, because he was in the wrong heat (read earlier post). Karttunen quitting is no good. Also one other career has finished, one of ref J. Lindström because of the same reason. He thought it was a stupid decision and called it a day. There's one other ref that could call it a day as well... Janne Koivula is quitting longtrack because of problems with nominations for the WC. The SML (governing body) is back to it's old self, and a speedway training camp to be held at Latvia during easter is under threat. After everything was sorted, it now seems that the riders have to pay for participating after all. There a lot weird s""t going on at the moment in speedway. I hope I wake up next week and it's all been april fool's... ps. sorry Puma, cant help you at the mo, maybe in the future

source the same as above Update: 27.3.2006 "The firefighting efforts have now been suspended as there are no flames, although there is still smoke and some fires may still be burning inside containers. Salvors are concerned about the amount of water in hold no 5, as this gives rise to concerns about stability and are they investigating pumping out the hold. Salvors also obtained a local salvage permit from the local authorities. As yet, it is too early to say what level the salvage security will be set at. It is also not yet known which port the vessel can be taken to. We suspect the vessel may be towed to Dubai however we expect that this is likely to become clearer towards the end of this week. Regarding the cause of the fire, our fire expert has started preliminary investigations pending being able to attend on board. Interesting and valuable information has already been obtained." Apparently the cause of the fire were the seven containers full of fireworks that were stacked somewhere in the middle of the rear end of the ship. When they lit up, some containers were thrown overboard. Funny thing is, a similar incident caused by containers full of fireworks occurred some 5 years ago, on a "Hanjin Something", pretty well covered on the interet. Saw a few pictures of the fire, the BSI still have a lot to learn about organizing fireworks... http://www.cargolaw.com/2002nightmare_penn.html

I've been advised to say "Never heard!" when somebody ask's. He paints car's with his dad here in Tampere area. Stories vary, but thats what they try to do.

http://dolphin-maritime.com/casualty567.html Hyundai Fortune - Explosion and fire - LOF Casualty type: Fire - containers lost overboard Voyage from/to: Far East ports to Europe Casualty Date: 21.3.2006 Vessel Type: Container vessel Grt: 64054 Built: 1996 Cargo: Containers UPDATE 23.03.2006 The vessel is still burning fiercely in position 12.40.3 N 046.55.4E Tug WADI HASSAN is alongside firefighting, having arrived at 15.00 UTC. The salvors’ firefighting tug RAKHYUT is expected on site at 0.300 hrs tomorrow. Salvors’ ocean going tug SMITWIJS ROTTERDAM is expected at Aden 0.800 local time tomorrow. Local tug RAS ISA is going to start fitment of firefighting equipment tomorrow in Aden with a view to assisting in the firefighting. 7 men are already on site, with another 10 en route. An aircraft is being chartered to fly in additional equipment. On site at the moment, salvors are concentrating on containing the spread of the fire, which is already one stack of containers ahead of the accommodation deck. The heading of the casualty has been controlled to try to reduce the spread of the fire. It appears that some fuel tanks are very hot and possibly are on fire. At the aft end of the ship the hole is such that one can see right through the ship. There are also local regulatory hurdles which salvors will need to overcome as a permit must be obtained from the Yemeni authorities. --------------------------------------------------- 22.3.2006 - Update We are already instructed by a number of cargo interests. Rumours of the vessel sinking are, we understand, untrue. Salvors are still en route but the fire has now spread from the stern to forward of the accomodation block. More cargoes will be a CTL as a result. The vessel has 5100 TEU on board and it appears the fire and explosion started in the cargo space to the stern of the vessel. There is currently a gaping hole in the hull above the waterline. It appears early reports of a possible terrorist attack are unlikely to be true. We have retained an experienced fire expert to attend on site once the vessel has been salved. This will be important in order to determine the risks and dangers endured by salvage services (with a view to challenging salvors’ demands if appropriate) and also to confirm the cause of the fire and the effectiveness of the fire fighting operations in respect of the recovery claim. We remain ready to assist you if you have insured cargo on board the vessel.

I think they should definetely get David Hasselhoff for 2007!! I'd book my flights today if they get him!

This is the way that clubs, as they are in Sweden and Finland, work! There are people to do the work, while others come and take the benefits. It would be totally different if it was done UK style. There's a promoter with his money who calls the shots. No need to ask "Would you, please?" I know there are a great deal of volunteers in UK tracks, but they know what they get when they come involved. They are promised something and thats it. Over here there's that possibility if things go great there's more money for the club. In the UK there's that one adress for it, the promoters pocket. Over here everyone wants it to be used as they see fit.

Well maybe you'll go bankcrupt this year if things go like they did last year. There were officials from Smederna practicly ready to pull the plug on the whole thing because people were only interested in free tickets. It turned out OK, no probs. Maybe there even isn't any bad blood left?

I believe it... I was in a meeting where the fixtures were decided. Afterwards we had a drink with the Kuusankoski people, and went trough the fixtures finding dates when they'd have riders missing. Their manager had already told me they had signed Swede's and how cheap they were earlier, but even though I offered to pay for the round, this time he remained mysterious and did not give any names! The U21 rule in our league went a little belly up. Kuusankoski played the "quality of the league"-card, and it seems now that the U21 rider doesn't have to be finnish. If a nominated finnish U21 for a team gets injured, they can replace him with a foreign U21 rider.

My post was more of a windup than a regular comment, but it has some truth in it. More money is a good thing no doubt, but judging by how it's been used in the past it doesn't look too good. The Västervik stuff really got on my nerves, because they had a "bought" team of imports, won the league and told the council to pay up the debts (simplified version). For what I've understood about whats going on with Bajen, trying to build an indoor arena for this year... A bit over the top if you ask me. The fence bit is interesting. I saw Sam Ermolenko on Sky commenting how good the swedish fences are at the moment, and he even questioned the need for an airfence with them. I havent seen that many stadia's in Sweden to comment on their facilities, but wherever I go to see speedway I have to Q to P, so more toilets sound fine!

The way I had it figured it out, they had not paid any of their ambulance fees from last year (practicly same amount) and the service was about to be withdrawn. Like so often in Sweden, someone came through with deep pockets and paid it off. Not a problem anymore.

... pay bigger points money to even younger/older and even more unheard of poles, be their age's 20- or 40+? I sincereally hope that this season Svenska Mästare hasn't made an economical loss like others before it. Kaparna went almost bankrupt after their championship and Västervik made a loss around 100k € after this season. VMS Elit has been so strongly supported by EF that they might have escaped it.

I found this a couple of days ago, managed to book rooms for our group. http://www.allhotels.lv/?reg=9&page=search...t=1&ctry=latvia

This just in, it's official. Alltough for some reason all the foreigners have been left out, except Emil Linqist. I know all the teams have at least one in their side, and they are allowed to use two per meeting. Kauko Nieminen might ride in one or the meetings, so Kotkat have held talks with the Gustavssons from Sweden. Other foreigners as listed earlier. Finnish league 2006 Paholaiset, PMK Manager: Tomi Kauppi Cesary Owizyc, Marko Suojanen, Petri Koskela, Panu Karvonen, Petri Meritähti, Jari Mäkinen (u-21) Kotkat, SeMK Manager: Mauri Palmi Kaj Laukkanen, Kauko Nieminen, Rene Lehtinen (u-21), Joni Keskinen (u-21) Leijona-Haukat, HMK-SsMK Manager: Kalevi Kyyhkynen Emil Linqvist, Tomi Reima, Toni Salmela, Marko Hyyryläinen, Joni Kitala (u-21), Kalle Kivistö (u-21) Keittiöpiste, KMMK Manager: Jorma Mäkikunnas Juha Hautamäki, Tero Aarnio, Juha Mäkelä, Jyri Palomäki, Teemu Lahti (u-21) Snails, VRT Manager: Juha Kuosmanen Joonas Kylmäkorpi, Jani Mäkelä, Mico Brotkin, Tomi Tuomainen (u-21), Aarni Heikkilä (u-21), Aki-Pekka Mustonen (u-21) Daugavpils Maksims Bogdanovs, Vjaceslavs Giruckis, Jevgenijs Karavackis, Jevgenijs Petuhovs, Kjastas Puodzuks, Dmitrijs Palkovskis 1st Division aka City-series Vaasa (VaMK) jj. Markku Uuttu Jonne Perälä, Tero Villanen, Timo Villanen, Mikko Rahko Pori (PMK) jj. Seija Mansikka-Aho Petri Koskela, Markku Raappana, Petri Meritähti, Tomi Kauppi, Mika Suojanen, Jari Mäkinen Forssa (FMS) jj. Jorma Tuomisto Aarni Heikkilä, Janne Nyman, Ari Tuomisto Kauhajoki (KauhjMK) jj. Anssi Hautala Pasi Räsänen, Jan-Erik Korkeamäki, Juho Ruuska, Olli Heikkilä, Markku Autio, Reino Koivuluoma Seinäjoki (SeMK) jj. Harri Nieminen Pekka Valo, Harri Nieminen, Petteri Koivunen, Panu Karvonen, Mikko Koskinen, Tuomas Reinikainen, Joni Keskinen Lahti (SsMK) jj. Vesa Hyyryläinen Markku Weckman, Ismo Lehtosalo, Vesa Hyyryläinen, Risto Flink, Kalle Kivistö, Joni Kitala People over here seem anxious to get things underway. League will probably start in late April, when Daugavpils will have their home meeting. Training camp is planned to go with it. The league calendar will be published next week, when it's confirmed in a meeting regarding it.

Now that would be perfect!!!!! thanks for the info...

This is the one I was talking about. Any chance a team within a decent distance might make/host it? 200-300 km = trainride?

Any news or rumours where the U21 team Champ-final is to be ridden on the thursday before Bydgoszcz GP? Anyone have an idea when such info would be published?

He was a longtrack specialist, but had ridden speedway plenty over here. He was in his speedway prime in the late seventees, thats probably why he was in the UK. He continued his career until the late 80's. I've heard stories plenty why he never came back, from himself as well as others. It just wasn't his thing to ride there, he couldn't adapt personally.

I had a chat about this a few weeks ago. Then they had 10 of them spread between Hans Andersen, Leigh Adams and Robert Eriksson (swedish dealer / rider). There was someone else I cant remember. Last season I heard Kelvin Tatum commenting about a new Jawa frame on Sky broadcast from the SWC on the Dryml brothers, so the testing has already been done. To some extenct anyway.

Jawa has produced a frame that imitates the Rickardsson-Penske frame when it comes to rear "suspension". However the front end with adjustable steering geometry that Trick has (and owns the patents to) hasn't been copied. This is from someone who's seen the frame. Like debated earlier Crump has switched to GM (photo's from Sittingbourne training) but Nicki's switch to Jawa hasn't been confirmed yet. 1. Trick 2. Scotty 3. Crump 4. Nicki

Speedway.org says that the third Finn will be Pekka Karttunen.

In Finland the 3rd member will be either Kaj Lehtinen or Raimo Henriksson. I'd go for Lehtinen...

If you can get him an average low enough, I'll call him and send him back for this season! McKinnen sounds about right!

He is... He has... a boy called Arttu (2yrs). I had a tape once of his early days in the UK on which he was questing for Newport. He rode a max if I'm not mistaken. Olli Tyravainen... LOL! Tyrväinen would do better. Veijo Tuoriniemi was featured on speedway+ some time ago, when he made somebodys "nightmare team". That was a good laugh. He now has his own speedway business. He tune's motors for Antti Aakko and various finnish riders. He also imports Jawa and GM here. We did a google on Rauli Mäkinen just last saturday, and found a thread of him here at BSF. Someone was saying: " Didn't speak a word of english, but always had a smile on his face." That's him. He didn't adapt too well to the british way of life. Because of the language problem, he ate his serials with orange juice... I thought that was hilarious... Cant think of others. I know Toni Salmela was in the UK once with Kokko, but decided that it wasn't for him.

"Illegal" moped racing, Vesilahti, Finland 25.2.2006 Stock Moped A-final ... 5th f-s-p "Tunturi '73"