f-s-p

He has a finnish dad and when I asked him about his Finnish relatives he said he has some. And the funny part is that there is a family Haarahiltunen living for the past odd amount of years next to my inlaws at Jyväskylä. Mats Järf won the finnish title today with kankkunen 2nd and matti isoaho 3rd. Isoaho was the in-form guy of the day, but missed his chance in the final. Anyway, he was one of the happiest bronze medalists I’ve ever seen!

My bet is that this whole spw of nations is due to a fact that not enough countries to participate in swc and not enough tracks wanting to organise swc events. So it does not matter what the format is, the problem is that there are no organisers.

I actually dont know about the money. FMN system has changed but the money in the FMN has not increased. Riders get asked after the season what they want to do next season and been wondering myself about how the number of riders wanting to ride in these meetings (some of them quite expensive travel wise) for a couple of years now has increased. Maybe riders now are starting to have a bit more money again? the eu money is only for the track and the papers are in at the moment. Already sent first set of corrections back.

But we are in the euro pairs this year!!! Debrecen quali here we come. Was gonna enter last year as well but the quali system changed somehow and instead of a round in Latvia it was gonna be Macon FR or similar... and yes Finland is considering entering this one, but all and only info we have is via spirtowefakty. And our national calendar also needs to get done so it might be that we’ll not enter cos FIM cant sort this out in time. In about 10-11 weeks now...

FIM dont take staging fees but outside the GP and SWC the organiser has to pay prize money for the riders. Like in U21 qualies they are between 5-10k in total for a round and the reason why no one wants to stage them as people are not interested. I dont think the money is any good in any of the competitions from a riders POV, but raising will most probably end it. BSI takes staging fees and good for them if they get some.

I,m not kidding, there was 5 aussies at Ytornio to see Barret ride. And they were no family, I asked.

Probably the first time ever! Think one year we had three in series direct with Flyktman, Lehtinen and Aakko. But what can you do, our best in the qualis this year said before the meeting he doesnt want to get in. Him being Kankkunen.

Nice of you to share their names... I looked from FIM website and my email, the two places that they should be in when any announcement is made. I’ll be thinking of you Doug during the next litre of Sangria while sitting here on the beach...

Do we know series reserves for ISGWC?

Spoke with Haarah and Ledström before the meeting yesterday and they were both quite nervous as it was only five heats and tour season was either ISGWC or swedish Isracingserien... Never spoken with Ledström before, is he always that quiet? EDIT: fever broke out yet Jesper?

So looking at the results my earlier post seems to have gathered momemtum... Iwema being 7th at Ylitornio gives him the right for one. He wasnt the fastest but rode clever and bold lines and wasnt afraid to mix it. Also he's the kind of rider that the series need, being young, athletic looking and from a "new" yet traditional ice racing country.

Jasper Iwema for a wild card!

Watched the weather for the first time in 4 months. Looking good for Ytornio. Temp has been -3 to -15 or so and from now on between -5 to -10. So the ice should hold. First year they had problems with lack of snow, now they’ve been swimming in it. But no new snow anymore so shouldnt be a problem. Looking forward for the drive ... EDIT Should have stayed quiet. Sunny -19 for the meeting. EDIT2 ...and to the reason I dont follow forecasts anymore: its now cloudy -15 for the meeting.

Exactly. A friend is in a similar situation and I dont envy him. Six? weeks now since the Spar interview and all the info we are getting is coming out via sportowefakty...

Think you’re the useless in this one. First we have to get all the FIM dates. If SEC announces dates and the FIM later wants them, it’s theirs to take. So no point in going public at this point, blame on the FIM. FIRMLY!

They've had really good ones for the past few decades, World and Olympic champions like Adam Malysz and currently Kamil Stoch. We also have had some really good ones over here, but just reading today that it's a possibility that no Finnish jumpers to the Olympics as they are no good ATM.

Nordic individual at Varkaus on March 10th according to their own site.

http://www.svemo.se/sv/Grenar/Isracing/Tavling/Tavlingskalender/

It's only about 50k € to buy a new one, that cant be a reason*. Or even in the list of reasons. * = we talking about SGP here, not a national quali of a quali meeting at Nokia.

Maybe once every two months my copy is delayed over the weekend. Friday is the usual day if delivery. And must ad, not blaming any delays towards Spar.

Almost four weeks since the original interview was given, still no official info. I count this from the absolute last deadline that the printed spar has.

Looking bleak regarding ice around here at the moment. BUT!! its been warm before aswell. My local paper has gathered stats on Tampere christmas weather for almost a 100 years now. https://www.aamulehti.fi/uutiset/aamulehti-kokosi-tampereen-joulujen-lumitiedot-1930-alkaen-200615135/ couple of nice pics as well. merry christmas!

Finns at Ylitornio are Timo Kankkunen and Matti Isoaho. Reserves Tomi Kirilov and Rami Systä. Tomi Norola and Jussi Nyrönen will travel to Övik. Andrew Barrett for MA will open his ice speedway racing career at Ytornio. Believed to be the first Australian ice racer. He did UK speedway about 30 years ago as Bill Barret (I’m told).

So what the XXXX for is it online for people to see?

I have two plan A’s for January and Ylitornio is the other one. Just confirmed the garage to repair the heater in the van, so I’m already committed for 1098€ worth!