Finnish News

[f-s-p]

Extraliiga today at Pori. Keittiöpiste is the likely champion. Only way for them to mess things up is to finish last next sunday. Even that might not be good enough.

 

Keittiöpiste 43

Tero Aarnio 2132 8

Juha Mäkelä 3213 9

Andreas Messing 32322 12

Juha Hautamäki 33332 14

 

Paholaiset 25

Petri Koskela 01111 4

Marko Suojanen 2 2

Alexander Edberg 2101 4

Jari Mäkinen 036^21d3 15

 

Kotkat 21+3

Joni Keskinen 11220 6

Mikko Koskinen 10 1

Petteri Koivunen 1000 1

Benny Johansson 230^233d 13+3

 

Kopparberg 21+2

Jyri Palomäki 32T0^1F 6

Timo Villanen d012 3

Tero Villanen 001 1

Tomi Reima 1223R3 11+2

 

Erä erältä:

1. Palomäki, Aarnio, Keskinen, Koskela 68,54

2. Mäkelä, Suojanen, Koskinen, Villanen d 69,43

3. Messing, Edberg, Koivunen, Te.Villanen 66,58

4. Hautamäki, Johansson, Reima, Mäkinen 66,84

5. Mäkinen, Messing, Keskinen, Villanen 68,61

6. Mäkinen^, Reima, Aarnio, Koivunen 67,89

7. Johansson, Mäkelä, Edberg, Te.Villanen 66,56

8. Hautamäki, Palomäki, Edberg, Koskinen 67,28

9. Messing, Reima, Koskela, Johansson^ 67,42

10. Reima, Mäkinen, Mäkelä, Koivunen 66,30

11. Hautamäki, Keskinen, Te.Villanen 66,62

12. Aarnio, Johansson, Villanen, Edberg 67,25

13. Mäkelä, Keskinen, Eddberg, Reima 66,32

14. Johansson, Aarnio, Mäkinen, Palomäki^ 65,53

15. Hautamäki, Villanen, Koskela, Koivunen 65,33

16. Johansson, Messing, Palomäki, Mäkinen 66,68

17. Reima, Messing, Koskela, Keskinen 65,37

18. Mäkinen, Hautamäki, Palomäki F, Johansson d 65,58

Uusinta: Johansson, Reima 67,31

 

I'll get back to you later GW. I'll do a final report of the season in a few weeks. We have Jari Mäkinen. WOW! You should have seen him today!

Edited August 18, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

Two rounds to go. Kuusankoski tomorrow and Lahti a week from now.

 

Keittiöpiste.............7 - 303 - 34

Kopparberg............7 - 247 - 27

Kotkat....................6 - 221 - 25

Paholaiset..............7 - 197 - 23

Jokerit...................7 -   82 - 15

Haukat...................6 -   69 - 15

 

I havent been praising Mäkinen without proof either. There are only two finnish riders he hasnt won (=beat, trash, make look silly/slow/whatever ) and that Kauko Nieminen and Kaj Laukkanen. He hasn't even raced against Nemo this season. The toughness that I was waiting from him has come, just ask Benny Johansson who had to hit the deck yesterday when Jari pushed him wide in turn 3-4. It wasn't even ugly, there was plenty of space between them but Johansson just didn't want to shut the throttle. Jari's gating can still improve but he outgated the Finnish champ yesterday twice and was even able to hold him back once. He looks good too and never gives up.

 

Jari at Pori: LOOK HERE leading, naturally!

Edited August 18, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

Extraliiga today at Kuusankoski

 

Keittiöpiste 46

Tero Aarnio 33333 15

Teemu Lahti 3d2d 5

Juha Mäkelä 3323 11

Juha Hautamäki 33333 15

 

Kotkat 30

Benny Johansson 23322 12

Mikko Koskinen 00 0

Petteri Koivunen 0212 5

Joni Keskinen 12134^20 13

 

Paholaiset 25

Petri Koskela R01 1

Alexander Edberg 21200 5

Marko Suojanen 2221 7

Jari Mäkinen 2212^32 12

 

Haukat 9

Markku Weckman 1001 2

Kalle Kivistö 11001 3

Joni Kitala 1100^11 4

Niko Siltaniemi 0F 0

 

Erä erältä:

1. Aarnio, Johansson, Weckman, Koskela R 62,6

2. Lahti, Edberg, Kivistö, Koskinen 62,2

3. Mäkelä, Suojanen, Kitala, Koivunen 64,3

4. Hautamäki, Mäkinen, Keskinen, Siltaniemi 61,2*

5. Hautamäki, Koivunen, Kivistö, Koskela 62,1

6. Johansson, Suojanen, Siltaniemi F, Lahti d 63,4

7. Aarnio, Mäkinen, Kitala, Koskinen 62,9

8. Mäkelä, Keskinen, Edberg, Weckman 64,7

9. Aarnio, Edberg, Koivunen 62,4

10. Hautamäki, Suojanen, Keskinen, Weckman 63,2

11. Keskinen, Lahti, Koskela, Kitala 64,5

12. Johansson, Mäkelä, Mäkinen, Kivistö 64,6

13. Mäkelä, Keskinen^, Mäkinen^, Kitala^ 65,0

14. Hautamäki, Johansson, Kitala, Edberg 63,3

15. Aarnio, Keskinen, Suojanen, Kivistö 63,0

16. Mäkinen, Koivunen, Weckman, Lahti d 65,9

17. Aarnio, Johansson, Kivistö, Edberg 63,0

18. Hautamäki, Mäkinen, Kitala, Keskinen 64,4

* = New track record

 

Keittiöpiste is the Finnish Extraliiga Champion of 2007

 

Keittiöpiste...8 - 349 - 39

Kotkat.........7 - 247 - 29

Kopparberg..7 - 251 - 27

Paholaiset....8 - 222 - 26

Jokerit.........7 - 82 - 15

Haukat.........7 - 78 - 17

Edited August 19, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

Here are the riders for the Finnish Long track final next saturday. This meeting will be sent live on the internet at ww.popula.tv.

 

In no particular order:

3... Mikko Rahko VaMK

13.. Tomi Kauppi PMK

6... Tapio Leppämäki HjMK

44.. Tomi Reima HMK

4... Rene Lehtinen SeMK

10.. Markku weckman SsMK

8... Jan-Eric Korkeamäki KauhjMK

5... Markus Helin FMS

19.. Tommi Ahlgrén FMS

27.. Anssi Lehtinen VRT

11.. Ilmo Suutari HeMK

12.. Raimo Juntunen HeMK

1... Klaus-Peter Gerdeman Saksa

33.. Matthias Kröger Saksa (Finnish Champion 2007?)

2... Janne Koivula PirMM

14.. Jonne Perälä VaMK

28.. Simo Pulli KarMK

55.. Joel Nyström Sweden

[iris123]

K-P.Gerdeman won't be there f-s-p.The promoters are expecting him to pay for the travel costs out of his own pocket.While Matten will get his costs payed.So he has decided not to go That is what he has posted on inspeed anyway

[f-s-p]

K-P.Gerdeman won't be there f-s-p.The promoters are expecting him to pay for the travel costs out of his own pocket.While Matten will get his costs payed.So he has decided not to go That is what he has posted on inspeed anyway

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd say plenty but it's wiser to shut up. Thanks for the info. Depending what goggles I'll wear I'll understand each party.

 

EDIT: Just read the topic at inspeed. Talk about stealing news!!!

The thing is there is no "promoter". The club at Pori has paid our federation to get the chance to organize the Finnish final. In these kind of meetings starting money is unheard of to the best of my knowledge. Just ask KPG if he got paid by the organizer last year? Or is this just the case of " if he gets, I must get too".

 

BUT, we've had all the best here this season so I think it's nice that Pori tries to add to the pile and trying to get Kröger over here. But like I said above, depending on the goggles... I know the people at Pori personally and have nothing bad to say about them.

Edited August 23, 2007 by f-s-p

[DutchGrasstrack]

Full programm can be found here:

 

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t235/pm69/ksiohjelma.jpg

 

@f-s-p,

 

What does this mean ?

 

- Kilpakoneet Kansallinen-Luokka

- Urheilukoneet

 

Thanks

[f-s-p]

What does this mean ?

 

- Kilpakoneet Kansallinen-Luokka = Sort of B-group for long track bikes. Kansallinen stands for national

- Urheilukoneet = MX and Enduro bikes with speedway rear wheel/tire

 

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After an interesting week of weather forecasting, everything looked good yesterday.

[f-s-p]

Rene Lehtinen won the Finnish long track championship of 2007 before Mikko Rahko and Markus Helin. Final was from the tapes but distances were in metres, not hundreds of metres. Kröger won all his heats but had to leave to catch the plane to UK for the EC final somewhere so missed the A-final. Mikko Rahko challenged him well in one heat! Lead for 2,5 laps...

 

The meeting dragged a bit, mainly thanks to Anssi Lehtinen who never made it further than the first bend. On his third outing the crash was bad enough for him to be carried out in an ambulance.

 

Matthias Kröger 5555 20

Mikko Rahko 5545 19

Janne Koivula 5345 17

Raimo Juntunen 4553 17

Rene Lehtinen 4454 17

Ilmo Suutari N444 12

Markus Helin 4332 12

Tommi Ahlgren 3432 12

Tapio Leppämäki d324 9

Jan-Eric Korkeamäki 3123 9

Tomi Kauppi 3212 8

Joel Nyström 2131 7

Markku Weckman 2221 7

Simo Pulli 2d13 6

Jonne Perälä 1211 5

Anssi Lehtinen dddN 0

 

C-finaali: Pulli, Kauppi, Weckman, Nyström, Perälä, Lehtinen N

B-finaali: Helin, Suutari, Ahlgren, Korkeamäki, Leppämäki, Pulli

A-finaali: Lehtinen, Rahko, Helin, Juntunen, Koivula, Kröger N

 

 

Did anyone watch it online? Feedback would be appreciated!!!

Edited August 28, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

I spoke with Aarni Heikkilä's parents yesterday and they said Aarni has started healing and will be back next year. Damage to his back wasn't as bad as thought after the crash.

 

It wasn't all good news form this couple, since they said that a week after the Heikkilä incident Janne Nyman crashed at the same track a badly damaged his wrist and hand. Several broke bones and the surgery to make things better wasn't a 100% success.

 

EDIT: Both Nyman and Heikkilä were in the pits yesterday at Lahti. I guess the hits they took werent that hard since they remembered well how they happened. But both are out for the season and will comeback next year.

 

Heikkiläs incident happened in the same meeting where Kylmäkorpi hurt his elbow and Nyman crashed in a practise session. Juha Moksunen was there helping the youngsters and Nyman's father said that the riders were told very clearly what to do and how to ride the track resulting in much faster racing speed as the day went on.

Edited August 28, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

Extraliiga yesterday at Lahti

 

Kotkat 36

Joni Keskinen 22332 12

Mikko Koskinen 1122 6

Petteri Koivunen 1311 6

Rene Lehtinen 33321 12

 

Kopparberg 31

Tomi Reima 33333 15

Jyri Palomäki 33223 13

Timo Villanen 21F 3

 

Haukat 29

Markku Weckman 011 2

Kalle Kivistö 022F 4

Joni Kitala 31311 9

Niko Siltaniemi 222332 14

 

Jokerit 9

Jukka Nieminen 1010 2

Jani Eerikäinen 22100 5

Vesa Hyyryläinen 02 2

 

Erä erältä:

1. Reima, Keskinen, Nieminen, Weckman 64,50

2. Palomäki, Eerikäinen, Koskinen, Kivistö 66,78

3. Kitala, Villanen, Koivunen 68,38

4. Lehtinen, Siltaniemi 66,66

5. Reima, Siltaniemi, Koskinen 65,22

6. Lehtinen, Kivistö, Villanen, Nieminen 67,44

7. Koivunen, Eerikäinen, Weckman 69,69

8. Palomäki, Keskinen, Kitala 67,19

9. Lehtinen, Palomäki, Weckman, Hyyryläinen 66,78

10. Keskinen, Siltaniemi, Eerikäinen, Villanen F 67,19

11. Reima, Kivistö, Koivunen 65,71

12. Kitala, Koskinen, Nieminen 66,18

13. Reima, Lehtinen, Kitala, Eerikäinen 65,44

14. Siltaniemi, Palomäki, KOivunen, Nieminen 67,25

15. Siltaniemi, Koskinen 69,03

16. Keskinen, Hyyryläinen, Kivistö F 65,35

17. Palomäki, Keskinen, Kitala, Eerikäinen 67,12

18. Reima, Siltaniemi, Lehtinen 67,84

Katsojia 125

 

Final Extraliiga table

Team...........M...+......P

Keittiöpiste...8...349...39

Kotkat.........8...287...34

Kopparberg..8...278...30

Paholaiset....8...222...26

Haukat........8...107...20

Jokerit.........8...91....16

 

Keittiöpiste, Kotkat and Kopparberg

 

Extraliiga averages (3 matches to qualify)

 

Rider...................Team..............M....P.....R.....AVG

Juha Hautamäki….KEITTIÖPISTE...8...133...47...11,32

Andreas Messing...KEITTIÖPISTE...3...37...15...9,87

Tero Aarnio………KEITTIÖPISTE...7...75...31...9,68

Rene Lehtinen…….KOTKAT...6...67...28...9,57

Tomi Reima……….KOPPARBERG...7...79...37...8,54

Benny Johansson….KOTKAT...6...64...30...8,53

Jyri Palomäki……..KOPPARBERG...7...68...33...8,24

Juha Mäkelä……….KEITTIÖPISTE...6...41...20...8,20

Teemu Lahti……...KEITTIÖPISTE...6...44...22...8,00

Jari Mäkinen……...PAHOLAISET...8...88...48...7,33

Joni Keskinen…….KOTKAT...7...53...34...6,24

Marko Suojanen…..PAHOLAISET...7...34...24...5,67

Kalle Katajisto…...JOKERIT...3...21...16...5,25

Aki-Pekka Mustonen...PAHOLAISET...6...30...23...5,22

Petri Koskela……..PAHOLAISET...8...47...37...5,08

Jani Eerikäinen…...JOKERIT...4...19...16...4,75

Timo Villanen…….KOPPARBERG...4...15...13...4,62

Petteri Koivunen….KOTKAT...4...15...14...4,29

Joni Kitala………...HAUKAT...3...16...15...4,27

Markku Autio……..JOKERIT...6...31...30...4,13

Mikko Rahko……..KOPPARBERG...5...14...14...4,00

Niko Siltaniemi…...HAUKAT...8...37...39...3,79

Mikko Koskinen…..KOTKAT...3...7...8...3,50

Aarni Heikkilä…….HAUKAT...6...21...28...3,00

Kalle Kivistö………HAUKAT...8...16...31...2,06

Janne Nyman……...HAUKAT...5...9...23...1,57

Juho Ruuska……….JOKERIT...6...6...28...0,86

Jan-Eric Korkeamäki...JOKERIT...4...3...17...0,71

Olli Heikkilä………..JOKERIT...3...1...12...0,33

 

Not qualified

Kaj Laukkanen……..KOTKAT...2...27...9...12,00

Kalle Lindgren….….KOTKAT...1...11...4...11,00

Emil Lindqvist……..KOPPARBERG...2...38...14...10,86

Andreas Lekander...KOPPARBERG...2...34...13...10,46

Linus Sundström…..KOPPARBERG...1...13...5...10,40

Kenny Olsson……...KEITTIÖPISTE...1...13...5...10,40

Daniel Davidsson.…KOTKAT...2...24...11...8,73

Robert Eriksson…....KOTKAT...1...14...7...8,00

Thomas Ljung……...KOPPARBERG...1...8...6...5,33

Alexander Edberg.…PAHOLAISET...2...9...9...4,00

Vesa Hyyryläinen…..JOKERIT...1...2...2...4,00

Markku Weckman....HAUKAT...2...4...7...2,29

Jukka Nieminen…….JOKERIT...1...2...4...2,00

Jonny Korpela………JOKERIT...1...1...4...1,00

Tero Villanen…….KOPPARBERG...2...1...5...0,80

Jouni Viljanen…....PAHOLAISET...1...0...2...0,00

Toni Stenberg……..KEITTIÖPISTE...1...0...1...0,00

Jonne Perälä………..JOKERIT...1...0...4...0,00

Edited August 28, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

Last regular season Kaupunki Cup match was staged last saturday at Pori.

 

Pori 49

Marko Suojanen 23322 12

Markku Autio d 0

Appe Mustonen 12131 8

Tomi Kauppi 001 1

Jari Mäkinen 23333 14

Alexander Edberg 1303dr3 10

Jouni Viljanen d0121 4

 

Seinäjoki 41

Juha Mäkelä 3110 5

Petteri Koivunen 03R 3

Niko Siltaniemi 2122 7

Dennis Dahlborg 321220 10

Joni Keskinen 32213 11

Jere Mattila 1000 1

Toni Stenberg 2110 4

 

Erä erältä:

1. Mäkelä, Suojanen, Edberg, Koivunen 68,62

2. Edberg, Stenberg, Mattila, Viljanen d 69,69

3. Dahlborg, Siltaniemi, Mustonen, Kauppi 69,28

4. Keskinen, Mäkinen, Stenberg, Viljanen 67,28

5. Koivunen, Mustonen, Mäkelä, Kauppi 68,60

6. Suojanen, Keskinen, Viljanen, Mattila 66,59

7. Mäkinen, Dahlborg, Siltaniemi, Edberg 66,28

8. Edberg, Viljanen, Stenberg, Koivunen R 67,58

9. Mäkinen, Keskinen, Mustonen, Mattila 67,53

10. Suojanen, Siltaniemi, Dahlboerg, Edberg d 66,53

11. Mäkinen, Dahlborg, Mäkelä, Edberg R 66,44

12. Mustonen, Siltaniemi, Viljanen, Mattila 68,16

13. Mäkinen, Suojanen, Keskinen, Mäkelä 66,03

14. Edberg, Dahlborg, Kauppi, Stenberg 68,31

15. Keskinen, Suojanen, Mustonen, Dahlborg 65,68

 

The KC final at Haapajärvi was a rainoff and will be restaged on the 16th of this month. Pori won the KC regular season with Seinäjoki 2nd and Kauhajoki 3rd and both riding in the final since Pori decided that they wont bother because of how the Haapajärvi meeting was organized without consulting them.

 

Jarkko Palmi won the finnish 80 cc Championship after beating Timo Lahti in the final of the last round. They were tied in Cup points before the last round at Pori last weekend. I'll post full results later. I've only seen a few heats of this years 80 cc racing. But I think Timo Lahti looks great and his transission to the bigger bikes will go well. He has this style riding the smaller bike from the saddle, something I havent seen anyone else having? And he's practised the whole of this season on a 500 cc machine. Palmi has a very different style, dont know how he will develope in the bigger bikes. He has one already but I dont know how much he's ridden on it. His 80 cc bikes this year were really good. I think he had two new bikes for the season, atleast they looked new. He put many Finnish riders in to shame with his bike's.

 

Jari Mäkinen and Joni Keskinen will ride at Tarnow in a some sort of a "come-and-show-us-what-your-made-of" meeting this saturday.

Edited September 7, 2007 by f-s-p

[f-s-p]

80 cc Stats from this season.

 

80 cc Suomen Cup loppupisteet 6/6

 

Jarkko Palmi.........16....(-)....20....25....25....25....111

Timo Lahti.............20....25....25....(-)....16....20....106

Vili Hautala..............13....10....(9)....16....20....16....75

Tomi Lahti...............(11)....16....16....13....13....13....71

Jiri Nieminen.............-....-....13....20....11....11....55

Vikke Kuhanen........(6)....13....10....11....10....9....53

Mika Loppi..............25....20....-....-....-....-....45

Vili Mattila................7....-....11....10....7....10....45

Eetu Neuvonen.........9....9....8....9....6....-....41

Toni Hemmila.............8....11....-....-....8....-....27

Miikka Hyyryläinen...10....-....-....-....-....8....18

Jari Tapani................-....-....-....-....9....-....9

 

Rider.....................M....P....H....P/H

Jarkko Palmi.........5....69....25....2,76

Mika Loppi.............2....27....10....2,70

Timo Lahti.............5....67....25....2,68

Tomi Lahti..............6....58....29....2,00

Jiri Nieminen...........5....39....22....1,77

Vili Hautala.............6....48....28....1,71

Vikke Kuhanen.......6....36....25....1,44

Vili Mattila..............4....23....16....1,44

Toni Hemmilä..........2....16....12....1,33

Eetu Neuvonen.......5....24....18....1,33

Miikka Hyyryläinen..2....10....8....1,25

Jari Tapani.............1....4....4....1,00

 

This isn't shown anywhere else. Or put in better words, this info is not online anywhere else.

Edited September 6, 2007 by f-s-p

[Anders]

80 cc Stats from this season.

 

80 cc Suomen Cup loppupisteet 6/6

 

Jarkko Palmi.........16....(-)....20....25....25....25....111

Mika Loppi..............25....20....-....-....-....-....45

Miikka Hyyryläinen...10....-....-....-....-....8....18

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Many new names there but I have heard of Jarkko Palmi. He has ridden a couple of meetings in the Swedish league for Team Dalakraft. Mika Loppi rode for the Finnish national team last year if my memory serves me, but he has only ridden two meetings this year, has he been injured or quit? (Sorry if this has been mentioned before)

 

And one final question; Miikka Hyyryläinen...some years ago it was a 500cc rider Hyyryläinen (Marko?), any relations?

[f-s-p]

Many new names there but I have heard of Jarkko Palmi. He has ridden a couple of meetings in the Swedish league for Team Dalakraft. Mika Loppi rode for the Finnish national team last year if my memory serves me, but he has only ridden two meetings this year, has he been injured or quit? (Sorry if this has been mentioned before)

 

And one final question; Miikka Hyyryläinen...some years ago it was a 500cc rider Hyyryläinen (Marko?), any relations?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I believe Mika Loppi broke his hand when he crashed in a practise session early June?

 

Miikka and Marko -> No relation apparently, EDITED info!

Edited September 7, 2007 by f-s-p

[DutchGrasstrack]

Just got the info that Juha Hautamäki is riding in Holland, the 29 of September in Veenoord (NL).

 

Lineup sofar;

 

Theo Pijper

Jannick de Jong

Kaj de Jong

Henk Bos

Mark Stiekema

Erik Eijbergen

Sjoerd Rozenberg

Henry van der Steen

 

Ricky Ashworth

Paul Cooper

 

Juha Hautamäki

 

9 more riders to be confirmed.

 

Reserve: Benjamin Borgers

[f-s-p]

Tero Aarnio and Joni Keskinen will be touring the UK in the very near future for two weeks scouting for team places for next season. I just heard this so I have no idea when it happens, probably next week since Aarnio is booked to ride at Wittstock next saturday so it would make sense to carry on to Uk from Germany.

 

Jari Mäkinen will also fly over for a little less than a week and has booked himself plenty of meetings surrounding the Northern Championship at Worky on the 29th of this month.

 

Looking forward for comments by LakeBC, I think he has grasped how big I think Mäkinen has been over here this season, so it's time to go and judge for yourself.

 

I might have some time to spare this saturday, so part one of the season ending raport might appear on here.

[pugwash]

Don't forget to keep me informed of the dates as soon as you know them, we're planning a trip "up country" to support Jari. I will be the Speedway Sanomat's UK correspondent and keep you up to date with his progress.

[f-s-p]

Don't forget to keep me informed of the dates as soon as you know them, we're planning a trip "up country" to support Jari.  I will be the Speedway Sanomat's UK correspondent and keep you up to date with his progress.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wont

[f-s-p]

As the season is now about to finish, it's time for a review.

 

Part 1/3

 

Extraliiga teams and our pro's

 

Keittiöpiste

The champions!

 

There were some rumours a year ago that their main sponsor was going to pull out, but fortunately that never happened. What happened was that they won practically everything there was to win this season by taking home the league, pairs and individual titles. The backer seemed happy too !

 

Keittiöpiste had a good lineup entering the league and they knew the flaws in the system and took advantage of them like no other. Hautamäki was good and improved, Mäkelä did his job but wasnt great (had a broken collarbone in May), Aarnio despite all his misfortunes and my badmouthing him gathered a serious amount of points, Lahti did OK but didn't improve as much as I hoped and they were good in picking up the right foreigners to strenghten them. I'd give them 9/10

 

Kotkat

Seinäjoki is the place where everything happens when it comes to governing the sport nowadays. They had a good lineup entering, but relied on Laukkanen and Nieminen heavily. Big mistake, since they both had full calendars before our calendar was even out. Lehtinen was a solid scorer, Keskinen did what was expected but Kotkat failed big time with their foreigners and lacked some tactical knowledge. Thats why they only got silver. With all they had going for them and seeing the results, I'd give them only 7/10.

 

Kopparberg

There was a man a year ago who decided lets give it a go and put a team in to the league. He gathered the money, contacted the riders and presented a strong team with team kevlars and bike covers and the possibility to have home meetings in the very centre of a large city for a garanteed crowd of 1000+ each. 8 months later he was ready to pull the plug because of the way he was treated by the club he was doing all this for. Their two home meetings were taken to Seinäjoki and were witnessed by 110 combined. The team rode at Seinäjoki alltough they wanted to ride at Pori because of the track conditions.

 

In the end they were 3rd alltough they could have won because of the strong team and all the hard work. For the man behind it all I'd give 10/10 because he did something I'd like to do someday, but for the results and the club I'd only give 6/10.

 

Paholaiset

Relied heavily on their own local riders and did very well considered. New and younger people have taken over the running of things at Pori and they seem to have a lot of positive going on. Facilities at Pori are as good as they come in Finland and they know what to do with their track too. I'd give them 8,5/10

 

Haukat

A young team entered the league and they rode as good as they could. In the end they were rewarded with a 5th place in the standings. I was hoping for their riders to develope more during the season, but for some reason nothing happened?

 

The club itself did very well. They too have new people running the show and the atmosphere at the track was great, even better than great! For everything they did this season (even with the team finishing 5th), I'd give them 9/10

 

Jokerit

New team with a new track in the society that we live in, 10/10 for that. On track they were crap and failed.

 

Our pro riders abroad

Kauko Nieminen has managed to avoid injury and been taking points all season and is finishing it with an average of 9+ in the Premiere. He was supposed to step up in to Elitserien in Sweden but it didn't happen. Things havent gone according to plane in Poland either, but the fact that he has stayed healthy and improved his averages both in Allsvenskan and Premiere gives him the status of our #1. 9+/10

 

Kaj Laukkanen has been a serious letdown this season. F

 

Joonas Kylmäkorpi had everything going for him until he once again suffered an injury season early on in the season. That sucks. He is now recoving from surgery and hopefully will be 100% or even more when the season starts again in March. For what I know he has a really pro setup behind him, just needs that injury free season. He also seems to have something superiour to Laukkanen when it comes to mental strenght and the way he sees the sport. Everything combined I'd give him 8/10.

Edited September 15, 2007 by f-s-p