HenryW Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 A bit odd to start a topic on this meeting so long after the event, but I just watched the video of it yesterday and thought it was worth discussing... The meeting was held at Prague's Marketa stadium. There was lots of chat before the meeting about the fact that solid block tyres were being enforced and how bad those were... There were two nasty crashes in heat 1 which sadly saw the riders withdrawn from the meeting, and there was a lot of talk about how the tyres were responsible...and yet, the rest of the meeting had some absolutely brilliant racing. Far better than I can remember seeing from that track in more recent years. I am wondering whether the good racing was down to the tyres that the riders didn't like, or was the track just prepared differently back then? Also, I looked into the route to the GP Challenge that year and was really confused by the way that Gerd Riss got in...He finished 9th in the Continental Semi Final in Bydgoszcz, with the top 8 from that semi final and the other in Togliatti going into the Continental Final in Abensberg, but Gerd raced in the Intercontinental Final in Holsted and finished 3rd. 9th in the other Continental Semi Final also raced in the Intercontinental Final. How did 9th in a Continental Semi Final, which at the time was generally regarded as the easier route, take them to the Intercontinental Final??? Anyone remember what was going on there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 I think it is linked to the fact that of all bar three riders from the overseas final were disqualified. Furlanetto is mentioned (wiki) as coming into the lineup to replace an injured Mark Lemon. I presume Riss came in to replace on of the 13(!) "qualifiers" from the Scandinavian final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 Looking at the results here http://www.speedway.org/history/96.htm#1996 It looks as though the 5 vacant positions went to the next 5 in the Scandinavian Final (Ronnie Pedersen, Klingberg, Holta, Ylinen and Laukannen) with Riss and Furlanetto who just missed out on qualification to the Continental Final (which was raced on the same day as the Inter-Contnental) replacing Laukannen and Lemon in the final line up. Of the riders who got a second chance only Riss got through to the next round. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 9 hours ago, arnieg said: Looking at the results here http://www.speedway.org/history/96.htm#1996 It looks as though the 5 vacant positions went to the next 5 in the Scandinavian Final (Ronnie Pedersen, Klingberg, Holta, Ylinen and Laukannen) with Riss and Furlanetto who just missed out on qualification to the Continental Final (which was raced on the same day as the Inter-Contnental) replacing Laukannen and Lemon in the final line up. Of the riders who got a second chance only Riss got through to the next round. I think that's correct arnieg. The wiki article i read mentioned 13 from the Scandinavian final (8 original qualifiers + 5 "extra"). Then presumably Riss/Furlanetto getting a chance due to rider unavailability Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 On a side note- is the 96 challenge available to watch online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 What a tremendous race meeting this was. Five of us travelled by car to Prague for a few days & took in this meeting.We sat up in the main stand along with a few other Brits ,& must have made so much noise that after the presentation the top three riders came up to have a chat & say "thanks for the support." A day that I will always remember. and another opportunity to spend some time in a wonderful city. Great times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryW Posted January 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 15 hours ago, waiheke1 said: I think it is linked to the fact that of all bar three riders from the overseas final were disqualified. Furlanetto is mentioned (wiki) as coming into the lineup to replace an injured Mark Lemon. I presume Riss came in to replace on of the 13(!) "qualifiers" from the Scandinavian final. Thanks. Not sure how I missed the fact that almost all the riders from the Overseas Final had been booted when I was looking through the round results 1 hour ago, waiheke1 said: On a side note- is the 96 challenge available to watch online? It's available to rent online from rerun videos if you were willing to pay a few quid to watch some old racing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) On 1/17/2021 at 8:42 PM, waiheke1 said: On a side note- is the 96 challenge available to watch online? I'm confident I've seen this on youtube and there was something iffy with Rune Holta in one heat. Could not find results or youtube link though.. http://edinburghspeedway.blogspot.com/2015/05/1996-grand-prix-challenge.html Edited January 20, 2021 by f-s-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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