Dmitry Koltakov continued his charge towards retaining his LUKOIL FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship with another win on the first day at Inzell on Saturday. A full capacity crowd saw him defeated only by challenger Daniil Ivanov in the qualifying races, but he managed to take his revenge in the final and raised his total points in the series to 142. He now has a clear 26 ahead of Ivanov and would seem to be on an unstoppable charge towards the gold medal. Dmitri Khomitsevich collected third place in the final ahead of lone westerner Martin Haarahiltunen.
Haarahiltunen was once again the Russians’ closest challenger despite a mixed evening; he had fallen in a first bend melee in his first outing and in Heat 6, whist leading Ivanov, he was forced to retire due to a mechanical problem. He recovered sufficiently to reach the final but his 10-point haul was a poor reward for his efforts.
The Austrian pair of Simon and Zorn both reached the semi-final stage where they were drawn to face Khomitsevich and Ivanov, but were eliminated. Swede Jimmy Olsen was the other semi-finalist.
Jan Klatovsky made a promising start with 5 points from his first two rides, but he was unable to add to this in his remaining starts which included two disqualifications. A dissapointing race with home fans favourites, Gunther Bauer and Johan Weber who both failed to claim a winning race and Wild Card Stefan Pletschacher withdrawing from his last race. Weber who enjoys a great relationship with the German supporters provided them with a true highlight as after his last race, he proposed to his partner.
FIM Communications