Ice Speedway Gladiators Final 3 - Assen

The De Bonte Wever Stadium in Assen, the traditional home of Ice Speedway in Holland is where many west European fans get their opportunity to see Ice Speedway at its best. The annual festival of ice racing returns there again this year with the World Championship reaching its penultimate stages on Saturday and Sunday.

The natural ice of the Russian venues, where the earlier rounds have taken place, suffered a little due to the freezing temperatures which made track maintenance more difficult and competitors can be confident that the artificial ice will be more consistent during the meeting in Assen and the final event in Inzell in two weeks’ time.

At the half way stage of the series current champion Daniil Ivanov hold a slender 4- point lead over his fellow Russian Dimitry Koltakov and the destination of this year’s gold medal seems likely to be with either of these two. Similarly, following his stunning 19 point haul on the second day in Blagoveshchensk, Igor Kononov is battling with Dmitri Khomitsevich for the third place spot so there will be no lack of competition at the top end of the leader board.

Stefan Svensson leads the Scandinavian opposition and has been the most successful of the western riders so far in a season frustrated by injuries. His compatriot Per Anders Lindström was to have raced but has been hospitalised following an infection from an earlier injury and is unable to take part. The Austrians in the competition, Franz Zorn and Harald Simon have both seen their title chances ruined through accidents; Zorn still recovering from surgery is out for the season and Simon has been forced to withdraw from this round on medical grounds as he battles to overcome the serious spike wounds he sustained in Blagoveshchensk. Finland’s Antti Aakko missed the last round and is another whose medal ambitions have been dashed – in his case through broken ribs, the legacy of a last race fall in Krasnogorsk – but he will be joined in Assen by compatriot Tomi Tani who replaces Simon.

None of the Germans have performed well so far this year although Pletschacher’s fourth place in last week’s European Championship Final inspires some confidence, and with many fans making the journey across the Rhine there will be good and noisy support for them in Assen. Likewise the Polish contingent will look to raise the performance of their sole representative Grzegorz Knapp.

For the host nation, Renè Stellingwerf is enjoying some improved if inconsistant form this year and will be joined by local Qualified Substitute Sven Holstein who replaces Lindström and Wild Card Simon Reitsma. The two reserve places will be filled by the best place Dutch riders in the traditional curtain-raiser, the Roelof Thijs Cup, which will be held on Friday evening 7th March.

The MOTUL FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship Final 3 commences on Saturday night at 19.00 local time under floodlights with the usual afternoon start at 14.00 for the second day on Sunday. FIM Jury President is Frank Ziegler from Germany with Britain’s Jim Lawrence as Referee.

The event will be covered LIVE on Eurosport 2 TV
Saturday 8 March 20:00 – 22:00 CET

Full TV coverage & broadcasters click HERE

Photo FIM/Good-Shoot