MOTUL FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship 2015 Final 3 took place un Almaty, Kazakhstan on 14th & 15th February.
At the end of an eventful three days, it was Russian Dmitri Koltakov who emerged as the leader of the Intermediate Classification and he reclaimed a clear lead of 9 points over his nearest rival Igor Kononov.
After surmounting the logistical problems of moving riders, mechanics and machines from Togliatti to Kazakhstan the organisers were troubled by weather problems even before practice could take place. Heavy snow followed by thick fog meant that official practice on Friday had to be delayed by more than 3 hours.
Not only is practice necessary for safety reasons but with the Medeu Stadium at 1700m above sea level, riders needed to test their engines and adjust them to perform at their best in the in the thinner air. Victor on the first day was Koltakov who dropped his only points when he fell in the hotly contested Heat 12 but he recovered to win the Final and add 18 points to his total.
Austrian Franz Zorn was the surprise second placed man in his best performance of the season to date despite a spectacular first race fall and consequent damage to his bike. Problems for the organisers returned on Sunday when it was realised that the temperature had not allowed the track to recover from the previous night’s racing and there were several deep ruts on the straights.
Riders were unhappy about the conditions and there was a real danger that the racing would have to be abandoned for safety reasons. With some 6000 spectators in the stadium and no possibility of a restaging on Monday, eventually a solution was found which involved moving the track in by around 2 metres to provide an acceptable racing surface.
The meeting was then able to go ahead although the Semi-finals and Final were cancelled by the FIM Jury as by then the ice had been further eroded. Winner of Day 2 was current champion Daniil Ivanov whose recent form has suffered due to an earlier injury. However he was master of the track and looking more like the Daniil we have grown to expect as he completed a 15 point maximum ahead of Koltakov and Dmitri Khomitsevich.
Once again Franz Zorn impressed by finishing fourth and must feel very satisfied with his efforts on a difficult track. Most of the remaining places were according to predictions although Gunter Bauer improved on a disappointing first day by taking 8 points as did Harald Simon despite having suffered a painful injury during Saturday’s racing. For young Niclas Kallin Svensson his debut in this competition will not be remembered with much satisfaction.
Having been drafted into the meeting at short notice to replace Mats Jarf he had to share a machine with his father and after suffering a couple of bruising falls finally withdrew from his last ride having gathered only two points over the weekends racing. His father had a better result with 8 points on both days and moves up into 9th place in the standings.
The competition is now a little over the half-way stage and moves into Western Europe for the penultimate round in Assen, Netherlands on 7th and 8th March.
Classification
1 2 Dimitry Koltakov RUS 100 points
2 4 Igor Kononov RUS 91
3 3 Dimitry Khomitsevich RUS 85
4 1 Daniil Ivanov RUS 82
5 11 Vitaly Khomitsevich RUS 78
6 10 Franz Zorn AUS 63
7 15 Harald Simon AUS 46
8 16 Nikolay Krasnikov RUS 41
9 5 Stefan Svensson SWE 39
10 6 Jan Klatovsky CZR 38
11 14 Antonin Klatovsky CZR 38
Before Assen however the Ice Speedway Gladiators meet in Berlin in two weeks’ time for the Team Championship Final and a preview of this meeting will be published as soon as teams are known and the draw made.