Koltakov takes the lead

Dmitry Koltakov took a single point lead in the championship after an eventful Day 2 of the Togliatti event where, despite losing in the Final to last year’s champion Dmitry Khomitsevich, Koltakov heads the table thanks to a superior score in the qualifying races. Khomitsievich dominated the final and, although Franz Zorn was close behind him for the first lap and a half, Koltakov then overtook the Austrian, who then also lost his third place to Russian hopeful Dinar Valeev.

Zorn enjoyed another fruitful day and was the only westerner to match the Russians’ speed. Gunter Bauer having damaged his engine during Saturday’s meeting was unable to achieve a semi final place collecting only six points but young Niclas Svensson will be happy to have reached the last eight. Fellow Swede Jimmy Olsen was not able to repeat his first day scores but was only one point away and should also be content with his debut perfomance 

Both Hans Weber and Jan Klatovsky suffered a disappointing weekend and  neither approached their best form. 

Another cold day had welcomed the riders and officials in Togliatti and with heavy snow falling and temperatures at around -14o the track was hard and brittle making track conditions for the riders difficult. Ove Ledstrom and Harald Simon took heavy falls and were taken to hospital for a precautionary check up. Early medical reports suggest that neither have more than minor injuries.

Khomatsevich had looked in top form during the earlier races and dropped his only points when he fell whilst trying to pass Koltakov when they met in Heat 31. Ultimately it was this which cost him an overall lead and for the moment he trails by a single point with the local Mega Lada stars Ivanov, Valeev, and Kononov in the following places