Day 2 of Final 3 in Berlin ended with three Russian riders leading the field on equal points in the chase for honours in the FIM Ice Speedway World Championship.
Dinar Valeev won the final from Daniil Ivanov and current champion Dmitry Koltakov and now all three are tied on 97 points. Valeev who was in fourth position before the start of this event enjoyed his best meeting of the season and Ivanov dropped only one point as Koltakov saw his slender lead diminish. The championship is now set for a dramatic finish during the last two rounds in Inzell and Heerenveen.
Injuries continue to play a part in this series with Swede Martin Haarahiltunen forced to withdraw with a hand injury suffered yesterday when he was run over by his own bike. and Russia’s Andrei Shishegov also sustaining a hand injury in yesterday’s semi final. Haarahiltunen will miss the next round in Inzell but is hoping to be fit to return in time for the final round in Heerenveen later this month.
Johan Weber had another good day reaching the semi finals and his 12 points took him above Haarahiltunen in the overall classification. Stefan Pletschacher again withdrew feeling unfit after his first race.
Sweden’s other representatives also enjoyed better form and all three reached the semi final stage. Stefan Svensson moved into eighth place as a result.