Reigning World Champion Daniil Ivanov begins the defence of his title next weekend in Russia at the Zorkiy Stadium in Krasnogorsk, opening round of the 2014 MOTUL FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship season.
Unfortunately, the organisers of the planned Challenge meeting in Austria in January were once again forced into an early cancellation as weather conditions had prevented the preparation of a suitable racing track. As a result, the qualifiers to join the seeded riders in the Final Rounds were selected by the Track Racing Commission from a list of riders nominated by their Federations.
With the mild weather severely restricting the European Ice Race calendar there have been few opportunities for the western based riders to practice. Open meetings in Poland, Czech Republic and Germany along with the early league meetings in Sweden which normally provide a good guide to form were cancelled so there is little to indicate which riders might challenge the historic Russian domination of this championship. Franz Zorn from Austria finished third at the Sanok Cup meeting in Poland last weekend and dominated the open meeting in Weissenbach in January ahead of fellow countryman Harald Simon so it seems likely that these two will again provide the strongest opposition.
Antti Aakko is Finland’s only representative this year but had to miss the Sanok Cup meeting due to travel problems so his current form is unknown. The other Scandinavian representatives are veteran Stefan Svensson and newcomer Per-Anders Lindström who top-scored in the first Swedish Elite League meeting held this year. Poland’s Gregoz Knapp kicked off his season with a semi-final appearance in the Sanok Cup meeting and will be looking to consoldate his position as his country’s number one Ice racer.
Once again the Russians have selected their strongest squad with the top five from their domestic championship drafted into the Finals. Sanok Cup winner Dimitry Koltakov, runner up Igor Kononov, Sergey Makarov and three times FIM bronze medallist Dimitri Khomitsevich join the current World Champion so Ivanov can expect tough opposition from his fellow countrymen. Koltakov narrowly missed first place for the Russian title, losing only when he fell in a run-off race against Ivanov so will be keen for revenge in this series and to improve on his number 2 spot last year.
Wild Card for the first Final will be Vitaly Khomitsevich elder brother of Dimitry and World Champion in 2003 and has been in good form winning the first round of the Russian Cup in Shadrinsk.
Clearly Ice Speedway fans can look forward to an interesting start to the series! Racing in Krasnogorsk will start at 15.00 Moscow time on Saturday 1 February & 13.00 on Sunday 2.
FIM Jury President is Finland’s Ilkka Teromaa from Finland and Referee Wojciech Grodzki from Poland.
| Start No | Riding N° | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Igor Kononov | Russia |
2 | 7 | Günther Bauer | Germany |
| 3 | 8 | Grzegorz Knapp | Poland |
| 4 | 14 | Per-Anders Lindström | Sweden |
| 5 | 16 | Vitaly Khomitsevich (Wild Card) | Russia |
| 6 | 4 | Franz Zorn | Austria |
| 7 | 1 | Daniil Ivanov | Russia |
| 8 | 9 | Jan Klatovsky | Czech Republic |
| 9 | 13 | Antti Aakko | Finland |
| 10 | 11 | Sergey Makarov | Russia |
| 11 | 5 | Harald Simon | Austria |
| 12 | 2 | Dimitry Koltakov | Russia |
| 13 | 10 | Stefan Pletschacher | Germany |
| 14 | 6 | Stefan Svensson | Sweden |
| 15 | 12 | Renè Stellingwerf | The Netherlands |
| 16 | 3 | Dimitri Khomitsevich | Russia |
| Reserve 1 | 17 | Vasily Kosov | Russia |
| Reserve 2 | 18 | Evgeny Kosov | Russia |
Photos Good-Shoot