Comment: 2017 FIM Ice Speedway RD1
- Alex Raby
- Feb 9, 2017
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 13, 2020
The opening round of the 2017 FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship gave us some clear indications about the series ahead. And unless your name is Dimitry Khomitsevich or Dimitry Koltakov, you could be in for a bumpy ride.
Dimitry Khomitsevich and Dimitry Koltakov shared the honours over the first two days of the new season that opened this weekend in Togliatti, Russia. But it was the manner of their success that suggests the World Championship could quickly become a two-horse race. The world’s top ice men were separated by just a point in the 2016 series, and a run-off was required to separate them in the Russian Championship earlier this winter. Koltakov got the upper hand in that battle, and he edged out Khomitsevich again in Togliatti, a confident start to his attempt to re-gain the world crown.
Koltakov explained to me in a pre-season interview that as well as the usual technical tinkering that the riders undertake in the attempt to extract every ounce of performance during pre-season, he turned inwards after his narrow defeat last year to analyse himself and adjust his riding style for the new campaign. And there was certainly more composure in his performances, particularly in the latter stages of the meetings. It wasn’t until the last of ten Finals that he secured his first win last season, and he seemed unable to live with the big occasions. In 2017, he has promised more meeting victories; in Togliatti, he delivered.
Dimitry Khomitsevich was the only rider to match Koltakov on both days in the Anatoly Stepanov Stadium. On day one he was a close second and engaged in an entertaining battle with the man he usurped as World Champion last year. And he showed no signs of being weighed down by the expectation of defending his crown as he won on day two, and proclaimed that he is solely focused on the new season, not distracted by 2016’s glory.
Day two in particular saw Khomitsevich and Koltakov break from the pack, with neither of their two main Championship rivals Igor Kononov or Daniil Ivanov able to challenge consistently. Ivanov’s failure to make the Final on Day Two was a particular disappointment. The 2-times World Champion is a local hero in Togliatti, and after spoiling his chances on lap one of the Final on the opening day, he would have appreciated a chance to put things right in his home town.
But his surprise failure to progress from the Semi Final paved the way for another shock: Franz Zorn’s qualification to the Final. Finalists from western Europe are as rare as warm Russian winters, and we haven’t seen such a result since the Austrian himself took second in Almaty 2015. He didn’t look any faster than usual; he has been riding in a group of his own for quite some time, faster than the other Europeans, not fast enough to match the Russians for consistency. But he showed a great deal of dash from the tapes, and in Semi Final One he held on with confidence, sticking to his own line and actually opening his leading margin over a disappointing Ivanov.
That is not to say that the national pecking order in Ice Speedway is likely to change any time soon. Zorn made another great start in the Final and hit the front, but was at the back by the end of the first lap. And aside from Gunther Bauer, who had some flashes of genius on day one, he was the only one to really challenge any of the permanent riders from the host nation.
Over the last five seasons we have seen a dip in the variety of represented nations in the World Championship. The sad passing of Grzegorz Knapp left us without Poland’s top performer and with a sombre mood hanging over the sport in the country. The retirement of Anti Aakko, with none of the remaining Finnish representatives ready for a full season in the world’s elite, deprived us of another nation in the series. And although we thankfully still have a Dutch Grand Prix, with Heerenveen hosting the Championship decider this season, a Wild Card entrant is the best that fans from the Netherlands can hope for after René Stellingwerf’s retirement. The Czech Republic could be the next country without a representative: Antonin Klatovsky is no longer on the scene, and brother Jan looked out of his depth in Togliatti.
That probably comes as a result of the undoubted strengthening of the midfield in this season’s Championship. Sweden now has four representatives, all of whom were in contention for Semi Final spaces in Togliatti; that said, though, their results were largely a disappointment at the opening round of the campaign. Both Niclas Svensson and Ove Ledstrom endured heavy crashes: Svensson’s ruling him out of the remainder of the action on day one, and Ledstrom’s leaving him pointless on day two. Jimmy Olsen and Stefan Svensson were both involved in some excellent racing, and leave Togliatti tied as best of the rest with Gunther Bauer in ninth.
There was no Swedish representative in the Semi Finals on day one, the first time that has been the case in two years, although Stefan Svensson was unlucky to miss out on countback after a pivotal defeat at the hands of his own son in heat eleven. Niclas recovered impressively from his day one crash – one which had more impact on machine (broken front axle, front forks, front wheel) than man – but he is clearly putting pressure on himself, and still falls regularly coming off the bends, a sign perhaps of his eagerness to get on the throttle. I’m sure that will serve him well in the future, and he deserved to make the Semi Finals on day two, but at the moment it’s creating a lot of repair work – I noticed he was on his father’s spare at one stage during the weekend.
A last word for the veterans. Gunther Bauer was sensational on day one, as he picked a fight with the Russians during the heat stages. Even the most ardent Togliatti fan couldn’t fail to be impressed by the German’s move on Daniil Ivanov in heat nineteen. Ivanov was certainly taken by surprise, and Bauer held on for a good lap or so before eventually settling for second. Bauer’s effort was all the more impressive considering that he was using his reserve engine, the first having let go spectacularly in his opening ride when he was well on the pace behind reigning Champion Dimitry Khomitsevich. The hangover from that engine blow-up probably hampered him on day two in Togliatti, and may have an impact in Shadrinsk next week, where he will be one machine down. Still, on the opening day of the season he did well to recover enough points to make the Semi Finals, his first in Russia for some time. The veteran seems more determined this season, in the twilight of his career; he looks leaner, and his early trip to Ufa to contest the Russian Super League certainly seemed to give him an additional race sharpness in Togliatti.
It was refreshing to see two young Russians mixing it with the established order in Togliatti. Nikita Toloknov has quite clearly made a lot of progress since his debut as a Wild Card two years ago, and both his scoring and pace on track reflected that. But a sobering thought for European fans: Toloknov finished just tenth in the Russian Championship this season, and if he can leave Togliatti seventh overall, Russia could clearly make any of five different World Team Championship teams and still come out on top.
The same quartet has occupied the top four positions for the last three seasons, but I sense that might change in 2017. Dinar Valeev’s performances in the Russian Championship and the World Championship qualifiers triggered paddock whispers that the 21-year-old could take the title in his first season. And whilst I sense that is a bit of a stretch of the imagination, he is certainly a title-winner of the future. The fifth permanent Russian has changed with extreme regularity in recent seasons, but Valeev certainly belongs in the group, and his place on the podium on day two was well-deserved. In fact, he heads to Shadrinsk only two points from third in the point standings, and tied with Igor Kononov in fourth.
Kononov could have scored more, but his insistence to head straight up to the outside line when he hits the front makes him vulnerable to block passes from his fellow countrymen. He admitted in a pre-season interview that he gets nervous when it comes to the Semi Finals and Final, and it shows, because he consistently loses out in wheel-to-wheel combat, and that comes down to confidence. Perhaps he is thinking about his opposition too much: he was already talking about his poor gate draw before the first heat on day two. Having three outside start positions in his only races against Russian riders was certainly a handicap, but that isn’t the reason he now has points to make up in the Championship. He seems to lack race-craft in tight races, and each time he lines up against three other Russians he struggles – he only dropped points in two races on day one, and he came in at the back in both. His failure to progress from the Semi Finals on day two could also prove costly to his title hopes.
It was great to have Togliatti back in the individual series calendar: it is a spectacular purpose-built Speedway venue, and continues to prove it deserves a place in the Championship. The warm welcome from the local population, the enthusiasm of the fans towards their riders, and the racing itself leave a tough act to follow for Shadrinsk next week. The performances of Dimitry Khomitsevich and Dimitry Koltakov will also be tough to match.
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