Comment: 2017 FIM Ice Speedway RD2

Nikolai Krasnikov’s latest return produced several talking points at the second round of the World Championship, but it was Igor Kononov who stole centre stage against what will probably be the most competitive line-up of the season.

2017 will be the first season that Nikolai Krasnikov has failed to make the podium at a World Championship round since 2014, one of only two seasons he has not appeared as a Wild Card since his premature 2012 retirement. And with his two exits at the Semi Final stage in Shadrinsk, who knows, we may have seen his last such appearance. If that is the case, it is a shame, not just because he left the sport too soon after an eighth consecutive world title in 2012 drained him of the appetite for the travel and training needed to make it nine or ten. But also because he looked some way short of his best in Shadrinsk, and it would be a shame for his incredible legacy if he were to go out with a whimper.

When Krasnikov returned as a Wild Card in 2015, over two years after his last appearance, he left the opening round at Krasnogorsk as the Championship leader and with just one dropped point from fourteen astonishing rides. But the ever-increasing strength of competition, and perhaps Krasnikov’s own lack of motivation, has seen his star diminish. The changing of the guard moment was probably heat fourteen on day two in Krasnogorsk last year, when Krasnikov came in at the back behind youth prospect Egor Myshkovets, and behind the first two World Champions in his absence: Daniil Ivanov and Dimitry Koltakov.

That Krasnikov deserves his place among the pantheon of greats is undisputable; that he can still compete with the best was proven again in Shadrinsk. But this is not the Krasnikov who dropped on average just two points per seven rides to clinch his eighth title in 2012. In several of his seven race victories during the weekend he didn’t even look the fastest rider on the track, defending off the bends and lifting down the straights as he strained for extra speed.

There were flashes of the old genius, and the local hero certainly gave the fans in Shadrinsk something to cheer as they witnessed town’s first ever World Championship Final. The old master came out of the blocks with three consecutive race victories as if he had never been away. But five years have gone by since he dropped the World Championship from his calendar, and in two races in particular he looked like he was caught daydreaming of past successes. His first defeat of the weekend came against reigning Champion Dimitry Khomitsevich, when he seemed to have heat sixteen sewn up only for the victory to be snatched from him in the run down to the line. The second such error cost him a place in the Final on the second day, Daniil Ivanov this time the beneficiary.

Krasnikov certainly deserved a place in the Final; he was unlucky to be disqualified from the Semi Final on day one. Jimmy Olsen had snatched the lead coming off the second bend with a perfectly-timed cutback, but the three Russians alongside him all had much more momentum carried from their outside runs on the second turn, and the pack converged on the Swede all at the same time. Referee Alex Lyotosinski had an impossible choice. He could have disqualified Olsen for defending a position on the inside that he was never going to hold, but that would have been unfair. He could have disqualified Dimitry Koltakov, who was on the inside of the three riders who met coming into turn three and triggered the collision, but that would also have been a tough call. This time Krasnikov’s luck ran out and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Krasnikov’s strength before retirement was to step up his game in the big heats – he won eight out of nine Finals in 2010, for example – and he didn’t show much of that in Shadrinsk. He failed to beat his former apprentice Dimitry Koltakov in their three meetings, and if he had scored the same in Togliatti, he would only be fifth in the world now.

This is the first season in which I have thought Krasnikov probably wouldn’t be World Champion if he were riding the full campaign, but it would certainly make for an interesting series, and I would love to see one last hurrah from the rider who is undoubtedly the greatest of all time in our sport. Age is certainly not against him making such a comeback: he was the youngest ever Champion when he took his first title aged 20 in 2005, only 28 when he retired, and at 33 would still be below the average age of an Ice Speedway rider. But it quite clear that he doesn’t have the motivation to tackle another World Championship season. He seems happy just to take on Russian Super League commitments and local events, and I notice he didn’t even race to defend his Russian Championship title in 2017.

That lack of sharpness in individual competition probably cost him a place in the Finals in Shadrinsk, and may also tempt him into a more permanent retirement from the World Championship. There is only so long he will want to keep putting his legacy on the block with Wild Card appearances against riders with much more race fitness. Let’s hope that definitive retirement is still some way away; we have already lost him once too soon.

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Krasnikov’s appearance was an additional ingredient in an already engaging 2017 World Championship. This was the weekend in which Igor Kononov turned up and joined the contest, and at least in points terms there are three riders who look very much in the hunt for the title. Kononov has too often been inconsistent over the years. When he is at his best – such as in Togliatti in 2015 when he dropped just one point over two days – he is untouchable. But we didn’t see that kind of scoring in Togliatti this year, and another dip to the level of his performance from the opening weekend of the campaign would probably rule him out of contention.

Dimitry Khomitsevich and Dimitry Koltakov are just too consistent for Kononov, just as Daniil Ivanov was when Kononov made his World Championship comeback in 2014. But Kononov insisted he was more intent on winning the impressive prizes that were put up in Shadrinsk than he is concerned about the Championship. And although that offhand remark was made with a wry smile, maybe he just doesn’t have the determination to become World Champion – we may find out this year, which is already turning out to be one of his best chances.

In some way, Kononov’s wins were assisted by the Championship fight between Khomitsevich and Koltakov. Kononov did the hard work by getting out of the start on both days, and I’m certainly not trying to detract from his success, as he became the first double-winner of the campaign. But on both days, Kononov left himself exposed with an outside run on the second lap, but with Koltakov missing the start and left to battle past Khomitsevich on both occasions, Kononov was able to slip away.

The biggest story of the Shadrinsk weekend in the context of the Championship was Daniil Ivanov falling by the wayside. Mathematically, he is still in contention, but psychologically, he is quite clearly not. On day one he failed to win a race in seven attempts, series rookie Dinar Valeev the only Russian rider he managed to defeat. And although he showed more pace on day two, he now sits 20 points back from where he would like to be.

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The line-up for the third round of the season in Almaty will be the weakest of the season so far. Harald Simon is already riding with an injury that looked set to keep him out of the World Championship this season until a late call-up, and he is quite clearly off the pace. Gunther Bauer also suffered an injured foot on day one in Togliatti, and one wonders whether that has affected his performances since then, that certainly haven’t matched his flying start. And the Kazakhstan Final unfortunately lost Jimmy Olsen after his crash in Shadrinsk, with what looks a very severe elbow injury that will surely keep him out for the rest of the campaign. With time too short for any of the European-based series reserves to make the necessary logistical and travel arrangements, a second local rider will step up. The inclusion of one local Wild Card was already going to weaken the line-up in comparison with the brilliant Wild Cards of the opening two rides. Pavel Nekrassov and Denis Slephukin, who have struggled to keep up with the pace in reserve appearances over the last two seasons, will hopefully fare better in a full meeting, but will most likely be engaged between themselves in a battle to avoid bottom spot.

In terms of the tightly-bunched midfield positions, then, Almaty will prove an important round. It will also be a pivotal point in Franz Zorn’s season. The Austrian struggled throughout the weekend with mechanical problems following a crash in practice, and two non-scoring rides on the second day denied him a place in the Semi Finals for the first time since 2014. But the Medeo Stadium is a scene of past successes for Zorn, who was the last European rider to make the podium at the venue back in 2015.

The series would benefit from a consistent challenger to Russia’s dominant quintet, but in the meanwhile we can enjoy a classic battle between four riders who have locked out the top positions over the last two seasons. And if we are feeling nostalgic, we can always dream of a Krasnikov comeback to really find out if the grand master still has it.