Koltakov closes the gap

Dmitry Koltakov was the victor in a meeting cut short by deteriorating track conditions in Shadrinsk on Sunday afternoon. Although temperatures had improved to -13o the ice was still too hard and the FIM Jury took the decision to abandon racing when the 20 qualifying heats had been completed. Koltakov’s 14 points left him clear of Dmitry Khomitsevich with Wild Card Konstantin Kolenkin in third place. He took top place on the podium and also claimed the bonus of a new Lada Vesta car donated by local sponsors.

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Track conditions began to cause concern as early as Heat 6 after Martin Haarahiltunen took a heavy fall which resulted in his withdrawal from the meeting. He was taken to hospital for treatment on what is believed to be a hand injury.Championship leader Daniil Ivanov saw his lead shrink as he attracted two disqualifications including another uncharacteristic fall in almost the same place as on the first day. He now shares the lead with Koltakov on 64 points with Dmitry Khomitsevich and Dinar Valeev following closely with 60 points each. An engine failure whilst leading Heat 7 cost Valeev 3 points but he remains in a strong position in the intermediate scores.Johan Weber had a profitable afternoon adding another 9 points to his total which would have been higher but incurred a second race disqualification when he crossed the inner edge, a situation which occurred several times during the meeting as riders struggled to deal with the hard ice.

Leading scorers after Final 2 are:1. Dmitry Koltakov (Russia) 642. Daniil Ivanov (Russia) 643. Dmitry Khomitsevich. (Russia) 604. Dinar Valeev (Russia) 605. Nikita Toloknov (Russia) 456. Martin Haarahiltunen (Sweden) 367. Johan Weber (Germany) 318. Andrei Shishegov (Russia) 26  

The individual series now takes a break before resuming in Berlin on 2nd March whilst the Ice Speedway of Nations takes place next weekend on 16/17 February in Togliatti, Russia.

FIM Communications