Russia’s Daniil Ivanov (pictured) still leads the overall FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship, despite coming second in Final 4 in Togalatti, Russia today.
His win in Final 3 at the same location on Saturday means he has an impressive 78 points after the first two weekends’ racing, with fellow Russia Dmitry Khomitsevich in second with 64 points.
The Russians continued to dominate on home ice with 24 year old Dinar Valeev beating the reigning champion Ivanov to claim victory in Sunday’s Final 4. He sits in third overall with 59 points.
Top westerners over the weekend were Austria’s Harald Simon, Sweden’s Martin Haarahiltunen, and Germany’s Johann Weber given them positions 6-8 respectively in the overall classification.
Haarahiltunen and Weber made it through to the semis on both days, whilst Simon came into the top 8 only on Sunday. Weber was the only European to make it to the final, but was last on Sunday when he crashed out.
That Weber took part at all this weekend is remarkable when you see his crash from last weekend in Almaty. He was taken from the stadium via ambulance after being thrown forward over the handlebars. Amazingly, he escaped with just bruising, which clearly did not affect his form in Togalatti.
Swede Niclas Svensson was not so lucky. On Friday a rumour went out on social media that he had been scratched from the weekend’s races. This was quickly denied by Svensson himself. Then on Saturday morning, Svensson admitted that the doctor had forbidden him from competing due to a fractured ankle. The Swede was obviously disappointed, but it gave first reserve, Lukas Hutla from the Czech Republic a chance to race and he picked up 6 points.
Svensson has promised to be back next week when Rounds 5 and 6 take place in another Russian venue, Shadrinsk.
