A form of speedway popular in Sweden and Russia particularly. Not to be confused with the event held annually in Telford or the series held in America during the winter.

These tracks are in the main are the one used for speed skating, around 400m in length and wide enough to allow for plenty of passing. The ones in western Europe tend to be 'man-made' refrigerated tracks whereas in Russia and Sweden a lot of meetings are held on natural ice.

The bikes used are quite different from ordinary speedway. The frames are longer and the riders sit slightly higher than an ordinary machine. The engines are the same as speedway but there are two gears to help get away from the line as the bikes are somewhat heavier than their speedway counterparts. The main and most obvious difference are the tyres. These have 28mm spikes, approx 100 in the front  and 200 in the back. The cornering technique is therefore very different from ordinary speedway. The bikes are leaned over into the bends like road racing but at far more acute angles, the left hand handlebar is usually only inches from the ice - the wall of death springs to mind !!!!

World championship meetings are usually held over two days, with 20 heats on the Saturday night and 20 heats on the Sunday afternoon. The World Champion is usually decided over a series of 3 or 4 weekend meetings - in true speedway style the formula changes year on year !!
There is also an annual world team championship that is held over two days and is run in a pairs type format.

Anyone with just a passing interest in the sport will realise that it is dominated by the Russians. The 2005 World Champion Nickolai Krasnokov is only 19 and has been riding bikes nearly as long as he has been walking !

The number of times the world championship has been won by a non- Russian can quite frankly be counted on one hand. The second most successful nation is Sweden. With their top rider being, in my view, the best ever ice racer and two times World Champion Per Olaf Serenius known as "Posa" to his army of fans. He is now 58 and still a world class racer. He won his last world crown in 2002 and he was also instrumental in helping Sweden to World Title success in the same year. A win that was particularly sweet in view of the fact that it was won on Russian ice in Krasnogorsk.

For 2011 Provisional Dates click  Here

VENUES

Assen, The Netherlands

If you have never been to ice speedway perhaps this is the first place you should visit. One round of the world championship is usually held there during March. There is also an open meeting usually on the Friday night before the main meetings commence on the Saturday night. The track is refrigerated and the air temperatures are not normally anything to worry about but it can get cold. In 2005 it went down to -8c but this was exceptional in my experience !! In fact when I've been there it has usually been raining but this doesn't really matter as the arena is covered. Best viewing is probably from the back straight and turns. Although the majority of these areas are standing some of the seats on the start/finish straight have restricted views. The best seating area may well be turn 2. (Bear in mind that in ice racing turn 1 is the equivalent of speedway's 1st and 2nd bend)
Various organised trips are run to this event and the Speedway Star Travel Club/Travel Plus regularly operate one which I can recommend.
However it is possible to do this one on your own and there are probably several  ways of doing it - I can only comment on the way we have done it which seemed to work quite well. Fly to Amsterdam Schipol and take the train to Groningen - there's one change and I think the journey is approx 2 hours. Its usually easier to find a hotel there - the ones in Assen itself usually get booked up quite quickly. Train connections are regular between Groningen and Assen. Booking stadium tickets is a good idea as it is nearly always a sell-out. More info can be found on the internet.

FOR MORE INFO, PHOTOS AND RESULTS FROM THE 2006 MEETINGS CLICK HERE

Berlin, Germany

An interesting City to visit in its own right and here again a refrigerated speed-skating track, although this one is in the open air. Cover is offered in the main stand on the start/finish straight but the rest is completely open. The air temperatures/weather here are not too much to worry about either I have known it to rain and be close to and just below freezing but it is the one place where on the Sunday the sun came out and we were watching the racing in tee-shirts - I think if it had been natural ice we may have witnessed a thaw-off !
The track is situated at Wilmersdorf within a 10min walk of the Hollenzollerndam s-bahn station so it is easily accessible from any part of the City.

2007 Results World  Individual  Final 

Day 1  Click  Here

 Day2  Click Here

2008 Results World Individual Final

Day 1 Click Here

Day 2 Click Here
               
Inzell, Germany

Probably the most picturesque track on the circuit set in the mountains of Bavaria close to the Austrian border. It can be quite cold here and on both my visits there were significant snowfalls !!! I understand that the track is refrigerated but there has never been any danger of a thaw off on my visits! There is a grandstand on the start/finish straight and cover on turn 1, the rest is open. I suspect that this track is another one best visited using an organised trip. Public transport seems sparse to say the least but obviously if you were to hire a car - no problem, especially if you like driving on narrow mountain roads in heavy snow!! I do know of people who have made their own way but it does look like a hassle.

FOR MORE INFO,PHOTOS AND RESULTS FROM THE 2006 SEMI FINALS CLICK HERE

Krasnogorsk, Russia

A satellite town on the outskirts of Moscow. The track is in what would appear to be a football and athletics stadium. The stadium has been recently modernized and now has two large stands the full length of the straights. There are no real viewing areas on the bends. The ice is natural and covers the whole of the track and playing surface. The stadium appears to be used for ice hockey as well as speedway. If you are the adventurous type you may well be able to do this on your own but would say it is best done on an organized trip. 

PHOTOS