After organizer was forced to postpone the last and finale round of Viking Cup due to heavy rain, one decided right on spot that the third round will be raced at Lunner together with the club Oslo MK Follo’s Hells Race. A decision taken due to lack of open dates to make a new try in Vetlanda this year. The season is already packed and most of the riders were going to Lunner anyway so the offer the Norweigans came up with was due to all facts the best solution of all.
But how is this gonna work?
All riders signed up for round three in Vetlanda will be signed up for free to Viking Cup at the new location in Norway, but to be able to race they also need to sign up for Hells race. All riders has been informed about this and what they need to do to entry the two in one combination of race. Organizer of Vetlanda round do belive that there’s acceptance amoung the riders of this solution.
– Rain cancellation on spot is the worst, everyone is loosing, but the safety is always number one. Flat track riders are much tougher than for example speedway riders but there is a limit even for us and the track only got worse and worse during the day so the decision taken was the right one, says organizer.
Clay tracks as the one in Vetlanda needs considerable amount of time to dry up after heavy rain since the clay sticks togheter when wet and prevents water from flowing through the material. On the other hand when the track is perfect moistured the grip is outstandanding but makes it muddy and dangerously slippry when to wet. Other kinds of material like the ones at Varkaus and Kauhajoki which didn’t contain any clay takes rain shower much better. Instead of clay they uses salt to get the material to stick together. In Sweden as well as Norway, thats not allowed anymore why clay is more common to use to get the material stick and get that perfect grippy track.
The choice of material is a hard ball for any track and club. Costs and possibilitys to to care for it matters. Clubs like Vetlanda which has a long and successful speedway history has made their choice of materials due to whats the track is mostly used for – speedway, but nowdays with more rain coming during season it might be time time to consider other solutions to minimize the risks of last minute cancellations of races. It’s costly for both clubs and riders when it happens and since our sport as well as speedway is an outdoor we all need to try to figure out a solution to avoid cancellations in the future. Even do we cant decide over the weather we can adapt and thats whats we most likely will do.
But at august 8-9 we cross our fingers for good weather, and we do belive that Lunner track isn’t as sensitive to rain as Vetlanda track. So we are looking forward to a hell of race at Hells race and to watch all new becoming Nordic Champions finally get their awards by race to the podium in the last round of Viking Cup and the first ever Hells Race in Norway.
