Winter has been harsh right here within the States this yr. From the atmospheric rivers pounding the West Coast to the bomb cyclones endured all through the Mid-West and East Coast, the seasonal circumstances have not often relented in 2023. That isn’t the case around the globe, nevertheless.
In Austria, abnormally heat winter temperatures compelled the MSC Weißenbach membership to postpone its ice speedway race scheduled on February 4, 2023. With no forecasted storms to offer aid, the group finally canceled the occasion but once more.
“Sadly, it’s not doable for us to prepare an ice speedway this yr. The nice and cozy temperatures and the little snowfall do not enable it,” an MSC Weißenbach consultant informed German outlet SpeedWeek. “Our Rally Cross will happen on February twenty fifth. We hope we will begin once more with an ice speedway in 2024.”
By then, ice racing followers may have waited 5 years since Luca Bauer claimed victory on the Tyrol-based race in 2019. Austria isn’t the one nation dropping an annual ice race, although. The Netherlands additionally canceled the Ice Speedway Championship spherical at Heerenveen—however for solely completely different causes.
“Because of the excessive power costs, it’s not doable for us to carry the ice speedway occasion from March 30 to April 2, (2023),” revealed the organizing membership. “We very a lot remorse that the race just isn’t doable now, however we hope that it is going to be doable once more in 2024.”
In consequence, the only spherical of the 2023 FIM Speedway World Champion will happen in Inzell, Germany, on March 18-19, 2023. In fact, there are no indicators that the local weather disaster will cooperate with the Austria-based MSC Weißenbach race within the close to future.
However, rising power prices are a direct results of the persevering with Russia-Ukraine battle. Hopefully, by 2024, the 2 nations attain a decision or the Netherlands finds various power sources. In any other case, ice speedway racing might endure for years to come back.
