Speedway of Nations 2022: ‘That was really wild!’ – Timi Salonen makes huge impact as Finland reach surprise final

It was an eventful night for Finland at the first Speedway of Nations semi-final in Vojens as they took a shock second place to reach the final.

Team-mates Timi Salonen and Timi Lahti were in inspired form as they racked up 34 points to finish behind Australia and force pre-race favourites Poland into a playoff against Germany.

But aside from their impressive riding as a team, Salonen was involved in a couple of notable incidents on the night as he and his partner announced themselves on the big stage.

On the first lap of Heat 10, as Lahti streaked ahead on his way to his eventual victory, Salonen was caught up in a tussle with Ukraine’s Mrako Levishyn on the back straight.

The young Finn attempted to recover an error as his front wheel came up and almost shunted Levishyn into the advertising hoardings on the side of the track – ripping off a banner in the process.

“Timi Salonen makes a terrible start,” said Chris Louis on commentary.

“There was nothing intentional. But Timi Salonen just gets a little bit of unwanted grip.

“The bike just drives out to the right hand side, both legs up, not ideal.

“Levishyn had every right to go down and that would have been a big, big crash. Done extremely well to hang on.

“Bang! Wallops him really hard.”

“Do you think the referee could have done something about that?” asked Kelvin Tatum. “Because that was really, really wild.”

To which Louis responded: “We rarely see it from referees but the referee does have the option to black flag [disqualify] Timi Salonen for dangerous riding and could even make a change to the result after the race.”

Salonen, who currently rides in SGP 2, avoided punishment but that wasn’t to be the last of the incidents he was involved in on the night after causing a restart on Heat 15 after hitting the deck on the first corner.

The excitable Finn appeared to be leaning into German rival Kai Huckenbeck before coming off his bike, risking disqualification.

“He was leaning all over Kai Huckenbeck there and I just feel he may get excluded,” remarked Tatum before adding: “Maybe youthful exuberance getting the better of Timi Salonen there.”

Once again however, he escaped censure and was able to continue at the restart.

The pair will now contest the final alongside Australia, Poland, hosts Denmark, and three teams from the second semi-final.

– – –