Berlin (Germany) Six Day
(January 22 - 27, 2004)
Previous Years
Day Six - Tuesday
A nail-biting end to the Berliner Sechstagerennen and the 2003-2004 Six-day season saw the first victory of a Home-Town Berlin rider* for 31 years Tuesday night at the Landsberg Alle Velodrome as four duos shared the Zero Lap with scant seconds to go to the final bell. A highly motivated and super fit duo, Guido Fulst and his partner from nearby Potsdam, Robert Bartko, lying in third spot on points launched a Blitzkrieg type attack with three laps to go in the final Madison and smoked the field to gain the lap that was to ensure they moved up to the top place on the podium.
The Italian-Swiss duo of Villa-Marvulli, moving into the lead after the third night, were still the points leaders with less than a minute to go but could not reply to the Bartko-Fulst challenge and had to settle for second spot.
Another German pair comprising Andreas Kappes and Andreas Beikirch rode solidly throughout the event for a well deserved third spot.
* (NB: Fulst is not a ''Berliner'' - a Berliner is a jelly doughnut.)
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | 0 | 264 |
| 2 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | 1 | 285 |
| 3 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | 1 | 273 |
| 4 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | 1 | 240 |
| 5 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Marty Nothstein (Usa) | 3 | 208 |
| 6 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | 4 | 178 |
| 7 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | 9 | 61 |
| 8 | Bruno Risi (Swi) - Gerd Dorich (Ger) | 10 | 97 |
| 9 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | 16 | 91 |
| 10 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | 18 | 76 |
| 11 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | 20 | 131 |
| 12 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | 21 | 82 |
| 13 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | 22 | 86 |
| 14 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | 23 | 105 |
| 15 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | 27 | 41 |
| 16 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | 27 | 40 |
| 17 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | 30 | 65 |
Day Five - Monday
Villa-Marvulli still lead after the penultimate night in Berlin. But there are three other pairs on the Zero Lap and so victory celebrations would be decidedly premature.
And in fact the pair sitting in fourth place, the Potsdam-Berlin duo of Bartko-Fulst which has animated the race since day one, will be highly motivated to get a Home-Turf win. But from where they sit right now, if they are to pull it off it looks very much like they will have to do it by a lap as they have a points deficit which will be difficult if not outright impossible to eliminate in an event where there are four motivated pairs on the zero lap.
Neither Kurt Betschart (Swi) nor Stefan Loffler (Ger) were able to continue for medical reasons so the Risi-Betschart Alpen Express was derailed in Berlin and Risi is continuing paired with Gerd Dorich (Ger).
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | 0 | 229 |
| 2 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | 0 | 215 |
| 3 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | 0 | 215 |
| 4 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | 0 | 208 |
| 5 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) | 3 | 181 |
| 6 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | 3 | 157 |
| 7 | Bruno Risi (Swi) - Gerd Dorich (Ger) | 5 | 97 |
| 8 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | 7 | 52 |
| 9 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | 12 | 87 |
| 10 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | 14 | 61 |
| 11 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | 16 | 131 |
| 12 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | 16 | 57 |
| 13 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | 18 | 78 |
| 14 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | 20 | 90 |
| 15 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | 23 | 38 |
| 16 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | 23 | 34 |
| 17 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | 25 | 53 |
| -- | Abandoned: Kurt Betschart (Swi) and Stefan Loffler (Ger) | ||
| -- | New team: Bruno Risi (Swi) - Gerd Dorich (Ger) | ||
Day Four - Sunday
Thirtyfour year old Marco Villa (Ita) paired with Franco Marvulli (Swi) took a slim six point lead over the previous leaders, Robert Bartko-Guido Fulst (Ger), with four duos left on the Zero Lap.
So the race is still wide open. In second spot overall, six points down on the leaders, Bartko-Fulst are highly motivated to give Fulst a Berlin hometown win after thirtyone years.
Risi-Betschart have dropped another lap and are now in seventh spot, two laps off the pace, due, most probably to the absence of Betschart who didn't ride on Sunday leaving Risi temporarily paired with Dorich - a total disaster as they are old rivals and did not work well together. Hopefully Betschart will be back for the session today, Monday. (A rider can be off the track for 36 hours before his number is pulled.)
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | 0 | 186 |
| 2 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | 0 | 180 |
| 3 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | 0 | 174 |
| 4 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | 0 | 169 |
| 5 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) | 2 | 149 |
| 6 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | 2 | 123 |
| 7 | Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (Swi) | 2 | 116 |
| 8 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | 5 | 49 |
| 9 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | 9 | 69 |
| 10 | Gerd Dorich - Stefan Loffler (Ger) | 10 | 44 |
| 11 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | 12 | 51 |
| 12 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | 12 | 44 |
| 13 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | 14 | 92 |
| 14 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | 14 | 50 |
| 15 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | 15 | 68 |
| 16 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | 17 | 28 |
| 17 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | 19 | 47 |
| 18 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | 19 | 30 |
Day Three - Saturday
A great Saturday evening saw 13,500+ fans pack the Landsberg alle Velodrome to see the popular home turf rider, Guido Fulst, and his Potsdammer partner, Robert Bartko, end the night still leading the rankings.
But it was a cliffhanger for a while as the Villa-Marvulli pair temporarily grabbed the lead after the first 30 minute chase.
However in the second chase lasting 45 minutes, an agressive Bartko-Fulst took back the lead after an exciting display of scintillating riding. Bartko-Fulst kept the pace so high that only Slippens-Stam could stay with them and the duel between the two teams came down to the three sprints in the last 30 laps. Slippens-Stam took the first and Bartko-Fulst the second which left the fans expecting a classic charriot race type battle for the final sprint. But with four laps to go Bartko went off the front and gained 30 meters. Stam immediately made a valliant attempt to close the gap but could not make any headway whereupon the Dutchmen simply gave up and didn't even retain second spot in the sprint
There was some temporary pairing as four riders, including Betschart, Van Zyl and Sven Teutenburg reported sick. Betschart's soigneur, Fauconnier, promised to have his man back in action for the Sunday session but we shall have to see what happens to the rest of the lads on the sicklist and there may be some rearrangement of the Pairs for the action tonight (Sunday).
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | +0 | 149 |
| 2 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | +0 | 120 |
| 3 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | +0 | 109 |
| 4 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | +1 | 140 |
| 5 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) | +1 | 102 |
| 6 | Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (Swi) | +1 | 101 |
| 7 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | +2 | 101 |
| 8 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | +5 | 37 |
| 9 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | +8 | 56 |
| 10 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | +9 | 34 |
| 11 | Gerd Dorich - Stefan Loffler (Ger) | +9 | 29 |
| 12 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | +10 | 43 |
| 13 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | +11 | 80 |
| 14 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | +11 | 33 |
| 15 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | +13 | 45 |
| 16 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | +13 | 25 |
| 17 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | +15 | 25 |
| 18 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | +16 | 26 |
Day Two - Friday
Bartko-Fulst still lead after the second night in Berlin.
But with four pairs on the Zero Lap, the race is still wide open in contrast with Stuttgart which quickly became a race between two trios for the top podium spot.
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | 0 | 93 |
| 2 | Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (Swi) | 0 | 76 |
| 3 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | 0 | 71 |
| 4 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | 0 | 56 |
| 5 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | 1 | 87 |
| 6 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) | 1 | 57 |
| 7 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | 1 | 50 |
| 8 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | 2 | 37 |
| 9 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | 4 | 33 |
| 10 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | 6 | 60 |
| 11 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | 6 | 28 |
| 12 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | 7 | 19 |
| 13 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | 7 | 19 |
| 14 | Gerd Dorich - Stefan Loffler (Ger) | 7 | 14 |
| 15 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | 8 | 17 |
| 16 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | 8 | 14 |
| 17 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | 8 | 13 |
| 18 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | 9 | 15 |
Day One - Thursday
Home town Berlin rider Guido Fulst delighted the fans Thursday, the opening night of the ''Berliner Sechstagerennen'', as he pedalled to the top of the rankings with his Potsdam partner, double Olympic Champion and Rabobank roadie, Robert Bartko.
Latest from Moscow is that the organizers are trying to keep the event alive as an Amateur event.
| Place | Pair | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) | +0 | 53 |
| 2 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) | +0 | 36 |
| 3 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) | +0 | 34 |
| 4 | Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (Swi) | +0 | 31 |
| 5 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) | +0 | 27 |
| 6 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) | +0 | 10 |
| 7 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) | +1 | 11 |
| 8 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre van Zyl (Zaf) | +2 | 25 |
| 9 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) | +2 | 16 |
| 10 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) | +2 | 14 |
| 11 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) | +3 | 13 |
| 12 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) | +3 | 12 |
| 13 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) | +3 | 9 |
| 14 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) | +3 | 7 |
| 15 | Gerd Dorich - Stefan Loffler (Ger) | +3 | 5 |
| 16 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) | +3 | 1 |
| 17 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) | +4 | 11 |
| 18 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) | +4 | 10 |
Preliminary Start List
The Berlin Six-Day, always a great show, will probably be the last event of the 2003-2004 season. Copenhagen have roof problems which will not be fixed until April and Moscow is reported to be cancelled. Tashkent, on the calendar for the first time, has not been heard from and is consequently listed as ''Doubtful''.
But with an unusually high startlist of 18 Pairs, there should be action aplenty when the Start Gun fires on Thursday evening.
Look for a battle between the Kappes, Risi and Slippens Duos for the top three spots even though Slippens-Stam-De Neef put on a lackluster performance a few days ago in Stuttgart.
And there is no shortage of talent to keep the favourites on the rivet either. Gilmore-Nothstein will be there, as will Madsen, coupled with Hansen when Danelander Michael Sandstød had to withdraw at the last minute with health problems. And Spain's prolific Champion, Juan Llaneras, partnered by Sven Teutenberg along with a virtual plethora of HomeTown Berlin riders will ensure a first class event in the oldest surviving Six.
McGrory is out for the season with Hepatitis, Sassone is still incarcerated and Tom Steels crashed recently whilst training and so they, unfortunately, will not be there.
| No. | Pair |
|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bartko - Guido Fulst (Ger) |
| 2 | Robert Slippens - Danny Stam (Hol) |
| 3 | Bruno Risi -Kurt Betschart (Swi) |
| 4 | Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (Ger) |
| 5 | Marco Villa (Ita) - Franco Marvulli (Swi) |
| 6 | Christian Lademann - Marc Altmann (Ger) |
| 7 | Matthew Gilmore (Bel) - Martin Nothstein (Usa) |
| 8 | Jimmi Madsen - Jimmy Hansen (Den) |
| 9 | Franz Stocher (Aut) - Andreas Muller (Ger) |
| 10 | Danilo Hondo - Olaf Pollack (Ger) |
| 11 | Juan Llaneras (Spa) - Sven Teutenberg (Ger) |
| 12 | Ronny Lauke - Robert Bengsch (Ger) |
| 13 | Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) - Jean-Pierre Van Zyl (Zaf) |
| 14 | Erik Weispfennig - Daniel Musiol (Ger) |
| 15 | Lars Teutenberg - Bjorn Schroder (Ger) |
| 16 | Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (Slk) |
| 17 | Thorsten Rund - Leif Lampater (Ger) |
| 18 | Gerd Dorich - Stefan Loffler (Ger) |
2003-2004 Races - Home