Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Bremen Six Day 2012 – Day Six

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HomeDiariesBremen Six Day 2012 - Day Six

I’m tidying this Bremen Six Day 2012 piece up on Thursday, we got back at the crack of dawn on Wednesday and I launched straight back into the ‘real world.’ I didn’t have much time to think about anything other than getting round my calls.

Bremen Six Day 2012
Ciao Danny – again.

But tonight I’ve been taking stock of the Sixes – or in the case of Zürich and Grenoble make that ‘fours.’

It has to faced, road racing dominates, ‘cross and the Six Days are side shows once the road season kicks off.

And the organisers don’t help – do folk want to watch bike races until the wee small hours? Not if the late ‘houses’ at Bremen are anything to go by.

It was unthinkable for Munich to die – but it did.

Bremen Six Day 2012
Major Toms.

There are eight Six Days this winter – I hope there are still eight next winter.

But forgetting the gloom and doom for a moment; Bartko/Schep won the 48th Six Days of Bremen by a clear lap from Marvellous/Kalz with Lampater/Keisse rounding out the podium in third place.

Bremen Six Day 2012
The guys’ faces give the game away – that was not easy.

The finale wasn’t what I expected, whilst there were spells of savagery, they were shorter than in Monday night’s chase, which our two Americans confirmed contained longer periods of the intense pressure which shreds pelotons.

Bremen Six Day 2012
One look tells you that madison chase was savage.

We had expected hi-jinx in the final chase – but it all went to original script.

When we awoke it was a nice winter’s day in Bremen, nippy but no wind and the sun was out for a change.

It was a little darker inside this stadium.

To say the Six Days are “fixed” is preposterous – if you can’t do the job, you can’t win.

And the job in question is to be on a par with four times World Champion Marvulli; European Madison Champion, Keisse; double Olympic Champion, Bartko; former World Points Champion Peter Schep and all the others.

Bremen Six Day 2012
Kalz and Franco.

But it would be naïve to suggest that there’s no choreography – for example, a home win is always best; it’s nice for a retiring star rider to get a podium place as a mark of respect; if a big road star comes in you don’t humiliate him, let him find his track legs.

These things have come to pass over a century of professional Six Day racing and are a part of the sport.

Bremen Six Day 2012
Brad does some stretching.

But sometimes, things go wrong and superb athletes or not, the riders are human beings, with all of the faults that you and I have.

Jealousy, prejudice, envy, greed, vanity, pride; all of these emotions come in to play – and some of them surfaced here, in this Six Day.

I can’t go into detail because I inhabit this world and the riders read this, but let’s just say it could have been an interesting final chase.

But peace broke out and it was all smiles on the podium.

Bremen Six Day 2012
Schep looking strong.

Berlin next; but with no Bartko – they tried to chop his contract fee, he said, ‘no.’

But the Aussies, Meyer and Howard are back – on big bucks, all the other teams will be pleased about that.

I’ll be there, so will John Young, will we see you there?

Bremen Six Day 2012
The winaars.

Bremen Six Day - Results from Day Six


Elite Men - Elimination


1 Jesper Mørkøv (Den) / Tino Thömel (Ger) Weser Kurier 20 pts
2 Franco Marvulli (Swi) / Marcel Kalz (Ger) öVB 12
3 Peter Schep (Ned) / Robert Bartko (Ger) SWB 10
4 Jack Simes (USA) / Theo Reinhardt (Ger) Lotto Bremen 8
5 Brad Huff (USA) / Ralf Matzka (Ger) Radio Bremen 6
6 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Becker + Brügesch 4
7 Milan Kadlec (Cze) / Marcel Barth (Ger) Germania
8 Benjamin Edmüller (Ger) / Roy Pieters (Ned) Klaus Lorenz
9 Alois Kankovsky (Cze) / Robert Bengsch (Ger) Eisbären Bremerhaven
10 Danny Stam (Ned) / Erik Mohs (Ger) Schmidt + Koch / Skoda
11 Marc Hester (Den) / Andreas Müller (Aut) Big Cash-Moneymaker
12 Leif Lampater (Ger) / Iljo Keisse (Bel) Sparkasse Bremen

Sprinters - Lap Record


1 Kian Emadi (GBr) 0:00:08.958
2 Philipp Thiele (Ger) 0:00:08.986
3 Sebastian Döhrer (Ger) 0:00:09.035
4 Lewis Olivia (GBr) 0:00:09.109
5 Jean Paul (GBr) 0:00:09.116
6 Max Niederlag (Ger) 0:00:09.296

Elite Men - Derny Finale 7-12


1 Andreas Müller (Aut) Big Cash-Moneymaker
2 Jesper Mørkøv (Den) Weser Kurier
3 Milan Kadlec (Cze) Germania
4 Roy Pieters (Ned) Klaus Lorenz
5 Theo Reinhardt (Ger) Lotto Bremen
6 Brad Huff (USA) Radio Bremen

Sprinters - Keirin


1 Max Niederlag (Ger) 1
2 Jean Paul (GBr) 2
3 Lewis Olivia (GBr) 3
4 Kian Emadi (GBr) 4
5 Sebastian Döhrer (Ger) 5
6 Philipp Thiele (Ger) 6

Elite Men - Derny Finale 1-6


1 Leif Lampater (Ger) Sparkasse Bremen
2 Robert Bartko (Ger) SWB
3 Erik Mohs (Ger) Schmidt + Koch / Skoda
4 Marcel Kalz (Ger) öVB
5 Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Becker + Brügesch
6 Robert Bengsch (Ger) Eisbären Bremerhaven

Sprinters - Sprint 4-6


1 Lewis Olivia (GBr) 4 pts
2 Jean Paul (GBr) 5
3 Max Niederlag (Ger) 6

Elite Men - Team Elimination


1 Leif Lampater (Ger) / Iljo Keisse (Bel) Sparkasse Bremen 20 pts
2 Peter Schep (Ned) / Robert Bartko (Ger) SWB 12
3 Franco Marvulli (Swi) / Marcel Kalz (Ger) öVB 10
4 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Becker + Brügesch 8
5 Brad Huff (USA) / Ralf Matzka (Ger) Radio Bremen 6
6 Marc Hester (Den) / Andreas Müller (Aut) Big Cash-Moneymaker 4
7 Jack Simes (USA) / Theo Reinhardt (Ger) Lotto Bremen
8 Milan Kadlec (Cze) / Marcel Barth (Ger) Germania
9 Jesper Mørkøv (Den) / Tino Thömel (Ger) Weser Kurier
10 Benjamin Edmüller (Ger) / Roy Pieters (Ned) Klaus Lorenz
11 Alois Kankovsky (Cze) / Robert Bengsch (Ger) Eisbären Bremerhaven
12 Danny Stam (Ned) / Erik Mohs (Ger) Schmidt + Koch / Skoda

Sprinters - Sprint 1-3


1 Philipp Thiele (Ger) 1
2 Kian Emadi (GBr) 2
3 Sebastian Döhrer (Ger) 3

Elite Men - Madison


1 Peter Schep (Ned) / Robert Bartko (Ger) SWB 14 pts
2 Franco Marvulli (Swi) / Marcel Kalz (Ger) öVB 30
3 Leif Lampater (Ger) / Iljo Keisse (Bel) Sparkasse Bremen 22
4 Marc Hester (Den) / Andreas Müller (Aut) Big Cash-Moneymaker 6
@ 4 Laps
5 Milan Kadlec (Cze) / Marcel Barth (Ger) Germania 4
6 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Becker + Brügesch 4
@ 5 Laps
7 Danny Stam (Ned) / Erik Mohs (Ger) Schmidt + Koch / Skoda 18
@ 6 Laps
8 Alois Kankovsky (Cze) / Robert Bengsch (Ger) Eisbären Bremerhaven 6
@ 7 Laps
9 Jack Simes (USA) / Theo Reinhardt (Ger) Lotto Bremen
10 Jesper Mørkøv (Den) / Tino Thömel (Ger) Weser Kurier
@ 8 Laps
11 Benjamin Edmüller (Ger) / Roy Pieters (Ned) Klaus Lorenz 6
12 Brad Huff (USA) / Ralf Matzka (Ger) Radio Bremen

Bremen Six Day - Final Standings


1 Peter Schep (Ned) / Robert Bartko (Ger) SWB 293 pts
@ 1 Lap
2 Franco Marvulli (Swi) / Marcel Kalz (Ger) öVB 318 -1lap
3 Leif Lampater (Ger) / Iljo Keisse (Bel) Sparkasse Bremen 291
@ 2 Laps
4 Marc Hester (Den) / Andreas Müller (Aut) Big Cash-Moneymaker 214
@ 8 Laps
5 Alois Kankovsky (Cze) / Robert Bengsch (Ger) Eisbären Bremerhaven 221
6 Danny Stam (Ned) / Erik Mohs (Ger) Schmidt + Koch / Skoda 176
@ 11 Laps
7 Milan Kadlec (Cze) / Marcel Barth (Ger) Germania 182
@ 12 Laps
8 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Becker + Brügesch 112
@ 19 Laps
9 Jesper Mørkøv (Den) / Tino Thömel (Ger) Weser Kurier 105
@ 28 Laps
10 Jack Simes (USA) / Theo Reinhardt (Ger) Lotto Bremen 88
11 Benjamin Edmüller (Ger) / Roy Pieters (Ned) Klaus Lorenz 60
@ 29 Laps
12 Brad Huff (USA) / Ralf Matzka (Ger) Radio Bremen 102

Bremen Six Day 2012
Brad and Jackie head for home.
Bremen Six Day 2012
Bye from Bremen!
Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed was involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he was a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He was also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months often worked in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed was a highly respected journalist, his tales of chasing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, Classics and World Championships - and his much-loved winter Six Days - are legendary, never the same twice, they gave our site an edge other cycling media could never duplicate or challenge. Sadly Ed passed away in January 2025, two years after suffering a devastating stroke.

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