Britain Through To Race Off

Great Britain managed to book their place alongside Australia and Latvia in Thursday's race off in the 2013 Speedway World Cup. Denmark strolled to victory right from the beginning which means they join Poland and Czech Republic in Saturday's final. The shock of the night saw a fantastic joker put USA in to the race off at an under strength Sweden's expense. Britain now have a great chance to take the final slot in the final with a victory in the race off.

GB were unsurprisingly led by Tai Woffinden and former GP rider, Chris Harris. Unfortunately, Edward Kennett and Craig Cook failed to follow the example and left the top two riders with too much work to do. Denmark were the clear favourites with GP riders Nicki Pedersen and Niels-Kristian Iversen at the helm. There was no real weak link for the Danes as they also had former GP rider Kenneth Bjerre and U-21 World Champion Michael Jepsen-Jensen in their ranks.

It was also no surprise to see USA's participation rest solely on Greg Hancock. The double World Champion guided Ryan Fisher, Gino Manzares and Ricky Wells to the race off. With Andreas Jonsson, Freddie Lindgren, Antonio Lindback and Thomas H Jonasson all injured, Sweden were left with Peter Ljung as their shining light. Daniel Nermark, Dennis Andersson and Jonas Davidsson tried their hardest but Sweden clearly missed their 'better' riders.

Victories for Iversen and Woffinden put Britain and Denmark level after just two heats before wins for Pedersen and Bjerre put the Danes ahead with 11-points after four heats. Second places for Ljung and Nermark helped Sweden get up to five points, one behind Britain. It was looking bleak for USA with Hancock and Wells picking up a point apiece from the opening four heats.

Pedersen and Bjerre extended Denmark's lead in the next two heats before finishing with 20-points after eight heats. A fantastic joker win for Woffinden in heat seven had put Britain two points behind the Danes but a third place from Cook left Britain on 17-points. Wells did manage USA's third point in heat five before Hancock scored his first victory in heat eight to double their tally. A third from Andersson in heat six after Manzares had fallen and a second from Ljung in the following heat left Sweden on eight after eight heats.

All four Danes managed to win their heats between nine and 12 which arguably finished the meeting off as they now had a ten point lead over Britain. Second places for both Harris and Woffinden did leave GB with 22-points from 12-heats. That was ten more than Sweden who had to rely on three points from Ljung over two heats and also a point from Nermark to put them on to 12. USA remained last on nine points after Hancock had scored another second place in heat ten before Fisher fell down in heat-12.

Iversen made it five consecutive heats after Andersson was disqualified for touching the tapes from the start. The meeting then changed in heat-14 when Sweden and USA both decided to play their jokers. It worked perfectly for USA as Hancock won the heat with Davidsson finishing last. This put the Americans four points ahead before Hancock won the following heat to extend that lead to seven after 16-heats. Denmark were now on 39 after a win for Harris in heat-16 put Britain on to 30. Nermark hit the fence in the same heat which left Sweden on just 13-points.

Sweden tried to pull it back with Ljung winning heat-17 in dramatic circumstances. Kennett had already gone down from the first corner and Bjerre looked like he was going to win. But the Dane picked up a puncture on the final corner to allow Ljung the win and the deficit was now five with three heats to go.

Nermark followed that by pulling another point back with a second in heat-18. But a fourth place from Andersson ended Sweden's hopes in the penultimate heat. Denmark completed the night on 49-points with Jepsen Jensen and Iversen picking up final victories. There was also a final victory for Woffinden in heat-19 as Britain finished comfortably in second on 35. USA finished their ground breaking night with 24 as Sweden were dumped out of the tournament with just 18-points.