Poland win their sixth World Cup in nine years in dramatic
fashion. The final twisted and turned throughout as it went down to the final
heat. It turned out to be a battle between Michael Jepsen Jensen and Jaroslaw
Hampel and the Polish GP rider managed to get a phenomenal start to win the
trophy. After their race off victory, Australia were in contention for a lot of
the meeting but ultimately fell away and finished third. The hosts, Czech
Republic, were in action for the first time this tournament but, as feared, they
weren’t really good enough to compete in a final.
Poland (Hampel, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Patryk Dudek &
Maciej Janowski) and Denmark (Nicki Pedersen, Kenneth Bjerre, Niels-Kristian
Iversen & Jepsen Jensen) were unchanged from their first round victories. Australia
(Darcy Ward, Cameron Woodward, Jason Doyle & Troy Batchelor) were unchanged
from the race off. Czech Republic were led by the semi-GP rider Ales Dryml. His
brother Lukas and Josef Franc have also had premiere Speedway experience with
young Vaclav Milik completing the line-up for the hosts.
The beginning of the meeting was very open with all four
countries picking a race victory. Hampel won the first heat of the night, after
a false start originally, and second places from the other Poles put them ahead
on nine points from four heats. Pedersen won the second heat for Denmark as
they sat on five points. Woodward won the third heat for Australia, following
another false start, and three other third places meant they sat second on
seven points. Czech Republic had to wait until the fourth heat to pick up their
first points which came from Ales Drmyl’s victory.
Denmark dominated heats five to eight with four victories.
This propelled them in to the lead with 17-points. Three second places and a
fourth from Hampel in heat six put Poland on 15. Australia had to settle for
four third places which left them on 11-points from eight heats. Ales Dryml
continued to lead his nation with a second place in heat six to gain a further
two points, meaning he had scored all five points in the meeting so far for the
hosts. The first disqualification came in heat seven as Franc false started and
hit the tapes.
Australia used their joker in heat nine and it worked
perfectly as Batchelor won. Janowski finished second with Pedersen third,
meaning that Denmark still led on 18-points with both Poland and now Australia
on 17. Milik went down in heat ten, forcing a restart; Bjerre won it to extend
Denmark’s lead to two. Ales Dryml used Czech Republic’s joker in heat-11 but he
finished fourth which meant they still picked no points up. Hampel won it to
move to within a point again of the Danes. Heat-12 was then won by Iversen to
put Denmark on 26-points from 12-heats. A third place from Kasprzak put Poland
on 23-points with Australia on 21 after Ward finished second. With no points
gained from the previous four heats, Czech Republic remained on just five.
The game changed in heat-13 as Janowski won it for Poland.
This was helped by Jepsen Jensen coming fourth, allowing Poland to level the
scores with Australia three points behind. Iversen then restored Denmark’s lead
with victory in heat-14. A fourth place from Dudek meant that Poland were once
again three points behind with Australia a point behind on 25. It got worse for
Poland as Kasprzak packed up in heat-15 but it actually turned out to be a good
thing. Woodward’s second place did put Australia second with Denmark now six
points ahead. This meant that Poland could now play their joker in heat-16 and
the script was completely ripped up. Hampel rode the joker and would win the
heat. Pedersen was second until he packed up, meaning that Poland were once
again level with Denmark on 32-points from 16-heats. Australia still weren’t
out of it on 29-points with Czech Republic still in single figures.
Heat-17 was very tense and dramatic. There was a false start
to begin with, meaning all four riders had to go back and start again. Then
Bjerre looked to clip Lukas Dryml on the third corner with his dirt protector.
This looked to have caused Dryml to hit the floor but, after a lot of
deliberation from the referee, it was Dryml who was disqualified. Bjerre was a
very lucky boy but he could finish third with Ward taking victory for
Australia. This put Poland on 34, Denmark on 33 and Australia on 32.
It all changed again in heat-18 when Pedersen won it for
Denmark with Dudek only finishing third. This put Denmark on 36 with Poland on
35. Doyle finished fourth which ended Australia’s chances as they remained on
32. Second from Milik meant Czech Republic had now got in to double figures on
11.
Janowski won heat-19 with Iversen second. This meant that
Poland and Denmark were now locked together on 38-points with one heat
remaining. The tension rose with a false start, sending Jepsen Jensen and
Hampel back to the start. The engines were revved for a second time and as the
tapes rose, Hampel stormed away and took the lead. Jepsen Jensen had fallen to
fourth, virtually ending the tournament. Hampel continued to get away as Jepsen
Jensen clawed his way back to second, meaning that Poland would win the World
Cup by a solitary point.
Final Result: Poland 41 Denmark 40 Australia 33 Czech
Republic 12
No comments:
Post a Comment