DENMARK TEAM ANNOUNCED

The seven-man team will be headed by Grand Prix star Niels-Kristian Iversen, who is joined by Peterborough legend Hans Andersen and former King’s Lynn charger Kasper Andersen, while Swindon’s Rasmus Jensen adds power to the Danish middle order.

They will team up with Michel Bech Jensen, who will be making a rare appearance on these shores, and youngsters Benjamin Basso and Matias Nielsen – who will both be making their UK debuts.

While some of those names will be familiar to British fans, it offers them the opportunity to get a glimpse of the future in Nielsen and Basso – both of whom have impressed team boss Hans Nielsen this year.

“Obviously some of the guys in our team have a base in England and they have equipment there, but we wanted to bring some new faces over too and we’re looking forward to seeing how Matias and Benjamin get on,” he said.

“Benjamin is actually on holiday with his family and he is cutting it short to come and ride, so he has great enthusiasm. He’s a young kid who has been riding a bit for Fjelsted this year and in the first division, he’s a very steady rider, good technique, does everything pretty well, so it will be a good experience for him.

“With Matias, he has been racing a little bit longer and he is maybe a little bit more established. He has been doing well this year in various meetings all over the world and he has big potential. Both Matias and Ben are in our talent tournament group, which means they go and get experience in lots of different international meetings.

“They both have the potential to step up to the Under-21 team next year and we are deciding over the Winter who will be in that group, and they both have a good chance. It will be good for them to experience a different track, especially somewhere like King’s Lynn where the track can sometimes be a bit tricky.”

Under Nielsen’s tenure, the Danish team have taken to the track regularly and he believes that test matches are a vital part of garnering team spirit, something he knows only too well from his own racing days.

He said: “Erik (Gundersen) actually just messaged me to say how great it is that we have a test match because it was something we really enjoyed when we were riding.

“It’s a great way to get the team spirit going and when we were racing, we loved the test matches and all coming together for our country. With the Speedway of Nations meaning you only need three riders, it’s hard to built a team spirit so these test matches give you the chance to come together and get to know each other a little bit more.

“Hopefully we can have some more in the future, with Great Britain now coming in too it would be good to see if we can get them over to Denmark – who knows what the future holds but we definitely want to race as a team more often.

“Next week is a good chance for us to come together, hopefully have a great meeting and end the season on a positive.”

TEAMS

Great Britain

1. Craig Cook
2. Lewis Kerr
3. Adam Ellis
4. Dan Bewley
5. Charles Wright
6. Drew Kemp
7. Anders Rowe

Denmark

1. Niels-Kristian Iversen
2. Kasper Andersen
3. Michel Bech Jensen
4. Rasmus Jensen
5. Hans Andersen
6. Matias Nielsen
7. Benjamin Basso