EUROPEAN PREVIEW

Images courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

League leaders Wroclaw, including Dan Bewley and Tai Woffinden, overcame Leszno in the quarter-finals, and now they travel to Torun to face the ‘lucky losers.’

Torun missed out on aggregate against Lublin, which was no real surprise, but they kept the contest close enough over two legs to remain in the fight for the title, with their points total better than those of Leszno and Gorzow.

And that means Bewley and Woffinden head to the home track of Robert Lambert on Sunday as Torun look to establish some sort of first leg advantage.

When they met at the same venue back in late April it was an emphatic 52-38 away win for Wroclaw, with Artem Laguta scoring a paid maximum whilst Bewley chipped in with 11+2 and Woffinden scored 8+3. Lambert picked up 8+1 for Torun.

Meanwhile the other Semi-Final first leg takes place on Saturday as Czestochowa host Lublin, with the previous contest coming way back in Round 2 on April 16, where Lublin were 49-41 winners with a 15-point maximum for Bartosz Zmarzlik.

With the British Grand Prix at Cardiff taking centre stage next weekend, the second legs take place on Sunday September 10.

This Saturday also features the three quarter-final second legs in Division One, with Zielona Gora’s progression seemingly a formality as they take a 60-30 lead into their home meeting with Gdansk.

Bydgoszcz were also winners away from home, although in their case by a much narrower margin, as they hold a 45-44 advantage over Landshut.

The third fixture is interestingly poised with Ostrow having a 12-point deficit to make up at home to Rybnik, having gone down 51-39 in the away leg.

In Division Two, the final fixtures of the regular campaign take place this weekend with leaders Opole having finished their schedule on 19 points.

They could be overhauled by Rzeszow, who have 18 ahead of their home match against fourth placed Tarnow in Saturday, and a home win there would give Daugavpils the chance to move into the play-off places.

Steve Worrall’s side host the bottom club, troubled Rawicz, and must be favourites to win, whilst Gniezno could also go above Opole with a home win over Pila.

Midweek action in the Swedish Bauhaus-Ligan saw the first legs of the quarter finals with Rospiggarna establishing a 50-40 lead over Piraterna, thanks mainly to their reserves Antonio Lindback and Luke Becker, who outscored their counterparts 24-2.

Meanwhile Lejonen won 47-43 at Indianerna with Zmarzlik passing Jason Doyle in Heat 15 whilst Dominik Kubera overhauled Szymon Wozniak just when a drawn meeting looked to be on the cards.

In the Under-24 Ekstraliga, the league stage has now been completed with Krosno already assured of top spot in the table and a place in the Grand Final before they lost 49-41 at Gorzow on Monday.

But that was an important result for their opponents in confirming their second place overall as they then won 50-40 at Czestochowa on Tuesday whilst rivals Ostrow were also successful on the road, 47-43 at Grudziadz with Leon Flint scoring six points – but it wasn’t enough to quite make the top two.

Elsewhere Lublin thrashed bottom club Wroclaw 63-27 with Connor Bailey and Luke Killeen scoring five and two points respectively for the visitors, whilst Leszno matched that score against Torun but finished three points adrift of second place.

Monday’s other fixture had seen Wroclaw finally get off the mark with a 46-44 win over Czestochowa, Killeen scoring 4+3.