EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP Cardiff

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Just a month after their brilliant Speedway of Nations triumph in Manchester, the GB duo finished one-two in their home Grand Prix, the first time such a result has ever been achieved by their country in the GP era.

The traditional one-off World Final was replaced by the GP series in 1995, and fifteen years prior to that Michael Lee and Dave Jessup had finished first and second in the title decider at Gothenburg.

Since then, GB have had individual GP wins from Tai Woffinden, Mark Loram, Chris Harris, Martin Dugard and Bewley himself, but never a one-two.

That feat was accomplished on Saturday although it was far from plain sailing for the two riders to get to the stage of domination they achieved in the Final.

Both finished on nine points, only two behind the meeting leaders Mikkel Michelsen and Jack Holder, but that left them part of a nervous countback scenario with four riders involved, and only three places available.

With the normal countback procedures unable to split them, World Championship ranking took precedence and that meant disappointment for Maciej Janowski as Lambert, Bewley and Martin Vaculik all breathed again.

Lambert was first to take full advantage with a brilliant ride to pass Fredrik Lindgren in semi-final one, with the meeting already having featured Bartosz Zmarzlik's elimination before the semis for the first time since Prague 2019, discounting his disqualification in Vojens last year.

Bewley wasn't to be outdone as he won the second semi ahead of Dominik Kubera as the GB pair took first and second gate choices for the Final.

Lambert went for gate two with Bewley accepting the position inside him, and the latter proved the correct decision as Bewley made it to turn one just ahead of Lambert, who in turn forced Dominik Kubera wide whilst Fredrik Lindgren turned back into third place.

But there was no stopping the British duo as Bewley repeated his Cardiff triumph from 2022 whilst Lambert was runner-up in a GP for a third time.

And he had the consolation of moving back into second place in the overall standings, 21 points behind Zmarzlik, whilst Bewley's 20-point haul on the night leaves him just two adrift of Vaculik in sixth place.

There was also a creditable Wild Card appearance for Tom Brennan, who picked up four points from two second places and came so close to a race win in Heat 8 before he was edged out on the line by Mikkel Michelsen.

Aside from the Grand Prix, there was play-off action in Poland's two lower leagues last weekend.

The Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga quarter-finals got underway with Krosno edging a close first leg tie against Rybnik 46-44, but that result came at a cost for the home side with Vaclav Milik ruled out after a Heat 10 crash.

Milik was the innocent victim of a tangle between Jonas Seifert-Salk and Brady Kurtz, and having collected the Dane's bike he suffered a fractured arm which is set to rule him out for the remainder of the campaign.

There was a surprise result at Poznan as the home side raced to a 52-37 win over Bydgoszcz which makes them favourites to progress to the last four.

Ryan Douglas led the way with 13+1 from five rides whilst the visitors were unable to record a single race advantage.

Ostrow collected a more expected result in their away first leg at Lodz, winning 48-42 with Chris Holder picking up 13+1, whilst Luke Becker scored 12 for the hosts.

In the National Speedway League semi-finals, the absence of Adam Ellis with concussion proved costly for Pila as they went down 52-38 at home to Tarnow, for whom David Bellego scored a 15-point maximum.

The other semi-final saw leaders Gniezno take control with a 46-44 win at Opole, although the home side had the individual star of the meeting in Robert Chmiel who scored 16 from six rides.

Tuesday’s play-off quarter-finals in Sweden saw Smederna establish a 49-41 lead over Dackarna from their home leg, with Michael Jepsen Jensen top scoring on 13 points.

Brady Kurtz picked up 13 for the Malilla side whilst Bewley made his return to the side but was limited to 5+2 from five rides.
The other tie was closer with Przemyslaw Pawlicki leading Piraterna to a 47-43 win over Indianerna with 14 points, whilst Wroclaw GP wild card Patryk Dudek responded with 13 for the visitors.

There were four meetings in the Polish Under-24 Ekstraliga on Tuesday, with Zielona Gora recording the biggest score of the night as they defeated Torun 55-35. Anders Rowe scored five points for the visitors.

The biggest surprise came with leaders Wroclaw dropping to a 37-53 home defeat against Leszno, who are now just two points behind in third place.

Elswehere Gorzow are second after collecting a 50-40 win at Czestochowa, for whom Leon Flint scored 4+1, and Grudziadz won 47-43 at Lublin in the battle of the bottom two.