EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP PRAGUE

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Lambert put in a consistent display at the Marketa Stadium in a difficult meeting which only went ahead because the track was covered throughout race day due to heavy rain.
Thankfully conditions in the evening were dry and the meeting was run at a fast pace with more downpours forecast, and Lambert was a consistent force throughout the event, never being in danger of being outside the top eight on the night.
He scored 11 points from his five qualifying rides, making him one of five riders to reach double figures, with the scorechart led by Martin Vaculik on 14 points whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik and Max Fricke both scored 13.
But Lambert was the only GB rider to make it through as Dan Bewley scored five points, finishing three adrift of the top eight, whilst Tai Woffinden – very much the King of Prague earlier in his career – endured a nightmare meeting, scoring just a single point.

Lambert found himself in the first semi-final and had a preferable inside start – but after Andzejs Lebedevs touched the tapes to reduce the race to three riders, Lambert found himself trailing Vaculik and Dominik Kubera as his meeting ended at that stage.

Zmarzlik and Fredrik Lindgren made it through the second semi at the expense of Fricke and Mikkel Michelsen, but it was Vaculik who raced to his third successive Prague triumph, being joined on the podium by Lindgren and Zmarzlik.

With Jack Holder not reaching the semi-finals and Jason Doyle out for the season with injury, Zmarzlik now has a 12-point lead over Holder in the series, with Lambert just one point further back.

However, just ten points cover second to seventh, with Bewley now finding himself in ninth place on 33, and he is 14 points adrift of the top six. Woffinden is currently placed 14^th on 17 points.

The GB riders were back in PGE Ekstraliga action on Sunday, with Torun edging to a 46-44 win over Zielona Gora as the visitors fought their way back from an eight-point deficit.

Lambert scored ten from five rides as he, Emil Sayfutdinov and Patryk Dudek secured the points required after a tough challenge from the Pawlicki brothers in particular, moving Torun up to third place in the table as the regular season approaches its halfway stage.

But the gap at the top is now up to five points as Lublin made it seven wins out of seven, defeating nearest rivals Wroclaw 50-40.

It was a strong performance from Bewley with 11+1 from six rides for the visitors, backing up Artem Laguta on 13+1, whilst Woffinden scored five from four rides. Zmarzlik (12) and Lindgren (10+3) led the way for the league leaders.

With the Gorzow/Leszno fixture postponed on Friday, the other clash of the weekend saw Czestochowa defeat Grudziadz 51-39 with Michelsen top-scoring on 12 points, leaving them fifth in the table whilst Leszno have dropped to the bottom.

The weather played a big part in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga with the meetings between leaders Rybnik and Gdansk, and Ostrow and Poznan, both postponed, whilst second-placed Bydgsozcz were 33-21 winners at Rzeszow in a match curtailed after ten races with the result standing.

The only match to go the distance was at Lodz where the home side defeated Krosno 50-40 to move three points clear of Gdansk at the bottom.

In the National Speedway League, Gniezno are top of the table after a 55-35 win over Landshut, who then moved on to Pila one day later and pulled off a 46-44 win thanks to a Heat 15 victory for Erik Riss.

The home side were without the injured Adam Ellis, whilst Dan Gilkes scored 2+1 from five rides.

Meanwhile Tarnow raced to a big 57-33 win over Daugavpils with Timo Lahti scoring a paid maximum, and Steve Worrall was unable to ride for the visitors due to illness.

There were several big results in Round 4 of the Bauhaus-Ligan in Sweden on Tuesday, with Lambert scoring a 13+2 paid maximum in Vastervik’s 62-28 win over Indianerna.

Luke Becker, racing at reserve, was also unbeaten for the hosts with 12, whilst Tom Brennan scored 3+1 for the visitors.

But that margin of victory was exceeded by Dackarna, racked up a huge 64-26 victory over Vargarna.

Only Lahti was unbeaten for the home side but Bewley scored 11+3 from five rides, dropping his only point to Mateusz Tonder in Heat 11.

Lejonen also topped the 60-point mark as they were 63-27 winners over Smederna with Zmarzlik scoring a 15-point maximum, whilst Kubera and Kacper Woryna were also unbeaten by an opponent.

The other meeting was a somewhat closer affair, although still a comfortable home win, as Piraterna defeated Rospiggarna 52-37 with Maciej Janowski scoring a four-ride paid maximum.

In Round 7 of the Under-24 Ekstraliga, Leon Flint scored 8+1 for Czestochowa but was unable to prevent a 36-54 home defeat at the hands of Krosno.

Anders Rowe was also on the losing side as he picked up 5+1 for Torun in their 51-39 defeat at Wroclaw, whilst the other completed meeting saw Gorzow win 47-43 at Zielona Gora. The meeting between Lublin and leaders Leszno was postponed.