EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP Riga

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

An action-packed Latvian GP saw Lambert put on an overtaking masterclass at times with few other riders appearing as comfortable with track conditions.

But after landing in a powerful semi-final featuring his World Championship rivals Bartosz Zmarzlik and Fredrik Lindgren, as well as inspired home favourite Andzejs Lebedevs, Lambert was relegated to third place and was unable to gain ground on Lindgren and Zmarzlik.

Dan Bewley, however, did ensure a British rider reached the Final although he first had to sweat on a semi-final place before clinching qualification in Heat 20.

Bewley then won semi-final two and was happy to go from the inside again in the Final, but at the end of a contest which was unpredictable throughout, it was to be the end of his remarkable 100 per cent record in Finals as Zmarzlik took the victory.
Lindgren was in second place to leave the title gap at 17 points after Round 9, whilst Bewley put himself on the podium in third place ahead of Max Fricke, and that moved him back up into the top six of the overall standings.
The big talking point had been a heavy crash between Zmarzlik and Mikkel Michelsen in Heat 4, and whilst the series leader walked away largely unscathed, Michelsen’s season is now over with shoulder, elbow and foot injuries.

That means the top six is likely to be settled, barring a late challenge from Dominik Kubera and Leon Madsen who are both over 20 points adrift.

Zmarzlik leads on 141 points ahead of Lindgren on 124 with Lambert third on 117, and with a comfortable advantage over Martin Vaculik who moved up to fourth on 102 despite not reaching the semi-finals.
The unlucky Michelsen is currently fifth on 101 but will likely drop behind Bewley who is on 100 and Jack Holder on 95 after the Australian suffered a disastrous night in Riga.

Lambert moved on to face the likes of Zmarzlik, Lindgren and Holder once again in an epic PGE Ekstraliga play-off semi-final for Torun against league leaders Lublin on Sunday.

And after a sensational finish to the meeting which saw Torun race to three successive 5-1s, the tie is very much alive with a huge upset possible as Torun will take a 51-39 lead into the away leg.

Lambert was immense with a 13+2 paid maximum on the biggest of stages, and another major story was the return from injury of Emil Sayfutdinov who scored 13+1 with the pair combining for an astonishing 5-1 over Zmarzlik and Dominik Kubera in Heat 15.

The two were a split second from disaster on turn four when Lambert lifted and appeared to be heading into his team-mate’s path, but Sayfutdinov managed an incredible switch back to the inside having spotted Lambert’s issue, and they still maintained momentum to take the maximum advantage.

The other semi-final appears to be very much advantage Wroclaw, who won 46-44 in Gorzow with a comeback of their own having trailed by ten points after Heat 4 and then by four with three races remaining.

Bewley picked up 7+1 from five rides as Artem Laguta dominated for the visitors with 15+1, cancelling out 13 from five for Vaculik, and Wroclaw will now be strong favourites to reach another Final.

In Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga the Grand Final line-up has been set, with league leaders Ostrow knocked out by Bydgoszcz.

They found an 18-point deficit too much to overcome at home, where they picked up a 48-42 win, with the visitors getting the job done despite a nervous moment after Heat 10 when they trailed by ten points on the night.

Bydgoszcz will now fight for promotion with Rybnik, who beat Poznan 46-44 at home to go through by six points on aggregate.

The visitors put up a stubborn fight and actually got themselves ahead on aggregate when they led 33-27 after Heat 10, but a strong finish from the likes of Rohan Tungate and Brady Kurtz took Rybnik into the promotion decider.

In the National Speedway League play-off Final, Tarnow took the advantage in testing track conditions with a 51-38 home win over Gniezno, with Adrian Cyfer (12+1) and Timo Lahti (6) leading their scoring.

Meanwhile Dackarna will face Lejonen in the Final of the Swedish Bauhaus-Ligan after both came through this week’s semi-finals.

Dackarna had pulled off a remarkable 52-38 win in the first leg at Vastervik, who hit back strongly in the return at Malilla but were only able to respond with a 47-43 away victory of their own – despite having reduced the aggregate gap to four points after Heat 9.

Lambert was superb again for the visitors with 13+1, dropping his only point to Rasmus Jensen in Heat 12, whilst Bewley scored 8+1 for Dackarna and was involved in a crucial 5-1 with Brady Kurtz in Heat 11 which eased the growing tension.

There were no surprises in Kumla where Lejonen travelled with a 53-37 advantage, and they extended that with a 51-39 win on the night to progress by 28 points overall – although Indianerna did have the individual star of the night in Anders Thomsen, who racked up 17 from six rides.

The Under-24 Ekstraliga Final is at the halfway stage with Gorzow holding a narrow 46-44 advantage over Wroclaw after a home win in the first leg largely thanks to reserves Adam Bednar and Mathias Pollestad who combined for an incredible 28 points between them.