EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP Vojens

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

Having reached the tenth Final of his GP career, Lambert was finally able to convert it into a win at the Danish venue, and with a win now on the board it should be a huge release of tension and give him a major boost with plans for 2025 being made.

Lambert went into the weekend as one of two riders with any sort of realistic, albeit outside, chance of challenging Bartosz Zmarzlik for the title itself, but with Fredrik Lindgren experiencing a nightmare meeting, it quickly became Lambert alone who could delay the Pole.

Lindgren was excluded from his first ride for bringing down Dan Bewley on the first bend, and he never recovered from that as he failed to make the semi-finals, whilst Lambert did so with ten points, making sure with a win in his final ride.

Bewley also won his last outing to secure a place in the semis as he finished on nine, and that resulted in both British riders going into the same semi, with Lambert needing to reach the Final to prevent the title race from being over.

Maciej Janowski won the race ahead of Lambert as they joined Zmarzlik and Andzejs Lebedevs in the Final, where Lambert pulled out a sensational start from gate two to take control in what turned out to be some of the most straightforward laps of his GP career.

Briefly Zmarzlik was stuck in third place but he managed to overtake Janowski for second, and that was enough to secure his fifth title.

Importantly, Lambert is 10 points ahead of Lindgren with one round remaining, and he is guaranteed a medal as he is 23 points clear of fourth-placed Martin Vaculik.

Bewley could mathematically make the top three but the most important news for him is that his top six position is secure, as he is currently fifth on 111 points, 10 ahead of Mikkel Michelsen who is ruled out injured, and only Jack Holder from outside the top six could overhaul him – although the Australian could yet be under threat from Dominik Kubera.

Extreme weather in Poland over the weekend resulted in the majority of matches being postponed well before they were scheduled to take place, and the arrangements for the PGE Ekstraliga Final have now been put back.

Champions Lublin will be there after an emphatic 59-31 home win over Torun, whose 12-point advantage from the first leg proved to be nowhere near enough although it had made plenty of headlines at the time.

But in the reverse fixture they were no match for the rampant hosts who opened up with three 5-1s in the first five races to lead on aggregate by that stage, and they marched on to an easy victory.

That was despite some great efforts from Lambert who warmed up for Vojens with a 15-point haul from six rides, including four race wins, but he lacked any real support as both Emil Sayfutdinov and Patryk Dudek struggled to find top form.

By contrast Lublin were rock solid with Lindgren and Holder both scoring 11+1, Kubera on 10+1 and Zmarzlik on 9+1 as they stormed into another Final.

The identity of their opponents, or when those matches will take place, remains uncertain because the Wroclaw/Gorzow second leg scheduled for Sunday was postponed, and having initially been re-scheduled for this Friday it was put back again due to flooding and will now take place this Sunday.

That means new dates will be required for both the Final itself and also the third place play-off, which were due to get underway this weekend.

The Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga Final between Rybnik and Bydgoszcz is now scheduled to take place on Friday and Sunday this week, with the National Speedway League decider between Gniezno and Tarnow also due to run on Sunday.

Lejonen are on course to win the Bauhaus-Ligan in Sweden after taking a 47-43 victory at Dackarna in the first leg of the Final.

Zmarzlik kept up his form with a 14+1 paid maximum from five rides, and he received strong support from Oliver Berntzon, Kubera and Kacper Woryna.

Bewley did his best to keep defending champions Dackarna in the contest with 11+1 from five rides, and Brady Kurtz scored nine, but they face a major uphill battle to prevent Lejonen from claiming their first title in 15 years when they resume at Gislaved next Tuesday.

The second leg of the Under-24 Estraliga Final between Wroclaw and Gorzow was another early victim of the awful weather, with a new date awaited for that meeting.