EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP Wroclaw

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

Lambert finished third in Saturday’s Grand Prix of Wroclaw after reaching his third Final in the last four rounds, and in doing so he took six more points out of Zmarzlik’s series lead.

After the sixth round at Gorzow, Zmarzlik had a seemingly impregnable 27-point advantage, but his failure to make the Semi-Finals in Cardiff and then the Final at Wroclaw has given his rivals hope.

To be fair to Zmarzlik, he did possess far more speed in Round 8, even after recording a last place in his opening ride, as he completed the qualifying races with 11 points, tied with meeting leader Martin Vaculik.

But Zmarzlik’s hopes ended in the second Semi-Final when he suffered a broken chain, although whether that actually made the difference was a moot point as he was already at the back of the race on the opening lap.

By that stage Lambert was already in the Final having come through the first Semi with fast-gating Vaculik, and that was at the expense of Dan Bewley who was unable to complete another Cardiff/Wroclaw double as Lambert moved inside him on the second lap to take the vital second place. Vaculik then took full advantage of gate one to dominate the Final for his second GP win of the season, with Fredrik Lindgren overcoming Lambert for runners-up spot, and Mikkel Michelsen was fourth.

It all leaves Zmarzlik on 121 points heading to Riga this weekend with Lindgren and Lambert tied on 106, and Michelsen just behind on 101. Vaculik has moved up to fifth place on 95 points leaving Jack Holder on 93, whilst Bewley is seventh on 84.

Lambert’s positive weekend then extended to Sunday’s PGE Ekstraliga play-off action where Torun made it into the Semi-Finals on a remarkable evening of drama.

There were comfortable aggregate wins for Lublin, Wroclaw and Gorzow, the top three in the regular table, and that was no surprise based on the first leg results.

However, a fourth place in the Semi-Finals was available to the ‘lucky losers’ – and this turned into a real fight between Torun and Grudziadz.

Lublin defeated Zielona Gora 58-32 for a 45-point aggregate victory, so the Mickey Mouse club were never likely to be part of the equation for the other Semi-Final place.

But with Wroclaw racing to an away win in Grudziadz and Gorzow taking a comfortable home success over Torun, the aggregate positions were too close to call – not in the individual ties themselves, but in comparing who would win or lose by the most!

Crucially Lambert won Heat 15 for Torun at Gorzow with Patryk Dudek third, which meant they lost 51-39 at Torun and 99-81 on aggregate – crucial because the result at Gruzdiadz had been 49-41 to Wroclaw, which also meant they went through 99-81 overall. And with both ‘losers’ on 81 points, it meant Torun took the last place in the semi-finals on the basis of their higher position in the regular league standings.

Torun’s celebrations may be slightly tempered by the fact that they now face runaway league leaders Lublin in the last four, but it is still a season of progress for them, whilst the other Semi-Final will be contested between Gorzow and Wroclaw.

Lambert scored 15 from seven rides at Gorzow with Dudek racking up 17, and Anders Rowe added one from two outings, whilst Bewley notched 11+2 for Wroclaw at Grudziadz.

Meanwhile in the Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga play-off Semi-Finals, Rybnik raced to an impressive 47-43 win at Poznan, with Rohan Tungate top scoring on 12 points whilst Brady Kurtz came back from injury with 10.

The other Semi-Final produced a big result with league leaders Ostrow beaten 54-36 in Bydgoszcz, who are now favourites to make in into the Final.

In the National Speedway League, Gniezno were convincing 53-37 winners over Opole with Kyle Howarth scoring four from three rides, and they won 99-81 on aggregate and will now face Tarnow in the Final.

Tuesday evening saw play-off Semi-Finals in Sweden and there was a big shock in Vastervik as the second-placed club were beaten 52-38 at home by Dackarna.

Bewley scored seven points for the visitors, for whom Timo Lahti kept up his great form with 13+1, whilst Vastervik suffered massive disappointment with Lambert picking up eight points.
The other Semi-Final went more according to the formbook as Zmarzlik scored a 14+1 paid maximum in a 53-37 home win for league leaders Lejonen against Indianerna.

The line-up for the U24 Ekstraliga decider is now known, but it went right down to the wire before Wroclaw clinched a 45-44 win at Grudziadz which took them to the top of the final standings, and they will now face Gorzow over two legs in the decider.