EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP2

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Flint finished fourth in the meeting to book the last qualifying slot in a three-man run-off with William Drejer and Mikkel Andersen, with Flint second as Andersen crashed out.

Ashton Boughen competed in the same meeting and scored a creditable seven points, and the 16-year-old would have ended on nine but for a broken chain in his last ride.

The meeting was won by Sweden’s Casper Henriksson, with Wiktor Przyjemski in second place, whilst Andersen received one of the nominated picks for the Finals.

In Terenzano, Italy, Dan Thompson performed with great credit to score ten points from five rides, with brother Joe picking up five. It was all the more praiseworthy as the family had been hit by illness leading up to the event but still turned out to represent their country.

Sebastian Szostak, Bastian Pedersen, Jakub Krawczyk and Francis Gusts were the riders to go through, with Villads Nagel receiving a nominated pick after finishing fifth. Dan Thompson’s efforts were enough to see him receive the third reserve spot for the series.

And in Ludwigslust, Germany, British Under-21 Champion Sam Hagon finished in ninth place on seven points, scoring in every ride but being unable to take a heat win.

Qualifiers from this meeting were Nazar Parnitskyi, Jesper Knudsen, Mathias Pollestad and Philip Hellstrom-Bangs, with fifth-placed Bartosz Banbor also receiving the nod.

The main series gets underway at Malilla this weekend with rounds also taking place at Riga and Torun.

Andzejs Lebedevs leads the Speedway Euro Championship after one of four rounds, having taken his first ever victory in Debrecen on Saturday.
The Latvian, who was champion back in 2017 without winning a round, piled up 17 points out of 18 to leave himself five clear of Maciej Janowski, who he re-passed to win the Final.

Jacob Thorssell, in as first reserve, finished third with Patryk Dudek fourth after crashing out of the Final on the first two turns.
Defending champion Mikkel Michelsen scored ten points, missing out in the Last Chance, but double winner Leon Madsen finished down the order on just five, three of which came when he won his last ride. The series continues at Grudziadz on July 20.

The weekend action in the PGE Ekstraliga featured several talking points including a potentially crucial win for Zielona Gora, who defeated second placed Wroclaw 50-40 in a big boost to their hopes of avoiding relegation.

Wroclaw remain without an away win so far this season, despite a 15+1 haul for Janowski the day after his SEC runners-up place. Dan Bewley added 10+2 fresh from clinching the British title, whilst Tai Woffinden scored seven from five rides, but Artem Laguta crashed in Heat 11 and did not take any further outings, with the visitors only managing five race wins in total.

Robert Lambert top-scored for Torun with 15 points from six rides but they too suffered disappointment with a 50-40 home defeat to Gorzow, for whom Martin Vaculik scored 13 points and Anders Thomsen added 11.

Home fans expressed their disappointment with the result which leaves Torun in fifth place but having raced more matches than the majority of their rivals, whilst Gorzow are up to third.

Czestochowa are fourth but they were run surprisingly close by Leszno, for whom Ben Cook made an excellent debut with 9+1. The home side eventually won 47-43, Madsen top-scoring in 12+1.

Finally, leaders Lublin made it eight out of eight with a comfortable 40-20 win over Grudziadz in a meeting which was curtailed after ten races due to rain. Dominik Kubera, Jack Holder and Fredrik Lindgren were all unbeaten from three rides, although Bartosz Zmarzlik ran a very rare last place.

In Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga, four catch-up meetings took place with Poznan enjoying a successful weekend as they first defeated leaders Bydgoszcz 48-42 with Ryan Douglas notching 14 from five rides, a score he repeated against Rzeszow which was a closer encounter and required the Australian to lead a 4-2 in the last race for a 45-44 victory.
Elsewhere Gleb Chugunov scored 14 from five rides for Ostrow in a 47-43 win over Lodz, despite having trailed with two heats to go, whilst Bydgoszcz responded to their Poznan setback with a massive 61-29 win over Rybnik, who remain without the injured Brady Kurtz.

It means the top five in the table – Bydgoszcz, Rybnik, Ostrow, Krosno and Poznan – are all covered by just three points in the league table as the season approached the halfway stage.

The fifth round of the Swedish Bauhaus-Ligan featured the clash of the top two between Lejonen and Vastervik.

And the meeting did not disappoint as the teams fought out a 45-45 draw, with much of the drama occurring in Heat 14 when Zmarzlik managed to pass Lambert and Mads Hansen for a 5-1, with Lambert unhappy to have been impeded by his team-mate.

Kacper Woryna then won the last race for the home side in a 3-3 meaning the points were shared, with Lambert still totalling 10+1 for the visitors.

Elsewhere Vargarna picked up their first win of the season with a 48-41 success at the side immediately above them in the table, Rospiggarna. Chris Harris contributed an important nine points at reserve for the visitors.

Smederna were comfortable 53-37 winners over Dackarna in an early mid-table battler with Bewley not involved for the visitors although Lebedevs kept up his SEC form with 15 points from six rides.

In the Under-24 Ekstraliga, there was plenty of GB involvement with leaders Leszno maintaining top spot with a 48-42 win over Wroclaw, for whom Connor Bailey scored nine points.

Flint was in double figures with an impressive 12+1 but second placed Czestochowa fell to a 56-33 defeat at Gorzow despite that contribution.

Dan Gilkes scored 5+2 for Grudziadz, who moved off the bottom with a 51-39 home win over Lublin who replace them at the foot of the table.

And Anders Rowe collected eight points for Torun, although they slipped to a 50-39 home defeat at the hands of Zielona Gora who move up to second place.