EUROPEAN REPORT - Speedway of Nations

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

The SoN format first came into operation in 2018, taking a break last year for the Speedway World Cup, and the victory of Robert Lambert and Dan Bewley over Australian duo Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz came in one of the competition’s most memorable races.

Australia had edged out GB by one point over the qualifying programme, booking their place in the Final direct with a 7-2 over Poland in Heat 21 – a result which finally put an end to any hopes last year’s SWC winners had of squeezing into the top three.

It left GB instead facing a race-off against Sweden, and that encounter saw Fredrik Lindgren make an excellent move around the outside to lead, whilst Lambert quickly read the situation and with Bewley alongside him, they concentrated on defending second and third from Jacob Thorssell.

That was a feat they performed successfully despite Lindgren’s attempts to slow the race on the last lap, and it meant Sweden were bronze medallists in the SON once more – having lost out at the same stage to Australia in 2022.

On that occasion in Vojens it was GB who had led the scores but this time the tables were turned in the hosts’ favour as Lambert made the start from the inside, leaving Bewley battling in third place with Holder in front of him trying to find an opportunity for Kurtz to come through.

The drama unfolded at the end of lap two with Kurtz briefly passing Bewley on the inside, but Bewley then cut back superbly to pass both Australian riders – and that was GB’s second SoN triumph effectively sealed.

Aside from their success, the big story of the Final was the outstanding performance of Germany, with Kai Huckenbeck and Norick Blodorn finishing just one point adrift of Sweden in fourth place – and in doing so, they relegated Poland and Denmark to a totally unexpected fifth and sixth respectively.

The Poles were left fuming by Bartosz Zmarzlik’s tapes exclusion when they faced Germany in Heat 11, but they were still three points short of Sweden, whilst Denmark were even less successful as they finished only one ahead of Latvia, being unable to find the formula despite tracking all three riders in various combinations.

The only disappointment of the weekend for GB was the cruel misfortune suffered by Dan Thompson in SON2 which left them outside the medal places and arguably prevented a double triumph.

Thompson had impressively won his first two rides with partner Leon Flint joining him for 7-2s, and although it’s fair to say their tougher races were to come, Thompson looked to be one of the dominant forces in the meeting.

Unfortunately he lifted on turn two in his third ride when they had again gated on a 7-2 against the Czech Republic, and although he saved that moment, he couldn’t avoid clipping the rear wheel of Flint which took Thompson down, into the fence and out of the meeting with a dislocated shoulder.

Flint battled on superbly, with Sam Hagon also doing his very best on his first call-up at this level, and they ended with 35 points which was just three short of Sweden and Australia, who took silver and bronze respectively.
Champions were Poland, which on the face of it was no surprise given that this was an 11^th successive triumph at this level – but on this occasion they could count themselves fortunate, and not just because of Thompson’s crash.

If GB were cursing their luck, Sweden were cursing for different reasons after a highly controversial incident when they faced Poland in Heat 16 and the spectacular Philip Hellstrom-Bangs appeared to have made a fair passing move on Bartosz Banbor.

However, when Banbor went down the referee chose to exclude Hellstrom-Bangs, and that led to a massive points swing especially as Banbor and Wiktor Przyjemski raced to a 7-2 over Casper Henriksson in the re-run.

Poland had to wait until Heat 27 of a marathon schedule to confirm their victory, when Przyjemski led a 6-3 against the Czech Republic, with Sweden’s 7-2 over Latvia in Heat 28 being enough to clinch silver on countback over Australia, for whom Keynan Rew was in sensational form.

There was a limited league programme in Poland on Sunday following the Speedway of Nations, starting with a welcome victory for bottom club Gdansk in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga.

They defeated Rzeszow 48-41 to keep alive their slim hopes of avoiding relegation, although the visitors did secure the bonus point and are therefore still six points better off in the league table, and Gdansk have just three matches remaining.

But it was a more encouraging display for the home side, with Niels-Kristian Iversen scoring a 15-point maximum and Brennan quickly clicking into gear after the SON, as he scored ten points from five rides including two race wins.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Ostrow stretched their lead at the top to four points with a 51-39 win at Lodz, a result which also gave them the bonus point.

In the National Speedway League, leaders Gniezno were emphatic 58-32 winners at Landshut with Kyle Howarth called into the team, and he responded with an excellent display to score 7+3 from four rides.

Tuesday’s action in Sweden was limited to two matches, with Lambert being due to line up for Vastervik against Lejonen, only for that meeting to be put back by 24 hours due to rain. The fixture between Vargarna and Rospiggarna had already been postponed and rearranged for July 29.

In the two meetings which did take place, Brennan scored 4+1 for Indianerna in a 48-42 defeat at Piraterna, whilst Dackarna were convincing 57-33 winners over Smederna with Kurtz scoring a 14+1 paid maximum.
A busy couple of days in the Polish U24 Ekstraliga saw an excellent performance by Flint, who inspired Czestochowa to a 47-43 win at Grudziadz on Monday with a 12+2 score from five rides.

Flint combined with James Pearson for a 5-1 in Heat 15 to secure the away win after the score had been level going into the race.
Dan Gilkes scored three points from four rides for the hosts, those points coming from a race win, and then he scored three from two on Tuesday – also from a race win – as the home match against Gorzow was abandoned after Heat 8 with the result standing at 19-29.

Flint was also racing for the second time in 24 hours but this time Czestochowa were on the wrong end of a huge 65-25 defeat at Wroclaw, for whom Danish youngster Mikkel Andersen scored a paid maximum on his debut. Flint totalled three points in that meeting.

Elsewhere Anders Rowe score 6+1 for Torun in a 49-41 defeat at Leszno, whilst Lublin defeated Krosno 47-31 in another meeting which did not go the full distance.