EUROPEAN REPORT

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

The first clash of GB riders came in Heat 9 when Lambert joined Patryk Dudek for a 5-1 over Tai Woffinden and Dan Bewley, which enabled Torun to extend their lead to six points.

Lambert then won Heat 13 in a 5-1 with Emil Sayfutdinov as tactical substitute Bewley finished at the back – although Bewley did reach nine points from six rides for Wroclaw in support of Artem Laguta with 13+2. Woffinden’s tough run continued with two points from four outings.

Meanwhile Lublin march on at the top of the table, completing a fourth win out of four with a 51-39 win at Czestochowa who have now dropped to the bottom.

Dominik Kubera led the way for the visitors on 14 points with World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik adding 12+2, whilst Leon Madsen top-scored for the hosts on 12.

Gorzow are in second place after winning their local derby at a sold-out Zielona Gora 49-41 with Martin Vaculik (13), Anders Thomsen (11+2) and Szymon Wozniak (11+2) leading the way, whilst Piotr Pawlicki top-scored for the hosts on 10.

The other weekend fixture saw a big win for Grudziadz over Leszno with Max Fricke (14+1) and Vadim Tarasenko (13+2) both scoring paid maximums.

Janusz Kolodziej top-scored for Leszno with 10+1, but that came at a massive cost as a clash with Jaimon Lidsey in Heat 12 left the Pole with a dislocated shoulder and broken arm, putting him potentially out of action until mid-June at the earliest, which will also be a huge blow to his SEC hopes.

In Metalas 2. Ekstraliga there was an abandoned meeting at Gdansk for Tom Brennan, who scored two points from two rides in a 21-27 defeat against Bydgoszcz as rain forced a halt after eight races.

Rybnik kept up their good form and are league leaders after a 50-39 win at Lodz, with Grzegorz Walasek top-scoring on 13+1, and they lead Bydgoszcz by two points. Krosno, like Rybnik, are unbeaten but are a match behind after having no fixture last weekend.

Elsewhere in Europe, the remaining places in the SEC Challenge were confirmed in the final two qualifiers, including an ultra-tough event at German venue Stralsund.

Maciej Janowski defeated Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Rasmus Jensen in a three-man run-off after they all scored 14 points, whilst the remaining place went to Dimitri Berge on 11. Steve Worrall missed out on qualification, as he was placed seventh having scored eight points.

At Slovenia, SGP2 Champion Mateusz Cierniak raced to a 15-point maximum whilst the others to go through from Krsko were Piotr Pawlicki, Vaclav Milik and Andreas Lyager, the latter defeating Slovenian youngster Anze Grmek in a run-off.

Next up for the riders who have qualified is the SEC Challenge at Daugavpils this Saturday, with five places in the full series available – although high finishes outside the top five could assist rides to gain a nominated or reserve pick.

Tuesday evening saw the first round of meetings in the Swedish Bauhaus Ligan, where Lambert was in excellent form for Vastervik.

He top-scored with 14 points from five rides in their 47-43 win at Vargarna, dropping his only points to Niels-Kristian Iversen.

Lambert and Fricke combined for a 5-1 in the last race to clinch victory, whilst Chris Harris scored eight points including two race wins for the home side on his return to Swedish action.

Elsewhere, Bewley picked up 6+1 in a comfortable home win for Dackarna as they defeated Piraterna 55-35.

There were two other away wins in the opening round as Indianerna took a 47-43 result at Smederna, whilst Lejonen romped to a big 54-36 win at Rospiggarna.

Meanwhile there were good performances from British youngsters in the latest round of the Under-24 Ekstraliga, headlined by Dan Gilkes at Gorzow.

Gilkes helped Grudziadz to a 47-41 away victory, scoring 9+1 from five rides which included two race wins and a crucial paid win in a match clinching 5-1 in Heat 14.

Anders Rowe also scored 9+1 although in his case it wasn’t enough to help Torun to victory as they lost out 47-43 at home to Leszno.

The third British rider in action was Connor Bailey, who scored 5+1 for Wroclaw in a 49-41 defeat at Czestochowa, whilst the remaining meeting saw Lublin win 46-44 at Krosno.

Leszno, with a maximum of six points of out of six, and Zielona Gora with four after not racing on Tuesday, are the unbeaten teams in the competition so far.