On Wednesday, June 16th, the competition for the title of Speedway European Champion began on the track in Bydgoszcz. Leon Madsen was the best in the first of the four final rounds, although he did not seem to be the favorite to win the competition. Again, the Dane showed his high class in the most important heats of the day and managed to perfectly use the replay of the final run. The leader of the general classification, however, was Piotr Pawlicki, who finished second, but collected the most points. The podium was completed by SEC debutant Daniel Bewley. Fans saw an interesting competition, in with great racing and many position changings.
Already in the first run a great duel was fought by Patryk Dudek and Piotr Pawlicki, the main Polish candidates to win the whole series.
In the first run of the second series Piotr Pawlicki had to come to terms with the fact that he lost points at distance. This time he was overtaken by Mikkel Michelsen, who got back his loss from his earlier failed attempt to drive in front of Pedersen. At the end of the series, Nicki Pedersen fell and this unfortunately meant the end of the competition for him Piotr Pawlicki finally got his first victory. The rider from Leszno had to overtake Bartosz Smektała first. Then he had to defend the attacks of Kai Huckenbeck, who broke into second place and again had the desire to fight for something more.
At the end of the fourth series we had a big surprise, because the favored Patryk Dudek had to recognize the superiority of the not very effective so far Jacob Thorssell and Bartosz Smektała,, who unexpectedly fought to win. The Pole lost valuable points and this meant that after sixteen runs Michelsen became the leader. The most disappointed after the main round may have been Robert Lambert and Kai Huckenbeck, who started the competition in a very good style, but the weaker end buried their chances of a favorable result.
In the play-off heat, a lot of bad luck met Patryk Dudek, who had already suffered a defect at the start and had to abandon his dreams of advancing to the final. Daniel Bewley literally jumped out under the tape and rushed for victory.
The final run had to be repeated, because in the first installment there was a bad accident of Leon Madsen, which was caused by Mikkel Michelsen. The 2019 European Champion was therefore excluded and despite a very good attitude in the whole competition he lost his chance for the podium. In the replay Pawlicki again gathered the best start, but at the end of the race was overtaken by an extremely determined Leon Madsen. It is not the first time that the Dane has shown that even if he does not make a great impression in the main round, he can make excellent use of the play-offs and final, so he reaches for gold. Daniel Bewley did not join the fight for first place, but the Briton can certainly be satisfied with his debut in the European Championship.
The next round will take place on June 26th in Güstrow, Germany.
Final classification:
1. Leon Madsen (Denmark) 13 (1,3,2,2,2,3) - 1st place in final
2. Piotr Pawlicki (Poland) 15 (2,2,3,3,3,2) - 2nd place in final
3. Daniel Bewley (Great Britain) 11 (3,3,1,2,1,1) - 3rd place in final
4. Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark) 14 (2,3,3,3,3,w) - excluded in final
5. Patryk Dudek (Poland) 11 (3,2,3,1,2)
6. Vadim Tarasenko (Russia) 11 (1,2,2,3,3)
7. Robert Lambert (Great Britain) 8 (3,3,0,d,2)
8. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany) 8 (2,2,2,1,1)
9. Vaclav Milik (Czech Republic) 7 (1,0,1,2,3)
10. Andrzejs Lebedevs (Latvia) 5 (0,1,3,1,0)
11. Jacob Thorssell (Sweden) 5 (0,1,1,3,0)
12. Bartosz Smektała (Poland) 4 (0,0,0,2,2)
13. Patrick Hansen (Denmark) 4 (0,1,2,1,0)
14. Sergey Logachev (Russia) 4 (2,0,1,0,1)
15. Nicki Pedersen (Denmark) 3 (3,w,-,-,-)
16. Timo Lahti (Finland) 3 (1,1,0,0,1)
17. Mateusz Tonder (Poland) 0 (0,0)
18. Wiktor Przyjemski (Poland) 0 (0)
Heat after heat:
1. Dudek, Pawlicki, Tarasenko, Hansen
2. Pedersen, Michelsen, Madsen, Smektała
3. Lambert, Huckenbeck, Lahti, Thorssell
4. Bewley, Logachev, Milik, Lebedevs
5. Michelsen, Pawlicki, Thorssell, Milik
6. Lambert, Tarasenko, Lebedevs, Smektała
7. Madsen, Huckenbeck, Hansen, Logachev
8. Bewley, Dudek, Lahti, Pedersen (ex)
9. Pawlicki, Huckenbeck, Bewley, Smektała
10. Michelsen, Tarasenko, Logachev, Lahti
11. Lebedevs, Hansen, Thorssell, Tonder
12. Dudek, Madsen, Milik, Lambert
13. Pawlicki, Madsen, Lebedevs, Lahti
14. Tarasenko, Milik, Huckenbeck, Przyjemski
15. Michelsen, Bewley, Hansen, Lambert (ef)
16. Thorssell, Smektała, Dudek, Logachev
17. Pawlicki, Lambert, Logachev, Tonder
18. Tarasenko, Madsen, Bewley, Thorssell
19. Milik, Smektała, Lahti, Hansen
20. Michelsen, Dudek, Huckenbeck, Lebedevs
Race off: Bewley, Madsen, Tarasenko, Dudek (ef)
Final: Madsen, Pawlicki, Bewley, Michelsen (ex)
