It was a fascinating and exciting meeting. Additional heats had to be taken to solve the medal positions and clarify the TOP 5. Surprisingly, but fully deserved, title was reached by Dane, Nicki Pedersen. Meeting started with an one-hour delay, because of the weather issues. In Rybnik, it was raining constantly from 1PM and therefore, Jury had to wait with the decision till the very last moments
Around 6.30 PM a decision was made to start at 8 PM. First series ended with a bad luck for Anders Thomsen. While fighting for the top position, touched the back wheel of Martin Vaculik's bike and hit the track very hard. As it turner out later, it was the end of the meeting for this ambitious rider.
From the very beginning, Nicki Pedersen had been doing great, winning the starts and ruling at the distance. It was similar with crowd's favourite - Grigorij Laguta. In his two first heats, Russian got two wins and got himself closer to the gold medal of European Championship. At the opposite side, ther was the leader - Antonio Lindbaeck. After first, decent heat, next ones were not that good and all of a sudden 'Toninho' and his team started worrying about securing the spot for the next year's cycle.
Meeting was electrifying the crowd till the very last heat. Last heat of the main series was a true cherry on top. Grigorij Laguta made a passionate battle with Antonio Lindbaeck and the fans made a standing ovation for both. After 20 heats, everybody in the pits clutched their heads in disbelief while looking at the overall classification. Five riders had 37 points and the fight for gold was about to start.
Race-off heat filled the final heat's line up. Emil Sayfutdinov and Vaclav Milik were still in the game and joined Nicki Pedersen and Krzysztof Kasprzak in the final. Chance was lost for Grigorij Laguta and Leon Madsen. In the great final of the night, Nicki Pedersen gave no chance to the rivals and ultimately it was Dane jumping on the top stand of the rostrum. It's worth reminding that before this round, he was 9th and not many put their bets on him winning the trophy.
That was not the end of this passionate evening, though. Two additional heats had to be held. In the first one, three riders were fighting to the next year's spots. Grigorij Laguta won this heat and took the 4th position. Leon Madsen was behind him and grabbed the last position promoting to SEC 2017. Antonio Lindbaeck could not make it and finished 6th.
When the next year's spots were known, battle for the next two medals started. In the heat no.24, Vaclav Milik had no trouble defeating Krzysztof Kasprzak and it was Czech, who got the vice-champion title.
Results:
1. Nicki Pedersen (Denmark) - 17 (3,2,3,3,3,3)
2. Vaclav Milik (Czech Rep.) - 11 (2,2,1,3,1,2)
3. Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland) - 15 (3,3,3,2,2,1)
4. Emil Sajfutdinow (Russia) - 12 (2,2,2,3,3,d)
5. Leon Madsen (Denmark) - 11 (3,1,2,2,3)
6. Grigorij Łaguta (Russia) - 10 (3,3,w,2,2)
7. Antonio Lindbaeck (Sweden) - 8 (2,d,2,1,3)
8. Przemysław Pawlicki (Poland) - 7 (1,3,1,2,0)
9. Kacper Woryna (Poland) - 6 (1,2,3,0,0)
10. Peter Ljung (Sweden) - 6 (2,3,0,0,1)
11. Joonas Kylmaekorpi (Sweden) - 6 (0,1,0,3,2)
12. Janusz Kołodziej (Poland) - 5 (1,0,3,0,1)
13. Andrzej Lebiediew (Latvia) - 5 (1,0,2,1,1)
14. Nicolas Covatti (Italy) - 4 (0,1,1,0,2)
15. Robert Chmiel (Poland) - 3 (1,1,1,0)
16. Dominik Kubera (Poland) - 1 (0,1,0)
17. Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) - 0 (f,f,-,-,)
18. Anders Thomsen (Denmark) - 0 (ex,-,-,-,-)
Heat by heat:
1. Kasprzak, Sajfutdinow, Pawlicki, Vaculik (F)
2. Pedersen, Lindbaeck, Lebiediew, Covatti
3. Łaguta, Ljung, Kołodziej, Kylmaekorpi
4. Madsen, Milik, Woryna, Thomsen (ex)
5. Kasprzak, Woryna, Kylmaekorpi, Lindbaeck (R)
6. Ljung, Milik, Covatti, Vaculik (F)
7. Łaguta, Sajfutdinow, Chmiel, Lebiediew
8. Pawlicki, Pedersen, Madsen, Kołodziej
9. Kasprzak, Madsen, Covatti, Łaguta (Ex)
10. Kołodziej, Lindbaeck, Chmiel, Kubera
11. Pedersen, Sajfutdinow, Milik, Kylmaekorpi
12. Woryna, Lebiediew, Pawlicki, Ljung
13. Milik, Kasprzak, Lebiediew, Kołodziej
14. Pedersen, Łaguta, Kubera, Woryna
15. Sajfutdinow, Madsen, Lindbaeck, Ljung
16. Kylmaekorpi, Pawlicki, Chmiel, Covatti
17. Pedersen, Kasprzak, Ljung, Chmiel
18. Madsen, Kylmaekorpi, Lebiediew, Kubera
19. Sajfutdinow, Covatti, Kołodziej, Woryna
20. Lindbaeck, Łaguta, Milik, Pawlicki
Race - off:
21. Sajfutdinow, Milik, Madsen, Łaguta
Final:
22. Pedersen, Milik, Kasprzak, Sajfutdinow (d4)
Extra heat 1:
23. Łaguta, Madsen, Lindbaeck
Extra heat 2:
24. Milik, Kasprzak
