The Individual European Championship received a facelift this year. It was an innovative idea of One Sport who decided to spruce up the competition to become the best rider in Europe. The competitors gained prestige with the new formula, and greater interest amongst viewers. Instead of a one-day final, the best riders of the Old Continent competed for the title, the medals, and the prize money in a series of four finals, in Gdansk, Togliatti, Gorican, and Rzeszow respectively.
The season was hampered by injury for many riders, and unfortunately the riders in the SEC did not escape either. Kjastas Poudzuks and Roman Povazhny became the first to be eliminated by serious injuries. The Latvian sustained a fractured wrist during round two of the SEC in Russia. Roman Povazhny suffered a bad crash in a Russian league match and ended up with concussion. Doctors ordered the Russian to rest for two months.
Next in line to finish his season on the side-lines was SEC leader Emil Sayfutdinov, and following a bad crash in Stockholm, Tomas Gollob was next inline. Nevertheless in spite of these setbacks the SEC tournaments reached a very high standard and continue to deliver spectacular racing. The One Sport Company, who organise the Speedway European Championship, invite the best riders of the year to enter the competition. This ensures the best riders are always taking part, as the qualification is within the same year as the tournament itself.
Each final round consists of 22 races. Each rider will race everyone else over 20 programmed heats, after which the top two riders will go directly to the Grand Final. The riders ranked from 3rd to 6th then go in a last chance race, where the top two will go to the Grand Final. The rider who accumulates the most points over the 4 rounds is European Champion. This year it was Slovakian Martin Vaculik who deposed Ales Dryml from the throne. The Czech Republik rider fought bravely to retain his title, but injuries and equipment problems meant Ales finished down the table.
Leading up to the last round at Rzeszow, title candidate Tai Woffinden was trailing Nicki Pedersen by a point, whilst Martin Vaculik had a 5-point deficit to the leading Dane. Pedersen’s chance of lifting the title ended in the last chance race, when he finished in third place. Already the Ukranian Andriey Karpov had been excluded after touching the tapes. The crowd went wild when Martin Vaculik needed just a point to secure the crown, and to become the first European Champion under this new formula.
The final had several restarts but Vaculik held his nerve and won the top prize. All four rounds of the SEC have provided incredible excitement and superb racing. Not until the very last race of the last round was the Champion of Europe crowned. In spite of a difficult season when injuries played havoc with some of the best riders of the Old Continent, the battle for SEC was exceptional and there is no doubt we will be seeing an even bigger spectacle next year.
