AUSTRALIA have won the Speedway of Nations – with Great Britain taking the silver medals.
The Lions suffered a major pre-meeting setback in Vojens when Tai Woffinden was ruled out following a crash in training. But Robert Lambert and Dan Bewley mounted a spirited defence of Britain’s world title, topping the qualifying scorechart on 32 points. They were defeated in the Grand Final, however, by Australian duo Jack Holder and Max Fricke. Lambert said afterwards: “The way it went was that Dan and I knew we would be taking all the races. When you don’t know who is going to be racing where, it does put some pressure on the riders. “We just went out to do a job and try to get straight through to the Grand Final. We managed to do that. “It just didn’t happen in the Grand Final, but it’s cool what we are doing with GB. That’s two medals in two years – that’s a good return and we have to be happy with that.” Australia team manager Mark Lemon said: “It is a real honour to be leading our country and to win the World Championship for all those fans who get up in the early hours of the morning back home to watch us and support the boys. It’s just a fantastic feeling.” • Full report in Speedway Star this week.
AUSTRALIA 30: 1 Jason Doyle 0, 2 Max Fricke 11, 3 Jack Holder 19. GREAT BRITAIN 32: 1 Tai Woffinden 0, 2 Robert Lambert 18, 3 Dan Bewley 14. SWEDEN 30: 1 Fredrik Lindgren 10, 2 Oliver Berntzon 20, 3 Victor Palovaara 0. DENMARK 28: 1 Leon Madsen 15, 2 Mikkel Michelsen 13, 3 Anders Thomsen 0. CZECH REPUBLIC 27: 1 Vaclav Milik 18, 2 Jan Kvech 9, 3 Petr Chlupac 0. POLAND 26: 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 20, 2 Patryk Dudek 2, 3 Maciej Janowski 4. FINLAND 16: 1 Timo Lahti 14, 2 Timi Salonen 0, 3 Jesse Mustonen 2.
