Australian Max Fricke and Britain’s Robert Lambert moved into joint top place in the standings after an entertaining Final 2 in front of some 4000 fans in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Friday.
Fricke’s third place in the Final took his points total to 30 and although his British rival dropped out at the semi final stage his 11 points haul was enough to keep him strongly in the medal chase.
Star of the meeting was Dmitri Berge with a well earned 19 points and first place on the podium at the prize giving ceremony. It has been a good week for the Frenchman Berge who took the European Under 21 title last weekend and is now poised for a real chance of the world version if he is able to maintain his current good form through to the last meeting next month.
Berge has a rivalry with Germany’s Erik Riss on both the speedway and long tracks and their battle in heat 10 at Pardubice was one to savour. Riss had a disappointing evening and now has little realistic chance of a medal in this year’s competition.
Winner of the first round Krystian Pieszczek also had a poor evening and finished last in his semi final. He falls to third place in the standings but only one point away from the lead and has a final in his home country to look forward to.
Leading scorers after Final 2:
•Max Fricke (Australia) 30,
•Robert Lambert (Great Britain) 30,
•Krystian Pieszczek (Poland) 29,
•Dimitri Berge ( France) 25,
•Jack Holder (Australia) 25,
•Patrick Hansen (Denmark) 20,
• Pawel Przedpelski (Poland)17,
•Josh Bates (Great Britain) 17
•Erik Riss (Germany) 16,
The final meeting will be staged in Gdansk on October 2nd ,the day following the Torun Speedway Grand Prix. The championship is still wide open and the meeting promises to provide fans with a memorable conclusion to an exciting weekend of speedway..
FIM Communications