Robert Lambert is one of the favourites to take the FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship this year and will look to make progress when the second round final takes place in Leszno on Sunday.
New British Champion Lambert is in the form of his life at the moment and has already won the British under 21 title as well as topping the SGB Premier League Averages and securing the Wild Card nomination for the Cardiff Grand Prix. His victory in the latest round of the Speedway European Championship has left him well placed in that competition against experienced riders such as Sayfutdinov, Hampel and Lindback and will have done his confidence no harm. He rides in Cardiff on Saturday and will miss practice in Leszno but says that he has learned from his previous experience of the Leszno track and should be well equipped to deal with whatever track conditions there may be.
It was a lapse of concentration on Lambert’s part that allowed Poland’s Maksym Drabik to take the lead at the first round in Daugavpils. Lambert led the Final but a burst of speed from the Pole took him into the lead and he holds a three-point advantage over the British hope. This will also be his first visit to Leszno this year and he will be looking to find the right mechanical set ups during Saturday’s practice.
One man who is very familiar with the track is third placed man and last year’s silver medallist Bartosz Smektała who rides regularly there in the Polish Extraleague and his local knowledge will give him a psychological advantage and will make him a hard man to beat.
Denmark has not been achieving its customary speedway success in recent seasons and Frederik Jakobsen will be hoping to restore some pride with a good result in this championship. His colleagues Patrick Hansen and Andreas Lyager will join him in that aim. Joel Kling of Sweden once again replaces the injured Russian Gleb Chugunov and the Wild Card for this round will be
Wiktor Lampart the youngest competitor in the field and strongly tipped as future Polish star.
Young Briton Dan Bewley is another who will make the overnight trip from Cardiff where he is one of the Reserves. His performances for Manchester club Belle Vue this year have proved his capacity to mix it with the best and his maximum in the Team Championship semi-final last week will have done nothing to subdue his confidence at this level.
Standings going into the second final are:
1. Maksym Drabik (Poland) 20
2. Robert Lambert (Great Britain) 17
3. Bartosz Smektała (Poland) 17
4. Oleg Mikhailovs (Latvia) 12
5. Dominik Kubera (Poland) 12
6. Fredrik Jakobsen (Denmark) 11
7. Daniel Kaczmarek (Poland) 8
8. Patrick Hansen (Denmark) 7
9. Andreas Lyager (Denmark) 7
10. Dan Bewley (Great Britain) 7
11. Joel Kling (Sweden) 6
12. Artjoms Trofimovs (Latvia) 5
13. Filip Hjelmland (Sweden) 4
14. Nick Skorja (Slovenia) 3
15. Robert Chmiel (Poland) 1
16. Filip Hajek (Czech Republic) 1
Reserves for this meeting will be the Poles Szymon Szlauderbach and Wiktor Trofimow.
Racing commences in Leszno at 6.45 local time and the meeting will be held under the watchful eyes of Pavel Ondrasik from Czech Republic as Jury President and Mika Laukkanen from Finland, the Referee.
For those fans unable to travel to the meeting, racing will be transmitted live on YouTube.
FIM Communications