Speedway Under 21: Pawlicki in command

Round 2 of the under 21 series took place in Ostrow, Poland on Sunday and there were over 6000 spectators to cheer on the local favourites. The result was a clean sweep on the rostrum for the home country who occupied the first three places at the end of 20 heats of close racing.

For the second successive round, Piotr Pawlicki scored an impressive maximum and never looked to be in any real danger of losing his overall lead. He now stands seven points clear in the Intermediate Classification. Kacper Gomolski finished in the runner up position with 13 points having been beaten only by Pawliki and third placed Szymon Wozniak.

Denmark’s Niklas Porsing was fourth with 10 well-earned points from 4 completed rides but was unfortunate to suffer a disqualification when he fell in his last race. Fellow Dane Mikkel Michelsen also secured 10 points and set the fastest race time of the meeting at 66.98 when beating Porsing in the fourth race.

A surprise success on this unfamiliar 385m track was Frenchman David Bellego who secured 8 valuable points to move him up to eleventh place but American hope Gino Manzares again showed his inexperience of European tracks failing to score on any of his outings.

Mikkel Bech Jensen had a disastrous meeting with machine failures restricting his progress and his solitary point was gained at the expense of Manzares in his last race. As a result he fell from fourth to tenth place in the table and any hopes of a medal have now disappeared.

Intermediate Classification after two rounds:
            
1 Piotr Pawlicki Poland 30
2 Kacper Gomolski Poland 23
2 Vaclav Milik Czech Republic 23
4 Mikkel Michelsen Denmark 21
5 Simon Wozniak Poland 19
6 Nicklas Porsing Denmark 17
7 Krystian Pieszczek Poland 17
8 Lasse Bjerre Denmark 16
9 Jacob Thorssell Sweden 16
10 Mikkel Bech Jensen Denmark 11
11 David Bellego France 10

Holding a commanding lead with only one final round remaining, Pawlicki has set a target that will be very difficult for his rivals to achieve. However we can expect some fierce track action at Pardubice in the Czech Republic where the destiny of the 2014 title will be decided on October 4th.