The teams for the opening rounds of the 2009 FIM Tobet Speedway World Cup have been declared and seem certain to provide this year’s competition with some interesting racing.
The tournament opens in Vojens, Denmark on 11th July with the home team entertaining Sweden, Russia and Czech Republic. Danish Team Manager Jan Staechmann has chosen his strongest team which includes World Individual champion Nicki Pedersen and is skippered by Hans Andersen, now finding some of his best form. Whilst the Danes look the most likely to proceed direct to the Final it must be remembered that Sweden stole the World Cup from the home team on this track in 2003 and will be hoping to spring a similar surprise with a resurgent Antonio Lindback, Freddie Lindgren currently enjoying his best season and Captain Andreas Jonsson.
There should also be a tight battle for third place between traditional rivals Russia and the Czech Republic. The Czechs who qualified from the Latvian round appear to be too dependant on the form of the Dryml brothers, Ales and Lukas and may find it hard to contain a Russian side which includes veteran Roman Povazhny and the mercurial Emil Sayfutdinov who is currently setting the Grand Prix series alight.
Event Two is staged two days later in England at Peterborough (13th July, First Heat 19.45). The major surprise here is that new Great Britain Team Manager, Rob Lyon has chosen a comparatively inexperienced and youthful team to compete against the might of Australia, Poland and first time qualifiers Slovenia. Captain Scott Nicholls and experienced Lee Richardson are rested and Edward Kennett, Tai Woffinden, Lewis Bridger and debutant Daniel King join British Champion Chris Harris in the line-up. Australia, looking to repeat their last win in 2002 track a very strong-looking team with SGP stars Leigh Adams and current leader Jason Crump supported by the Ryan Sullivan, Chris Holder and Rory Schlein. The Poles have a solid look with Tomasz Gollob and Seb Ulamek although only Jarek Hampel currently rides in British league. Slovenia qualified through the Italian round and have never reached the final stages of this competition before. Only captain, Matej Zagar has any real experience of British tracks but the newcomers should enjoy the fast Peterborough track and may yet spring a surprise or two.
The winners from each event go straight to the Final in Leszno, Poland on 18th July where the winning team will receive the superb Ove Fundin Trophy named after one of Sweden’s greatest speedway champions. The second and third teams will meet in the Race Off, also in Leszno (16th July) to decide the two other finalists.
2009 FIM Speedway World Cup
First Qualifying Round, Vojens (DEN), 11 July 2009
The following riders have been declared and the draw made for this event:
Team: Russia
Federation: MFR
Color: RED
Team Manager: Oleg Volochov
Riders:
1. Roman Povazhny
2. Denis Gizatullin (Captain)
3. Renat Gafurov
4. Emil Sayfutdinov
5. Grigory Laguta
Team: Denmark
Federation: DMU
Color: BLUE
Team Manager: Jan Staechmann
Riders:
1. Nicki Pedersen
2. Bjarne Pedersen
3. Hans Andresen (Captain)
4. Kenneth Bjerre
5. Niels Kristian Iversen
Team: Sweden
Federtion: SVEMO
Color: WHITE
Team Manager: Tobias Johansson
Riders:
1. Antonio Lindbäck
2. Fredrik Lindgren
3. David Ruud
4. Andreas Jonsson (Captain)
5. Jonas Davidsson
Team: Czech Republic
Federation: ACCR
Color: YELLOW
Team Manager: Milan Spinka
Riders:
1. Ales Dryml (Captain)
2. Adrian Rymel
3. Lukas Dryml
4. Josef Franc
5. Matej Kus
2009 FIM Speedway World Cup
Second Qualifying Round, Peterborough (GBR), 13 July 2009
The following riders have been declared and the draw made for this event:
Team: Australia
Federation: MA
Color: RED
Team Manager: Craig Boyce
Riders:
1. Ryan Sullivan
2. Rory Schlein
3. Leigh Adans (Captain)
4. Chris Holder
5. Jason Crump
Team: Great Britain
Federation: ACU
Color: BLUE
Team Manager: Rob Lyon
Riders:
1. Edward Kennett
2. Lewis Bridger
3. Chris Harris (Captain)
4. Tai Woffinden
5. Daniel King
Team: Poland
Federation: PZM
Color: WHITE
Team Manager: Marek Cieslak
Riders:
1. Tomasz Gollob (Captain)
2. Krzysztof Kasprzak
3. Piotr Protasiewicz
4. Adrian Miedzinski
5. Jaroslaw Hampel
Team: Slovenia
Federation: AMZS
Color: YELLOW
Team Manger: Tomaz Pozrl
Riders:
1. Matej Zagar (Captain)
2. Denis Stojs
3. Izak Santej
4. Maks Gregoric
5. Aleksander Conda
News
Speedway World Cup Teams declared
