Post by Pieman on Sept 8, 2006 15:20:30 GMT
WORLD UNDER-21 FINAL, TERENZANO SPEEDWAY, ITALY, SATURDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER
Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 3 3 3 2 3 =14
Karol Zabik (Poland) 3 3 2 2 3 =13
Christian Hefenbrock (Germany) 3 1 3 3 2 =12
Antonio Lindback (Sweden) 2 1 3 3 3 =12
Pawel Miesiac (Poland) 3 0 3 1 1 =8
Pawel Hlib (Poland) 1 3 1 2 1 =8
Adrian Miedzinski (Poland) 0 2 1 3 2 =8
Zdenek Simota (Czech Republic) 0 0 2 3 1 =6
Ricky Kling (Sweden) 1 0 2 1 2 =6
Henrik Moller (Denmark) 0 2 2 1 1 =6
Chris Holder (Australia) 1 3 1 X 0 =5
Jurica Pavlic (Croatia) 2 0 0 0 3 =5
Mattia Carpanese (Italy) 2 1 0 2 F =5
Sebastian Alden (Sweden) 2 2 0 0 R =4
Daniel King (England) 1 2 0 1 X =4
Robert Pettersson (Sweden) 0 1 1 N - =2
Troy Batchelor (Australia, reserve) - - - - 2 =2
Meeting final (re-run): Zabik, Lindback, Hefenbrock, Lindgren (f.exc).
Referee: Istvan Darago (Hungary).
As so often in previous years, the 2006 World Under-21 final had a high interest for Wolves fans, with two of our young riders taking part in the shape of Freddie Lindgren and Christian Hefenbrock. They both performed admirably, with Freddie finishing top of the scorechart only to be thwarted in his bid for the title thanks to the ludicrous one-off Final system that the FIM seem to delight in holding at every major meeting. Christian also rode superbly and made the meeting final, finishing third.
This year’s Final was held at the Olimpia Terenzano speedway in northern Italy, a few minutes’ drive from the historic and very pleasant city of Udine. The stadium itself – which solely hosts speedway – is an impressive one, if in a somewhat remote location, bordered by a small village, farmers’ fields and a dual carriageway. Due to its location, as well as not being too built-up, the arena has a very wide open feel similar to that experienced at Peterborough.
The track itself is larger than your typical British speedway, with very long straights and wide, sweeping turns. Monmore Green’s track could easily fit onto its centre green!
The track surface is creamy-white in colour, and is unlike any British track. It has a rather sandy-like consistency, although for this meeting there was very little loose dirt in evidence on the hard base, which later in the meeting began to break up in places.
This, combined with the track’s shape, would mean that the meeting was likely to be won by those who could gate well, and those on the fastest machines. Fortunately, the meeting would not unfold as purely a gating competition, especially in the earlier heats.
Practice was held in the heat of Saturday afternoon, with both Wolves looking reasonably quick although they did not seem entirely happy with the track. Robert Pettersson was the most unfortunate rider, failing to complete a lap due to bike problems.
The meeting began at the fairly late hour of 9pm to escape the heat, and a reasonable crowd were in attendance including a party of eight Wolves fans, displaying an impressive row of flags in support of Christian and Freddie, as well as plenty of Polish fans and a coach-load of very noisy Croatians to cheer on teenage sensation Jurica Pavlic. The attendance was still below what some would expect for a World Final, but the grandstands were fairly well filled.
The format was the tried and tested 20 qualifying heats with each rider having five races, with the top four scorers qualifying for a Final to decide the champion (don’t ask me why!).
The riders were introduced to the crowd, the Italian national anthem was played, and the racing began…
(NB: No race times were given.)
Heat 1 (rerun): Zabik, Carpanese, King, Miedzinski.
Lone British hopeful King made a good start but made contact with Miedzinski and down he went, taking Zabik with him. With Miedzinski still recovering from a recent collarbone injury some fans were unsure if he would continue, but thankfully he lined up for the all-four rerun. The second attempt lasted around two seconds before referee Darago flashed the red lights on for an unsatisfactory start. At the third time of asking Zabik was away from the outside while home hero Carpanese took Miedzinski out wide on the first lap, the Pole still clearly feeling some pain from his injury as he dropped to last behind King. Curiously, the Italian fans were strangely quiet as their home rider passed King for second on lap two!
Heat 2: Miesiac, Alden, Kling, Moller.
I have to confess I had not heard of Pawel Miesiac before the meeting, but he proved more than a rank outsider with a fine tapes-to-flag win and looked a potential spoiler.
Heat 3: Hefenbrock, Lindback, Holder, Pettersson.
Before this meeting Christian appeared somewhat apprehensive, but here he produced possibly the race of the night. After being taken wide by pre-meeting favourite Lindback on the first turn he was briefly fourth until Pettersson slowed a little, before producing a stunning move to go inside Lindback and Holder on turn four and go from third to first in one manoeuvre! A superb ride, which really fired up the travelling Wolves fans.
Heat 4: Lindgren, Pavlic, Hlib, Simota.
17-year old wonder kid Pavlic made a good start with Freddie level, and Freddie used the inside line to pull away at the front. Hlib initially ran ahead of Pavlic but a slip saw him drop back and almost lose out to Simota, whose perennial tendency to dither at the start (remember him and Magnus’s disagreement at the Reading tapes?) saw him lose out here.
Heat 5: Lindgren, King, Lindback, Kling.
Two rides on the trot for Freddie, and to make matters worse Lindback was off the outside. However Freddie made light of this by blasting off from gate one and leading all the way, while Lindback ran second but left a huge gap after running wide on lap two, and King gratefully accepted the invitation to grab second. Cheers Toninho!
Heat 6: Hlib, Miedzinski, Pettersson, Miesiac.
Hlib used a “Jason Crump line” (i.e. front wheel on the grass) at the first turn to lead, while Miesiac squeezed past Pettersson for third on the back straight. The Pole then clipped fellow countryman Miedzinski’s back wheel and slid wide to drop to fourth, and looked set for an “Olympique” scoreline.
Heat 7: Holder, Alden, Carpanese, Pavlic.
Chris Holder had looked a danger on paper, and made good use of gate one here to take a fine win. Pavlic had an early battle with Alden but was then sent wide by Carpanese on lap two – again to little noise from the oddly impassive Italians!
Heat 8: Zabik, Moller, Hefenbrock, Simota.
Simota made a better start this time but was clattered wide by Moller on the first turn, while Christian just lost out to Zabik but chased hard for two laps. Entering turn one for the third time the slick track conditions caught him unawares, and he just managed to hold a nasty slide and stop the machine coming round on him, but this allowed Moller into second.
Heat 9: Miesiac, Simota, Holder, King.
Remember what I said about that “Olympique” scoreline for Miesiac? Holder impressed again with an early outside run at the Pole, but he went too wide in search of grip, and when he found none Simota and King capitalised. Holder managed to win third back from the Englishman on the back straight.
Heat 10: Hefenbrock, Kling, Miedzinski, Pavlic.
Christian’s confidence had clearly not been affected by his earlier error, and he became the sixth successive heat winner from gate one, despite rearing as he exited turn two where the track was beginning to break up. Further back an improved looking Kling just fought off Miedzinski for second.
Heat 11: Lindback, Moller, Hlib, Carpanese.
The dominance of the red helmet was broken, as Lindback finally sorted out his issues with the track and led all the way. Also finding his form a little too late was Hlib, who powered past Carpanese on lap two (impressive, as passes were becoming rarer by the heat at this stage) and almost caught Moller on the line.
Heat 12: Lindgren, Zabik, Pettersson, Alden.
Freddie made great use of gate one to continue his unbeaten run, and end Zabik’s run of wins. Behind him Alden clipped Zabik on the first lap and dropped to the back, while Zabik seemed to find grip on a wider line where no-one else could.
Heat 13: Hefenbrock, Hlib, King, Alden.
Christian’s race was almost identical to his last – a peach of a gate, then lifting out of turn two but hanging on in front all the way! Alden was passed by King on the first lap and looked well out of form.
Heat 14 (rerun): Miedzinski, Lindgren, Moller, Holder (f.exc).
By now the meagre covering of loose dirt on the track had all but disappeared, and the track was totally slick, with large cracks appearing in the surface on turns one and two. The later stages looked set to be a gating competition, and this was proved here as Miedzinski, off gate one, outgated Freddie from gate two. On lap three Holder changed his line on the back straight looking for grip…and found some! Unfortunately this caused him to rear and fall against the fence, causing a stoppage. Under FIM rules a race cannot be awarded, so it was back to the tapes for a second attempt minus the excluded Holder. The start was a carbon copy of the first running, with a revitalised Miedzinski outgating Freddie and leading all the way.
Heat 15: Simota, Carpanese, Kling, Pettersson.
Simota made one of his rare good starts – that inside trap again! On the first turn Carpanese put the luckless Pettersson wide, and his fellow countryman Kling was through.
Heat 16: Lindback, Zabik, Miesiac, Pavlic.
A glance at the programme revealed that Lindback’s last two rides were both from gate one – “advantage Toninho” was the general verdict. Sure enough, away he went from the start in this one, with Zabik rounding Miesiac for second having left the troublesome gate three.
Heat 17 (rerun): Pavlic, Batchelor, Moller, Pettersson (f,ns), King (exc).
This may have been a “nothing” race in terms of the overall result, but it still delivered its fair share of drama. King was a little over-enthusiastic out of the start, and hit Moller with his back wheel sending the latter falling into the turn one fence and earning himself an exclusion to end his disappointing night. Pettersson, on the outside, throttled back and slowed but couldn’t miss the Dane and hit the fence himself as he fell. Unfortunately the ambulance was straight onto the track, and although almost everyone thought it was for Moller, he was soon on his feet. Pettersson, however, was taken away in the ambulance and took no further part in the meeting, competing a thoroughly miserable night for the Swede who was replaced by Troy Batchelor for the rerun. This saw Pavlic led all the way to the accompaniment of lots of noise from the travelling Croatian contingent (although in fairness they hadn’t shut up all night!), while Batchelor proved that you could pass on this track by going inside Moller on the back straight.
Heat 18: Lindback, Miedzinski, Simota, Alden (ret).
Advantage Lindback once again from gate one. Miedzinski and Simota were unable to get in touch with the livewire Swede (or should that be Brazilian?) while Alden pulled off on the last lap.
Heat 19: Lindgren, Hefenbrock, Miesiac, Carpanese (fell).
This meeting was turning into a gating contest, remember? Clearly no-one had told Freddie and Christian! Both of them completely missed the start and it was Miesiac who led from Carpanese until the latter spun off on turn three. Freddie then proceeded to dive inside Miesiac on turn two of the second lap, and despite rearing a little took the lead. Amazingly, next time around Christian produced an identical manoeuvre sending the travelling Wolves fans wild! Epic stuff!
Heat 20: Zabik, Kling, Hlib, Holder.
Kling and Hlib made contact on leaving the tapes handing Zabik the advantage, while Kling and Hlib continued to battle allowing Holder, showing little effect of his earlier brush with the fence, to take the Pole for third. More contact was made on the last lap and Hlib stole third on the final bend.
Final (rerun): Zabik, Lindback, Hefenbrock, Lindgren (f.exc).
And so to the big one – the top scorers’ Final to decide the title. All 20 qualifying heats were now rendered meaningless as the riders chose their gate positions. This worked exactly how Wolves fans wanted it, as Freddie picked first as top scorer and was able to choose the hugely successful inside gate. Zabik chose the outside which had worked well for him in the qualifiers, Christian took gate two leaving Lindback with the less favourable gate three. Could it all work in our favour and justice prevail for the top scorer?
Er, no! Away from the tapes Lindback got in front by about half a wheel and just stayed ahead of Freddie at the first turn, with Freddie throwing everything at him in second. It looked as though there could be a repeat of the heat 19 pass, but exiting turn two second time round disaster struck. In an accident similar to Holder’s, Freddie hit a rut going into the back straight, reared and fell, instantly getting to his feet although the race was stopped. Freddie was excluded, and yet again the meeting’s top scorer had been denied by the daft Final system. Lindback, meanwhile, was livid at the stoppage as his clear lead was lost.
Once certain Wolves fans had been dissuaded from throwing themselves off the top of the grandstand, the remaining three riders lined up for the rerun, with Christian now assured of Germany’s first World Championship medal of any kind since Egon Muller’s somewhat contrived 1983 World Final win. He gated in second behind Zabik, but Lindback’s blood was now up and he forced Christian wide for second on turn four before chasing down the Pole. Wolves fans cheered their heads off for Christian for three laps, but as the yellow and black flag was hung out it was realised that Zabik was riding a superb defensive race and was still just ahead of Lindback. Strangely, the Wolves fans then suddenly switched to cheering for Zabik! He held on to take the title ahead of a clearly gutted Lindback, while Christian received perhaps the most applause from everyone for a brilliant third place. Freddie, meanwhile, was left looking inconsolable on the sidelines – yet another victim of the FIM’s Final system, having superly won the meeting overall.
Comment/Summary
Weather: Despite forecasts on the Internet during the preceding week not looking too promising, there was not a hint of rain for the entire weekend and the day of the meeting was very hot and sunny. With the meeting being run later on at night it was markedly cooler, and a welcome change from the heat of practice.
Track: Not really up to the standard required for a World Final, with very little dirt on the top and no depth. This meant that the surface became extremely slick as the meeting progressed.
Attendance: Slightly below what British fans would expect for a World Final, but the grandstands were pretty much full by start time. Fans visited from Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, the Czech Republic and of course England, with most proving far more vocal than the locals!
Entertainment value: Some good racing early on, but several of the later heats were processional thanks to the track, although the riders all put in a great effort to produce some reasonable action.
Referee (Istvan Darago): Called everything correctly.
Marks out of Ten:
Freddie Lindgren: 9 – the fastest rider on the night, only denied by the rules.
Karol Zabik: 8 – a fortuitous title win.
Christian Hefenbrock: 9 – rode far above even his own expectations.
Antonio Lindback: 6 – took time to get used to the track.
Pawel Miesiac: 7 – I unfortunately know little about this rider, but he looks a decent prospect for the future, albeit somewhat inconsistent.
Pawel Hlib: 5 – Looked a little below his expected form.
Adrian Miedzinski: 7 – rode well in the later stages when still not 100% fit.
Zdenek Simota: 6 – poor gating let him down somewhat, but he showed a good turn of pace.
Ricky Kling: 6 – many had high hopes for this young Swede, but a slight lack of experience was possibly his downfall.
Henrik Moller: 5 – found the going tougher than expected.
Chris Holder: 4 – his crash knocked him back when he looked a potential spoiler
Jurica Pavlic: 5 – has always ridden beyond his years, and has a big future ahead of him. Good when he gated in this meeting, and no-one could fault his support!
Mattia Carpanese: 5 – looked quite erratic.
Sebastian Alden: 3 – a bad night for the former Swindon rider, not helped by bike trouble.
Daniel King: 3 – nowhere near as good as expected.
Robert Pettersson: 3 – had no luck at all in practice or the meeting.
Troy Batchelor: 7 – only one ride, but it was a very good one. This lad has a good future ahead of him.
This was an enjoyable meeting given the track conditions, with good weather, a well-presented show by the Italians, and reasonable facilities at this purpose-built speedway stadium. The result may not have worked entirely the way Wolves fans would have wanted, but it was still very much worth the trip.
Once a Wolf, always a Wolf
Dave Goddard a.k.a. Pieman.
(Disclaimer: My observations concerning the one-off final rule are my own opinions and always have been. These opinions are not influenced or biased in any way by the result of this meeting – in other words, if a Wolves rider had won the title, my views on the one-off final would have remained the same.)
PS: A report together with pictures will hopefully be up on the Wolfcry site soon.
Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 3 3 3 2 3 =14
Karol Zabik (Poland) 3 3 2 2 3 =13
Christian Hefenbrock (Germany) 3 1 3 3 2 =12
Antonio Lindback (Sweden) 2 1 3 3 3 =12
Pawel Miesiac (Poland) 3 0 3 1 1 =8
Pawel Hlib (Poland) 1 3 1 2 1 =8
Adrian Miedzinski (Poland) 0 2 1 3 2 =8
Zdenek Simota (Czech Republic) 0 0 2 3 1 =6
Ricky Kling (Sweden) 1 0 2 1 2 =6
Henrik Moller (Denmark) 0 2 2 1 1 =6
Chris Holder (Australia) 1 3 1 X 0 =5
Jurica Pavlic (Croatia) 2 0 0 0 3 =5
Mattia Carpanese (Italy) 2 1 0 2 F =5
Sebastian Alden (Sweden) 2 2 0 0 R =4
Daniel King (England) 1 2 0 1 X =4
Robert Pettersson (Sweden) 0 1 1 N - =2
Troy Batchelor (Australia, reserve) - - - - 2 =2
Meeting final (re-run): Zabik, Lindback, Hefenbrock, Lindgren (f.exc).
Referee: Istvan Darago (Hungary).
As so often in previous years, the 2006 World Under-21 final had a high interest for Wolves fans, with two of our young riders taking part in the shape of Freddie Lindgren and Christian Hefenbrock. They both performed admirably, with Freddie finishing top of the scorechart only to be thwarted in his bid for the title thanks to the ludicrous one-off Final system that the FIM seem to delight in holding at every major meeting. Christian also rode superbly and made the meeting final, finishing third.
This year’s Final was held at the Olimpia Terenzano speedway in northern Italy, a few minutes’ drive from the historic and very pleasant city of Udine. The stadium itself – which solely hosts speedway – is an impressive one, if in a somewhat remote location, bordered by a small village, farmers’ fields and a dual carriageway. Due to its location, as well as not being too built-up, the arena has a very wide open feel similar to that experienced at Peterborough.
The track itself is larger than your typical British speedway, with very long straights and wide, sweeping turns. Monmore Green’s track could easily fit onto its centre green!
The track surface is creamy-white in colour, and is unlike any British track. It has a rather sandy-like consistency, although for this meeting there was very little loose dirt in evidence on the hard base, which later in the meeting began to break up in places.
This, combined with the track’s shape, would mean that the meeting was likely to be won by those who could gate well, and those on the fastest machines. Fortunately, the meeting would not unfold as purely a gating competition, especially in the earlier heats.
Practice was held in the heat of Saturday afternoon, with both Wolves looking reasonably quick although they did not seem entirely happy with the track. Robert Pettersson was the most unfortunate rider, failing to complete a lap due to bike problems.
The meeting began at the fairly late hour of 9pm to escape the heat, and a reasonable crowd were in attendance including a party of eight Wolves fans, displaying an impressive row of flags in support of Christian and Freddie, as well as plenty of Polish fans and a coach-load of very noisy Croatians to cheer on teenage sensation Jurica Pavlic. The attendance was still below what some would expect for a World Final, but the grandstands were fairly well filled.
The format was the tried and tested 20 qualifying heats with each rider having five races, with the top four scorers qualifying for a Final to decide the champion (don’t ask me why!).
The riders were introduced to the crowd, the Italian national anthem was played, and the racing began…
(NB: No race times were given.)
Heat 1 (rerun): Zabik, Carpanese, King, Miedzinski.
Lone British hopeful King made a good start but made contact with Miedzinski and down he went, taking Zabik with him. With Miedzinski still recovering from a recent collarbone injury some fans were unsure if he would continue, but thankfully he lined up for the all-four rerun. The second attempt lasted around two seconds before referee Darago flashed the red lights on for an unsatisfactory start. At the third time of asking Zabik was away from the outside while home hero Carpanese took Miedzinski out wide on the first lap, the Pole still clearly feeling some pain from his injury as he dropped to last behind King. Curiously, the Italian fans were strangely quiet as their home rider passed King for second on lap two!
Heat 2: Miesiac, Alden, Kling, Moller.
I have to confess I had not heard of Pawel Miesiac before the meeting, but he proved more than a rank outsider with a fine tapes-to-flag win and looked a potential spoiler.
Heat 3: Hefenbrock, Lindback, Holder, Pettersson.
Before this meeting Christian appeared somewhat apprehensive, but here he produced possibly the race of the night. After being taken wide by pre-meeting favourite Lindback on the first turn he was briefly fourth until Pettersson slowed a little, before producing a stunning move to go inside Lindback and Holder on turn four and go from third to first in one manoeuvre! A superb ride, which really fired up the travelling Wolves fans.
Heat 4: Lindgren, Pavlic, Hlib, Simota.
17-year old wonder kid Pavlic made a good start with Freddie level, and Freddie used the inside line to pull away at the front. Hlib initially ran ahead of Pavlic but a slip saw him drop back and almost lose out to Simota, whose perennial tendency to dither at the start (remember him and Magnus’s disagreement at the Reading tapes?) saw him lose out here.
Heat 5: Lindgren, King, Lindback, Kling.
Two rides on the trot for Freddie, and to make matters worse Lindback was off the outside. However Freddie made light of this by blasting off from gate one and leading all the way, while Lindback ran second but left a huge gap after running wide on lap two, and King gratefully accepted the invitation to grab second. Cheers Toninho!
Heat 6: Hlib, Miedzinski, Pettersson, Miesiac.
Hlib used a “Jason Crump line” (i.e. front wheel on the grass) at the first turn to lead, while Miesiac squeezed past Pettersson for third on the back straight. The Pole then clipped fellow countryman Miedzinski’s back wheel and slid wide to drop to fourth, and looked set for an “Olympique” scoreline.
Heat 7: Holder, Alden, Carpanese, Pavlic.
Chris Holder had looked a danger on paper, and made good use of gate one here to take a fine win. Pavlic had an early battle with Alden but was then sent wide by Carpanese on lap two – again to little noise from the oddly impassive Italians!
Heat 8: Zabik, Moller, Hefenbrock, Simota.
Simota made a better start this time but was clattered wide by Moller on the first turn, while Christian just lost out to Zabik but chased hard for two laps. Entering turn one for the third time the slick track conditions caught him unawares, and he just managed to hold a nasty slide and stop the machine coming round on him, but this allowed Moller into second.
Heat 9: Miesiac, Simota, Holder, King.
Remember what I said about that “Olympique” scoreline for Miesiac? Holder impressed again with an early outside run at the Pole, but he went too wide in search of grip, and when he found none Simota and King capitalised. Holder managed to win third back from the Englishman on the back straight.
Heat 10: Hefenbrock, Kling, Miedzinski, Pavlic.
Christian’s confidence had clearly not been affected by his earlier error, and he became the sixth successive heat winner from gate one, despite rearing as he exited turn two where the track was beginning to break up. Further back an improved looking Kling just fought off Miedzinski for second.
Heat 11: Lindback, Moller, Hlib, Carpanese.
The dominance of the red helmet was broken, as Lindback finally sorted out his issues with the track and led all the way. Also finding his form a little too late was Hlib, who powered past Carpanese on lap two (impressive, as passes were becoming rarer by the heat at this stage) and almost caught Moller on the line.
Heat 12: Lindgren, Zabik, Pettersson, Alden.
Freddie made great use of gate one to continue his unbeaten run, and end Zabik’s run of wins. Behind him Alden clipped Zabik on the first lap and dropped to the back, while Zabik seemed to find grip on a wider line where no-one else could.
Heat 13: Hefenbrock, Hlib, King, Alden.
Christian’s race was almost identical to his last – a peach of a gate, then lifting out of turn two but hanging on in front all the way! Alden was passed by King on the first lap and looked well out of form.
Heat 14 (rerun): Miedzinski, Lindgren, Moller, Holder (f.exc).
By now the meagre covering of loose dirt on the track had all but disappeared, and the track was totally slick, with large cracks appearing in the surface on turns one and two. The later stages looked set to be a gating competition, and this was proved here as Miedzinski, off gate one, outgated Freddie from gate two. On lap three Holder changed his line on the back straight looking for grip…and found some! Unfortunately this caused him to rear and fall against the fence, causing a stoppage. Under FIM rules a race cannot be awarded, so it was back to the tapes for a second attempt minus the excluded Holder. The start was a carbon copy of the first running, with a revitalised Miedzinski outgating Freddie and leading all the way.
Heat 15: Simota, Carpanese, Kling, Pettersson.
Simota made one of his rare good starts – that inside trap again! On the first turn Carpanese put the luckless Pettersson wide, and his fellow countryman Kling was through.
Heat 16: Lindback, Zabik, Miesiac, Pavlic.
A glance at the programme revealed that Lindback’s last two rides were both from gate one – “advantage Toninho” was the general verdict. Sure enough, away he went from the start in this one, with Zabik rounding Miesiac for second having left the troublesome gate three.
Heat 17 (rerun): Pavlic, Batchelor, Moller, Pettersson (f,ns), King (exc).
This may have been a “nothing” race in terms of the overall result, but it still delivered its fair share of drama. King was a little over-enthusiastic out of the start, and hit Moller with his back wheel sending the latter falling into the turn one fence and earning himself an exclusion to end his disappointing night. Pettersson, on the outside, throttled back and slowed but couldn’t miss the Dane and hit the fence himself as he fell. Unfortunately the ambulance was straight onto the track, and although almost everyone thought it was for Moller, he was soon on his feet. Pettersson, however, was taken away in the ambulance and took no further part in the meeting, competing a thoroughly miserable night for the Swede who was replaced by Troy Batchelor for the rerun. This saw Pavlic led all the way to the accompaniment of lots of noise from the travelling Croatian contingent (although in fairness they hadn’t shut up all night!), while Batchelor proved that you could pass on this track by going inside Moller on the back straight.
Heat 18: Lindback, Miedzinski, Simota, Alden (ret).
Advantage Lindback once again from gate one. Miedzinski and Simota were unable to get in touch with the livewire Swede (or should that be Brazilian?) while Alden pulled off on the last lap.
Heat 19: Lindgren, Hefenbrock, Miesiac, Carpanese (fell).
This meeting was turning into a gating contest, remember? Clearly no-one had told Freddie and Christian! Both of them completely missed the start and it was Miesiac who led from Carpanese until the latter spun off on turn three. Freddie then proceeded to dive inside Miesiac on turn two of the second lap, and despite rearing a little took the lead. Amazingly, next time around Christian produced an identical manoeuvre sending the travelling Wolves fans wild! Epic stuff!
Heat 20: Zabik, Kling, Hlib, Holder.
Kling and Hlib made contact on leaving the tapes handing Zabik the advantage, while Kling and Hlib continued to battle allowing Holder, showing little effect of his earlier brush with the fence, to take the Pole for third. More contact was made on the last lap and Hlib stole third on the final bend.
Final (rerun): Zabik, Lindback, Hefenbrock, Lindgren (f.exc).
And so to the big one – the top scorers’ Final to decide the title. All 20 qualifying heats were now rendered meaningless as the riders chose their gate positions. This worked exactly how Wolves fans wanted it, as Freddie picked first as top scorer and was able to choose the hugely successful inside gate. Zabik chose the outside which had worked well for him in the qualifiers, Christian took gate two leaving Lindback with the less favourable gate three. Could it all work in our favour and justice prevail for the top scorer?
Er, no! Away from the tapes Lindback got in front by about half a wheel and just stayed ahead of Freddie at the first turn, with Freddie throwing everything at him in second. It looked as though there could be a repeat of the heat 19 pass, but exiting turn two second time round disaster struck. In an accident similar to Holder’s, Freddie hit a rut going into the back straight, reared and fell, instantly getting to his feet although the race was stopped. Freddie was excluded, and yet again the meeting’s top scorer had been denied by the daft Final system. Lindback, meanwhile, was livid at the stoppage as his clear lead was lost.
Once certain Wolves fans had been dissuaded from throwing themselves off the top of the grandstand, the remaining three riders lined up for the rerun, with Christian now assured of Germany’s first World Championship medal of any kind since Egon Muller’s somewhat contrived 1983 World Final win. He gated in second behind Zabik, but Lindback’s blood was now up and he forced Christian wide for second on turn four before chasing down the Pole. Wolves fans cheered their heads off for Christian for three laps, but as the yellow and black flag was hung out it was realised that Zabik was riding a superb defensive race and was still just ahead of Lindback. Strangely, the Wolves fans then suddenly switched to cheering for Zabik! He held on to take the title ahead of a clearly gutted Lindback, while Christian received perhaps the most applause from everyone for a brilliant third place. Freddie, meanwhile, was left looking inconsolable on the sidelines – yet another victim of the FIM’s Final system, having superly won the meeting overall.
Comment/Summary
Weather: Despite forecasts on the Internet during the preceding week not looking too promising, there was not a hint of rain for the entire weekend and the day of the meeting was very hot and sunny. With the meeting being run later on at night it was markedly cooler, and a welcome change from the heat of practice.
Track: Not really up to the standard required for a World Final, with very little dirt on the top and no depth. This meant that the surface became extremely slick as the meeting progressed.
Attendance: Slightly below what British fans would expect for a World Final, but the grandstands were pretty much full by start time. Fans visited from Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, the Czech Republic and of course England, with most proving far more vocal than the locals!
Entertainment value: Some good racing early on, but several of the later heats were processional thanks to the track, although the riders all put in a great effort to produce some reasonable action.
Referee (Istvan Darago): Called everything correctly.
Marks out of Ten:
Freddie Lindgren: 9 – the fastest rider on the night, only denied by the rules.
Karol Zabik: 8 – a fortuitous title win.
Christian Hefenbrock: 9 – rode far above even his own expectations.
Antonio Lindback: 6 – took time to get used to the track.
Pawel Miesiac: 7 – I unfortunately know little about this rider, but he looks a decent prospect for the future, albeit somewhat inconsistent.
Pawel Hlib: 5 – Looked a little below his expected form.
Adrian Miedzinski: 7 – rode well in the later stages when still not 100% fit.
Zdenek Simota: 6 – poor gating let him down somewhat, but he showed a good turn of pace.
Ricky Kling: 6 – many had high hopes for this young Swede, but a slight lack of experience was possibly his downfall.
Henrik Moller: 5 – found the going tougher than expected.
Chris Holder: 4 – his crash knocked him back when he looked a potential spoiler
Jurica Pavlic: 5 – has always ridden beyond his years, and has a big future ahead of him. Good when he gated in this meeting, and no-one could fault his support!
Mattia Carpanese: 5 – looked quite erratic.
Sebastian Alden: 3 – a bad night for the former Swindon rider, not helped by bike trouble.
Daniel King: 3 – nowhere near as good as expected.
Robert Pettersson: 3 – had no luck at all in practice or the meeting.
Troy Batchelor: 7 – only one ride, but it was a very good one. This lad has a good future ahead of him.
This was an enjoyable meeting given the track conditions, with good weather, a well-presented show by the Italians, and reasonable facilities at this purpose-built speedway stadium. The result may not have worked entirely the way Wolves fans would have wanted, but it was still very much worth the trip.
Once a Wolf, always a Wolf
Dave Goddard a.k.a. Pieman.
(Disclaimer: My observations concerning the one-off final rule are my own opinions and always have been. These opinions are not influenced or biased in any way by the result of this meeting – in other words, if a Wolves rider had won the title, my views on the one-off final would have remained the same.)
PS: A report together with pictures will hopefully be up on the Wolfcry site soon.
