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2007

Danes lose their crown ... but not without a fight, as Poland win again on home dirt
At Abensberg the home nation went into a 3-point lead with 4 races to go, but lost it when their riders in heats 22 and 23 both fell, giving Finland victory for the second successive year. Latvia, led by Puodzhuks, were the shock merchants, finishing a close third. In the other qualifier Russia, inspired by a maximum on his SWC debut from teen sensation Emil Sayfutdinov, were totally dominant.

In the main part of the tournament, reserves were added to the 5-man teams but, for some strange reason, could be used ONLY in the event of injury (hmmm)

The opening round at a very slick Vojens saw the Danish team cruise to victory with 14 race wins, 7 second places, four thirds, and no last places. Those of us unfortunate enough to be there witnessed most of the 25 races decided by bend 2, and were relieved when the whole boring event was over. Not one of the SWC's finest hours. Great Britain won Event 2 with the same score as the Danes in Event 1 (60pts), but Coventry provided much better racing than Vojens. Billy Hamill was absent due to a dispute, so the USA's expected place in the Race-Off went instead to Russia.

On a fine racetrack at Leszno, Australia gave a superb display to win the Race-Off in what was, for much of the meeting, a 3-team contest. Just one point seperated Australia from Poland and Sweden at the half-way mark. And Australia and Poland were level going into the final race, where Walasek gated in front, but was passed by track specialist Adams.
But at the Final, it was soon apparent that Australia had shot their bolt 2 days earlier, while the GB bikes were so slow they would have had trouble beating the tractor - they didn't score a point until heat 5. But the atmosphere inside the packed stadium was electric as the match became a two-horse race between the host country (Poland) and the holders (Denmark). And what a battle it was, with the points difference between the teams never being more than five. Poland led by a point going into the last heat, and Gollob made the gate. Hans Andersen didn't and was blocked by Scott Nicholls from even getting second place in the race - some might say retribution for the events of 3 years earlier when Andersen blocked Nicholls from going after Peter Karlsson in a last-race decider at Poole.

Poland had begun the meeting with 4 heat wins, but this was followed by two last places for Walasek. Prior to Walasek's third ride, it was announced that he had withdrawn from the meeting due to "injury" and would therefore be replaced by the reserve - Leszno rider Balinski. It made a mockery of the rules, but then such stupid rules are there to be made a mockery of. Later, Holder (Aus) and Kennett (GB) withdrew with "injuries" also, and were replaced by reserves. Respect to Jan Staechmann who refused to play that game and, who knows, that may be what cost Denmark the title. Not surprisingly, Walasek recovered from his "injury" to ride in the Polish league the next day. Also not surprisingly, the reserves disappeared from the future plans of the SWC. But while the Polish fans celebrated victory after the meeting, most of the talk of the British fans centered on that laughable reserve rule.

QUALIFYING ROUNDS 1 & 2 (Winners to Events 1 & 2)

QUALIFYING ROUND 1 Mon 28.05 : Abensberg, Ger Att: 3,000 Referee : Thierry Bouin (France)
Finland 43 Germany 40 Latvia 37 Slovenia 29
Team Manager: Yrjo Laukkanen Team Manager: Robert Barth Team Manager: Nikolai Kokins Team Manager: Franc Kalin

Abensberg 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Kauko Nieminen 0 3 0 2 3 8
2 Juha Hautamaki 2 2 1 0 1 6
3 Joonas Kylmakorpi 3 2 2 3 3 13
4 Kaj Laukkanen 3 3 2 3 3 14
5 Tero Aarnio ret 1 1 0 0 2
FINLAND 0 2 5 8 8 10 13 14 17 19 21 22 22 23 25 25 28 31 31 33 33 36 37 40 43 43
1 Martin Smolinski 3 3 3 2 2 13
2 Christian Hefenbrock 3 2 1 2 1 9
3 Tobias Kroner ret 1 1 3 f,ex 5
4 Mathias Schultz 1 0 2 1 f,ex 4
5 Thomas Stange ret 2 3 2 2 9
GERMANY 3 6 6 7 7 7 9 12 14 15 16 18 21 24 25 27 29 31 34 35 36 36 36 38 40 40
1 Leonid Paura 1 1 0 2 2 6
2 Aleksandr Ivanov 0 ex 0 - 1 1
3 Viatcheslav Gieruckis 2 1 3 1 ex 7
4 Kjastas Puodzhuks 2 3 2 1 3 3 14
5 Maksim Bogdanovs 3 1 2 1 2 9
LATVIA 1 1 3 5 8 9 10 10 11 14 14 17 19 21 21 22 23 24 26 29 32 34 36 37 37 37
1 Matej Zagar 2 3 3 3 3 2 16
2 Jernej Kolenko 1 0 0 0 1 2
3 Izak Santej 1 2 1 0 1 3 8
4 Maks Gregoric 0 0 0 - 0 0
5 Denis Stojs 2 0 - 0 1 3
SLOVENIA 2 3 4 4 6 9 9 11 11 11 14 14 15 15 18 21 21 21 22 22 24 25 28 28 29 29

QUALIFYING ROUND 2 Sun 10.06 : Lonigo, Italy Att: 3,000 Referee: Pavel Vana (Cz Rep)
Russia 59 Czech Republic 46 Italy 31 Hungary 12

Lonigo 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Denis Gizatullin 2 1 3 3 3 12
2 Roman Povazhny 3 2 3 2 2 12
3 Emil Sayfutdinov 3 3 3 3 3 15
4 Roman Ivanov 3 2 1 1 2 9
5 Renat Gafurov 2 3 2 3 1 11
RUSSIA 2 5 8 11 13 16 18 21 22 24 25 27 30 33 36 38 41 42 45 48 49 52 54 57 59 59
1 Ales Dryml 3 3 1 ret 3 10
2 Lubos Tomicek 2 ef 2 1 2 7
3 Lukas Dryml 2 3 3 ef 2 3 13
4 Zdenek Simota 2 1 2 2 2 9
5 Josef Franc 3 2 0 - 2 7
CZECH REPUBLIC 3 5 7 9 12 14 17 17 20 21 23 26 28 28 29 29 31 33 33 34 36 38 41 43 46 46
1 Andrea Maida 1 ex-t 2 ret - 3
2 Mattia Carpanese 1 2 2 3 3 1 12
3 Marco Gregnanin ret 0 3 2 1 1 7
4 Guglielmo Franchetti ex-t 1 1 3 2 1 8
5 Alessandro Milanese 0 1 0 - - 1
ITALY 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 6 6 9 10 10 12 14 17 17 20 22 24 27 28 29 30 31 31
1 Sandor Tihanyi 0 0 0 1 0 1
2 Zsolt Bencze 0 0 - 1 0 0 1
3 Norbert Magosi 1 2 1 ef 0 4
4 Attila Stefani ex-t 0 1 1 - 2
5 Jozsef Tabaka 1 3 0 0 0 0 4
HUNGARY 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 4 4 7 7 7 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

EVENTS 1 & 2 (Winners to Final ; 2nd & 3rd to Race-Off)

EVENT 1 Sat 14.07 : Vojens, Denmark Att: 10,482 Referee: Jim Lawrence (GB)
Denmark 60 Poland 44 Australia 39 Finland 11
Team Manager: Jan Staechmann Team Manager: Marek Cieslak Team Manager: Craig Boyce Team Manager: Yrjo Laukkanen

Vojens 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Nicki Pedersen 2 3 2 3 3 13
2 Niels K Iversen 3 2 1 3 2 11
3 Hans Andersen © 3 1 3 3 2 12
4 Kenneth Bjerre 2 3 3 1 2 11
5 Bjarne Pedersen 1 3 3 3 3 13
6 Jesper B Jensen † -
DENMARK 2 5 8 10 11 12 15 18 21 23 26 29 31 32 35 38 41 42 45 48 51 54 56 58 60 60
1 Tomasz Gollob © 1 2 1 2 0 6
2 Jaroslaw Hampel 0 1 - 2 3 6
3 Rune Holta 2 0 1 2 3 8
4 Grzegorz Walasek 3 3 4^ 1 2 2 15
5 Krzysztof Kasprzak 2 2 2 3 0 9
6 Damian Balinski † -
POLAND 1 1 3 6 8 10 12 13 13 16 20 21 22 24 25 27 29 32 34 36 38 38 38 41 44 44
1 Jason Crump 3 2 3 1 1 10
2 Chris Holder 1 1 - 2 1 5
3 Rory Schlein 1 1 ex 1 1 4
4 Ryan Sullivan 0 3 f 1 3 7
5 Leigh Adams © 3 1 3 4^ 1 1 13
6 Dave Watt † -
AUSTRALIA 3 4 5 5 8 11 12 14 15 16 16 16 19 22 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 37 38 39 39
1 Juha Hautamaki 0 0 1 0 0 1
2 Joonas Kylmakorpi 2 0 2 0 2 6
3 Kauko Nieminen 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 Kaj Laukkanen © 1 2 0 0 0 3
5 Tero Aarnio 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Rene Lehtinen † -
FINLAND 0 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 11 11 11 11
Time 60.5 60.4 60.7 60.3 60.2 61.6 60.5 60.7 60.2 60.6 60.0 60.7 60.0 60.8 60.7 60.6 60.5 60.5 60.8 60.5 60.9 60.8 61.1 60.9 60.4

EVENT 2 Mon 16.07 : Coventry, UK Att: 5,000 Referee: Istvan Darago (Hun)
Great Britain 60 Sweden 49 Russia 27 USA 20
Team Manager : Neil Middleditch Team Manager: Mats Olsson Team Manager: Oleg Kurguskin Team Manager: Richard Childs/Dave Joiner

Coventry 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Lee Richardson 0 3 3 2 3 11
2 Simon Stead 2 3 2 2 1 10
3 Edward Kennett 3 2 1 3 1 10
4 Chris Harris 3 3 3 2 3 14
5 Scott Nicholls © 3 3 3 3 3 15
6 Oliver Allen † -
GREAT BRITAIN 0 2 5 8 11 14 17 19 22 25 28 30 31 34 37 39 41 44 46 49 52 53 54 57 60 60
1 Fredrik Lindgren 1 2 3 1 2 3 12
2 Peter Karlsson 3 1 0 3 2 9
3 Antonio Lindback 2 f - - - 2
4 Mikael Max 2 1 2 2 1 8
5 Jonas Davidsson 2 3 6^ 3 2 16
6 Magnus Karlsson † 0 2 2
SWEDEN 1 4 6 8 10 10 11 14 16 17 19 25 28 28 28 31 32 34 37 39 41 44 46 48 49 49
1 Denis Gizatullin © 2 1 2 3 1 2 11
2 Sergey Darkin 1 0 1 f,ns - 2
3 Emil Sayfutdinov f,rm
 2 2^ f,ex 2 6
4 Roman Ivanov 1 1 1 1 0 4
5 Renat Gafurov 1 ret 0 1 - 2
6 Danil Ivanov † 1 1 2
RUSSIA 2 3 3 4 5 6 6 7 7 9 11 12 12 14 15 16 19 20 20 21 22 24 24 25 27 27
1 Greg Hancock © 3 2 4^ 2 1 3 15
2 Charlie Venegas 0 0 0 - 0 0
3 Chris Kerr 1 1 f,ex f,ex 0 0 2
4 Tommy Hedden 0 0 - - 0 0
5 Billy Janniro 0 2 1 0 ex 0 3
6 (no rider) † -
USA 3 3 4 4 4 6 8 8 9 9 9 9 13 14 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 17 20 20 20 20
Time 59.81 59.90 60.34 59.68 59.92 59.92 59.73 60.48 60.00 60.45 60.15 60.37 61.84 61.68 61.58 61.42 62.46 62.78 61.65 62.60 61.75 63.00 62.39 62.98 62.80

RACE-OFF (1st & 2nd to Final)
Thu 19.07 : Leszno, Poland Att: 7,000 Referee: Tony Steele (GB)
Australia 53 Poland 52 Sweden 40 Russia 7
Team Manager: Craig Boyce Team Manager: Marek Cieslak Team Manager: Mats Olsson Team Manager: Oleg Kurguskin

Leszno 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Ryan Sullivan 3 1 2 3 3 12
2 Chris Holder 2 3 1 1 1 8
3 Leigh Adams © 3 3 1 3 3 13
4 Rory Schlein 1 1 1 1 2 6
5 Jason Crump 3 2 3 3 3 14
6 Dave Watt † -
AUSTRALIA 3 5 8 9 12 14 15 18 21 22 23 24 25 28 30 33 34 37 40 41 43 46 49 50 53 53
1 Tomasz Gollob © 1 2 3 3 2 11
2 Damian Balinski 3 2 2 2 1 10
3 Jaroslaw Hampel 2 1 3 3 3 12
4 Grzegorz Walasek 0 2 3 2 2 9
5 Krzysztof Kasprzak 1 1 3 2 3 10
6 Rune Holta † -
POLAND 1 4 6 6 7 8 10 11 13 15 18 21 24 26 29 31 34 36 38 41 44 46 47 50 52 52
1 Jonas Davidsson 2 2 1 2 1 1 9
2 Andreas Jonsson 0 1 1 1 - 3
3 Mikael Max 0 3 2 0 0 5
4 Fredrik Lindgren 2 3 2 4^ 2 13
5 Peter Karlsson 2 3 2 1 2 10
6 Sebastian Alden † -
SWEDEN 2 2 2 4 6 9 12 14 15 18 20 22 24 25 26 27 29 30 30 34 35 35 37 39 40 40
1 Denis Gizatullin © 0 0 0 ret ret 0
2 Danil Ivanov 1 0 0 0 1 2
3 Emil Sayfutdinov 1 0 0 0 0 1
4 Roman Ivanov 3 0 0 1 0^ 4
5 Renat Gafurov 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 (no rider) † -
RUSSIA 0 1 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7
Time 59.35 60.55 58.51 60.53 59.72 59.47 61.25 60.53 59.20 60.12 62.13 61.55 61.83 61.73 60.62 61.60 60.28 60.47 61.98 61.75 61.44 61.15 62.63 63.05 61.82

FINAL
Sat 21.07 : Leszno, Poland Att: 21,000 Referee: Tony Steele (GB)
Poland 55 Denmark 52 Australia 29 Great Britain 15
Team Manager: Marek Cieslak Team Manager: Jan Staechmann Team Manager: Craig Boyce Team Manager: Neil Middleditch

Leszno 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 3 3 2 3 3 14
2 Jaroslaw Hampel 3 3 3 2 2 13
3 Tomasz Gollob © 3 3 3 0 3 12
4 Rune Holta 3 2 2 2 3 12
5 Grzegorz Walasek 0 0 - - - 0
6 Damian Balinski † f,ex 2 2 4
POLAND 3 6 9 12 12 12 15 18 21 23 26 29 31 31 33 33 35 37 40 42 45 47 50 52 55 55
1 Hans Andersen © 2 2 2 3 1 10
2 Kenneth Bjerre 1 2 3 3 1 10
3 Niels K Iversen 2 3 2 1 1 9
4 Nicki Pedersen 2 3 2 3 2 12
5 Bjarne Pedersen 2 1 3 2 3 11
6 Jesper B Jensen † -
DENMARK 2 3 5 7 9 12 13 15 17 20 22 24 27 29 32 34 37 40 41 44 45 46 48 51 52 52
1 Ryan Sullivan 1 1 1 1 3 7
2 Jason Crump 2 ex-t 3 3 1 9
3 Chris Holder 1 2 0 - - 3
4 Leigh Adams © 1 2 1 1 0 5
5 Dave Watt 3 1 0 0 0 4
6 Rory Schlein † 0 1 1
AUSTRALIA 1 3 4 5 8 10 12 13 14 14 15 15 16 19 19 22 22 23 23 24 24 27 28 29 29 29
1 Lee Richardson 0 1 ret 1 2 4
2 Simon Stead 0 0 1 - 0 1
3 Edward Kennett 0 0 0 - - 0
4 Chris Harris 0 0 1 2 0 3
5 Scott Nicholls © 1 1 1 2^ 0 2 7
6 Oliver Allen † 0 ret 0
GREAT BRITAIN 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 7 9 9 11 11 13 13 13 13 15 15
Time 60.50 60.91 60.30 61.12 62.01 62.21 61.65 61.51 61.19 63.01 62.99 62.96 62.80 63.18 63.53 62.41 63.02 62.22 62.37 62.78 63.23 63.44 63.48 63.69 63.97

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Lonigo Vojens & Coventry Leszno
© captain ; † reserve ; ^ Double-point "Joker" rides
aw = race awarded (no time) ; ef = engine failure ; ex = excluded ; ex-t = excluded-tapes ; ex-2 = excluded-2 minutes ; f = fell ; ns = non-starter ; ret = retired ; rm = remounted
Contributors : Tom Marriott, Roger Stevens, Jonas Holmqvist
2006 2008

© Brian Collins