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2010

Two of the 4 meetings postponed due to heavy rain ... but Poland win their first Fundin Trophy on foreign soil
One of the main talking points of the 2010 SWC was the absence of many of the top riders, mainly due to injury. Missing were Leigh Adams and Jason Crump (Aus), Nicki Pedersen (Den), Andreas Jonsson (Swe), Greg Hancock (USA), and Emil Sayfutdinov (Russia). Of the main contenders, only Poland and Great Britain tracked full-strength teams throughout.

Finland surprisingly led Slovenia all the way in the first qualifier in Italy, where the young home team disappointed. No such surprise at Abensberg, though the home team made a good match of it against the Czechs.

At Gorzow, the start of Event 1 was delayed by 20 hours due to torrential rain, but there was never any doubt as to which teams would finish in which position. Gollob "showboated" to entertain the crowd as Poland cruised to an easy victory, while his colleagues occasionally managed to miss the gate and supply most of the few passing moves. Young Russian Artem Laguta made a promising SWC debut.

The mostly-experienced Great Britain team and the young guns of Australia fought out an exciting meeting-long duel at King's Lynn, with
never more than 4 points seperating the two nations. Sweden made a terrible start, but scored more points in the final 17 races than either of the top two teams - so they remain a threat in the later rounds.

And Sweden, with AJ returning from injury, began the Race-Off by dropping just a single point in the first 5 heats. In the early stages it was a 3-team battle for the 2 places in the Final, but Australia gradually lost touch and when Holder made two terrible gates in mid-match (one a joker ride), it became a contest between the two Nordic countries with the home nation getting the victory in a last-race decider.

As with Event 1, the Final (after 4 heats) was delayed for 20 hours, due to rain at Vojens (no surprise there). The track dried out in the early heats of the re-run of the meeting and, as is usual at the SWC, some wonderful racing was seen in the later stages. The 4 teams were never seperated by more than 12 points, and eventually Poland won the Cup, their 4th in 6 years, but by far the most important, as it was won on a non-Polish track for the first time. Denmark's challenge came to a stuttering halt as they failed to score in the final two races, while Sweden and GB fought a close battle for 3rd place.

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This was the 10th year of the SWC, and it has improved over that period, to become a competition that many fans look forward to, and one which usually provides some wonderful racing. I just want to make a few points:
1. It is noticable that the Race-Off and Final have always been held in Poland, Denmark, or GB. I don't understand why Sweden haven't staged those events, since the competition usually attracts good crowds, at least for the Final. The Race-Off is a problem - if the home nation is not participating, then a small attendance is likely. Maybe the staging nation should enter the competition at the Race-Off stage, rather than in Events 1 or 2 ? True, they would then only be riding on their own tracks, but then that was the case in 2001-2004, when the whole competition was staged in one country.
2. The lack of reserves in case of injury is another problem. If a country loses a rider early in a meeting, then they are likely to be unable to track a rider in some races, which I think is unfair, unneccessary, and deprives fans of seeing 4-rider races. Maybe a 6th team rider could be in the pits as a reserve? Or, if that is too expensive (although I noted that in 2010 some teams had a 6th rider present at the finals), maybe the race format should be amended? The 5th rider for each team could be a reserve, having only two scheduled rides with the other number 5's, in a race format shortened to 22 heats. They could then have up to 3 extra rides, either to replace an injured rider, or to be used to replace off-form riders. [Reserves were added to teams in 2007, but could be only used to replace injured riders and, not surprisingly, the system was abused, and the rule dropped]
3. In 2010 the two leading domestic leagues (Poland and Sweden), having tried "double-point" rides in league racing in previous years (known as "tactical rides" in the UK), decided to do without them. Yet the F.I.M continues to use the farce of "The Joker" in the most important team competition in world speedway, the SWC. Artificially making scores closer does not make a meeting more exciting, in my opinion - close racing and lots of passing does that. I think the PZM and SVEMO should use their influence at the FIM to get rid of Jokers, and give the otherwise excellent SWC competition increased credibility.
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QUALIFYING ROUNDS 1 & 2 (Winners to Events 1 & 2)

QUALIFYING ROUND 1 Sat 01.05 : Lonigo, Italy Official Att: 1,500
Finland 48 Slovenia 47 USA 30 Italy 24

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 Joonas Kylmakorpi 3 2 3 2 1 11
2 Juha Hautamaki 2 1 3 3 2 11
3 Timo Lahti 3 3 3 1 0 10
4 Kalle Katajisto 2 1 0 0 1 4
5 Kauko Nieminen 2 3 2 2 3 12
FINLAND 3 5 8 10 12 13 16 18 19 22 25 25 27 30 33 35 37 40 41 41 43 43 44 47 48 48
1 Matej Zagar 2 3 3 3 2 3 16
2 Matic Voldrih 1 2 0 - 0 3
3 Ales Kraljic ef 0 1 3 2 6
4 Maks Gregoric 3 2 1 2 3 11
5 Aleksandr Conda 3 1 2 2 3 11
SLOVENIA 2 3 3 6 9 9 11 12 15 17 18 20 23 23 24 27 30 32 34 36 39 42 42 44 47 47
1 (no rider) ‡ - - - - - -
2 Ryan Fisher 3 3 0 3 1 2 12
3 Chris Kerr 2 3 2 1 1 2 11
4 Kenny Ingalls 1 2 2 ef 0 0 5
5 Tommy Hedden 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
USA 0 3 5 6 6 9 9 12 14 14 16 19 20 22 22 22 23 24 24 25 26 28 30 30 30 30
1 Mattia Carpanese 1 1 2 3 3 1 11
2 Alessandro Novello 0 0 - - - 0
3 Guglielmo Franchetti ef 0 0 1 1 3 2 7
4 Mattia Cavicchioli 0 1 0 ef 0 1
5 Marco Gregnanin 1 2 1 0 1 5
ITALY 1 1 1 1 2 4 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 10 11 11 11 14 17 17 18 21 22 24 24
‡ Gino Manzares was not allowed to ride as he was underage (under 17)

QUALIFYING ROUND 2 Mon 24.05 : Abensberg, Germany Official Att: 5,000
Czech Republic 53 Germany 50 Latvia 43 Norway 4

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 Ales Dryml 2 3 2 3 2 12
2 Matej Kus 1 2 2 2 3 10
3 Lukas Dryml 2 3 2 2 2 11
4 Michal Malek 3 2 2 1 1 9
5 Zdenek Simota 1 3 1 3 3 11
CZECH REPUBLIC 2 3 5 8 9 12 15 17 20 22 24 26 28 29 31 33 34 37 40 42 43 46 48 51 53 53
1 Martin Smolinski 3 3 2 3 3 14
2 Tobias Kroner 3 1 3 2 3 12
3 Kevin Wolbert 3 1 1 1 2 8
4 Thomas Stange f,ex 1 1 3 ef 5
5 Frank Facher 2 1 3 3 2 11
GERMANY 3 6 9 9 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 23 25 28 31 34 36 37 40 43 45 45 47 50 50
1 Viatcheslav Gieruckis 1 2 1 1 1 6
2 Maksim Bogdanovs 2 3 3 1 3 12
3 Evgeny Karavackis f,ex 2 1 2 0 5
4 Leonid Paura 2 2 3 1 1 9
5 Kjastas Puodzhuks 3 1 3 2 2 11
LATVIA 1 3 3 5 8 10 12 13 15 18 21 24 25 28 29 30 32 33 35 36 38 39 42 42 43 43
1 Kim Rudi Juritzen 0 0 0 ef ef 0
2 Tord Solberg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Marius Rokeberg 1 0 0 0 1 2
4 Stein Roar Pedersen 1 0 0 0 1 2
5 Henrik Bauer Hansen ef 0 0 0 - 0
NORWAY 0 0 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4

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

EVENT 1 Sun 25.07* : Gorzow, Poland Official Att: 12,500 Referee: Jim Lawrence (GB)
Poland 68 Denmark 45 Russia 31 Czech Republic 8
Team Manager: Marek Cieslak Team Manager: Jan Staechmann Team Manager: Oleg Volochov Team Manager: Milan Spinka
* Meeting delayed from Sat 24.07 due to rain

Gorzow 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 Jaroslaw Hampel 2 3 3 3 3 14
2 Rune Holta 3 3 2 3 3 14
3 Tomasz Gollob © 3 3 2 3 3 14
4 Adrian Miedzinski 2 3 3 1 3 12
5 Janusz Kolodziej 3 2 3 3 3 14
POLAND 2 5 8 10 13 15 18 21 24 27 29 31 34 37 40 43 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 68
1 Kenneth Bjerre 3 0 4^ 1 2 10
2 Niels K Iversen 1 1 2 2 1 7
3 Hans Andersen © 2 1 2 3 2 10
4 Nicolai Klindt 3 0 1 2 1 7
5 Bjarne Pedersen 2 2 3 2 2 11
DENMARK 3 4 6 9 11 12 12 14 14 15 16 19 23 25 27 29 32 34 36 37 39 41 42 44 45 45
1 Artem Laguta 1 3 3 0^ 1 8
2 Renat Gafurov 2 1 1 2 1 7
3 Grigori Laguta © 1 0 0 1 2 4
4 Denis Gizatullin 1 1 f,ex 1 1 4
5 Roman Povazhny 1 2 1 2 2 8
RUSSIA 1 3 4 5 6 9 10 10 11 13 16 17 17 17 18 18 20 21 22 24 25 26 28 29 31 31
1 Lukas Dryml ex 1 1 0 ret 0 2
2 Ales Dryml © 0 2 0 0 0 2
3 Martin Malek 0 0 0 - 0 0
4 Zdenek Simota 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Matej Kus 0 2 1 1 0^ 4
CZECH REPUBLIC 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Time 64.28 64.21 65.12 65.40 64.44 64.93 64.91 64.92 64.94 64.69 65.50 65.18 64.96 64.79 64.60 65.56 65.25 65.31 65.00 65.28 65.72 65.38 65.09 65.16 65.00

EVENT 2 Mon 26.07 : King's Lynn, UK Official Att: 6,000 Referee: Christian Froschauer (Ger)
Great Britain 51 Australia 48 Sweden 40 Finland 14
Team Manager: Rob Lyon Team Manager: Craig Boyce Team Manager: Peter Jansson Team Manager: Jyri Palomaki

King's Lynn 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 Scott Nicholls 2 3 3 3 3 14
2 Lee Richardson 1 2 2 2 3 10
3 Tai Woffinden 2 f,ex 2 3 0 7
4 Simon Stead 3 2 1 1 f,ex 7
5 Chris Harris 3 3 3 1 3 13
GREAT BRITAIN 2 3 5 8 11 13 16 19 21 21 23 24 27 30 32 33 36 38 41 42 45 45 45 48 51 51
1 Chris Holder 3 2 3 2 2 12
2 Dave Watt 3 2 3 2 1 11
3 Troy Batchelor 3 1 3 2 2 11
4 Rory Schlein 2 f 1 2 1 6
5 Darcy Ward 2 3 1 1 1 8
AUSTRALIA 3 6 9 11 13 16 18 20 21 21 24 27 28 29 32 34 36 37 39 41 42 43 45 46 48 48
1 Fredrik Lindgren f,ex 6^ 2 3 3 14
2 Jonas Davidsson 2 3 2 3 1 3 14
3 Antonio Lindback 1 1 1 1 2 6
4 Magnus Zetterstrom © 0 0 1 3 1 5
5 Daniel Nermark 1 0 f,ex - 0 1
SWEDEN 0 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 11 14 15 15 17 19 20 23 24 27 28 31 31 34 37 39 40 40
1 Timo Lahti f,ex 0 0 0 - 0
2 Joonas Kylmakorpi 0 1 2 0 4^ 2 9
3 Juha Hautamaki 0 1 0 0 1 2
4 Kauko Nieminen © 1 0 0 0 0 1
5 Tero Aarnio 0 2 0 0 0 2
FINLAND 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 3 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 11 13 14 14 14 14
Time 59.94 60.03 60.19 60.53 59.22 60.37 60.00 60.59 60.28 60.60 61.47 61.25 60.90 61.47 61.82 61.66 61.72 62.34 62.22 61.53 63.22 62.37 62.50 61.31 62.78

RACE-OFF (1st & 2nd to Final)
Thu 29.07 : Vojens, Denmark Official Att: 2,000 Referee: Craig Ackroyd (GB)
Denmark 48 Sweden 47 Australia 36 Russia 19
Team Manager: Jan Staechmann Team Manager: Peter Jansson Team Manager: Craig Boyce Team Manager : Stanislav Khan

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 Kenneth Bjerre 2 2 2 2 2 10
2 Nicolai Klindt 1 2 3 1 1 8
3 Niels K Iversen 1 1 3 2 2 9
4 Bjarne Pedersen 2 2 2 2 2 10
5 Hans Andersen © 1 3 3 3 1 11
DENMARK 2 3 4 6 7 9 12 14 16 17 20 22 25 27 30 33 35 36 38 40 41 43 45 46 48 48
1 Fredrik Lindgren 3 3 2 3 0 11
2 Jonas Davidsson 2 2 0 0 3 7
3 Magnus Zetterstrom © 3 1 2 3 3 12
4 Andreas Jonsson 3 2 0 2 1 8
5 Antonio Lindback 3 ex-t 3 3 0 9
SWEDEN 3 5 8 11 14 15 17 17 20 22 22 25 27 27 29 29 32 34 37 40 40 40 43 46 47 47
1 Dave Watt © 1 0 2 2 2 1 8
2 Darcy Ward 3 1 1 0 - 5
3 Rory Schlein 2 3 1 1 3 1 11
4 Troy Batchelor 1 ex - 1 2 4
5 Chris Holder 2 3 0^ 0 3 8
AUSTRALIA 1 4 6 7 9 9 10 13 13 16 18 19 20 21 21 23 23 26 27 27 29 30 31 33 36 36
1 Artem Laguta 0 0 1 0 0 1
2 Grigori Laguta © 0 1 1 1 0 3
3 Roman Povazhny 0 1 0^ 1 0 2
4 Denis Gizatullin 0 0 0 1 3 4
5 Renat Gafurov 0 3 3 0 3 9
RUSSIA 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 4 5 5 6 6 6 9 10 11 12 12 12 13 16 19 19 19 19 19
Time 59.2 59.8 59.9 59.7 59.7 59.3 59.8 60.3 60.6 60.6 61.4 60.3 60.5 60.5 60.4 61.0 60.9 61.0 60.7 60.5 60.3 60.7 60.5 60.8 60.8

FINAL
Sun 01.08* : Vojens, Denmark Official Att: 10,000 Referee: Craig Ackroyd (GB)
Poland 44 Denmark 39 Sweden 35 Great Britain 33
Team Manager: Marek Cieslak Team Manager: Jan Staechmann Team Manager: Peter Jansson Team Manager: Rob Lyon
*Note Meeting originally staged Sat 31.07 but abandoned after heat 4 due to rain : Sweden 9 (Lindback 3, J Davidsson 3, Lindgren 2, Zetterstrom 1) Great Britain 6 (Stead 2, Nicholls 2, Harris 1, Woffinden 1) Poland 5 (Holta 3, Hampel 2, Gollob 0, Miedzinski 0) Denmark 4 (Pedersen 3, Iversen 1, Bjerre 0, Klindt 0)

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 Rune Holta 2 3 3 f,ex 2 10
2 Jaroslaw Hampel 2 3 3 1 2 11
3 Tomasz Gollob © f,ex 3 3 3 3 12
4 Adrian Miedzinski 0 1 2 f,ex 2 5
5 Janusz Kolodziej 0 ef 2 3 1 6
POLAND 2 4 4 4 4 4 7 10 13 14 17 20 22 24 27 30 30 33 33 34 36 37 39 41 44 44
1 Kenneth Bjerre 3 2 1 3 0 9
2 Nicolai Klindt 1 1 1 2 1 6
3 Niels K Iversen 2 f,ex 2 3 2 9
4 Bjarne Pedersen 3 3 0 2 1 9
5 Hans Andersen © 1 2 1 2 0 6
DENMARK 3 4 6 9 10 13 15 17 18 18 20 20 21 22 23 25 28 30 33 35 36 38 39 39 39 39
1 Fredrik Lindgren 1 2 0 0 ex-t 3
2 Jonas Davidsson 3 0 2 2 0 7
3 Antonio Lindback 3 1 0 0 3 3 10
4 Magnus Zetterstrom © 2 0 0 - - 2
5 Andreas Jonsson 2 3 2 4^ 0 2 13
SWEDEN 1 4 7 9 11 13 13 14 14 17 17 19 19 19 21 21 23 23 27 27 27 27 30 33 35 35
1 Chris Harris © 0 2 3 f,ex^ 3 3 11
2 Tai Woffinden ef 2 3 1 0 6
3 Simon Stead 1 1 0 - - 2
4 Scott Nicholls 1 1 1 1 1 5
5 Lee Richardson 3 0 1 1 3 1 9
GREAT BRITAIN 0 0 1 2 5 6 7 7 9 11 12 13 16 19 19 20 20 21 22 25 28 31 31 32 33 33
Time 60.3 60.5 60.2 60.7 60.4 60.4 59.6 59.6 59.8 60.1 58.9 59.5 59.7 60.0 59.7 59.9 60.2 60.4 61.1 61.1 61.1 61.1 61.3 61.8 61.5

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^ Double-point "Joker" ride ; © captain
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: Roger Stevens
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© Brian Collins