Speedway: Swedes sweep into World Cup Final

Defending world speedway champions Sweden will join hosts Britain and favourites Poland in Saturday’s World Cup Final in Manchester.

The Swedes won their home qualifying round in Vastervik tonight after a dominant performance that saw their riders win 10 of the 20 races and finish second in nine of the others.

They finished clear of Australia and the USA, who will now go into Friday night’s Race-Off, also being held at Manchester’s National Speedway Stadium.

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The Aussies and Americans will face Denmark and Russia in one of the hottest race meetings of the year, with only one place in the final up for grabs.

The event will boast star racers like three-time world champion Greg Hancock, 2012 world no. 1 Chris Holder, 2015 British GP winner Niels-Kristian Iversen and European champion Emil Sayfutdinov.

Denmark go into the meeting without three-time world champion Nicki Pedersen, who missed their qualifier on Saturday as part of an arrangement with the previous management of the Danish team. He was expected to return for the latter stages of the tournament.

But the Danes are now managed by former rider Hans Nielsen and he has decided not to re-introduce Pedersen for the Race-Off, and he will also sit out Saturday’s final if they make it through.

That decision makes Australia slight favourites to make it through to the final as they have Grand Prix riders Jason Doyle and Chris Holder in their side, along with Max Fricke, who races for the Belle Vue team who are based at the National Speedway Stadium.

Only one team can go through to face Tai Woffinden-led Britain, Sweden and Poland. The Poles are likely favourites for the title, but they have dropped captain Maciej Janowski in favour of hot-and-cold Krzysztof Kasprzak, which could unsettle the equilibrium of their young team.

British team manager Alun Rossiter has admitted a top-three finish is his team’s ambition for the final and it would take a seriously patriotism-fuelled display for them to claim the country’s first crown since 1989.

The Swedes looked solid in their qualifier tonight and they could provide tougher-than-expected opposition to the Poles on Saturday. They were surprise winners of the competition last year and displayed similar tenacity this time around.

Tickets for both Friday’s Race-Off and Saturday’s final are available from www.monsterenergyswc.com.

 

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