MONSTER ENERGY FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP - RACE OFF

A perfect 21 point maximum for GB's Tai Woffinden wasn't enough to push the Lions into Saturday's Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup Final as Poland, led by Poole skipper Maciej Janowski, achieved their goal for the injured Jaroslaw Hampel.

Former world No.2 Hampel broke his leg in two places in an horrific crash at Event 1 in Gniezno, Poland on Saturday and underwent a five-hour operation to repair the damage in Poznan on Tuesday. He is unlikely to race again this year.
That didn’t stop the six-time SWC winner playing his part in Poland’s success and Pawlicki paid tribute to his former Leszno team mate for some timely encouragement before the Race Off.
He said: “Jarek called before the meeting when we were walking the track. He called and said ‘boys, I’m watching the TV and keeping my fingers crossed.’
“Jarek was captain in the first meeting and we lost him. We’re in contact every day, though, and he feels better now. This is important for the Polish team. Now we race for him.
“Every point we score is for him and we remember he’s the captain of the Polish team. It was not such a good situation in Gniezno. He broke his leg, but he knows all the riders in Poland are keeping their fingers crossed he’s back on track fast.
“I’m sure he was happy with us. It was such a good night for the Polish team. It wasn’t so easy, but everyone in the team did some good work. Every rider scored points and we won.”

Woffinden, who spoke passionately after the meeting claiming that he wanted to discuss his ideas for the future development of British speedway on the International stage, won each of his rides by huge margins, including a tactical joker outing when he came in for Robert Lambert in a controversial heat 12. His victory took GB level with Poland after Przemyslaw Pawlicki's two points for finishing second were withdrawn after it was adjudged his hard move on Russian Kudriashov was dangerous riding and was disqualified after the race.

During the fourth batch of rides GB were pushing the Poles all the way until Maciej Janowski took the heat 16 honours and GB's representative Danny King ran a last place, a result that put Poland in the driving seat ahead of the manager's picks heats.

With Pawlicki winning the first of those Poland were inching ever nearer a return visit on Saturday, but Woffinden, completing his full house, kept a modicum of hope for the British lads with victory in heat 18.

Krzysztof Buczkowski, who came into the Polish side as a replacement for Hampel who suffered a broken leg in Event One which could finish his season, then produced the final blow when he made a great start in heat 19 and with Harris having to use much of the early stages of the heat to battle through from the back his eventual second place was not enough to take the meeting into a last heat decider, although Janowski didn't have life all his own in that finale as Danny King chased him down for the duration.

Team GB boss Alun Rossiter accepted his Lions just fell slightly short against a talented young Polish side. But he was elated with maximum man Woffinden and 17-year-old sensation Robert Lambert, who scored eight from four rides, including two race wins.
He said: “We were not quite strong enough really in the end, if we’re quite honest. The Poles were strong all the way through and didn’t make that many mistakes. It has been a good week, though.
“Woffy was absolutely outstanding. He was on fire and just left everybody behind really. Robert certainly did really well and it was great to work with him this week.
“There’s all the hoo-ha about him and the whole world is watching. He handed that pressure very well. He has an old head on young shoulders.”

The Monster Energy SWC Final draw was completed after the Race Off. Hosts, defending champions and favourites Denmark race in red helmets. Sweden compete in blue, Poland line up in white, with Australia racing in yellow.

MONSTER ENERGY SWC RACE OFF SCORES:

POLAND 48: Maciej Janowski 14, Krzysztof Buczkowski 13, Przemyslaw Pawlicki 11, Bartosz Zmarzlik 10

TEAM GREAT BRITAIN 43: Tai Woffinden 21, Robert Lambert 8, Chris Harris 7, Danny King 7

USA 22: Greg Hancock 12, Ryan Fisher 5, Gino Manzares 3, Max Ruml 2

RUSSIA 11: Vitali Belousov 5, Andrej Kudriashov 4, Renat Gafurov 2 (3 riders only)