And finally... (August 4, 2007)
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14 countries took part in the competition. 8 countries had to qualify in two heats of 4 for the finals week. The winners of each heat advanced only. There were then 2 heats of 4, Semi Finals. The winners made the Final, and the second and third placed teams went into a Race Off. The top 2 in the race off make the Final. The four countries then do battle for the World Cup.
The qualifying stages started the competition off well. In the first qualifier, Germany, with home advantage, were the favourites to advance. At the conclusion, Finland had won, just three points ahead of Germany, who, in turn was 3 ahead of Latvia. Despite a wonderful 16 points from Matej Zagar, the best rider on show, Slovenia were well off the pace in fourth. Kai Laukkanen scored 14 points for the Finns.
The second qualifier saw Russia, Czech Republic, Italy and Hungary do battle in Italy. But the Czechs were humbled as Russia surprised everybody. Emil Saifutdinov scored 15 out of 15 to spearhead the Russian challenge.
Into finals week in the middle of July. Semi Final 1 saw Finland in a heat with Denmark, Poland and Australia. Denmark were inspired, scoring 60 points and having all their riders score more than 10 points. The Polish stars were disappointing, Grzegorz Walasek scored a maximum 15 points, but the stars of the team, Jaroslaw Hampel, Rune Holta and Tomasz Gollob were disappointing. Australia were just behind them in third, with Jason Crump and Leigh Adams performing well. Finland were totally outclassed.
Semi Number 2 was a much easier Semi Final. Russia advanced to face the United States, Great Britain and Sweden in Coventry. Great Britain were inspired. All of their riders made double figures, Scott Nicholls made 15 points. Sweden, without Andreas Jonsson came in second place, the Karlsson brothers and Fredrik Lindgren performed well. Russia without any real starts came third. The United States were just off the pace, and eliminated in fourth place. Greg Hancock scored 15 points on the night, but the other four riders in the team could only muster 5 points between them.
The Race Off in Leszno saw Poland, Australia, Sweden and minnows Russia playoff. Russia were humiliated, ending in sixth place, scoring only 7 points. One of the big Speedway nations would be eliminated. Sweden losing Jonsson proved too much of a burden, and Australia won the Race Off by just 1 point from Poland, who were still struggling to find any form.
The Final in Poland saw the home nation facing up against Great Britain, Australia and Denmark. I was going to describe what happened, but you can watch it all in the videos below! It will last between 50 minutes and an hour though, so if you want to skip bits, I recommend just watching the bottom one. There are five heats in each. The videos are complete with Polish commentary, which isn't as annoying as you'd think. To help you, Poland have the blue hats, Denmark have the white hats, Australia have the yellow hats, and Great Britain has the red hats. And they have their flags on their uniform if you can match that out. It's well worth a watch, if only for the passion of the home fans. I shan't tell you the winners though, for I don't want to spoil it for those that want to watch.
Heats 1-5
Heats 6-10
Heats 11-15
Heats 16-20
Heats 21-25
SPOILER BELOW
So, the Polish captain, Tomasz Gollob won the World Cup for Poland by winning Heat 25. Gollob always performs well on home soil. After winning 10 Grands Prix in his lengthy career, the Pole has won 7 of them in his home race, the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland. That's 7 out of 13 at home, which is a record nobody else is even close to catching - most only win one Grands Prix two or three times in their careers. But Gollob has won 7! Not only that, but he has never recently been any good, he is 12th of the 15 full-time riders in the 2007 Speedway Grand Prix season. He is behind every rider he beat in Heat 25 in the Grand Prix season. But when representing his country, and at home, Gollob is a different rider. He's my early tip to win his 8th Speedway Grand Prix of Poland this September. Gollob has been a loyal servant to his country, and a real good egg on the Speedway calendar.
But Poland take their first World Cup in 6 years, and Denmark took silver, Australia took Bronze, and Great Britain had a poor night. Poland stepped up their game when they had to in the Final, so well done to them.
Next week I have a choice, it depends on what happens in the two events I can write about. It's golf or cricket though. You'll have to read next week to find out though!
