Polish Przemysław Pawlicki won the SEC Challenge in Gorican, Croatiam in front of 3.500 spectators. Danish Kenneth Bjerre was second and his compatriot Nikolai Klindt, who won play-off heat, was third. The promotion to SEC 2017 gained seven riders from the top of the GC – apart from mentioned three: Mateusz Szczepaniak, Martin Smolinski, Kacper Gomólski and Adrian Miedziński.
Big emotions started already in the first heat and it was just a sign of what was to come yet. Kenneth Bjerre and Kim Nilsson were fighting all the way until the last meters of the lap. The fight was won by the Swede, who blocked the Dane trying to attack from the outside. On the other hand, the most unlucky rider was Andriej Karpow, who broke the tape in his first start and was disqualified from the third gear, losing important points needed for advancing to the Speedway Euro Championship. Excellent speedway skills were shown by Adrian Miedziński. Despite his weak start, Miedziak had shown a great commitment, running after Andriej Lebiediew all the way for four laps. His stubbornness awarded him a win on the last meters before the finish line.
At the 6th heat Andrei Karpov, who attacked leading Gomólski, crashed. Luckly, he got up fast, but of course, he was excluded. The Ukrainian rider, one of the favorites, was not so competitive as he expected. In his next heat, his bike broke in the second lap. The 8th race of the day was one of the most interesting. Adrian Miedziński, blocked on first corner, made a terrific chase. Finally he lost the battle against Michael Jepsen Jensen, but only few centimeters decided about that.
Next heats marked bigger and bigger differences among competitors. Nicolai Klindt, after scoring zero points in his first run, managed to win all of his other heats. The first rider to advance was Przemysław Pawlicki, who won also the SEC Challenge. Martin Smoliński’s wild run on the last meters in heat 18 awarded him a victory. The German-born rider was fighting for it for the whole run with Kudriashow, just to outrun him on the finish line.
After 20 races, riders on first and second place were known, but to emerge third rider of the night, organizers needed the play-off, in which Gomólski, Klindt, Szczepaniak and Smoliński took part. Finally the Dane won with a huge advantage.
Andriej Kurdriashow, Adrian Miedziński, Mikkel Bech and Michael Jepsen Jensen were fighting for the last place awarded with advance to the series. After Miedziński’s great attack on Bech on the second lap, it was him who won the heat and was the fourth Pole to qualify to the Speedway Euro Championship series.
So, now we know 12 riders, who will take part in SEC 2017. Except top 7 from this SEC Challenge, right to take off have top 5 from last year tournament (Pedersen, Milik, Kasprzak, Łaguta and Madsen). The last 3 riders, who will ride with a wild card, will be given soon. The first SEC 2017 round will take place in Toruń, Poland, on June 30th.
Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/349
