Emil Sayfutdinov won the SEC Challenge, which was held in Terenzano, Italy, in front of around 1.300 spectators, in a sunny day. The Russian rider is one of 5 riders, who got promoted to this year’s Speedway Euro Championship series and this list included also Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark), Jozsef Franc (Czech Republic), Andrey Kudriashov (Russia) and Peter Kildemand (Denmark).
The first two series of the meeting were a chain of crashes and exclusions. However, fans gathered at the MC Olimpia Terenzano venue, couldn’t complain about lack of fight on the track. There were some spectacular clashes with Antonio Lindbaeck and Kai Huckenbeck, but none of them was able to reach the promotion. In the end it was the German rider, to end up as 6th, only one spot below the ones securing the spot for the Euro Championship.
On the other hand, there were had some really big surprises, such as Jozsef Franc. The oldest rider in SEC Challenge line up was close to the bottom of the standings after the first two series, but with the right adjustments of his setups, he reached the promotion to SEC.
Both Sayfutdinov and Kildemand – who got through to SEC finals – have been Euro Championship’s medalists: the Russian won this cycle twice (2014, 2015) and Dane got the silver in 2015.
So far, we know the names of 10 riders, who will race in this year’s Speedway Euro Championship: Andzejs Lebedevs, Artem Laguta, Vaclav Milik, Andreas Jonsson, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Emil Sayfutdinov, Mikkel Michelsen, Josef Franc, Andrey Kudryashov and Peter Kildemand.
The organizers have the right to give 5 ”wild cards” and their holders will be revealed within the next days. The SEC Final 1 will be held on June 23rd.
Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/524
