#OSTGOR
The final official match of the Ekstraliga season in Poland took place yesterday as Arged Malesa TZ Ostrovia from the Nice 1 Liga hosted world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik's team, TRULY.WORK STAL Gorzow. And the home team knew that had an uphill battle ahead of them with the visitors leading the tie 60-30 after an emphatic win at home in Gorzow last weekend.
Things could hardly have got off to a worst start for the hosts when Ostrovia's top scorer from last week, Nicolai Klindt, fell at the first corner and was then dismissed from this first heat. The decision seemed harsh as the replay clearly showed that Gorzow's Syzmon Wozniak made contact with him. As the Pole jostled for position with the Dane, he naturally swung the back of his bike out for the turn and caught Klindt's front wheel, who was then forced out to correct his position only to fall off the bike harmlessly in the process. Wozniak would win the re-run as Ostrovia started the match with a 2-4 loss.
Things continued in the wrong direction as the home team were defeated in the reserve Heat, 1-5. Then in Heat 3 Australian Sam Masters' bike packed in enabling Krzysztof Kazprzak and Anders Thomsen to take another 1-5 for the visitors.
So, after just three heats, Ostrovia were already down 4-14 in a match they needed to win by 30 or more points. Masters would only compete in one more Heat, where he came last, but the two from Gorzow would go on to top the scoring for their team. Thomsen took 12+2, Kazprzak with 11+2 whilst Wozniak would also go into double figures with 10+1.
Ukranian, Oleksandr Loktaev, (as he is called in Poland, photoed above racing for Hammarby) was the only rider from Ostrovia to shine, taking home 13 from a possible 18 points. It was a truly exceptional score from the 25 year old who had a points average of 1.308 from this season in Nice 1 and just 1.00 from his time with Masarna in Sweden.
As it turned out then, the impossible was simply not possible and Gorzow ran out easy winners by 33-57, a similar score to last week to take the whole series by a convincing 117-63. Therefore, Zmarzlik at Gorzow retain their status as an Ekstraliga club for the 2020 season.
