#LUBGOR
Two of the contenders for winning the Ekstraliga this year met in Lublin tonight with Gorzow unlikely to lose their bonus point after a 58:32 win at home.
But this time it was Motor Lublin who took control of the match from the start whilst Stal seemed to need time to get into the tie.
5:1s in Heats 2 and 5 where U21 rider Wiktor Lampart (7+1) took 5 points set up a cushion for Lublin, forcing Gorzow to chase.
And whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik (16) could do no wrong, Szymon Wozniak (7+3) and Anders Thomsen (8) looked like they might undo all the World Champion’s hard work. But when the pair finally got in together to gain a 1:5 in Heat 9, then Wozniak combined with Martin Vaculik (10+1) for another 1:5 two heats later the score was 34:32, the boisterous crowd were silenced and it felt like anything could happen.
Drama ensued in Heat 13, when the downed Vaculik was excluded after being hit by his own teammate, Zmarzlik instead of the Pole going back to the depot. Then in the re-run Mikkel Michelsen (6+2) was deemed to have gone inside the chalk with both wheels leading to his exclusion. That led to a nail biting 39:38 with just the nomination heats to go.
Heat 14 was a Poland/ Denmark duel with the home team’s
Dominik Kubera (9+1) and Michelsen taking on the Gorzow’s duo of Wozniak/ Thomsen. And it was the Lublin pairing who gained a 4:2 leaving everything down to the final heat 43:40.
Few would have bet against the Gorzow’s SGP pairing of Zmarzlik and Vaculik failing to get a heat advantage- but would it be enough to actually win the tie?
But then, after a quiet meeting where he had scored 6 pts from 4 rides, Russian Grigori Laguta (9, pictured) came flying around the outside to take his first three points of the evening and sending the fans wild with a 46:43 win.
A great advert for speedway with many in-heat battles, controversial decisions and a last minute surprise victory.
