All nine teams are in action this week, however Kumla Indianerna are the only team who did not race on Tuesday night and will face Vetlanda at home on Thursday.
Many absence due to SGP in Togliatti
Social media forums in Sweden were full of debate about the SGP riders missing from Swedish matches this week and legitimacy of using Riders Replacement when it has been known for a long time that this week’s race will be in Togliatti. Dackarna travelled to bottom of the table, Motala without Tai Woffinden or Maciej Janowski and Bartosz Zmarzlik (VETS), Artem Laguta (WMSK), Robert Lambert (LEJ) and Krzysztof Kazprzak (LEJ) were not in the starting lines up on Tuesday night nor was wildcard, Vadim Tarasenko (WMSK).
And the same time Jason Doyle (DAC) and Oliver Berntzon (LEJ) did race for their Swedish club’s tonight, whilst Västervik used Rider’s Replacement for Fredrik Lindgren, who was reported as having a hand injury, which many on social media were sceptical about.
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Lejonen 47:43 Masarna (96:84) #LEJMAS
Lejonen won the team’s match in Avesta, 41:49, so tonight’s meet was a real three-pointer. The Gislaved track was perfectly prepared for an excellent night of speedway with overtaking right from the start. At the first track break the scores were level at 9:9, but the next six races saw the visitors take an early lead, 24:30, as Masarna’s French duo of David Bellego (10) and Dimtri Berge (8) outclassed their rivals with two 2:4 heats in a row.
Lejonen’s Jakub Miskowiak (9) was racing his first home match for the Gislaved club and after 0 pts in his first heat, he then took in 3 heat wins in a row so that the match was equal at 36:36 before the nomination heats.
And whilst the match has been tight up to this point, the home side showed their class when in counted, securing all three points in Heat 13 and 14 with two 5:1s in a row.
The greatest cheer of the night was given to Lejonen reserve, Casper Henriksson (3) who had come last in the only heat he had raced that night. Nonetheless, he was on the start line for Heat 13 when teammate, Nicolai Klindt, was first from tapes into turn 1.
The 17-year-old Swede was not so fast and was in last position from the start. However, he decided to take the outside line into turns 1 and 2. He found a great line and came like a rocket passing first, Philip Hellström-Bängs (4) and Martin Smolinski (3) with ease out of turn 2. Henriksson was able to hold off the German for the next 3.75 laps and the crowd applauded wildly and took to their feet as the teenager took a lap of honour.
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Vetlanda 41:49 Smederna (74:106) #VETSSMED
League leaders, Smederna, won the teams’ first meeting by 57:33 and whilst Vetlanda were at home they were favourites to take the bonus point even before tapes went up.
The home side was without Zmarzlik but still had Ekstraliga riders, Dominik Kubera (12) and Brady Kurtz (13) in the squad so there was going to be no easy win for the visitors.
However, all three of Vetlanda’s Swedish riders had a poor night on their home track. Whilst they took 13 heats between them, only twice did they finish above third place in a heat.
So, when the home team duo of Peter Ljung (3) and Victor Palovaara (2) lost Heat 13 with a 1:5 to the visitors, the result of the match was settled and Smederna took all three points back to Eskilstuna to remain at the top of the table. Michael Jepsen Jensen (pictured) was top scorer with 11 pts for the visitors.
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Rospiggarna 55:35 Västervik (95:85) #ROSWMSK
Västervik had a ten-point victory from their home match against Rospiggarna to defend, whilst also wanting to keep the pressure on the leaders, Smederna, who were only ahead of them by six points before tonight’s match. The east coast team also had a game in hand over their Eskilstuna rivals.
However, Västervik showed their reliance on their SGP riders as they won only two heat advantages in their entire match with Jaimon Lidsey scoring just one point for the visitors. In fact, all but seven points tonight were scored by just two riders – Bartosz Smektala (16) and Wiktor Kulakov (12) showing that the side lack strength in depth which may be costly in the playoffs.
With Rospiggarna looking to cancel out their ten-point loss from game 1, the Hallstavik team were relentless as their top 5 all pushed their rivals and refused to give anything away. The management will be happy with the win and the way they did it, with the whole team contributing. Kai Huckenbeck and Timo Lahti took 11 pts, Patyrk Dudek and Adrian Miedzinski with 10 pts, Kim Nilsson with 9 pts and even #6 Daniel Henderson taking 4 pts for the triumphant Hallstavik side.
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Piraterna 42:48 Dackarna (63:117) #PIRDAC
When Piraterna travelled to Målilla earlier this year they were annihilated 67:23, so that bonus point was more or less decided before tonight’s match in Motala. Piraterna were hoping that a weakened Dackarna side might be vulnerable for an upset but received a wake-up call when they were behind 2:10 after just two heats.
However, the bottom of the table team refused to give up and Peter Kildemand (6) and Tomas Jonasson (8) took two heat advantages in Heats 6 and 7 to keep the deficit to a respectable 10 points at the third track break.
A 5:1 in Heat 12, gave the home side a glimmer of hope when captain, Jonasson led in teammate Thomas Jörgensen (8) who was only racing his second match for the club this season.
However, with Kildemand crashing out in Heat 10 and unable to return to the match, Piraterna were missing the killer instinct.
Instead, Dackarna were able to hold the lead and captain, Jacob Thorssell showed his class with a 15 pts maximum for the Målilla side.
NOTE: all points listed here do not include bonus points.
