A 5:1 in Heat 3 for the home team from Victor Kulakov (12) and Jakub Jamrog (6+2) gave Gdańsk a narrow lead which they held onto for the majority of the match when Ostrow came to visit on Monday night.
When Kulakov again was first to the checkered flag in Heat 13, he had teammate Rasmus Jensen (8+1, pictured) behind him for another 5:1 and it looked like the home team were odds on for the win with a 43:35 lead before the nomination heats.
But Ostrovia showed true fighting spirit in the last two heats of the meet.
First in Heat 14, Dane, Patrick Hansen (12) won the heat for the visitors, ably backed up in second place by reserve rider, Sebastian Szostak who had the match of his life with 8+2. That left the scores at 44:41 and few would have expected anything other than a home win with Gdansk’s top riders Kulakov and Krystian Pieszczek (10+2) on the night coming to tapes.
Kulakov had not lost a single point at that stage.
But clearly Ostrovia’s experienced Poles, Tomas Gapinski (10+2) and Grzegorz Walasek (10+1) had other plans and brought home an unexpected 1:5 meaning the team’s were forced to share the points with 45:45 after 15 heats.
Ostrow’s Scandinavian duo of Oliver Berntzon (5+1) and Nicolai Klindt (2+1) seemed off the pace tonight but can thank their Polish teammates for a point tonight. Perhaps they both have one eye on the start of the Elitserien tomorrow where they will both represent Gislaved Lejonen?
