FORM PREVIEW: Hansen, Milik and Lathi
We continue our look at the form of some of the competitors who will be taking part in this year’s TAURON SEC and who also race in Poland’s League 1 division.
Having looked at Bellego, Lebedevs and Logachev, we now consider the next three highest scorers in that league.
4. Patrick Hansen, DEN, 12th 2.094
5. Vaclav Milik, CZE, 23rd, 1.828
6. Timo Lahti, FIN, 27th, 1.784
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Patrick Hansen, DEN
The 23-year-old Dane is one of the most improved riders of 2021. Last year he was in eWinner 2 League and finished 15th overall, but now he one of the best riders in eWinner 1 and the leading foreign rider with his team, Arged Malesa Ostrow.
He started grabbing headlines earlier this year when he won the Danish SEC/ SGP qualifier losing only one heat when he was beaten by TAURON SEC rival, Mikkel Michelsen. But Hansen can still boast that he beat the 2019 European Champion earlier on in the competition.
That means that whilst Hansen is a debutant in the European Championship, he is definitely a name to look out for in this year competition.
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Vaclav Milik, CZE
The Czech Republic’s rider is one of the well-known faces of the European Championships. Now 28 yrs, he has appeared in every TAURON SEC final since 2015 and medalled in 2016 (Silver) and 2017 (Bronze). This year he comes to the finals after receiving a Wildcard.
At club level in eWinner 1, the Czech rider has found himself part of a winning squad with Wilki Krosno. The club is trying to go from eWinner 2 to Ekstraliga in just one season. However, he is in a supporting role behind the team’s heat leaders, including Latvia’s Andzejs Lebebevs. Milik gets better with every race and currently has a heat average of 1.828. But one thing he has over his rivals is experience in Europe’s best competition. Can he use that to better last year’s 10th place finish in Europe?
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Timo Lahti, FIN
Finland’s Timo Lahti (photo) made an impressive start to his first ever TAURON SEC appearance as a permanent rider in 2020 when he came 7th overall. That result was founded on two excellent results when he came second in Round 4 at Gniezno and then third in the final Round at Torun.
This year he received a Wildcard so that he could take part in this year’s competition after finishing just outside the automatic qualifying positions in the SEC Challenge in Pardubice.
He currently has an average of 1.784 for Start Gniezno, which puts him in 27th in the individual rankings in the Polish league.
But as he proved in the TAURON SEC last year, he is capable of more. For example, he top scored for his team when they visit Rybnik on 24 May, the venue for the final Round in this year’s European Championship.
*Statistics correct as of 8 June 2021
