
A parochial Australian home crowd watched their young stars win a bronze medal in the 2015 Team Speedway Under 21 World Championship at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway on Saturday, October 21.
Australia — Nick Morris, Max Fricke, Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder — finished on 29pts to finish behind Denmark (39) and the all-conquering Polish outfit (50), while Germany was fourth (5).
Australian team manager Mark Lemon spoke glowingly of his troops' efforts to revive a night that could have been disastrous after early mechanical problems.
“They could’ve dropped their heads in that first round when leading, and to have mechanical issues it’s just heartbreaking to see the looks on their faces,” Lemon said. “They picked themselves up and came back strong and I’m just really proud of them.”
Australian skipper Morris said: “We didn’t have the best night, the first round of heats when Jack (Holder) and I were leading and then to throw away those points was costly.
“You can’t give them a head start; these are the best teams in the world and they (Team Poland) just kept on rolling away.
“It was great to see the crowd get all up and about when I won; the feeling was pretty amazing. It’s a shame we couldn’t all get victories but that’s speedway.”
RESULTS
Poland: 50 points (Pawlicki 15, Zmarslik 15, Drabik 13, Przedpelski 7)
Denmark: 39 points (Busk Jakobsen 15, Bech 14 (J), Michelsen 6, Thomsen 4)
Australia: 29 points (Morris 12, Kurtz 7, Fricke 6, Holder 4)
Germany: 5 points (M Riss 2, E Riss 2, Hartel 1, Grobauer 0)