Australia second in SWC qualifier
Now has to go through the last chance qualifier to try and win a place in the finalSweden stormed into the 2016 FIM Speedway World Cup Final with victory in its qualifying round on home spoil ahead of Australia, America and Germany.
Sweden scored 48pts at the Stena Arena in Vastervik, with Australia (37) the only other country to come within cooee.
Sweden now join final host Great Britain and Poland at the final in Manchester on July 30, while Australia and America face Denmark and Russia in the last-chance race-off on Friday for the fourth spot in the final.
Australian team manager Mark Lemon believes Sweden capitalised on its experience and home advantage. But he insists a young Roos team is already determined to make up for missing out on Final qualification by booking their spot via Friday’s race-off.
He said: “Experience and home-track advantage paid, and the Swedes are the current world champions. They came into the event extremely confident and it would have been extremely disappointing for them to lose. They were up against it and they had to deliver, which they did.
“We’ve been here before; we’re going to the race-off No-one wants to go to the race-off because it’s so damn hard. But our attention is already focused on Friday.”
Lemon admits he considered bringing in top scorer Jason Doyle as his tactical joker in heat 16, but opted to keep faith with Chris Holder, who was programmed for that race.
The 2012 world champion was passed by Lindback and Greg Hancock, doubling just one point to two. “I could have played the joker with Jason instead of Chris,” Lemon said. “But Chris had just sorted his bikes out. It was a team decision. It didn’t affect the result. Sweden was just too good.”
Doyle was Australia's top scorer on 12pts, from Holder (11), Max Fricke (9) and Sam Masters (5).
American icon Greg Hancock piled up a whopping 17pts for the USA – more than any other rider on the night.
MONSTER ENERGY SWC EVENT 2 SCORES
SWEDEN 48: 1 Antonio Lindback 13, 2 Fredrik Lindgren 11, 3 Andreas Jonsson 13, 4 Peter Ljung 11, 5 Joel Andersson DNR.
AUSTRALIA 37: 1 Chris Holder 11, 2 Sam Masters 5, 3 Max Fricke 9, 4 Jason Doyle 12, 5 Brady Kurtz DNR.
USA 22: 1 Greg Hancock 17, 2 Ryan Fisher 2, 3 Billy Janniro 2, 4 Ricky Wells 1, 5 Luke Becker DNR.
GERMANY 19: 1 Kevin Wolbert 2, 2 Kai Huckenbeck 1, 3 Tobias Kroner 4, 4 Martin Smolinski 12.
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
