
Australia has fallen agonisingly close to winning its first Speedway World Cup since 2002, finishing a close third behind Denmark and Poland in the final on August 3.
Australia – skipper Chris Holder, Darcy Ward, Troy Batchelor and Jason Doyle – completed the event in Poland on 36pts, with Poland on 37 and Denmark on 38.
Holder paid tribute to a heroic display from under-the-weather teammate Doyle, who racked up 13 points to be the lead scorer for Australia. He said: “It was tough. Poland and Denmark are tough opponents. We started off slow, but we pegged it back with the joker and Doyley was on fire. He was the man here tonight.
“If you’d seen how ill he has been for the last two days, you’ll know he did unbelievably well to do what he did and keep us in there.?
MONSTER ENERGY SWC FINAL SCORES
DENMARK 38: 1 Nicki Pedersen 17, 2 Peter Kildemand 7, 3 Mads Korneliussen 3, 4 Niels-Kristian Iversen 11.
POLAND 37: 1 Piotr Protasiewicz 9, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak 11, 3 Janusz Kolodziej 6, 4 Jaroslaw Hampel 11.
AUSTRALIA 36: 1 Chris Holder 11, 2 Darcy Ward 10, 3 Jason Doyle 13, 4 Troy Batchelor 2.
TEAM GREAT BRITAIN 16: 1 Tai Woffinden 12, 2 Simon Stead 0, 3 Chris Harris 4, 4 Danny King 0.