Sweden wins Speedway World Cup

Sweden snatched its first Speedway World Cup win in 11 years at Vojens in Denmark on June 14, capitalising on some catastrophic luck for host, holder and red-hot favourite Denmark to snatch gold on 34pts, just pipping the Danes who finished on 32. A young Polish team scored 27 to beat Australia (26) to bronze by 1pt.

Sweden started the day as rank outsider, but with Andeas Jonsson (12), Fredrik Lindgren (11), Antonio Lindback (seven) and Linus Sundstrom (four) all contributing useful points, it pulled off a famous win.

Sweden's captain Jonsson said: “We did the best we could. I knew we were up against some really good riders, but we kept our cool and took care of the points we could. We worked as a team, and I think that’s what made us win.
“After heat 18, we were 4pts down and I thought ‘this is going to be really tough.’ We still believed, though, and when Freddie went out and won his last ride in heat 19, I thought ‘we’ve got nothing to lose now; we can do it.’

“It’s a team effort and you have to make sure you don’t make too many mistakes. Every mistake costs you.

“Denmark and Poland were the favourites. Poland came in with some injuries and it was tough. Denmark had a bit of bad luck. But it’s all about working as a team and collecting the points, which we did."

Aussie boss Mark Lemon was left to rue his side’s misfortune as it fell short of the rostrum. He said: “It was a tough night and we didn’t get the rub of the green. There were a couple of decisions by the referee that lacked consistency.

“I believed these guys could push for the gold and they put in a gritty performance. It wasn’t to be, but our luck has to change. We had rotten luck. Sweden had all the luck in the world.

“Congratulations to Sweden and good on them. They got lucky in Poland last weekend and had some pretty lucky decisions on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong; they rode well and I think they’re worthy world champions. But we didn’t have that luck and we’ve been lacking it for a little while. It has to change.”

Chris Holder, Jason Doyle and Troy Batchelor all scored 8pts apiece, and Nick Morris finished with 2pts.

With the Speedway World Cup over, the action switches back to the Speedway Grand Prix series which comes back in style on July 4 with the Adrian Flux British SGP at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. The final round will be held at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium on Saturday, October 24.

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SWC FINAL SCORES:
SWEDEN 34: 1 Antonio Lindback 7, 2 Andreas Jonsson 12, 3 Linus Sundstrom 4, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 11.
DENMARK 32: 1 Peter Kildemand 13, 2 Nicki Pedersen 4, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen 9, 4 Kenneth Bjerre 6.
POLAND 27: 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 3, 2 Krzysztof Buczkowski 4, 3 Maciej Janowski 11, 4 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 9.
AUSTRALIA 26: 1 Chris Holder 8, 2 Jason Doyle 8, 3 Nick Morris 2, 4 Troy Batchelor 8.