Grigorii Laguta topped the podium in the first round of Tauron SEC in Guestrow. Title's defender - Leon Madsen ended as 2nd and Bartosz Smektała came third. Antonio Lindbaeck ended the meeting right next to the podium, coming as fourth. Laguta became the first leader of the Tauron SEC 2019 series.
From the very beginning in Guestrow, fans were watching some fantastic racing. In the first series of the starts, at this specific German track, with a starting machine placed at the end of second corner, we had a lot of top-notch speedway. First series belonged to the inside gates, specifically the first one, out of which all the riders won their heats. In the second series, it all switched to the gate B.
After two series of starts, we had Bartosz Smektała, Jarosław Hampel and Vaclav Milik on top. All of them got the maximum - 6 points.
After three series, however, there were no undefeated riders. U21 World Champion came third, Hampel got no point at all and Milik fell on the track, while racing as second.
Hegemony of winning from the inside gates was stopped by David Bellego. French rider won heat no.12. He was leading in the first attempt, when Milik fell, but in the heat's repeat, even though he didn't win a start, he was still able to take over Michelsen on distance. Debutant in Tauron SEC series had 6 points after three heats and got himself in the upper part of the table in Guestrow. If it wasn't for an exclusion after fighting with Nicki Pedersen in heat no.17, Frenchman could have got through to the race-off heat.
After four series, it was Antonio Lindbaeck and Grigorii Laguta topping the rank, with 10 points gathered. Four next riders had 8 of them (Madsen, Smektała, Woryna and Bellego). Jarosław Hampel and Michael Jepsen Jensen still had a will to advance to the last chance heat. It only confirmed that the line up of this year's Tauron SEC is extremely equal and strong.
Hosts of tonight's meeting could've been disappointed with performance of their countrymen. Kai Huckenbeck has had some spectacular starts on this track, but tonight, he was far from shining.
- I can't find a proper setup to start well, and this start is crucial - Huckenbeck said during an interview on Eurosport. - Unluckily, I wasn't able to hold the lead in the heat, when Leon Madsen overtook me - German added.
After all, he found a strength to wake up in the last series of starts and went through to the race-off heat.
Grigorii Laguta and Bartosz Smektała went to the final heat directly, after reaching first two positions. Antonio Lindbaeck and Leon Madsen joined these two after the race-off heat,
In the decisive heat of the night, Grigorii Laguta rocked the German crowd, starting from the first gate and even though Leon Madsen was attacking him hard, he was still able to take this win up to the last meters.
European Champion from 2011 got himself on top of the Tauron SEC 2019 overall classification with 15 points gathered. Right behind his back, we have U21 World Champion - Bartosz Smektała. Two next riders: Leon Madsen and Antonio Lindbaeck are close as well with 11 points.
2nd round of Tauron SEC is coming on 27th of July in Torun (Poland).
1. Grigorij Łaguta 15 (2,2,3,3,2,3)
2. Leon Madsen 11 (0,3,2,3,1,2)
3. Bartosz Smektała 12 (3,3,1,1,3,1)
4. Antonio Lindbaeck 11 (3,1,3,3,1,0)
5. Michael Jepsen Jensen 10 (2,0,3,2,3)
6. Kai Huckenbeck 9 (0,2,2,2,3)
7. Vaclav Milik 8 (3,3,w,0,2)
8. Kacper Woryna 8 (1,2,2,3,0)
9. David Bellego 8 (1,2,3,2,w)
10. Nicki Pedersen 8 (2,0,2,2,2)
11. Jarosław Hampel 7 (3,3,0,1,0)
12. Mikkel Michelsen 7 (2,1,1,0,3)
13. Robert Lambert 4 (1,0,1,1,1)
14. Paweł Przedpełski 3 (0,1,u,0,2)
15. Anders Thomsen 3 (0,d,1,1,1)
16. Kevin Woelbert 2 (1,1,0,0,0)
17. Tobias Busch ns
18. Ben Ernst ns
