Motoarena in Torun hosted the last and crucial round of this year's TAURON Speedway Euro Championship. After a tight and even tournament, the victory was achieved by Robert Lambert, who additionally won the title of Individual European Champion in 2020!
Before the competition in Toruń, the Brit was at the top of the interim classification, ahead of Leon Madsen with two points. The beginning of Wednesday's battle belonged to the leader, because in the first heat of the day he defeated his rival in the fight for the final triumph. Over time Madsen looked better, started winning his heats from the third series of starts and the Brit lost a few points. After the regular phase Kai Huckenbeck got through directly to the final heat, which was a big surprise and Lambert did the same after winning his last two heats.
The meeting was very even and the promotion to the race-off was determined by slight point differences. Finally the place in this heat was secured by Leon Madsen, Nicki Pedersen, Bartosz Smektała and Timo Lahti. On the other hand Paweł Przedpełski, who started with a “wild card”, didn’t manage to do it as he collected 10 points like the three above-mentioned riders. In the race-off Madsen was the best ahead of Lahti and both of them could enjoy a promotion to the final heat of the day. In it, the best from the gate was Robert Lambert, who confidently won the race and secured his first title of the best rider in Europe in his career. An additional prize for him is a place in the Speedway Grand Prix series for 2021. Madsen, Lahti and Huckenbeck passed the finish line behind him.
– This is amazing. I have come an extremely long way to get to this place. It's a really amazing feeling, especially after last season which was really bad for me. Before the final, I knew I had to win, I didn't think about getting second or third place. Certainly it is one of the most beautiful days in my life – said Robert Lambert after winning the title of Individual European Champion.
Leon Madsen took a silver medal and the bronze went to the Russian Grigorij Laguta. Additionally, we got to know two riders who achieved a spot in the TOP five, guaranteeing starts in next year's cycle. The 4th place in the classification was taken by Mikkel Michelsen and the TAURON SEC 2020 was finished on 5th place by Bartosz Smektała, who won it after the additional heat with Nicki Pedersen.
Results:
1. Robert Lambert 14 (3,1,1,3,3,3)
2. Leon Madsen 13 (2,1,3,3,2,2)
3. Timo Lahti 11 (2,3,2,2,1,1)
4. Kai Huckenbeck 12 (3,3,1,2,3,0)
5. Nicki Pedersen 10 (3,2,2,3,0)
6. Bartosz Smektała 10 (2,3,3,0,2)
7. Paweł Przedpełski 10 (1,2,3,2,2)
8. Kacper Woryna 9 (3,2,2,1,1)
9. Mikkel Michelsen 8 (1,1,0,3,3)
10. Grigorij Laguta 8 (1,0,3,2,2)
11. Krzysztof Kasprzak 5 (0,0,1,1,3)
12. Peter Ljung 5 (2,2,F/EX,1,0)
13. Michael Jepsen Jensen 4 (0,0,2,1,1)
14. Václav Milík 3 (0,3,0,0,0)
15. David Bellego 3 (1,1,1,-,-)
16. Norbert Krakowiak 1 (0,1)
17. Andriej Kudryashov 0 (0,0,EX,-,-)
18. Igor Kopeć-Sobczyński 0 (0,0)
Heat by heat:
1. Lambert, Madsen, Bellego, Kasprzak
2. Huckenbeck, Lahti, Przedpełski, Kudryashov
3. Pedersen, Smektała, Michelsen, Milík
4. Woryna, Ljung, Laguta, Jepsen Jensen
5. Huckenbeck, Woryna, Michelsen, Kasprzak
6. Smektała, Przedpełski, Madsen, Laguta
7. Milík, Ljung, Lambert, Kudryashov
8. Lahti, Bellego, Pedersen, Jepsen Jensen
9. Przedpełski, Jepsen Jensen, Kasprzak, Milík
10. Madsen, Pedersen, Huckenbeck, Ljung (F/EX)
11. Laguta, Lahti, Lambert, Michelsen
12. Smektała, Woryna, Bellego, Kudryashov (EX)
13. Pedersen, Laguta, Kasprzak, Kopeć-Sobczyński
14. Madsen, Lahti, Woryna, Milík
15. Lambert, Huckenbeck, Jepsen Jensen, Smektała
16. Michelsen, Przedpełski, Ljung, Krakowiak
17. Kasprzak, Smektała, Lahti, Ljung
18. Michelsen, Madsen, Jepsen Jensen, Kopeć-Sobczyński
19. Lambert, Przedpełski, Woryna, Pedersen
20. Huckenbeck, Laguta, Krakowiak, Milík
Race-off:
Madsen, Lahti, Pedersen, Smektała
Finale:
Lambert, Madsen, Lahti, Huckenbeck
Additional heat for 5th place in final classification:
Smektała, Pedersen
