Mikkel Michelsen finished fourth during the inaugural round of the Speedway Euro Championship 2021, which took place in Bydgoszcz. The Dane was excluded from the final race for causing a fall of Leon Madsen.
Michelsen did well during the competition in Bydgoszcz. The Dane started the meeting with two points, but the next four races were a show of power and effectiveness of the 2019 Individual European Champion. 14 points scored in the main round meant that Michelsen got directly advanced to the final race of the day.
- The first round was pretty good. I scored a lot of points which is important. In first race I wasn't sure if I'm fast enough but after that I won four straight races - that was pretty good.
In heat 22 Michelsen had as rivals Leon Madsen, Daniel Bewley and Piotr Pawlicki. All four of them were in the fight for the victory, but at the distance there was a fierce fight between the two Danes, which ended with a fall of Madsen. Michelsen was excluded from the re-run of the final race.
The European champion stressed that he took a risk by choosing the fourth gate for the final. As it turned out later, this was not the best choice.
- I gambled a little bit for the final, gambled with the setup and the gate. I took gate four which was probably a big mistake, but it's speedway - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and unfortunately it didn't work out today. That was tight fight in the final.. Me and Leon collided on the straight and Leon had a nasty crash but from what I can see he looks alright. Obviously, Leon won the final. He is a warrior. Danish are vikings. Great he's ok. I already said to him 'sorry, I didn't see you'. You need to be man and admit if you've done something wrong. It was a bit hard from my side. It's racing, we're all racing to become European Champion so sometimes it's gonna be a little bit tight.
Despite the exclusion, Michelsen became the second highest scorer of the competition in Bydgoszcz. The Dane will go to Gustrow with only one point loss the leader of the interim classification of the series, Piotr Pawlicki.
- Overall - I'm pretty happy with everything. I would like to get some points in the final but we're gonna save those three points for Gustrow.
