Martin Vaculik is the new Individual European Speedway Champion. The Slovak managed to claw back 5 points he was trailing Nicki Pedersen, during the last round of the competition. Vaculik’s and the rest of the riders’ journey to the championship went from Gdansk to Togliatti, and Gorican, and ended in Rzeszow. So how did each round go for Martin Vaculik?
We cannot ignore the fact that injuries to some of the title contenders played a big part in the outcome however, do not underestimate the talents of the Slovak and what he achieved is an amazing result, and one that is well deserved.
It began in Gdansk with a victory for Emil Sayfutdinov who, along with Tomasz Gollob, qualified straight through to the final.
An unfortunate event ended the Champion elect’s evening in Gdansk, as he was on the receiving end of a controversial exclusion, and did not even make the semi final. He was very fast on the day and won 3 of his races, so what happened in this unfortunate heat?
Martin Vaculik was challenging Fredrik Lindgren who turned right on him, after a frantic attack by Grigorij Laguta, who was in front of them both. The Slovak crashed heavily and was excluded, after which he made his feelings clear to the Swede once back in the paddock. Vaculik realised that important points had slipped away.
The second round of the SEC was held in Togliatti. On Russian soil it was again Emil Sayfutdinov who triumphed, and it seemed that no one could stop him. Martin Vaculik again rode well and 10 points saw him through to the semi final. Once there however, he made a mistake and gave Sayfutdinov a way past, who incidentally had qualified on count back, due to his wins over Gollob and Andersen.
Vaculik was in second place behind Nicki Pedersen when he tried to pass, and left the door open for Sayfutdinov who then came through, and his night was over.
Another 10 points in Gorican for Vaculik, where already Sayfutdinov was missing due to injury. In every heat Vaculik came either first or third. In the final he managed to pass Tomasz Gollob who had lost a lot of ground in his attempt to challenge leader Krzysztof Kasprzak, and claimed third spot on the podium. After 3 rounds Vaculik held 4th place and speaking to SEC he admitted it was unlikely that anyone could stop Nicki Pedersen claiming the European title in Rzeszow.
For sure Rzeszow would be an interesting battle. “Despite everything I believe Pedersen will have no problem winning,” said the champion elect. The meeting in the Podkarpacie region however, had plenty of surprises in store. Before the last round of the series Nicki Pedersen was 5 points clear, but he squandered his lead and handed the chance to Slovakia’s Martin Vaculik. Vaculik truly had a day to remember, winning all of his heat races, and thus became the first rider in SEC history to do so.Preparations for the event had started early in the morning due to days of severe rain in Rzeszow. Even two hours before the meeting there seemed to be doubts whether the SEC Final would go ahead.
Fortunately the track staff put in a fantastic effort, which meant that fans could later cheer for their heroes battling for the prestigious European Championship.
Nicki Pedersen’s chance of winning the gold medal effectively ended in the “last chance heat”, when he crossed the line in third place. Prior to that, Ukranian Andriy Karpov had touched the tapes. The fans went wild with joy, as Vaculik now just needed a point to take the Championship. The final heat took several attempts to run, because at the first attempt, Grzegorz Zengota caused a massive crash. The Pole was just behind leader Vaculik, when he caught unexpected grip, and clipped the rear wheel of the Slovak. Hans Andersen was following behind and had no chance of avoiding the carnage, and went down heavily. Zengota quickly got to his feet, but Andersen was down for a while, holding his left hand. During an interview he later said that he felt pain in his wrist, but that he would give it his all in the restart of the final.
In the restart the tapes appeared to go up unevenly but the referee did not notice, and did not stop the race. Martin Vaculik made no mistakes and won the race to clinch the European Championship. Laguta was second, and Andersen third. Deposed Champion Ales Dryml briefly led the new Champion when they met in heat 17, but the Slovak easily found a way past to complete his maximum score.
That was the last round of the SEC for all of us for this year. All 4 rounds have provided excitement and close battles ‘till the very end.
Not until the last race of the last round did spectators get to see the new European Champion. Despite a trying season where injuries were suffered by some of the best speedway riders of the Old Continent, the battles of SEC were exceptional and there is no doubt we will see even more excitement next year.
