However in Landshut, Emil Sayfutdinov was warming up with every next heat, there was no doubt who's the best rider in Kumla during the third round of Speedway European Championships. Maximum points reached (18) speaks for itself. In each of his 6 heats,
Emil took the 1st position and it was 2nd such an achievement in SEC history. Thanks to that, Russian made himself a clear path to defend the title. Tomasz Gollob didn't appear at the track despite the fact that he was in the pits, but his back injury prevented him from racing in Sweden.
Grigorij Laguta was quite lucky to advance to the race-off heat after winning with Nicki Pedersen in the last heat of main series. It was Martin Smolinski, who did there a great job and stood for the fight to get into the final. In this passionate heat, we were witnessing a tough fight for the first 2 positions. Nicki Pedersen was far in front and it were Grigorij Laguta, Martin Smolinski and the wild card holder Fredrik Lindgren fighting for the 2nd final pass.
Swede caused Laguta's crash in the first attempt and got excluded. In the repeat, Grisha took care of Smolinski and advanced to the last, 23rd heat.
There, right from the very beginning, Emil Sayfutdinov placed in front of the stake. Right behind his back, unexpectedly Laguta appeared. Lindbaeck was third and Nicki Pedersen fourth. At the last corner, while attacking the 2nd place, Swede crossed the track's line with 2 wheels and got excluded. That moved Nicki Pedersen from fourth to the third position. Before the meeting in Ostrów, a lot of things got clear. Sayfutdinov was just one step from the champion's title. Rivals though, announced the fight till the very end.
