Season 2016 was a comeback for Andzejs Lebedevs to once again race in the European Championship. At the first time, in 2014, Latvian got a brutal crash with European reality and couldn't get a single individual win. This year, he was facing this challenge too, however, ultimately, he improved with his points and position.
Comparing to 2014, "Pajaja" got 4 points more, that gave him 9th position overall. Before starting the season, Lebedevs got the permanent wild card from the organizers. In Güstrow, it was going really well. Except the first, bad heat, Lebedevs was at the position giving him promotion to the race-off heat, up until the 20th heat. Unfortunately, the decisive start was heat no. 20, in which Lebedevs was third. That got him out of the TOP 6 after the main series.
A breakthrough was about to come at his home track in Daugavpils. At the end of the day it was 7 points, lack of promotion to the race-off heat and a general letdown. That can be a summary of Lebedevs's performance. Truth be told, Latvian had a bad luck few times back then, because while racing in front, his heats were stopped.
- It's a big letdown. I counted on way, way more - said Lebdevs right after finishing the rivalry. - In Daugavpils, I felt a fantastic support of the fans. I would like to make an apologize to them. I failed. I'm sorry, but also would like to thank them for filling nearly the whole stadium. Now, I can change nothing, so we're moving on. It's not the end of the world.
In Togliatti, his good heats were intermingled with bad ones, which once again interfered his advance to the race-off heat. After first "zero", he got 3 points. When it seemed, he found a right setup, once again, he ended as last. - In Togliatti, it was really bad for me. I'm still young and stupid - said sympathetic Latvian. Why was he so harsh on himself?
- I had 4 heats at my worse bike. I totally couldn't fight on it - explained Pajaja. - I changed the bike for the last heat and it was way better than the first one. It all went fine. I could be first on the start and find the speed at the distance. I made this switch too late, though.
In Rybnik, Lebedevs got 5 points and ultimately ended the season with 26 points gathered. 9th position is slightly better than 2 years back, however, for the whole time, everyone were sure about his big potential, that hasn't evolved yet.
