Is getting the European Champion title in three rounds even possible? Grigorij Laguta was really close to prove that it can actually happen. The only thing he was missing is a good performance at his home track in Rybnik.
Right before the inaugural round of Speedway Euro Championship, "Grisha" got injured, which forced him to withdraw from the round in Güstrow. Most of his fans got sad, because this kind of loss in such a short series as SEC can be crucial when it comes to final result.
However, Laguta got a lot of luck. Tightness in the top after the first round, no final in Germany. All of that caused that Russian decided to fight for his best. In Daugavpils, he did not disappoint nearly his native crowd. This season, it seemed like everything was about to settle under his conditions. He's familiar with every single stone at the track in Daugavpils, so before this round, many saw a favourite in him and that's exactly what happened. Despite the fact that in the final heat, Joonas Kylmaekorpi was leading for a long time, Laguta's brave attack at the inside, destroyed Swede's dreams of winning.
After Daugavpils, it was time for 2013 bronze medalist's homeland - Russian city of Togliatti. Here, as well, Laguta got superior. However he got into the final from second place - right behind Antonio Lindbaeck, but in the decisive start, he showed who's the real king of this venue.
Before the final battle, Laguta had only a 2-point loss to Antonio Lindbaeck. Considering his knowledge on the track in Rybnik, noone imagined Laguta outside the highest step of the rostrum. Everything started according to the plan. In two first heats, Grigorij showed his back to the rivals and a full-house at the stands was sure that nothing bad can happen to Russian rider. Meanwhile, in one of the heats, "Grisha" couldn't handle his bike and hit the fence with a big speed. After this incident, a longer break had to be taken, to get this air-fence back to usability. That clearly got Laguta out his right rhythm and in two next heats, he was second. Ultimately, Laguta got into the race-off heat, where he ended as last one. At this moment, he had 37 points total, just like Antonio Lindbaeck and Leon Madsen. In the additional heat for next year's promotion to SEC, Laguta finished first and at the end of the day found himself fourth in SEC 2016. Next year will be fifth consecutive one for Laguta starting in this series.
