Speedway GP Malilla: Stand-in Thomsen wins – Kai Huckenbeck crashes

As one of three wildcard entrants, Anders Thomsen competed in the Grand Prix at Malilla. In his fifth outing of the season, the Dane’s victory in the final proved why he has what it takes to be a permanent fixture in the World Championship. In the heats, Thomsen put in a solid performance with two heat wins and two third-place finishes, qualifying for the last-chance heats, in which the final two finalists are decided.

In outstanding fashion, Britain’s Robert Lambert – who built on his strong performance at the Wrocław Grand Prix in Sweden – had secured the first place in the final by coming through the heats undefeated.

First clash between Zmarzlik and Kurtz

The battle for the second place in the final was more thrilling: Andzejs Lebedevs, Patryk Dudek and the World Championship title contenders, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz, were neck and neck. After Lebedevs had scored just one point in the final heat and Dudek had failed to score, the last heat of the day between Kurtz and Zmarzlik decided who would go straight through to the final. The world champion made his mark in this decisive heat by taking the win ahead of Fricke and Kurtz, meaning the Australian had to take the long route to the final via the last-chance heats. Kurtz, however, mastered this challenge with ease and followed Lambert and Zmarzlik into the final.

In the second last-chance heat, Anders Thomsen seized his chance from the white starting position and secured the final place in the final, whilst the race was over for the Lebedevs, wildcard Kim Nilsson and Dominik Kubera.

Im Finale: Thomsen vor Lambert und Zmarzlik

Foto: jarek pabijan

In the final, Thomsen was the underdog against the top three in the World Championship. After the start, the 32-year-old took the fast outside line, overtook them all and rode to his second Grand Prix victory of his career ahead of Lambert and Zmarzlik. As Zmarzlik finished one place ahead of his closest rival Kurtz, the Pole extended his lead in the overall standings from three to five points.

Kai Huckenbeck (rot) gegen Jan Kvech (blau)

Foto: jarek pabijan

Kai Huckenbeck, having put in a good performance in qualifying, initially failed to score points in the race on two occasions before finally picking up his first points. In his final race, the Werlter rider crashed whilst battling for the lead after entering the starting bend at too high a speed due to a groove in the track.

Anders Thomsen macht auch ohne Kombi eine gute Figur

Foto: jarek pabijan

Results: Speedway GP Malilla/S: