Pardubice: Pawelczak wins the ‘Golden Ribbon’ – one German in the final

No fewer than five Germans competed in the four quarter-final groups at the ‘Golden Ribbon’ race in Pardubice, with three of them making it through to the semi-finals. In the first quarter-final group, Patrick Hyjek, after his worst result was discarded, finished second to reach the semi-finals, whilst Janek Konzack was eliminated. The 16-year-old returned to racing after breaking his collarbone and got off to a good start with a second place, but with a fifth and a fourth in his final two races, he ultimately fell one point short of progressing.

In the second group, Mario Häusl, with five points counted, was actually two points behind the Pole Radoslaw Kowalski, meaning last year’s winner had to pack it in after the quarter-finals. With nine points, Tyler Haupt comfortably qualified for the semi-finals as runner-up in the third group, whilst Hannah Grunwald managed to turn things around in Group 4 with a strong final run to reach the semi-finals. The women’s world champion had only two points to her name after two runs, but a second-place finish in the final heat took her total to six and secured her place in the semi-finals.

Patrick Hyjek won his semi-final group

In the semi-finals, where only two heats were run per group and there were no discarded results, Hannah Grunwald and Tyler Haupt were eliminated. Grunwald was clearly out of the running after two zero-point races, whilst Haupt was unlucky to finish level on points with William Cairns and Villads Pedersen, behind Maksymilian Pawelczak. As Cairns and Pedersen had achieved better race placings than Haupt, he narrowly missed out on the final. As group winner, Hyjek finished his semi-final group on nine points ahead of Nicolai Heiselberg and Radoslaw Kowalski, making him the only German to reach the final, which was won by Maksymilian Pawelczak. The Pole got off to the best start alongside William Cairns, built up momentum and was able to move to the front of the field ahead of the Dane Heiselberg as early as the first lap. Hyjek was initially in fourth place in the final, but lost this position to Villads Pedersen in the third lap.

Die Top-3 (v.l.): Heiselberg, Pawelczak und Cairns

Foto: jarek pabijan

Results of the ‘Golden Ribbon’ in Pardubice, Czech Republic: