Speedway World Cup: Poles raise the roof in thriller at Alwalton
Poland 54, Australia 52 Great Britain 34 Slovenia 13
Poland 54, Australia 52 Great Britain 34 Slovenia 13(Speedway World Cup Event Two at the East of England Showground, Monday, 13 July 2009 - Poland go straight into the final, Australia and Great Britain go into the race-off)
OH what a night! The famous lyric from The Four Seasons hit provides a perfect assessment of the mesmerising return of major, international speedway to the East of England Showground.
Just over 5,000 fans - 5,068 to be exact according to official figures - flocked to Alwalton for 25 exhilarating heats of speedway that lived up to the hype.
They drank the place dry and created a carnival atmosphere with the human ring around the track turning what can be a desolate arena into a racing amphitheatre.
The Poles turned out in force, so much so that for one night only Peterborough felt more like Poznan. A sea of red and white flags, waved by an army of fans, ensured this mighty Eastern European success was full of colour and played out to a cacophony of noise.
More Speedway World Cup 2009 - Event Two:
Panthers' Frost delighted as World Cup proves a success.
King rules for the young Brits, and a glorious return for Protasiewicz.
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And those on the track delivered the goods in style with an abundance of brilliant action during a meeting that frequently astonished before it ultimately descended into the expected two-horse race between Poland and Australia.
"I don't think anything could have gone any better," said chuffed Panthers owner Rick Frost.
High-quality riders (sadly excluding the majority of the unknown Slovenian team) produced high-quality racing (a couple of processional races apart) to make admission prices of 20 for standing and 30 for the pleasure of parking your backside in the grandstand look like money well spent. In fact a stunning heat 20 - arguably the pick of a very brilliant bunch - was probably worth it on its own.
It was a night so good that Panthers legend Dick Greer - a man whose involvement with the club goes all the way back to their early days in 1970 - could not recall witnessing a better speedway spectacle around his beloved city track.
From two hours before the tapes went up a long line of vehicles shuffled onto the Showground site full of anticipation. And it was into the small hours before the final supporters had drifted out and the last few bars of the 'Polska, Polska' anthem were dying down.Oh, and there was some damn good speedway racing as well!
Many pundits expected the men from Down Under to come out on top with two of the finest riders of the city track - and two of the greatest riders ever to represent Panthers - in their ranks.
But Ryan Sullivan (who disappointed greatly with only one race win and just seven points) and World Championship favourite Jason Crump (who did his bit with a 14-point haul) were eclipsed by the hard-charging Eastern Europeans.
That meant the happiest return of all was enjoyed by Piotr Protasiewicz who displayed great speed to bag a couple of important victories and then some brilliant balance to avoid a painful spill.
Incredibly there wasn't a single crash throughout the 25-heat extravaganza and even more incredibly, there was hardly a dull moment either.
Host nation Great Britain had briefly threatened to have a say in the final outcome after being boosted by a successful joker from former Panthers man Chris Harris in heat 12.
Huntingdon-based Danny King had earlier brought the British fans to life with the other of their two heat wins in the sixth instalment following a sublime overtaking manoeuvre on Sullivan.
King justified his surprise selection and emerged with plenty of credit at a track he graced for the previous two seasons. He was agonisingly denied another souvenir in the shape of a success over Polish legend Tomasz Gollob.
The Aussies were as many as five points to the good at one stage, but Poland entered the final five races in possession of the narrowest of leads.
Their advantage soon grew when Sullivan trailed home last in a heat won by Krzysztof Kasprzak before the men from Down Under nibbled into the arrears courtesy of a Davey Watt second place in the 22nd contest.
It was a brief reposte though as Miedzinski capped a classy World Cup debut by speeding away from Adams in the next. That triumph left Poland on the brink of victory and star man Hampel needed no second invitation to carry them straight into Saturday's final by pocketing maximum points in the penultimate contest.
You could have been forgiven for thinking they had already won the entire World Cup due to the flag-waving, decibel-raising celebrations conducted by the legions of Polish fans.
Skipper Gollob denied them an explosive final heat when choosing to get himself excluded rather than take on Crump, but few were complaining.
In fact it was quite the opposite. The Polish contingent were singing, drinking, dancing, drinking and err…drinking while the other nationalities and speedway neutrals had already been highly satisfied.
A track invasion delayed a spectacular post-meeting firework display, but once the centre green had been cleared of the mixture of delighted and inebriated revellers, the night sky could be illuminated.
But the pyrotechnics had nothing on the speedway. On this evidence, it is surely a certainty that the World Cup Final will be staged in these parts before too long.
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Thursday 09 September 2010
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