Emil Sayfutdinov led team Russia through to the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup final, with a stunning thirteen point advantage over favourites Australia.
Before the racing even got underway, it was announced by the FIM that Russian rider Grigorii Laguta had been suspended from competing in the rest of the World Cup due to a violation of the doping code. They would have their reserve rider Gleb Chugunov compete in his place.
By heat four, Russia and Latvia were tied on seven points, with Australia just one point behind. Australia had their top man Jason Doyle racing with them, even as he recovered from a broken foot. Even though the Aussies didn’t make it through, they put in an excellent performance. Unfortunately for Doyle, he was excluded from a crucial heat ten for jump starting while on a warning. Just three heats later, Troy Batchelor was also excluded after being adjudged to have let Andrei Kudriashov past.
It wasn’t a great performance from the USA, as they struggled continuously throughout the event and ended up with fifteen points – only half the points of third place finishers Latvia.
Chugunov had the best night of his career so far after being thrown in at the deep end, signing off the night with two wins and several point scoring finishes.
When all was said and done, Russia stormed to victory in the hands of able captain Sayfutdinov, from Australia, Latvia and the USA.
Russia will join Sweden, Poland and Great Britain in tomorrow’s World Cup final at the Alfred Smoczyk Stadium in Leszno, Poland.
RACE OFF SCORES
1 RUSSIA 46: 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 15, 2 -, 3 Vadim Tarasenko 10, 4 Andrei Kudriashov 10, 5 Gleb Chugunov 11.
2 AUSTRALIA 33: 1 Jason Doyle 12, 2 Sam Masters 2, 3 Chris Holder 6, 4 Troy Batchelor 7, 5 Max Fricke 6.
3 LATVIA 30: 1 Kasts Puodzuks 4, 2 Jevgenijs Kostigovs 6, 3 Andzejs Lebedevs 18, 4 Maksims Bogdanovs 2, 5 No Rider.
4 USA 15: 1 Ricky Wells 6, 2 Gino Manzares 2, 3 Luke Becker 4, 4 Dillon Ruml 1, 5 Broc Nicol 2.
MONSTER ENERGY SWC FINAL LINE-UPS
SWEDEN (RED): 1 Antonio Lindback, 2 Fredrik Lindgren ©, 3 Linus Sundstrom, 4 Andreas Jonsson, 5 Joel Kling (U21).
POLAND (BLUE): 1 Patryk Dudek, 2 Maciej Janowski ©, 3 Piotr Pawlicki, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik, 5 Bartosz Smektala (U21).
GREAT BRITAIN (WHITE): 1 Steve Worrall, 2 Chris Harris, 3 Robert Lambert, 4 Craig Cook ©, 5 Adam Ellis (U21).
RUSSIA (YELLOW): 1 Emil Sayfutdinov ©, 2 -, 3 Vadim Tarasenko, 4 Andrei Kudriashov, 5 Gleb Chugunov (U21).