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Post by Admin on Jan 18, 2016 17:13:06 GMT
23-Feb
WORLD CUP FINAL results
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Post by sheffielddons on Feb 23, 2016 11:03:01 GMT
So we come to the end of another international break. Hope everyone enjoyed it and team building is going well for the new season - hopefully see you back here for another World Cup in a few months :-)
Don't forget to check out the Manager of the Tournament awards which will be posted in a separate thread shortly but basically everyone did a good job in this break and thanks once more to all for taking part.
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Post by sheffielddons on Feb 23, 2016 11:03:59 GMT
WORLD U21 CUP FINAL
Denmark made a quick start to this meeting with two race winners but the Czech Republic riders tucked in behind them before Ruzucha and Nemcek won heats of their own to give the Raceoff winners an early lead after one round of heats. Nemecek extended their lead with a win in heat 5 and when Galuska won heat 8 the Czechs took a stranglehold on the meeting. Denmark were now 8 points adrift with their Scandinavian neighbours Finland/Norway and Sweden trying to at least scrap into a medal winning position. Cervenka ran a 3rd in heat 9 but Galuska picked up another win before luck went their way in heat 11 when Nemecek won as Denmark's top man Jeppesen suffered an engine failure. Ruzucha won his heat to take the Czech Republic into the interval a huge 12 points ahead of Denmark and with one hand firmly on the World U21 Cup trophy! 6 points further back from the Danes were Finland/Norway and Sweden, locked in what looked like battle for the bronze medals.
Although the Czech stumbled slightly after the break, with just 3 points from 3 races, Denmark couldn't take advantage, lady luck seemingly not on their side as Caspersen took a tumble, and the lead was actually extended to 13 points. Finland/Norway found their form to draw level with Denmark as Sweden also closed the gap on the silver medal position to just 3 points. With just 5 races to go the Czechs could actually claim the title if Cervenka could head home Jeppesen and Ruuska in heat 16. Jeppesen managed to delay the inevitable for one more race by taking the win but Cervenka tucked in behind and the Czech Republic were left needing just a single point from the remaining round of heats.
Cervenka was straight back out in heat 17 and, with his nation having never even made a World U21 Cup rostrum before, he sealed the deal in style by taking the heat ahead of Finland/Norway's Haagensen. The 2 points for Haagensen looked to assure his nation of at least a bronze medal as they stretched the gap over Sweden to 4 points and closed within 2 of Denmark for the silver medals.
Russka won heat 18 for Finland/Norway to tie matters with Denmark and the final 2 races would decide the destination of the silver and bronze medals. Petersen wanted to head home Denmark's Algreen in heat 19, with the Danes still having top man Jeppesen to go in heat 20, but he couldn't get the result he wanted and Algreen streaked away to leave Jeppesen needing just 2 points from the final race to give Denmark 2nd place. As it was it was a surprising blank from Jeppesen however but Solberg, for Finland/Norway, couldn't take anything from Runeberg and Nemecek and it meant Denmark took 2nd place overall with Finland/Norway in 3rd.
Quite simply the Czech Republic side were awesome today and deserving winners as all their riders recorded double figure returns. Their win was all the more impressive as the only nation missing an eligible rider due to a Senior call-up, with World Under 21 Champion Ludek Janicek not available for this one. Tibor Nemecek is a fairly well known name as junior level but the performances of the less well known trio of Galuska, Cervenka and 16 year old Ruzucha were certainly surprising. The manager has used his squad well throughout the tournament and certainly got 100% out of them with some inspirational motivation.
Denmark can be more than pleased with their silver medals in this tournament, riding with only Leon Jeppesen as an establish top performer at this level. Jeppesen looked their best rider once more today although Kenni Algreen was impressive, claiming a vital win in heat 19, and he looks a real prospect at just 17 years of age. Caspersen and Frandsen also contributed and the pair are also still only teenagers so the future is looking bright for the Danes over the next few years.
Finland/Norway didn't have one individual U21 star in this tournament but rode fantastically as a team to outperform expectations coming into the competition. Solberg took two great heat wins whilst Ruusks and Haagensen also won races and the side recorded just 5 last places as they picked up well earned bronze medals under the strong leadership of their manager. It's worth noting that all their side are still teenagers so they will all be eligible to ride in next year's competition.
The Swedes battled well but only Olle Runeberg really pulled in the points for them, scoring over half of their 21 point total. They overlooked a few more well known riders in the competition but Blomqvist and Cedergren are both eligible to compete next season and they have a couple of other good teenage prospects who suggest that the 2014 champions, and runners-up last season, will be back and competing again next time around.
CZECH REP U21 44 1. Vaclav Cervenka........... 2 2 1 2 3 10 2. Dusan Galuska............. 2 3 3 1 2 11 3. Vaclav Ruzucha............ 3 2 3 0 2 10 4. Tibor Nemecek............. 3 3 3 2 2 13 5. Roman Lafata.............. Did not ride
DENMARK U21 28 1. Leon Jeppesen............. 3 3 R 3 0 9 2. Jesper Caspersen.......... 3 0 2 Fx 1 6 3. Kenni Algreen............. 2 1 2 1 3 9 4. Tommy Frandsen............ 0 0 2 1 1 4 5. Knud Mickellsen........... Did not ride
FINLAND/NORWAY U21 27 1. Lasse Ruuska.............. 2 1 1 0 3 7 2. Bjorn Haagensen........... 0 1 0 3 2 6 3. Niels Petersen............ 0 1 2 2 1 6 4. Anders Solberg............ 1 3 0 3 1 8 5. Otto Berg................. Did not ride
SWEDEN U21 21 1. Hasse Blomqvist........... 1 2 1 1 Fx 5 2. Linus Cedergren........... 1 0 1 2 0 4 3. Jon Nysted................ 1 0 0 0 0 1 4. Olle Runeberg............. 0 2 3 3 3 11 5. Lennart Axbom............. Did not ride
No. Results SW DE FI CZ 1: Leon Jeppesen, Dusan Galuska, Anders Solberg, Olle Runeberg............. 0 3 1 2 2: Jesper Caspersen, Vaclav Cervenka, Jon Nysted, Niels Petersen........... 1 6 1 4 3: Vaclav Ruzucha, Lasse Ruuska, Linus Cedergren, Tommy Frandsen........... 2 6 3 7 4: Tibor Nemecek, Kenni Algreen, Hasse Blomqvist, Bjorn Haagensen.......... 3 8 3 10 5: Tibor Nemecek, Olle Runeberg, Lasse Ruuska, Jesper Caspersen............ 5 8 4 13 6: Leon Jeppesen, Vaclav Ruzucha, Bjorn Haagensen, Jon Nysted.............. 5 11 5 15 7: Anders Solberg, Vaclav Cervenka, Kenni Algreen, Linus Cedergren......... 5 12 8 17 8: Dusan Galuska, Hasse Blomqvist, Niels Petersen, Tommy Frandsen.......... 7 12 9 20 9: Olle Runeberg, Tommy Frandsen, Vaclav Cervenka, Bjorn Haagensen......... 10 14 9 21 10: Dusan Galuska, Kenni Algreen, Lasse Ruuska, Jon Nysted.................. 10 16 10 24 11: Tibor Nemecek, Niels Petersen, Linus Cedergren, Leon Jeppesen (R)....... 11 16 12 27 12: Vaclav Ruzucha, Jesper Caspersen, Hasse Blomqvist, Anders Solberg....... 12 18 12 30 13: Anders Solberg, Tibor Nemecek, Tommy Frandsen, Jon Nysted............... 12 19 15 32 14: Olle Runeberg, Niels Petersen, Kenni Algreen, Vaclav Ruzucha............ 15 20 17 32 15: Bjorn Haagensen, Linus Cedergren, Dusan Galuska, Jesper Caspersen (Fx).. 17 20 20 33 16: Leon Jeppesen, Vaclav Cervenka, Hasse Blomqvist, Lasse Ruuska........... 18 23 20 35 17: Vaclav Cervenka, Bjorn Haagensen, Tommy Frandsen, Jon Nysted............ 18 24 22 38 18: Lasse Ruuska, Vaclav Ruzucha, Jesper Caspersen, Linus Cedergren......... 18 25 25 40 19: Kenni Algreen, Dusan Galuska, Niels Petersen, Hasse Blomqvist (Fx)...... 18 28 26 42 20: Olle Runeberg, Tibor Nemecek, Anders Solberg, Leon Jeppesen............. 21 28 27 44
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Post by sheffielddons on Feb 23, 2016 11:05:01 GMT
WORLD CUP FINAL
The Czech Republic couldn't match the start their Under 21 side made in the opening heats as Ambrose and Wood led England to a 1 point lead over Finland/Norway with the defending champions, the Celtic Nations, just a further point back after 2 races. Sam McCurdy produced a brilliant win for the Celts in heat 3 but the big story in that one was the fall for David Bedford where he suffered a shoulder injury which forced him out of the rest of the meeting, the big question now being could Chris Adams step into his boots and produce some big points? Heat 4 saw the Celts suffer bad luck with an engine failure for Bridges with Thoresen winning to move Finland/Norway top of the scoreboard, a point ahead of the English side.
Hayden Wood beat Thoresen to level things in heat 5 as Stewart took a tumble for the Celts which allowed the leading pair to open up a 4 point gap at the top. Treadwell helped to close that up by winning heat 6, ahead of young Czech Janicek before a fine heat 7 win for Bergestol over Liam Reay. Chris Adams took his first ride in heat 8 and seemed to suggest that the English might not suffer too much from the loss of Bedford by winning it from Briggs, who came in after Bridges's mechanical gremlins continued which meant he missed the 2 minute time limit and was excluded. Adams was out again in the next but could only follow Bergestol home which meant Finland/Norway led by a point with Janicek closing the gap on the Celts to just 3 points in the bronze medal chase. Heat 10 had all the look of a key result as Juritzen shocked everyone by leading home Treadwell and Reay to stretch his nations' lead before Thoresen made it a hat-trick of wins in the next and, with Ambrose at the back, the gap was suddenly up to 6 points. England needed a big heat 12 and got it as Hayden Wood did the honours with 3 points and Ostenstad retired when trailed off at the back.
SCORES AFTER HEAT 12: FINLAND/NORWAY 24, ENGLAND 21, CELTIC NATIONS 16, CZECH REPUBLIC 11
As we returned from the interval everyone was wondering how the break would affect the riders and which manager may have found words of inspiration for his team. Although Adams and Reay would have been looking for more than 3 points between them in heats 13 and 14 they both headed home the Finland/Norway rider to cut the gap to just a single point and Wood now had a chance to at least draw the English level against Juritzen. Once again however the Oslo Owls' star rode out of his skin to silence the vocal English support by streaking from the tapes for a win as Wood was surprisingly tailed off at the back. In fact it was the Czechs who looked to have benefit from the break in racing most as they had scored 7 points from a possible 9 to close the gap to just 2 points behind the Celtic Nations in the medal positions.
Heat 16 was obviously vital as each side looked to close the gap that would lift them up the scoreboard and Bergestol looked to defend the lead that Finland/Norway were holding. The latter is what happened, and in some style as 3 times World Champion Nick Ambrose continued a nightmare meeting with a third straight last place following on from his heat 1 win. A good result for Drahos had also put them just 1 point outside the medal positions as we came to the final races.
Heat 17 was surely the one where Finland/Norway broke the resistance of their opposition to put themselves on the verge of an amazing first World Cup win. Carsten Ostenstad had understandably found it hard going against world class opposition but he got the better of England reserve Chris Adams in this to put his nation 8 points clear and knowing just 2 more points would be enough to see them home. The 2 points for Adams surely assured England of at least silver as Stewart ran a last for the defending champions the Celts.
The wait for the title was prolonged when Juritzen couldn't maintain his good form in heat 18 and failed to score, Ambrose taking 2 points and closing the gap to 6. Scott Bridges won his first heat of the meeting to give the Celts a 2 point cushion of the Czech Republic in 3rd.
All eyes were now on Olle Bjorn Thoresen in heat 19, needing just a point or for Liam Reay not to win the race, to claim the World Cup title. In the end Thoresen had engine troubles and retired but Drahos and McCurdy completed a winless meeting for Reay and Finland/Norway could start celebrating. Behind them England needed a point from Hayden Wood to claim the silver medals whilst Treadwell had to see off the challenge of young star Janicek to ensure the defending champions held off the challenge of the Czech Republic. The upshot of heat 20 was that the order at the top didn't change with Treadwell's second enough to claim the bronze medal for the Celtic Nations but not enough to overtake England for silver.
So Finland/Norway improved on their previous best of silver in 2011 to claim a first ever World Cup win. Hans E Bergestol was by far the best rider on show as he raced to a 15 point maximum but the supporting cast all produced the goods when needed and, crucially, enough points to get them over the line after 20 races. Juritzen's pair of heat wins both came in races where the English could at least have drawn level and Ostenstad's stunning victory in heat 17 all but put their name on the trophy. Thoresen failed to score in his last rides but had already played his part, his win in heat 11 putting Finland/Norway 6 ahead at the time.
England just couldn't get any one rider firing and seemed to suffer from the loss of David Bedford in his first heat, despite Adams coming in and doing a solid job in scoring 8 points. Reay and Wood both scored solid 8s but Reay didn't manage a race win and Wood, like Thoresen for Finland/Norway, failed to score in his last 2 heats as the pair didn't seem quite at 100%. Nick Ambrose started with a great win but then just wasn't at the races until it was all but over. I think this can just be called 'one of those days' and had just one of their riders been in peak form they could certainly have taken the title today.
The Celtic Nations didn't have the luckiest of afternoons in defence of their title with Scott Bridges clearly suffering mechanical problems before he got it together to win his final heat and only Luke Treadwell producing a consistently 'world class' performance on the day. McCurdy was excellent in taking 8 points but Stewart struggled, particularly after taking a tumble in his second heat. Perhaps Briggs could have been an option but the doctor was happy Stewart was fit to continue racing and as a nation they can definitely be proud to have finished on the rostrum for a fourth successive World Cup, a record only bettered by England and Poland.
Finally the Czech Republic just never quite had enough to take a rostrum place and left empty handed but can be immensely proud of their achievements in this tournament. Zdenek Drahos scored 8 points whilst, although he failed to win, they definitely have a potential world class start of the future in World Under 21 Champion Ludek Janicek who has made rapid progress this season. In support Stampfl and Fortes battled gamely to add 11 points and, having already ridden well above expectation the side came very close to leaving with medals to match the golds won by their Under 21s.
FINLAND/NORWAY 37 1. Hans E Bergestol.......... 3 3 3 3 3 15 2. Rudi Juritzen............. 1 1 3 3 0 8 3. Carsten Ostenstad......... 1 1 R 1 3 6 4. Olle Bjorn Thoresen....... 3 2 3 0 R 8 5. Hannu Helinen............. Did not ride
ENGLAND 29 1. Nick Ambrose.............. 3 0 0 0 2 5 2. Hayden Wood............... 2 3 3 0 0 8 3. Liam Reay................. 2 2 1 2 1 8 4. David Bedford............. Fx - - - - 0 (I) 5. Chris Adams............... 3 2 1 2 - 8
CELTIC NATIONS 28 1. Scott Bridges............. R N2 1 1 3 5 2. Sam McCurdy............... 3 0 2 1 2 8 3. Luke Treadwell............ 1 3 2 3 2 11 4. Alex Stewart.............. 2 F 0 0 0 2 5. Mark Briggs............... 2 - - - - 2
CZECH REP 26 1. Zdenek Drahos............. 2 1 0 2 3 8 2. Ludek Janicek............. 1 2 1 2 1 7 3. Ales Fortes............... 0 0 1 3 1 5 4. Leonard Stampfl........... 0 1 2 2 1 6 5. Pavel Stutius............. Did not ride
No. Results CE EN CZ FI 1: Nick Ambrose, Alex Stewart, Rudi Juritzen, Leonard Stampfl.......... 2 3 0 1 2: Hans E Bergestol, Hayden Wood, Luke Treadwell, Ales Fortes.......... 3 5 0 4 3: Sam McCurdy, Zdenek Drahos, Carsten Ostenstad, David Bedford (Fx)... 6 5 2 5 4: Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Liam Reay, Ludek Janicek, Scott Bridges (R).... 6 7 3 8 5: Hayden Wood, Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Zdenek Drahos, Alex Stewart (F)... 6 10 4 10 6: Luke Treadwell, Ludek Janicek, Carsten Ostenstad, Nick Ambrose...... 9 10 6 11 7: Hans E Bergestol, Liam Reay, Leonard Stampfl, Sam McCurdy........... 9 12 7 14 8: Chris Adams, Mark Briggs, Rudi Juritzen, Ales Fortes................ 11 15 7 15 9: Hans E Bergestol, Chris Adams, Ludek Janicek, Alex Stewart.......... 11 17 8 18 10: Rudi Juritzen, Luke Treadwell, Liam Reay, Zdenek Drahos............. 13 18 8 21 11: Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Sam McCurdy, Ales Fortes, Nick Ambrose......... 15 18 9 24 12: Hayden Wood, Leonard Stampfl, Scott Bridges, Carsten Ostenstad (R).. 16 21 11 24 13: Luke Treadwell, Leonard Stampfl, Chris Adams, Olle Bjorn Thoresen... 19 22 13 24 14: Ales Fortes, Liam Reay, Carsten Ostenstad, Alex Stewart............. 19 24 16 25 15: Rudi Juritzen, Ludek Janicek, Sam McCurdy, Hayden Wood.............. 20 24 18 28 16: Hans E Bergestol, Zdenek Drahos, Scott Bridges, Nick Ambrose........ 21 24 20 31 17: Carsten Ostenstad, Chris Adams, Ales Fortes, Alex Stewart........... 21 26 21 34 18: Scott Bridges, Nick Ambrose, Leonard Stampfl, Rudi Juritzen......... 24 28 22 34 19: Zdenek Drahos, Sam McCurdy, Liam Reay, Olle Bjorn Thoresen (R)...... 26 29 25 34 20: Hans E Bergestol, Luke Treadwell, Ludek Janicek, Hayden Wood........ 28 29 26 37
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