Jakub Miskowiak took the honours in a hotly contested Final at the end of an eventful meeting in Krosno on Saturday evening. The Pole emerged from a tight first bend holding a slight lead and took control of the race ahead of Wild Card Mateusz Cierniak and series leader Mads Hansen. Wiktor Lampard was fourth. Miskowiak now has a two point lead over Hansen going into the last event later this week.
Rain which had affected most of Poland during the week had made track preparation difficult and it was still raining on the morning of the meeting causing practice to be cancelled and delaying the start of the meeting by 20 minutes as track repairs continued. The result was a demanding surface which caught out several of the riders during the evening. Thankfully the air fence protection did the required job and several panels needed replacement but there were no serious injuries although Latvian Ernest Matjusonoks was taken to hospital for a check up after a fall and MFR rider Mark Karion also withdrew from the meeting with a knee injury.
The performance of Wild Card Cierniak was a surprise to many, and he was also the innocent victim of a spectacular crash in the first semi-final when Francis Gusts fell in front of him and Cierniak was unable to avoid his fallen machine. Eventually he was able to walk back to the pits and he recovered to take second place behind Lampart in the restart and qualify for the final. This was the second consecutive meeting where the Wild Card had qualified for the final in this championship.
In the second semi-final Mateusz Swidnicki who had top scored in the qualifying races saw his podium hopes disappear when he appeared to have a mechanical problem, slowed down then fell causing his disqualification. In the rerun Hansen led from the start ahead of Miskowiak.
Leading scorers after Final 2:
Jakub Miskowiak (Poland) 38 points
Mads Hansen (Denmark) 36
Wiktor Lampart (Poland) 30
Francis Gusts (Latvia) 21
Alexander Woentin (Sweden) 19
Mateusz Swidnicki (Poland) 19
Petr Chlupac (Czech Rep) 18
The final event of the championship will take place next Friday in Pardubice.
FIM Communication