Aussies Win Speedway Gold - May 2014

May 26, 2014 by Gillman Media

Australia has won the first of the major international speedway events to be staged in 2014, the Speedway Best Pairs Cup, which was held over three rounds in Poland, Germany and Sweden.

Each of the rounds saw seven countries contest 21 heats, with the top scoring team going into a final against the winner of a last chance semi-final between the second and third highest teams.

Australia was represented by Chris Holder, Darcy Ward, Davey Watt, Jason Doyle and Cameron Woodward.

In the first round at Torun Poland, Australia (Holder and Ward, with Woodward as reserve) only just scraped into the semi-final on a countback against Sweden, but then beat Poland in the semi-final and Denmark in the final to take 10 series points, with Denmark getting 8 and Poland 6.

Australia looked unlikely to do as well in the second round, at Landshut Germany, after first Darcy Ward was forced to withdraw after suffering a torn cruciate ligament in his knee in the New Zealand Grand Prix, and then his replacement, Jason Doyle, was involved in a crash with Latvia’s Maksim Bogdanow in his first ride. At first it was thought Doyle had broken his leg. Fortunately that wasn’t the case but he did suffer serious lacerations to his leg which meant he could no longer ride. Reserve Davey Watt then came in to partner Holder and he was a revelation, so much so that Australia did even better than the first round, going straight into the final as top scorers by a comfortable margin, before again defeating Denmark to take their series points to 20 against Denmark’s 12.

Australia, with Darcy Ward back into the team with Chris Holder, only had to reach the final in the third round at Eskilstuna Sweden to win the Cup, but it went right to the wire with Australia winning the semi-final against a lively Russian team to seal overall victory despite going down to Denmark in the final.

The final classification was Australia 28 (out of a possible 30), Denmark 26, Poland 16, Russia 10, Sweden 10, Germany 6, Latvia 6.

The tournament was shown on television in 71 countries, and the Aussies were seen as popular and deserving winners, because Holder and Ward were both riding with injury problems — Holder still has a great many screws in a badly damaged foot from a crash last season, and Ward has that torn cruciate ligament — and they also, along with Watt in round two, produced the best displays of genuine team-riding, which certainly pleased the viewers who often lament the demise of team-riding in league racing these days.

Photo: Darcy Ward, Davey Watt, Chris Holder.