Leigh leads the wizards of Aus (From Swindon Advertiser)

Leigh leads the wizards of Aus

8:00am Monday 14th July 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

ROBINS and Australia skipper Leigh Adams hailed his national side after sending the men from Down Under directly into this weekend's World Cup Final on Saturday night.

Australia stunned hosts Poland in Leszno as the Swindon ace, beaten once all evening, defeated Jarek Hampel in a run-off after a sensational night's racing in the tournament opener.

The pair did battle in the extra race after both sides finished on 56 points and Adams, whose one defeat had come at the hands of maximum man Hampel, took his revenge, cutting back on the inside after the Pole had made the gate.

The Robins rider said: "We're delighted, all the boys put such an effort in and rose to the occasion.

"We were here to come away with the win, and we'll take the week's rest ahead of the final.'' He added: "We're expecting a lot from some pretty inexperienced guys and it was a tough meeting, as the Poles are renowned to be very good on their home turf.

"Everyone rode their socks off, we had a great atmosphere and now we'll look forward to Saturday."

Disappointed Poland meanwhile, head for Thursday's Race-Off in Denmark, where they will be joined by Russia, who delivered a much-improved performance for 36 points.

The Poles seemed to have the automatic final place in the bag, overcoming a strong Aussie start to seize control through Hampel, Rune Holta and Tomasz Gollob.

But the decision to send Adams out on a tactical ride in heat 19 paid rich dividends, the Swindon man collecting the full six points while Poland's lead was wiped out totally as Wieslaw Jagus suffered an engine failure.

Australia surged clear and the home side needed a late surge, culminating in Hamel's heat 25 victory, to help claw back a four-point deficit and force the run-off.

LESZNO SCORES

AUSTRALIA 56: Leigh Adams 20, Jason Crump 11, Chris Holder 11, Ryan Sullivan 8, Davey Watt 6.

POLAND 56: Jarek Hampel 15, Rune Holta 13, Tomasz Gollob 12, Krzysztof Kasprzak 10, Wieslaw Jagus 6.

RUSSIA 36: Emil Sajfutdinov 14, Denis Gizatullin 7, Grigory Laguta 7, Danil Ivanov 5, Renat Gafurov 3.

HUNGARY 10: Matej Ferjan 9, Jozsef Tabaka 1, Sandor Tihanyi 0, Norbert Magosi 0, Laszlo Szatmari 0.