SPEEDWAY: Richardson & Co fail in final bid (From Swindon Advertiser)

SPEEDWAY: Richardson & Co fail in final bid

9:55pm Thursday 17th July 2008 in Sport

SWINDON asset Lee Richardson could not spare Great Britain's blushes last night as they failed to qualify for tomorrow's World Cup Final.

After a dismal World Cup campaign so far, Great Britain at least gained some pride in last night's World Cup race off in Denmark, scoring a total of 36 points.

However, their points haul was still some way behind race-off winners Sweden and Poland, who scored 53 and 50 points respectively, to both book their place in Saturday's final.

Richardson, pictured above, had a poor night, scoring just four points from his four rides while Chris Harris was the pick of the Great Britain team, scoring 11.

Despite gating first in heat one, Richardson was soon overtaken by the rest of the field as Tomasz Gollob wrapped up victory for Poland.

Sweden and Poland then traded heat victories with Andreas Jonsson winning heat two, Rune Holte heat three and Freddie Lindgren the fourth.

Scott Nicholls though restored some pride for Great Britain in heat five seeing off Poland's Jarek Hampel for first spot.

And, after Grzegorz Walasek beat Richardson in heat six, British hopes were boosted further by Tai Woffinden's victory in the next - the first of a nine-point haul for the GB rider.

Harris won the next, pipping Jonsson and Gollob to put Great Britain within touching distance of the top two.

However, Edward Kennett's exclusion from heat nine saw Poland's Wieslaw Jagus take victory ahead of Russia's Denis Gizatullin.

Nicholls could manage only third in heat 10 behind Holta and Lindgren while Richardson, despite leading for two laps, could finish only third to Jonsson and Holta in heat 11.

Woffinden briefly led heat 12 only for Walasek to take victory ahead of Grigory Laguta and the British rider.

Lindgren pipped Harris in the next and Kennett's third place behind Nermark and Gollob left Great Britain chasing a losing battle to qualify for the final.

Richardson's final ride saw him come third in heat 21 as Great Britain failed to earn another race victory on the night with only Nicholls, Harris and Woffinden going close with second places.

Sweden and Poland now go into tomorrow's final against Swindon rider Leigh Adams' Australia and Denmark.

WORLD CUP RACE-OFF RESULT

SWEDEN 53: Jonas Davidsson 10, Andreas Jonsson 13, Peter Ljung 10, Freddie Lindgren 14, Daniel Nermark 6

POLAND 50: Tomasz Gollob 10, Wieslaw Jagus 11, Rune Holta 9, Grzegorz Walasek 12, Jarek Hampel 8

GREAT BRITAIN 36: Lee Richardson 4, Tai Woffinden 9, Chris Harris 11, Edward Kennett 3, Scott Nicholls 9

RUSSIA 17: Denis Gizatullin 3, Danil Ivanov 1, Renat Gafurov 1, Grigory Laguta 12