TROY Batchelor was forced to settle for a bronze medal in Saturday’s Speedway World Cup final in Prague as Australia were edged to the lower end of the podium in the closing stages.

The boys from Down Under were missing world champion Chris Holder and Swindon man Batchelor had previously stated that a top-three finish would be an ‘amazing result’.

The 25-year-old totalled 11 points on the night and as a stand-in captain for the mercurial Holder, could afford to be delighted with his efforts.

After heat 17, Poland led on 34 points, with the Denmark and Australia on 33 and 32 respectively and the Czech Republic way out of the running on nine.

However, in the final races, Swindon asset Jason Doyle, Cameron Woodward and Batchelor could not manage any better than third and that left Poland and Denmark to battle it out for top spot, with Jaroslaw Hampel securing glory for the former with a dominant win in a last-heat decider.

It was a fitting finale for Hampel, who top-scored on the night with four wins in five races, including a six-point tactical in heat 16 that was crucial given that Denmark’s triple world champion Nicki Pedersen retired with an engine failure in the same heat.

Now a six-time World Cup winner, the 31-year-old Hampel got off to the best possible start at the Marketa Stadium with three points in heat one, a race that was re-run after the overly-eager Batchelor twitched at the tapes.

Hampel won the charge to the first bend while Batchelor rounded the Czech Republic’s Josef Franc on bend two, before holding off Peterborough skipper Kenneth Bjerre for second.

Pedersen got the Danes back on track in heat two as Doyle failed to challenge in third, before heat three was also re-run after ex-Abbey Stadium charger Maciej Janowski was pulled up for rolling at the start. Cameron Woodward secured a shock victory over the Pole at the second attempt while Niels-Kristian Iversen was fortunate to sneak into third after Vaclav Milik locked up on bend four of lap three.

The Czechs had lived up to their pre-meeting billing as huge outsiders in the opening races, but Ales Dryml got the hosts off the mark with a three-pointer in heat four.

Batchelor was left to battle it out for the minor placings in his second outing, forcing his way past Milik on the second bend of lap two, but Michael Jepsen Jensen and Krzysztof Kasprzak were well away by that point.

To the delight of the home crowd, the fast-gating Dryml looked set for a second race victory in a row, only for Iversen to cut back and blast past the Czech on the back straight.

Franc fluffed his lines by breaking the tapes in heat seven but Pedersen certainly did not despite being passed by Patryk Dudek early on. The Grand Prix veteran stayed in touch and slipped through on the first bend of lap two as he gave his side the lead for the first time.

Bjerre strengthened the Danes’ case by holding off Janowski and then tactical rider Batchelor gave his star turn of the night, flying out of the gate ahead of the form trio of Pedersen, Janowski and Dryml to bring the Aussies to within a point of top spot.

Denmark kept their two main rivals at bay for the next few heats but Bjerre got a generous slice of luck as heat 10 was stopped when he trailed at the back on bend three. He made no mistake with a jet-propelled gate on the re-run and although Doyle briefly held second, Dudek passed the Swindon-based rider on the back straight.

Dryml’s tactical fell flat in heat 11 as Hampel’s win over Jepsen Jensen brought the Pole to within a point of the lead, before an off-colour Darcy Ward was denied a first race win by the motoring Iversen.

Jepsen Jensen finished an expensive fourth next time out and Janowski’s cracking start and win ensured his nation drew level with Denmark for the first time since heat six, while Doyle was comfortable in second.

Rallying for the Danes was Iversen with his third straight victory as Batchelor twice failed to endear himself to Lukas Dryml by nearly wiping out the home favourite on back-to-back straights.

Bjerre & Co looked to be closing in on victory following heat 15, in which the Panthers star cruised through his four laps and was boosted by the non-scoring Kasprzak, who pulled up on lap three when trailing at the rear.

Kasprzak’s zero allowed the Aussies to nip into second, but that was shortlived as tactical man Hampel won the critical heat 16 ahead of Ward as Pedersen retired with engine woes.

Ward then came straight back out to better Kasprzak in a heat 17 that was re-run twice, but Australia’s challenge, for all its promise, ended there.

Doyle lost a battle with Dudek for third and Woodward’s third in heat 19 meant the Aussies were guaranteed bronze.

The creeping Janowski set up a final-heat thriller by launching out of the gate and staying in top spot, while second-placed Woodward delayed Iversen.

It was left to Hampel to deliver with the weight of a nation’s expectation on his shoulders and he powered out first. Although the slow-starting Jepsen Jensen fought his way past Batchelor and Ales Dryml for second, it was not enough and Poland took the title by a single point.