Poland Reign Supreme After Speedway World Cup Thriller

Well, where do we start?

The Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup returned in Wroclaw, Poland last week and we’re still catching our breath. What. An. Event.

Four meetings, 80 races, nine nations and one truly epic final - and at the end of it all it was home favourite Poland who claimed glory on the final lap of the whole tournament.

The final saw Poland, Great Britain, Denmark and Australia go head-to-head in front of a packed crowd at the Olympic Stadium, and it was outsiders Great Britain who lit up the early stages with a series of heat wins.

Tai Woffinden and Dan Bewley were on fire as the GB team raced into a lead, but Poland hit back whenPatryk Dudek got the crowd on their feet with a spectacular heat five victory.

From that point it was like watching two heavyweight boxers slugging it out. Just as one team looked as if they were going to open a lead, the other would hit straight back. It was tense, it was nervy but it was incredible racing.

With four heats to go, the scores between Poland and Britain were level, with Denmark only three behind and Australia - inspired by Jack Holder - not out of the running either. 

Bewley landed the first blow, by finishing ahead of Poland in heat 17, but the Poles hit straight back when Dominic Kubera won heat 18 and Woffinden could only manage third.

Two races left, scores still level.

When world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik sneaked into second ahead of Bewley in the penultimate race the home fans started to believe they could do it, and the last heat saw hometown hero Maciej Janowski up against Britain’s Robert Lambert.

It was simple, Janowski had to beat Lambert and Poland would be world champions.

Lambert made a better start, but Australian Max Fricke hit the front and Lambert tried everything he could to get past him, with Janowski lurking behind.

He built up his speed over three laps until he seized his moment to strike and he charged underneath Lambert on the final lap to send 15,000 fans into raptures and bring home the gold medal. Devastation forBritain, elation for Poland.

It was a fitting to end to an awesome week of speedway, and we tip our hat to the 45 racers who put it all on the line for their countries.

But, for the ninth time, it was Poland who ended on top and they deserve all the plaudits. 

Good job boys!