11.05.97, Ludwigslust D, Individual Junior Speedway World Championship - qualifying round 3

PRider No12345678901234567890TP
1Tomasz Rempala PL 15 3 3 3 33 15
2Mirko Wolter D 16 2 33 3 3 14
3Grzegorz Walasek PL 10 3 3 3 2 1 12
4Emiliano Sanchez ARG 8 3 0 3 3 2 11
5Stuart Robson GB 41 2 E 2 3 8+3
6Scott Nicholls GB 11 2 2 2 2 X 8+2
7Craig Watson AUS 12 3 F 3 F 8+X
8Brett Woodifield AUS 6 1 2 1 X 3 7
9Roy Verbrugge NL 14 1 1 1 2 2 7
10Steffen Mell D 30 1 2 1 2 6
11Pavel Navratil CZ 23 0 0 1 1 5
12Theo Pijper NL 7 2 0 F1 2 5
13Bevan Compton SA 12 0 1 2 X F 3
14Chris Slabon CAN 5 0 2 E 0 1 3
15Jerome Azais F 9 1 1 0 1 0 3
16David Azais F 13 0N 2 0 M 2
-Bjoern Draeger D 17 1 1
- 18 -
PRider No12345678901234567890TP

Report by Martin Henke

Track:   not deep, but bumpy and tricky (only 300 m of length)
Weather: warm, no rain, more sunny periods than clouds,
         perfect speedway conditions
Crowd:   poor, < 1,000

The victory of the Pole was never in danger, flawless riding.
Oh, maybe once when the front wheel of the Aussi Woodifield took
of the track and he pushed Rempala to the fence. Very spectacular
how the Pole managed to stay on his bike, the Aussi fell and got
himself an exclusion. Although Woodifield managed to win his last
heat, the seven collected points were not enough to go through
to the next round, bad luck for the Aussi. The other Australian
rider, Craig Watson wasn't lucky as well. He had 8 points after
four rides and another one in his last heat would push him though
to the semifinals but he fell in heat 17 and stayed on 8 points.
So there was a last great chance for Stuart Robson, 5 points of
four rides, to qualify by reaching a run-off if he would manage
to win his last heat. And the last heat was a real cracker.
With another 5 points rider Verbrugge from Holland, Scott Nicholls
on 8 points so far and no need to win the last heat and Chris Slabon
from Canada with no more chances (2 points). We all expected Scott
Nicholls to help his team mate Robson to win that heat. So he did
in the first bend. Robson led and the Dutch rider was third close
behind Nicholls. However, Verbruggen never gave up and there was
very close racing between the three and everything could still happen.
When the Dutchman passed Nicholls and was very close behind Robson,
Nicholls took him of the bike, got excluded and finished on 8 points.
Robson won the re-run without the help of Nicholls this time and
had now 8 points, too. So there was a run-off between Nicholls, Robson
and Watson for the places 5, 6 and 7. The Aussi came first into the 1st
bend but Nicholls passed him very soon coming from the last position.
This was the most exciting heat that I've seen for many years. There was
never more space than 2-3 m between the riders all the time. I don't
remember how often they've passed each other but there must have been
at least four our five passings in the 2 or 3 laps before they all
......fell. Don't ask me who to blame, it's all been very close.
The referee exculded Watson. There was no need for a re-run anymore.
The two Brits got into the semifinals with Watson taking the reserve
place.

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