EURO CLUB 2016: Day one | Summary
The 2016 Euro Club Championships kicked off in Ostrow, Poland today, with four Great Britain teams in action, Ipswich, Wednesfield, Birmingham and Hethersett.
Before the championships officially began, Great Britain took on Poland in a test match on Friday night. The unfamiliar looking Team GB side were outclassed by a robust Polish unit, with many young British riders receiving their senior debuts.
See all the live updates and official score cards here
Poland were comfortable with GB only managing one heat advantage, save a couple of 5-4s, courtesy of a tape exclusion for Poland’s Binkowski, with debutant Richard Felgett racing away from grid one, while GB captain Paul Heard executed a fine pass on Mateusz Pacek to take a maximum 7-2 in heat 12.
World Champion Bartek Grabowski raced to a paid maximum from four rides with the match finishing 86 – 70 to the home nation.
Full scorecard:
In the European Club Championships, TSŻ Torun were convincing in the first qualifier, going through on 59 points. Also through the ICSF Select team on 38 points ahead of ULKS Mustang Żołedowo on 35 and LKS Strażak Mikołów on 26.
In qualifier two, host nation Ostrów sailed through on 59 points ahead of GB’s Wednesfield Aces who also made it through to tomorrow’s quarter finals on 43 points. Hethersett scored a respectable 32 points but headed into the repechage with ZKS Zielona Góra behind on 25.
Czestochowa took the spoils in qualifier 3 on 59, ahead of fellow DMP side Leszno who join them in the Quarter Finals on 44. A “select” Birmingham team which only featured on Monarch came in third on 34, while Katowice brought in the rear on 16.
Świetochłowice were convincing in the final qualifier on 55. Following them were GB’s Ipswich Eagles, who made the Quarter Finals on 44 points, TPD Kalety had to do it again coming in third on 38, with just three teams competing.
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In qualifier 5, Birmingham’s select team were strong winners on 56 and join Wednesfield and Ipswich in the Quarter Finals. ULKS Mustang Żołedowo came in behind Birmingham with 46 points and ZKS Zielona Góra missed out on 40 points.
TPD Kalety won the final qualifier of the day on 54 points, with LKS Strażak Mikołów also taking their chance finishing in second place on 42 points. Hethersett Hawks missed out by 5 points, coming in third on 37, ahead of Silesia Katowice who scored 26.
The Hawks have one more chance to make the Quarter Finals tomorrow in the repechage, if they make it, all four GB teams will be in the main part of the competition.
We’ll be back with a report tomorrow, in the meantime tune into the Google Drive link for live updates as they come in and follow @aus_cycle on Periscope to watch live footage of the action from Ostrow!