EKSTRALIGA: Can Wroclaw manage without Woffinden?

Tonight’s first bronze medal match in Zielona Gora will see Wroclaw travel there without Tai Woffinden, even though he is on the start line up. He is not expected to start after breaking his wrist in last week’s semi final against Gorzów.

The question then remains, how will cope they fair when this year’s SGP Silver medalist?

Away from home the Brit was the team’s top scorer with 2.093, even though Maciej Janowski is actually the team’s top scorer so far this season with 2.176 – just ahead of his teammate with 2.167.

Whilst Janowski is a more than adequate replacement, how will the rest of the team measure up when they come in to replace the three times World Champion? The two SGP sit in sixth and seventh in the individual rankings, but their next best rider, Gleb Chugunov, is 23rd and they have not selected either Chris Holder or Maksym Drabik, thr clubs next best two riders, but Max Fricke.

Of course, if the Australian who won the Round 7 SGP in Toruń last Friday turns up, Sparta have nothing to worry about. But if the Fricke who has raced the rest of the Ekstraliga season comes, the bronze medal may well slip out of Wroclaw’s hands.

Zielona Góra on paper are the stronger squad with 3 SGP riders – Antonio Lindbäck, Patryk Dudek and Martin Vaculik – but none has ridden up to their top level this year. For Dudek the last week has seen him lose his place on the SGP circuit and at the other end of the emotional spectrum, Lindbäck has best SGP Round of the year last week and won the Swedish national championships with Masarna yesterday. Will that be the springboard to a miraculous recovery of a very tough year for the Swede?

Without Woffinden we are denied an all SGP Heat 9 but alongside that race, we will also have Heats 3 and 13 which will pit the best in the world against each other in Zielona Góra tonight.

Hot Heats:

Heat 3: Janowski, Jepsen Jensen, Fricke, Dudek

Heat 9: Lindbäck, Vaculik, Woffinden, Fricke

Heat 13: Vaculik, Janowski, Dudek, B Curzytek