So close yet so far for Aussie Champion in World Championship chase - August 2013

August 25, 2013 by Gillman Media

Australian Champion Troy Batchelor has had agonising night in England, finishing just 1 point from qualifying for next season’s World Championship.

Batchelor was competing in the final World Championship qualifying round from which the top three point scorers were to qualify for next season’s championship. However meeting winner Niels Kristian Iversen, of Denmark, is almost certain to qualify for the championship as one of the highest eight scorers from this season’s grands prix, meaning the fourth placegetter from tonight’s meeting should also qualify — and Batchelor finished just one point behind equal fourth placegetters, Martin Smolinski and Chris Harris.

To make the night even more demoralising for Batchelor, he beat four of the top five scorers on the night but dropped points to riders who finished in the bottom few, including Finn Timo Lahti, who only scored 2 points in total.

The three guaranteed qualifiers were Niels Kristian Iversen (Denmark) 13, Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland) 12, and Kenneth Bjerre (Denmark) 11. If, as expected, the fourth placegetter also qualifies that will be German rider Martin Smolinski on countback over British rider Chris Harris. Both scored 10 points but Smolinski had two heat wins to Harris’ one, and also beat Harris when they met in heat 4.

Batchelor was next on 9 points (0-2-3-1-3) which should make him the second reserve for next season’s Championship so he is almost certain to at least get a taste of Grand Prix action at some time during the season.

His night started badly with a last place, from gate four, in his first race, behind Bjerre, Andersen and Lahti, and a second place behind Jepsen Jensen in his next ride left him seemingly out of contention with just 2 points from two rides. A win over two of the eventual qualifiers, Kasprzak and Smolinski in his third ride kept the door ajar however, but he could then only manage third place behind Pawlicki and Jonasson, two riders he would have expected to beat, in his fourth ride. His roller-coaster form then continued in his last ride, heat 17, when he beat Harris and Iversen, but as reported it left him a point short.

The other scorers below Batchelor were: Michael Jepsen Jensen (Denmark) 7, Hans Andersen (Denmark) 7, Daniel King (Great Britain) 7, Piotr Pawlicki (Poland) 7, Daniel Nermark (Sweden) 7, Maciej Janowski (Poland) 7, Thomas H Jonasson (Sweden) 6, Vaclav Milik (Czech Republic) 5, Timo Lahti (Finland) 2, Peter Kildemand (Denmark) 0.

We’ll hopefully see Troy back at Gillman this summer to defend both his South Australian and Australian Championships.