SEC GLORY FOR MADSEN

Danish racer Leon Madsen sealed Speedway European Championship gold with a sensational six-ride maximum at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow on Saturday night.

Madsen went into the night leading the standings and never looked like being caught as he produced his trademark electrifying starts when he needed them most to seal the biggest victory of his career.

He won the meeting ahead of SGP 2019 star Antonio Lindback, wild card Kacper Woryna and former world No.2 Jaroslaw Hampel.

Madsen finished on 56 championship points – 11 ahead of Hampel, who secured silver on 45. It was also a special night for British champion Robert Lambert, who clung on for the bronze medal on 41, despite falling short of the semi-final on the night.

The top trio are joined in qualifying for 2019 by Danish racer Mikkel Michelsen and Lindback, who both finished the four-round series on 40, with SGP regular Emil Sayfutdinov just squeezed out on 39.

The night belonged to Madsen, who cruised through to the final automatically with 15 points, sealing the SEC title with a hard-fought victory in heat 16.

Local hero Woryna underlined his huge potential by claiming the second automatic spot on 12. Hampel and Lindback had to do things the hard way, seeing off Michelsen and Sayfutdinov in the last-chance semi.

FINAL SEC STANDINGS: 1 Leon Madsen 56, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 45, 3 Robert Lambert 41, 4 Mikkel Michelsen 40, 5 Antonio Lindback 40, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 39, 7 Vaclav Milik 32, 8 Peter Kildemand 32, 9 Andrei Kudriashov 26, 10 Kai Huckenbeck 26, 11 Krzysztof Kasprzak 24, 12 Andzejs Lebedevs 20, 13 Piotr Pawlicki 20, 14 Andreas Jonsson 19, 15 Kacper Woryna 13, 16 Kevin Wolbert 8, 17 Adrian Gala 5, 18 Josef Franc 4, 19 Olegs Mihailovs 4, 20 Aleksandr Loktaev 4, 21 Jakub Miskowiak 3, 22 Rafal Karczmarz 1, 23 Robert Chmiel 1, 24 Max Dilger 1.

CHORZOW SCORES: 1 Leon Madsen 18, 2 Antonio Lindback 12, 3 Kacper Woryna 13, 4 Jaroslaw Hampel 11, 5 Mikkel Michelsen 12, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 9, 7 Piotr Pawlicki 8, 8 Robert Lambert 8, 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7, 10 Peter Kildemand 7, 11 Vaclav Milik 6, 12 Andrei Kudriashov 5, 13 Josef Franc 3, 14 Jakub Miskowiak 3, 15 Andzejs Lebedevs 3, 16 Rafal Karczmarz 1, 17 Andreas Jonsson 0, 18 Kai Huckenbeck 0.