GP SEMI FINAL 2   (Poland, top 4 qualify for GP Challenge)
 
With only 4 riders qualifying for certain to the GP Challenge (the successful semi finalists to be joined by the bottom 7 GP riders from this year's series and one wild card pick) it was important to make a good start.  Gabrys Irzyk did just that with 2 wins and Sam McCurdy, Eckard Petrie and Rafal Narozny also did well in the early stages to get to 5 points each after 2 rounds.  Highly fancied Dennis Groves suffered a first race exclusion but bounced back with a win while Steen Eriksen had mechanical troubles in his first and looked out of the running with just a point from 2 races.
 
Jeremie Loucks won heat 9, to move to 6 points, while Bruce Twamley crashed out of the meeting with a knock to his ribs and with just 3 points he sensibly decided it wasn't worth carrying on and risking a serious injury.  Jesper Risager caused a shock when winning heat 10 ahead of Petrie and Irzyk who topped the scorechart on 7 points at this stage.  Eriksen's nightmare continued as he failed to beat the 2 minutes in heat 11, reserve Otto Juttke coming in and winning, before Groves continued his fightback by taking the next.  It was all looking very tight at the top at the interval as Irzyk and Petrie led on 7 points from Groves, McCurdy, Jugovic & Narozny on 6 with a group of riders, down to 10th, just one more point back.
 
Another reserve ride gave Juttke another win as Petrie could only managed 3rd place, with at least one more to go for Juttke, replacing Twamley, surely he couldn't spring a surprise from reserve could he?  Steen Eriksen won heat 14 as Jugovic joined Petrie on 8 points and nobody was taking any sort of hold at the top of the leaderboard in the chase for a vital top 4 spot.  Heat 15 saw Narozny, Groves and Irzyk lining up looking to enhance their positions and ended with Irzyk taking 3 points ahead of Groves and Loucks won heat 16 to give himself every chance of progression as each rider had one ride remaining.
 
SCOREBOARD AFTER HEAT 16: Irzyk 10, Loucks, Groves, Jugovic & Petrie 8, Isaksen, McCurdy & Levin 7, Juttke & Narozny 6
 
Heat 17 saw a shock as Dennis Groves trailed in at the back and that first heat exclusion now looked very costly.  Reserve Juttke added a couple more points to join Groves on 8 but it looked like being limited to just 3 rides was going to cost him a chance at progression.
 
Heat 18 was an interesting one as Poland's Narozny sent the home fans wild with a tapes to flag win ahead of McCurdy and both were now on 9 points and looking likely to at least have a run off for a top 4 finish.
 
North American pair Petrie and Loucks both started heat 19 on 8 points, facing the struggling Aussie pair of Isaacs and Bracey, knowing that 2 or better would guarantee them a top 4 finish in the meeting and a place in the GP Challenge.  Loucks promptly took the win to move to the GP Challenge but Petrie couldn't score and his challenge was now over.
 
Polish star Gabrys Irzyk knew his 10 points were already enough in the last race but it was all on the line for Scandinavian duo Levin and Isaksen who needed a win to progress or 2 points to give themselves a fighting chance.  Irzyk took the heat, to wrap up a win in the meeting on 13 points, with Isaksen joining a group of riders on 9 points by following him home.
 
SCORES AFTER HEAT 20: Irzyk 13 (qualified), Loucks 11 (qualified), Narozny, Isaksen, McCurdy & Jugovic 9 (4 man run-off for final 2 GP Challenge places)
 
So to the crucial run-off and Isaksen held his nerve, as he had in heat 20, to claim a GP Challenge spot ahead of wily old stager Yuri Jugovic who had gone quietly about his business and gave the home Polish support 2 riders to cheer into the next stage of the battle for a place in next season's GP Series.
 
So Irzyk, Loucks, Isaksen and Jugovic move to the next stage.  The GP Committee confirmed immediately after the meeting that Steen Eriksen will get a reprieve after being desperately unlucky with machinery troubles before the interval and he will receive the Wild Card selection for the GP Challenge.  Luke Treadwell and Rafal Narozny will take the reserve places.
 
 
 
  1. Gabrys Irzyk.............. 3  3  1  3  3  13   (QUALIFIED)
  2. Jerermie Loucks........... 2  0  3  3  3  11   (QUALIFIED)
  3. Jens Isaksen.............. 3  0  2  2  2   9   (QUALIFIED)
  4. Yuri Jugovic.............. 1  3  2  2  1   9   (QUALIFIED)
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  5. Rafal Narozny............. 3  2  1  0  3   9
  6. Sam McCurdy............... 3  2  1  1  2   9
  7. Dennis Groves............. Fx 3  3  2  0   8
  8. Otto Juttke............... 3  3  2  -  -   8
  9. Eckard Petrie............. 2  3  2  1  0   8
 10. Steen Eriksen............. R  1  N2 3  3   7   (qualifies to GP Challenge as Wild Card)
 11. Lennart Levin............. 2  1  2  2  0   7
 12. Jesper Risager............ 1  1  3  0  1   6
 13. Carl Hooper............... 1  2  1  0  1   5
 14. Kamil Rozborski........... 1  2  0  1  0   4
 15. Buck Bracey............... 0  0  0  1  2   3
 16. Bruce Twamley............. 2  1  F  -  -   3 (I)
 17. Jason Isaacs.............. 0  0  0  0  1   1
 18. Scott Newstead............ Did not ride
 
 No. Results
  1: Jens Isaksen, Bruce Twamley, Kamil Rozborski, Buck Bracey 
  2: Gabrys Irzyk, Jerermie Loucks, Carl Hooper, Steen Eriksen (R) 
  3: Sam McCurdy, Eckard Petrie, Yuri Jugovic, Dennis Groves (Fx) 
  4: Rafal Narozny, Lennart Levin, Jesper Risager, Jason Isaacs 
  5: Gabrys Irzyk, Sam McCurdy, Bruce Twamley, Jason Isaacs 
  6: Dennis Groves, Kamil Rozborski, Lennart Levin, Jerermie Loucks 
  7: Yuri Jugovic, Carl Hooper, Jesper Risager, Buck Bracey 
  8: Eckard Petrie, Rafal Narozny, Steen Eriksen, Jens Isaksen 
  9: Jerermie Loucks, Yuri Jugovic, Rafal Narozny, Bruce Twamley (F) 
 10: Jesper Risager, Eckard Petrie, Gabrys Irzyk, Kamil Rozborski 
 11: Otto Juttke, Lennart Levin, Sam McCurdy, Buck Bracey 
 12: Dennis Groves, Jens Isaksen, Carl Hooper, Jason Isaacs 
 13: Otto Juttke, Lennart Levin, Eckard Petrie, Carl Hooper 
 14: Steen Eriksen, Yuri Jugovic, Kamil Rozborski, Jason Isaacs 
 15: Gabrys Irzyk, Dennis Groves, Buck Bracey, Rafal Narozny 
 16: Jerermie Loucks, Jens Isaksen, Sam McCurdy, Jesper Risager 
 17: Steen Eriksen, Otto Juttke, Jesper Risager, Dennis Groves 
 18: Rafal Narozny, Sam McCurdy, Carl Hooper, Kamil Rozborski 
 19: Jerermie Loucks, Buck Bracey, Jason Isaacs, Eckard Petrie 
 20: Gabrys Irzyk, Jens Isaksen, Yuri Jugovic, Lennart Levin 
 
 Runoff for 3rd-6th: Jens Isaksen, Yuri Jugovic, Rafal Narozny, Sam McCurdy