WORLD UNDER 21 FINAL

 

It was a magnificent performance by 20 year old Ludek Janicek of the Czech Republic and Prague Pythons that saw him crowned World Under 21 Champion with a faultless 15 point maximum.  The only rival who offered a consistent challenge was Denmark's Leon Jeppesen (Copenhagen Cobras) as the pair of European based riders looked a class apart today.  Janicek and Jeppesen were both unbeaten going into their final ride but the Czech star made no mistake in heat 19 to wrap up the title.
Janicek opened the meeting with a fine tapes to flag victory and then watched as the other pre-meeting favourites failed to register on the scoreboard when Fillippe Chong (New Zealand and Wantage) and Boguslaw Kryznowek (Poland and Glastonbury) both trailed in last in their opening race.  Both recovered to score 7 points, Chong unlucky not to challenge for a rostrum place due to a fourth ride engine failure, and finished well down the order.  3rd place, and the honour of being the top UK based rider, went to Russian Vladislav Akumbaev (Tilbury Dockers) who accumulated points steadily and can be happy with his rostrum finish.
Janicek's fellow club and countryman Tibor Nemecek (Czech Republic & Prague) scored 9 to finish 4th whilst Poland's Wojtek Zadrozny (Warsaw) caused surprises throughout and came close to a rostrum finish before ending in 5th, also on 9 points.  Tilbury Dockers had the achievement of providing the highest two riders from the UK with Bart Williamson (New Zealand) scoring 8 and claiming 6th place.
17 year old Jack Hagen (America & Teesside) had a disastrous start but showed his potential with a pair of wins to finish, coming 7th overall, with Olle Nyman (Sweden & Hampden) also scoring 7 and completing the top half of the scorers.  The pair, along with Zadrozny, Williamson and Chong will all be eligible to compete at this level next season and will be wanting to produce similar performances with the top 4 finishers, and highly rated Kryznowek, all graduating to the full senior stage.  Another rider who will be potentially back, for 2 more seasons in fact, is Boris Kravchuk (Russia & Tunstall) who had a disappointing meeting, seemingly shaken by a fall in his third ride, on his way to 6 points and he will be expected to be a serious competitor over the next few seasons.
Dwayne Houtby (Canada & America) and Karl Sorensen (Denmark & Workington) impressed in patches and whilst Dominik Witoszek (Poland & Tilbury) and Richie Rawlins (England & Falmouth) found points hard to come by they will have one more shot at the title before turning 21.  Reznik Baluch (Slovakia & Bratislava) has been impressing in Europe and was hoping for better but could do no better than 14th place with 5 points and he'll be another looking to improve and challenge much higher up the leaderboard next season.
So the big question before this meeting was how do you follow a champion like 3 time winner Hayden Wood, a rider who has won a GP and finished on the rostrum in senior world and national finals whilst competing at junior level, as World Under 21 Champion?  The answer is that you probably can't but hats off and congratulations to Ludek Janicek who was imperious all day and is a worthy successor to riders like Wood, and other former winners who have gone on to achieve great things in the sport such as Jesper Risager, Petr Verner and Nick Ambrose.



  1. Ludek Janicek (Czech Republic & Prague Pythons / 20)............. 3  3  3  3  3  15
  2. Leon Jeppesen (Denmark & Copenhagen Cobras / 20)............. 3  3  3  3  2  14

  3. Vladislav Akumbaev (Russia & Tilbury Dockers / 20)........ 2  2  2  1  3  10

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  4. Tibor Nemecek (Czech Republic & Prague Pythons / 20)............. 1  3  3  0  2   9
  5. Wojtek Zadrozny (Poland & Warsaw Wasps / 19)........... 2  2  3  2  0   9
  6. Bart Williamson (New Zealand & Tilbury Dockers / 18)........... 1  2  2  2  1   8
  7. Jack Hagen (America & Teesside Transporters / 17)................ 1  0  0  3  3   7
  8. Olle Nyman (Sweden & Hampden Eagles / 19)................ 3  0  1  3  0   7
  9. Fillippe Chong (New Zealand & Wantage Kings / 18)............ 0  3  2  R  2   7
 10. Boguslaw Kryznowek (Poland & Glastonbury Gunners / 20)........ 0  1  1  2  3   7
 11. Boris Kravchuk (Russia & Tunstall Terriors / 18)............ 2  2  Fx 1  1   6
 12. Dwayne Houtby (Canada & Paris Panthers / 20)............. 2  1  1  1  1   6
 13. Karl Sorensen (Denmark & Workington Logheads / 20)............. 3  0  0  Fx 2   5
 14. Reznik Baluch (Slovakia & Bratislava Buzzards / 19)............. 1  1  1  2  0   5
 15. Dominik Witoszek (Poland & Tilbury Dockers / 19).......... 0  1  2  1  0   4
 16. Richie Rawlins (England & Falmouth Falcons / 19)............ 0  0  0  0  1   1
 17. Janez Djbas (Slovenia & Ljubljana Lions / 20)............... Did not ride
 18. Delmar DeRozen (America / 20)............ Did not ride
 No. Results
  1: Ludek Janicek, Dwayne Houtby, Reznik Baluch, Dominik Witoszek 
  2: Leon Jeppesen, Vladislav Akumbaev, Tibor Nemecek, Fillippe Chong 
  3: Karl Sorensen, Boris Kravchuk, Jack Hagen, Richie Rawlins 
  4: Olle Nyman, Wojtek Zadrozny, Bart Williamson, Boguslaw Kryznowek 
  5: Tibor Nemecek, Wojtek Zadrozny, Reznik Baluch, Karl Sorensen 
  6: Leon Jeppesen, Boris Kravchuk, Dominik Witoszek, Olle Nyman 
  7: Ludek Janicek, Vladislav Akumbaev, Boguslaw Kryznowek, Jack Hagen 
  8: Fillippe Chong, Bart Williamson, Dwayne Houtby, Richie Rawlins 
  9: Leon Jeppesen, Bart Williamson, Reznik Baluch, Jack Hagen 
 10: Tibor Nemecek, Dominik Witoszek, Boguslaw Kryznowek, Richie Rawlins 
 11: Ludek Janicek, Fillippe Chong, Olle Nyman, Karl Sorensen 
 12: Wojtek Zadrozny, Vladislav Akumbaev, Dwayne Houtby, Boris Kravchuk (Fx) 
 13: Olle Nyman, Reznik Baluch, Vladislav Akumbaev, Richie Rawlins 
 14: Jack Hagen, Wojtek Zadrozny, Dominik Witoszek, Fillippe Chong (R) 
 15: Ludek Janicek, Bart Williamson, Boris Kravchuk, Tibor Nemecek 
 16: Leon Jeppesen, Boguslaw Kryznowek, Dwayne Houtby, Karl Sorensen (Fx) 
 17: Boguslaw Kryznowek, Fillippe Chong, Boris Kravchuk, Reznik Baluch 
 18: Vladislav Akumbaev, Karl Sorensen, Bart Williamson, Dominik Witoszek 
 19: Ludek Janicek, Leon Jeppesen, Richie Rawlins, Wojtek Zadrozny 
 20: Jack Hagen, Tibor Nemecek, Dwayne Houtby, Olle Nyman