Australian Max Fricke has finished third overall in the U-21 Speedway World Championship after the conclusion of the final round at Pardubice, Poland. Fellow Australians, Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder finished fifth and sixth respectively in the championship. Polish racer Maksym Drabi was declared U-21 Champion after a phenomenal winning performance at the decider.

Quite sensationally Drabi would bounce back this year after his 2016 title bid was cruelled due to a broken leg. Drabi dominated this year to finish on top with 49 points in total. Although last year’s champion Fricke would be disappointed to miss out on the title, its been a very successful year for the Australian rising star.

Race fans were provided with an exciting show from the get go. In the opening heat, Woentin and Krcmar had the best start, and they had a belter of a duel in the first corner. Fricke, who rode on the outside, took advantage of the scrap to overtake them and take the first victory. The second heat also provided plenty of excitement with Patrick Hansen who was fast from the outset, unfortunately he made a mistake on the second straight and Drabik took advantage to take the lead.

In the middle of the tournament, several riders who were on the top the Championship standings, didn’t have as many points as everybody expected. One of them was Robert Lambert. The British rider made a lot of mistakes in the field. Taking advantage, was Alexander Woentin who overtook Lambert on the third lap. Patrick Hansen was also riding very aggressively, on heat 12, Hansen was battling with Holder and Lukas Fienhage. Holder managed to defend his second position.

To the delight of the Polish fans, Bartosz Smektała increased his score in every series. In heat 15, Smektała showed pure Speedway race craft. Unia Leszno went from fourth to first position, but he lost out with a duel with Dominik Kubera. Smektała battled until the end and chased down his firend to the last lap, where he overtook him on the first corner. At the same time, Max Fricke came close to Maksym Drabik. The Australian pulled off a brave attack and went from third to first place. At the moment, he was only 3 points behind leader in the GC.

The last series provided fans with plenty of emotions and excitement. In heat 17, Max Drabik lost the start against Alexander Woentin and Jack Holder. In the meantime Fricke was moving closer to Drabik in the GC. Unfortunately for him, he lost the start and finished race on first lap, so before semifinals, Bartosz Smektała came to the second place in general classification.

Fricke had an engine failure on heat 20 forcing him to use his spare bike which was not as quick as his number one bike. The failure making it difficult to attack in the final.

In the semifinal, Maksym Drabik cemented his first World U-21 Championship. Unfortunately, Max Fricke didn’t overtake Kacper Woryna in grand final. Finally, third place in Friday’s tournament gave him bronze in GC. Bartosz Smektała finished tournament with silver.

1. Maksym Drabik #133 (Poland) 18 (3,2,3,2,2,3,3)
2. Kacper Woryna #222 (Poland) 17 (3,3,1,3,2,3,2)
3. Max Fricke #1 (Australia) 13 (3,1,3,3,d,2,1)
4. Bartosz Smektała #115 (Poland) 12 (0,1,3,3,3,2,0)
5. Dimitri Berge #96 (France) 11 (2,2,2,2,2,1)
6. Jevgenijs Kostigovs #113 (Latvia) 10 (2,1,1,2,3,1)
7. Jack Holder #25 (Australia) 10 (1,3,2,1,3,0)
8. Eduard Krcmar #263 (Czech Republic) 9 (0,1,2,3,3,0)
9. Patrick Hansen #124 (Denmark) 8 (2,3,1,2,0)
10. Brady Kurtz #101 (Australia) 8 (0,2,3,1,2)
11. Lukas Fienhage #76 (Germany) (3,3,0,0,1)
12. Andreas Lyager Hansen #114 (Denmark) 6 (2,2,0,1,1)
13. Alexander Woentin #73 (Sweden) 4 (1,0,2,0,1)
14. Robert Lambert #505 (Great Britain) 3 (1,0,1,1,0)
15. Dominik Kubera #463 (Poland) 2 (1,0,0,0,1)
16. Patrik Mikel #16 (Czech Republic) 0 (0,0,0,0,0)
17. Josef Novak #17 (Czech Republic)
18. Filip Hajek #18 (Czech Republic)

1. (70,41) Max Fricke, Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Alexander Woentin, Eduard Krcmar
2. (69,97) Maksym Drabik, Patrick Hansen, Robert Lambert, Bartosz Smektała
3. (70,53) Kacper Woryna, Dimitri Berge, Jack Holder, Brady Kurtz
4. Lukas Fienhage, Andreas Lyager, Dominik Kubera, Patrik Mikel
5. Lukas Fienhage, Dimitri Berge, Bartosz Smektała, Alexander Woentin
6. (70,72) Jack Holder, Andreas Lyager Hansen, Eduard Krcmar, Robert Lambert
7. (71,59) Patrick Hansen, Brady Kurtz, Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Patrik Mikel
8. Kacper Woryna, Maksym Drabik, Max Fricke, Dominik Kubera
9. (70,53) Brady Kurtz, Alexander Woentin, Robert Lambert, Dominik Kubera
10. Bartosz Smektała, Eduard Krcmar, Kacper Woryna, Patrik Mikel
11. (69,75) Maksym Drabik, Dimitri Berge, Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Andreas Lyager Hansen
12. Max Fricke, Jack Holder, Patrick Hansen, Lukas Fienhage
13. Kacper Woryna, Patrick Hansen, Andreas Lyager Hansen, Alexander Woentin
14. Eduard Krcmar, Maksym Drabik, Brady Kurtz, Lukas Fienhage
15. Bartosz Smektała, Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Jack Holder, Dominik Kubera
16. Max Fricke, Dimitri Berge, Robert Lambert, Patrik Mikel
17. Jack Holder, Maksym Drabik, Alexander Woentin, Patrik Mikel
18. Eduard Krcmar, Dimitri Berge, Dominik Kubera, Patrick Hansen
19. Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Kacper Woryna, Lukas FIenhage, Robert Lambert
20. Bartosz Smektała, Brady Kurtz, Andreas Lyager Hansen, Max Fricke (d)
21. Kacper Woryna, Max Fricke, Dimitri Berge, Eduard Krcmar
22. Maksym Drabik, Bartosz Smektała, Jevgenijs Kostigovs, Jack Holder
23. Maksym Drabik, Kacper Woryna, Max Fricke, Bartosz Smektała