Speedway World Cup: Denmark book place in World Cup final on incident-packed night in Wroclaw

Denmark survived late drama – with some classic Nicki Pedersen theatrics thrown in – to advance to the final of the Speedway World Cup with a nervy victory over Australia.

The Danes won the opening three heats to stamp their authority on the evening and looked like they were cruising to the final with a six-point lead going into the final four heats.

Then came heat 17 where Rasmus Jensen went down against Jaimon Lidsey – Australia’s revelation of the evening as who only dropped two points in Wroclaw.

That caused the remarkable scenes of Pedersen – the first rider ever to manage and ride for his team in a world cup – phoning the referee first on the track phone, then on race director Phil Morris’ mobile.

But try as he might, Pedersen couldn’t change the decision and Lidsey duly won his heat before Jack Holder followed suit on race later, reducing the Danish lead to just a point.

But after an inspired ride from Leon Madsen in heat 19, Australia needed to gain two points on their rivals to take the semi-final to countback and Anders Thomsen secured second place to book Denmark’s place in the final.

Behind, France will join Australia in the run-off after pulling away at the end of a yo-yo battle with Finland.

Level going into the final block of races, France outscored Finland 7-2 over the last four heats including a win for Dimitri Berge, who was their standout rider on the night with 14 points from six races.

France and Australia will battle Sweden and the Czech Republic in Friday’s run-off while Great Britain now know two of their opponents for Saturday’s final.

They’ll need to look out for Madsen and Thomsen who scored 26 points between them from five rides each while Australia will be the favourites to take that fourth final berth.

“The boys did so well,” said Danish captain Mikkel Michelsen afterwards. “Awesome team performance. Anders Thomsen and Leon Madsen carried the team tonight.

“The team spirit was amazing, we were helping each other, and we had so much fun. It got a little bit too close for comfort in the end so there is some work to do before Saturday but I’m just so happy and it’s great to be the captain of such a great bunch of guys.”