Great Britain star Robert Lambert admitted it was “awesome” as they picked up silver in the World Under-21 Team final. The red, white and blue had to settle for second to the sensational Poles who won in Manchester with 41 points ahead of GB on 33.
It was a torrid battle for the medals as Denmark and Australia fought hard right to the end with 31 and 21 points respectively.
Lambert said: “It was a tough night, it was always going to be like that because the Poles are very strong. “But I felt all the boys did brilliantly. I know that Dan (Bewley) and I did the majority of scoring. However, they really raced hard and were unlucky not to get more.”
“It’s a great learning experience for us all. Three of our guys are 17 or 16 and they will take a great deal from this. But I think it’s awesome we got silver.”
“The Danes and Aussies are also excellent teams with great futures so to beat them was a very decent result for us.”
Not surprisingly the Poles took control almost from the off, taking nine points in the opening four races.
Dan Bewley won Heat 2 to raise the roof at the National Speedway Stadium but the huge Polish contingent of loud fans knew they were in for a glorious night.
Great Britain’s young brigade of Drew Kemp and Kyle Bickley found it hard going but far from disgraced as they battled hard for places.
But apart from Lambert and Bewley punctuating GB’s scoring with a flurry of exciting wins and placings, it was always going to be an uphill battle to hang onto the Poles.
Lambert was the star of the night. He won his joker ride to grab six points but in the latter stages Denmark came on strong and only trailed by one point behind GB going into the last race.
But that man fast Lambo wrapped up silver in style.
However the noise at the end was the Polish fans. It was yet more glory for them on the Under-21 stage they have simply dominated.
Poland 41: Bartosz Smektala 13, Dominik Kubera 12, Maksym Drabik 11, Wiktor Lampart 5.
Team GB 33: Robert Lambert 20, Dan Bewley 11, Drew Kemp 2, Kyle Bickley 0, Leon Flint 0.
Denmark 31: Mads Hansen 11, Fredrik Jakobsen 8, Patrick Hansen 6, Jonas Jeppesen 6.
Australia 21: Jaimon Lidsey 12, Jordan Stewart 5, Kyle Thomson 2, Matthew Gilmore 1, Zach Cook 1.