IN
THE
WIND
P40
SWEDEN TAKES SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP
S
weden's Swedish
skipper Andreas
Jonsson attributed his
side's teamwork as the
key to their first Monster
Energy FIM Speedway
World Cup for 11 years at
Vojens on June 14.
The Swedes last lifted
the Ove Fundin Trophy
at British track Poole in
2004 and Denmark and
Poland have dominated
the competition ever
since.
But Jonsson's men
capitalized on some cata-
strophic luck for hosts,
holders and red-hot favor-
ites Denmark to snatch
gold on 34 points, just
pipping the Danes who finished
on 32 in the greatest Monster
Energy Speedway World Cup
Final in recent memory. A young
Polish team scored 27 to beat
Australia (26) to bronze by one
point.
Sweden started the day as
rank outsiders to lift the trophy,
but with Jonsson (12), Fredrik
Lindgren (11), Antonio Lindback
(7) and Linus Sundstrom (4) all
contributing useful points.
A delighted Jonsson was elat-
ed with Sweden's team effort.
"We did the best we could. I
knew we were up against some
really good riders, but we kept
our cool and took care of the
points we could," Jonsson said.
"We worked as a team, and I
think that's what made us win.
"Denmark and Poland were
the favorites. Poland came in
with some injuries and it was
tough. Denmark had a bit of bad
luck. But it's all about working as
a team and collecting the points,
which we did."
Sweden enjoyed some huge
fortune in their last two races,
which saw Denmark's Kenneth
Bjerre break down at the start
line in heat 19, before Danish
skipper Niels-Kristian Iversen
was excluded for felling Poland's
Przemyslaw Pawlicki in heat 20.
That catastrophic run of mis-
fortune for the Danes meant sec-
ond place or better was enough
for Jonsson to seal the title in a
last-race decider. Despite the
weight of a nation on his shoul-
ders, the Stockholm-born star
took the checkered flag in the
re-run and simply refused to
crack under the pressure.
"You can only think positive,"
Jonsson said. "Someone asked
me, 'did you think about not
touching the tapes?' You can
never have that in your mind. You
just have to have the opportuni-
ties in your head—what you want
to do and how you're going to
win the race. If you start thinking
about stuff like that, you aren't
going to win anything."
John Hipkiss
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
Team Captain
Andreas Jonsson
led the way for the
Swedish team at this
year's Speedway
World Cup.
