Stead and Howe qualify for world U-21 final.
Simon Stead and David Howe safely negotiated the semi-final stage of the speedway world U-21 championships, and will line-up in the final at Peterborough next month.
The pair qualified for the final stages by finishing in the top eight of the Krsko semi, and go forward to Peterborough in August along with the likes of Polish rider David Kujawa and Canadian Chris Slabon, who should not mind Peterborough too much after showing up well there in the previous round.
Simon Stead and David Howe safely negotiated the semi-final stage of the speedway world U-21 championships, and will line-up in the final at Peterborough next month.
The pair qualified for the final stages by finishing in the top eight of the Krsko semi, and go forward to Peterborough in August along with the likes of Polish rider David Kujawa and Canadian Chris Slabon, who should not mind Peterborough too much after showing up well there in the previous round.
Stead won a run off with Freddie Eriksson for third place on the day but, of the other British based riders on show, Blair Scott and Ross Brady found it tough going and missed the cut off by some way.
In the second semi, at Rybnik in Poland, Britain's Chris Harris netted a reserve spot for Peterborough, but compatriot Lee Smethills missed out. Oxford's fast rising star Lukas Dryml won this semi final and now goes to Peterborough as a leading
contender.
Subject to confirmation, the line-up for the final reads as follows:
Rafael Okoniewski
Chris Slabon
Simon Stead
Freddie Eriksson
Tomasz Chzranowski
Matej Zagar
David Howe
David Kujawa
Lukas Dryml
Roman Chromik
Krzysztof Kasprzak
Lukasz Romanek
David Ruud
Jaroslaw Hampel
Bjorn G. Hansen
Miroslaw Fencl
Result - World U-21 semi-final - Krsko (Slovenia)
1. Rafal Okoniewski Poland 14 points
2. Chris Slabon Canada 12
3. Simon Stead Britain 11
4. Freddie Eriksson Denmark 11
5. Tomasz Chrzanowski Poland 10
6. Matej Zagar Slovenia 10
7. David Howe Britain 10
8. David Kujawa Poland 10
9. Hans Andersen Denmark 9
10. Martin Smolinski Germany 5
11. Jernej Kolenko Slovenia 5
12. Henning Bager Denmark 4
13. Ross Brady Britain 2
14. Blair Scott Britain 1
15. Peter Klenovsek Slovenia 1
16. Janos Golenya Hungary 0
Result - World U-21 semi-final - Rybnik (Poland)
1. Lukas Dryml Czech Rep 14 points
2. Roman Chromik Poland 12
3. Krzysztof Kasprzak Poland 10
4. Lukasz Romanek Poland 10
5. David Ruud Sweden 10
6. Jaroslaw Hampel Poland 9
7. Bjorn G. Hansen Norway 9
8. Miroslaw Fencl Czech Rep 8
9. Chris Harris Britain 8
10. Joonas Kylmakorpi Finland 8
11. Ryan Scott Fisher USA 7
12. Rusty Harrison Australia 6
13. Tomas Suchanek Czech Rep 4
14. Scott Smith Australia 3
15. Lee Smethills Britain 2
16. Mattias Nilsson Sweden 0
