Team Great Britain rose to the occasion to book themselves a place in Saturday's SWC final at Wroclaw with a famous World Cup win over Denmark, the Czech Republic and Russia at Swindon.
Neil Middleditch's patched-up side rode out of their skins to see off the much-fancied Danes by 59 points to 54.
They were ahead from heat three, and never relinquished that lead, though Denmark did get to within two points when Hans Andersen doubled his win as a tactical joker in heat 16.
The injury-hit Brits, without the services of Mark Loram and David Norris, were heroes to a man, with stand-ins Simon Stead and Chris Harris both coming of age on the international stage with 12 points apiece - Stead having answered an SOS from a mid-season break in Tenerife to replace Loram - and Lee Richardson dragging himself out of his sick-bed to reel off the most unlikely of 15-point maximums.
A groggy Richardson, taken ill with a stomach bug on Saturday night during Swindon's defeat at Eastbourne, rode despite feeling way below his best, and he trailed at the back in his first two races, only for both to be stopped.
He took advantage to win both re-runs and he put the icing on the British cake when he passed Denmark skipper Nicki Pedersen around the outside to land heat 15.
Scott Nicholls and Joe Screen, despite having some early engine problems, also weighed in with vital points as Team GB won 13 of the 25 races, and bagged nine second places. Screen came from the back to win heats nine and 13 as mid-meeting rain left a tricky track increasingly unpredictable.
Middleditch, who must now decide whether or not to use Loram in the final - if the former World Champion is fit - said: "It was a brilliant performance from the boys and I am over the moon with the result. Denmark had to be favourites, but Chris Harris and Simon Stead were awesome and for Lee Richardson to score a maximum in his condition was stunning. There is still a long, long way to go to win the competition, but we can take a lot from this display into Saturday's final." |