Australian Speedway sensation, Darcy Ward has passed a last minute fitness test and will line up for the Australian team in the Monster Energy Speedway World Cup Final tomorrow morning Australian time against hosts Sweden, Russia and Denmark – who qualified through the last chance race-off.
The 20-year-old double World Under-21 Champion crashed in Poland some weeks ago and broke his hand, which led to surgery. He has been given the nod by Australian Team Manager to come back in the Final, arguably the toughest stage of the lot.
The Australian team is arguably the strongest on paper, with Ward joining Poole Pirates heat partner, Chris Holder, three times World Champion and Captain, Jason Crump and former Poole Pirate, Davey Watt.
The Danes edged out the fancied Poles and the strong Great Britain team to qualify for the Final, meantime Russia shocked the likes of Denmark and Poland to directly qualify for the decider and could prove to be the fly in the Aussies’ ointment. The Swedish team – who qualify by virtue of being the host nation – also have a very strong team with the likes of Andreas Jonsson and Freddie Lindgren in their lineup.
The Final will be live for Australian audiences on SPEED TV from 3am AEST.
FIM MONSTER ENERGY SWC FINAL LINE-UPS:
Sweden (red): 1 Andreas Jonsson, 2 Fredrik Lindgren, 3 Peter Ljung, 4 Tomas H Jonasson.
Russia (blue): 1 Emil Sayfutdinov, 2 Grigory Laguta, 3 Artem Laguta, 4 Roman Povazhny.
Australia (white): 1 Jason Crump, 2 Darcy Ward, 3 Davey Watt, 4 Chris Holder.
Denmark (yellow): 1 Nicki Pedersen, 2 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 3 Michael Jepsen Jensen, 4 Mikkel B Jensen.
