DANE'S DELIGHT, BUT BRITS ARE SHOCKING

12:39am Tuesday 15th July 2008

PIRATES star Bjarne Pedersen shone as he helped World Team Cup favourites Denmark ease into the final at Coventry last night.

Then Poole Castle Cover's captain was quick to join the chorus of stunned onlookers who labelled Great Britain's performance as "poor".

Nifty Pedersen regularly blasted his way past opponents on his way to 13 points from five rides as Denmark comfortably booked their place in the final at Vojens on Saturday.

But Britain were so dismally shocking that their inept display stunned most observers in a 5,000 crowd at Brandon as they finished third - a mighty 37-and-a-half points behind the Danes.

In fact, Britain were so woeful that at one stage it looked as though they might not even beat the Czech Republic and would miss out on a place in the race-off semi-final in Denmark on Thursday.

The Czechs were so depleted they had to call up Filip Sitera for injured Lukas Dryml and also gave an outing to Adrian Rymel of Premier League Berwick.

However, their mix and match side almost pulled off a major shock by relegating Britain - under Jim Lynch's management for the first time - to fourth on their home track.

In the end, Britain scrapped through in third place, well adrift of Denmark and Sweden, who were managed by ex-Pirates rider Tobias Johansson.

The Czechs, showing more fight than Britain, were only two points behind the hosts halfway through the meeting, but Lynch's charges bucked up their ideas after the interval to get out of jail.

Asked his thoughts on the home country's display, Pedersen said: "It was a very poor performance from Britain, especially when it is their home track.

"You can expect it if it was the final because that is so hard, but in a qualifier they should do better.

"I think everyone would agree with that."

Pedersen added: "When you have Chris Harris, Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, all current Coventry riders, and Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson, who have been racing there for years, it's nearly the home track for all five.

"They should really have done better."

The quietly spoken Dane's sentiments will probably be no different from anyone who watched the meeting live at Brandon, and of the many thousands who saw Sky's TV coverage.

Nicholls, Britain's skipper, said: "We have to just brush this one under the carpet.

"It was a dismal night. No one had a good meeting for us.

"None of us got to grips and we should have been better.

"We all know how to ride this track, so there are no excuses. We just have to put it right at Vojens on Thursday."

That's when Britain clash with Poland, Sweden and Russia for a top two place in the race-off as they look to join Denmark and Australia, who won event one, in the final.

Lynch, who took over Britain's team manager role from Poole boss Neil Middleditch earlier this year, had already dropped Allen and Stead before their final races last night.

Teenager Tai Woffinden and former Pirate Edward Kennett, both small track specialists, come into the side for Vojens.

Pedersen, a member of the Danish team that lifted the Ove Fundin Trophy in 2006, said: "Sweden did a fantastic job. They were pushing harder than we expected.

"Before the meeting, we thought Britain would be doing that, but Sweden were riding good.

"After the first 10 races, we started to relax because at the starts we weren't sharp from the gates.

"Sweden got close but after that we came on strong again and got back to normal."

Great Britain 25.5: 1 Scott Nicholls (1-0-exc unfair riding-2-1) 4, 2 Chris Harris (2-1-1-3-1-ret) 8, 3 Lee Richardson (2-1-0-2-1) 6, 4 Simon Stead (0-1-1-0) 2, 5 Oliver Allen (2-0-1-2-0) 5. Team manager: Jim Lynch.

Sweden 50.5: 1 Fredrik Lindgren (2-3-2-1-3) -11, 2 Peter Ljung (1-2-1-1-2) 7, 3 Andreas Jonsson (1-2-3-1-2) 9, 4 Jonas Davidsson (3-6-3-1-3) 16, 5 Daniel Nermark (1-2-3-1-fell exc) 7. Team manager: Tobias Johansson.

Czech Republic 13: 1 Matej Kus (0-0-1) 1, 2 Ales Dryml (0-0-0-0-0) 0, 3 Adrian Rymel (0-1-3-0-fell exc-2) 6, 4 Filip Sitera (1-1-0-0-0-0) 2, 5 Lubos Tomicek (0-2-1-0-0) 3. Team manager: Milan Spinka.

Denmark 63: 1 Nicki Pedersen (3-3-2-3-3) 14, 2 Niels-Kristian Iversen (3-2-2-3-2) 12, 3 Kenneth Bjerre (3-3-3-2-3) 14, 4 Hans Andersen (2-0-2-3-3) 10, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-2-3-2) 13. Team manager: Jan Staechmann.