HANS Andersen kept himself in the hunt for a rostrum spot in the Speedway European Championship – despite controversy over his headgear.

Andersen bagged two heat wins on his way to the final in Togliatti, Russia, in which he finished fourth behind Grigory Laguta, Antonio Lindback and Leon Madsen.

The flashpoint of the Dane's meeting – the third of the four-round series – arrived in heat nine when he was excluded for wearing the wrong helmet colour.

However, Andersen recovered to progress from his semi-final in second behind Madsen, although his final spot became a formality after Vaclav Milik and Nicki Pedersen were excluded.

The final round is due to take place in Rybnik, Poland on Saturday, September 17.

Standings: 1 Antonio Lindback 29, 2 Grigory Laguta 27, 3 Vaclav Milik 27, 4 Shamek Pawlicki 26, 5 Leon Madsen 26, 6 Martin Vaculik 24, 7 Hans Andersen 24, 8 Krzysztof Kasprzak 24, 9 Nicki Pedersen 23, 10 Emil Sayfutdinov 23, 11 Andzejs Lebedevs 21, 12 Anders Thomsen 20, 13 Janusz Kolodziej 19, 14 Joonas Kylmakorpi 19, 15 Maksims Bogdanovs 11, 16 Peter Ljung 10 17 Kai Huckenbeck 9.

Poole youngster Brady Kurtz helped Australia finish second in the Under-21 Speedway World Cup final.

Kurtz managed seven points from five rides in Norrkoping with Australia finishing seven points behind champions Poland. Denmark were third and hosts Sweden fourth.