KRZYSZTOF Kasprzak suffered a nightmare meeting on his hometown track of Leszno to finish a disappointing 14th in the European Grand Prix tonight.

The Pirates star struggled throughout in front of a partisan sell out 24,000 crowd in Poland as he only amassed three points.

Kasprzak, the track record holder, surprisingly failed to win a race in the second round of this year's World Championship series.

He only got a trio of third places on a poor night during a meeting in which he was expected to perform much better.

It leaves the young Pole, who has temporarily taken over the Poole Castle Cover number one race jacket from injured Bjarne Pedersen, in 14th place in the overall standings with a total of nine points.

Kasprzak is nine points off an automatic top-eight re-qualification place, with Pedersen, who sat out this meeting with a broken wrist, 14 points adrift in 17th spot.

Lubos Tomicek, the GP first reserve who took Pedersen's rides at Leszno, got three points.

Former Pirate and current Swindon man Leigh Adams, who has ridden for Leszno in the Polish League for over a decade, won the meeting with a brilliant tapes-to-flag victory over second-placed Greg Hancock in the final.

Nicki Pedersen, who survived a controversial semi-final fall when Jason Crump was excluded for unfair riding by referee Frank Ziegler, was third, with wild card Jarek Hampel fourth.

Nicki Pedersen moved two points clear of Tomasz Gollob, who was third in his semi, at the top of the overall standings.

Bjarne Pedersen will sit out the third round, the Swedish GP at Gothenburg, on May 24 when Kasprzak will look to produce a much-improved performance.

Details European Grand Prix Leszno, Poland Qualifiers: Greg Hancock (3-3-3-3-2) 14, Jarek Hampel (2-2-3-3-3) 13, Nicki Pedersen (3-2-1-3-3) 12, Leigh Adams (2-3-0-3-3) 11, Tomasz Gollob (3-3-3-1-1) 11, Andreas Jonsson (3-3-1-0-2) 9, Niels-Kristian Iversen (2-0-2-2-3) 9, Jason Crump (0-2-2-2-2) 8, Fredrik Lindgren (1-1-1-2-2) 7, Hans Andersen (0-1-3-1-1) 6, Chris Harris (2-1-2-1-0) 6, Rune Holta (0-0-2-2-0) 4, Lubos Tomicek (0-2-0-0-1) 3, Krzysztof Kasprzak (1-0-1-0-1) 3, Lukas Dryml (1-0-0-1-0) 2, Scott Nicholls (1-1-0-0-ret) 2.

Reserves: Damian Balinski dnr, Krzysztof Buczkowski dnr.

Referee: Frank Ziegler (Germany) Ht 1: N Pedersen, Harris, Dryml, Tomicek.

Ht 2: Hancock, Hampel, Lindgren, Crump.

Ht 3: Jonsson, Adams, Kasprzak, Andersen.

Ht 4: Gollob, Iversen, Nicholls, Holta.

Ht 5: Adams, Tomicek, Lindgren, Holta.

Ht 6: Jonsson, Crump, Harris, Iversen.

Ht 7: Hancock, N Pedersen, Nicholls, Kasprzak.

Ht 8: Gollob, Hampel, Andersen, Dryml.

Ht 9: Gollob, Crump, Kasprzak, Tomicek.

Ht 10: Andersen, Harris, Lindgren, Nicholls.

Ht 11: Hampel, Iversen, N Pedersen, Adams.

Ht 12: Hancock, Holta, Jonsson, Dryml.

Ht 13: Hancock, Iversen, Andersen, Tomicek.

Ht 14: Hampel, Holta, Harris, Kasprzak.

Ht 15: N Pedersen, Lindgren, Gollob, Jonsson.

Ht 16: Adams, Crump, Dryml, Nicholls.

Ht 17: Hampel, Jonsson, Tomicek, Nicholls (retired).

Ht 18: Adams, Hancock, Gollob, Harris.

Ht 19: N Pedersen, Crump, Andersen, Holta.

Ht 20: Iversen, Lindgren, Kasprzak, Dryml.

Semi-finals Ht 21: Adams, Hancock, Iversen, Jonsson.

Ht 22: (awarded) Hampel, N Pedersen, Gollob, Crump (excluded unfair riding).

Final Ht 23: Adams, Hancock, N Pedersen, Hampel.

Grand Prix points: (after two rounds of 11) 1 N Pedersen 33 pts, 2 Gollob 31, 3 Hancock 28, 4 Adams 25, 5 Jonsson 21, 6 Andersen 20, 7 Crump 18, 8 Iversen 18, 9 Hampel 16, 10 Lindgren 14, 11 Harris 12, 12 Dryml 11, 13 Nicholls 9, 14 Kasprzak 9, 15 Holta 9, 16 M Zagar 7, 17 B Pedersen 4, 18 Tomicek 3. Wild Card rider.

10:52pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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