PIRATES captain Maciej Janowski spearheaded the Poland charge as the race-off favourites broke Great Britain hearts in Vojens last night.

Janowski and co set up a World Cup final with hosts Denmark, Australia and Sweden in Vojens tomorrow (6pm BST) after edging a thrilling meeting.

Helped by 14 points from Janowski, Poland finished on 48 points, five ahead of Great Britain, while the United States were third and depleted Russia fourth.

Janowski bagged four race wins and one second place in a stellar showing for his country.

The 23-year-old will be desperate to help Poland make up for their disappointment in last year’s final, when they had victory snatched from their grasp by Denmark.

Niels-Kristian Iversen charged past Janusz Kolodziej on the final turn of the final heat to hand the Danes the title by a single point.

RIDERS' SCORES

Poland 48: Maciej Janowski (2-3-3-3-3) 14, Shamek Pawlicki (3-3-x-2-3) 11, Krzysztof Buczkowski (3-3-2-2-3) 13, Bartosz Zmarzlik (2-1-3-2-2) 10.

GB 43: Danny King (1-2-2-0-2) 7, Tai Woffinden (3-3-3-6^-3-3) 21, Robert Lambert (3-1-3-1) 8, Chris Harris (2-2-0-1-2) 7.

USA 22: Gino Manzares (1-0-1-1-0) 3, Ryan Fisher (1-1-2-1-0) 5, Greg Hancock (2-2-2^-1-3-2) 12, Max Ruml (0-1-0-1) 2.

Russia 11: Renat Gafurov (0-x-0-2-0) 2, Vitaly Belousov (0-2-0^-1-1-1) 5, Andriej Kudriaszow (1-0-2-0-0-1) 4.