Cruel mishap ends in Artur semi-final exit

But his Pirates team-mate Darcy Ward, the title holder, edged through after taking advantage of the Pole’s mishap in the semi-final at Landshut tonight.

Mroczka shrugged off ankle and shoulder injuries to bag eight points from his opening four rides in Germany and looked all set to book his place in the three-round final.

But he cruelly saw his hopes slip away when he apparently shut off his gas following the completion of the third lap of heat 18 while he was in second spot.

The Pole, who slowed down and was passed by two rivals, eventually finished last in that race behind Anton Rosen (Sweden), Rene Bach (Denmark) and Vyacheslav Gieruckis (Latvia).

If he had crossed the finish line after the regulation four laps in second, Mroczka would have bagged two more points and safely qualified for the finals at Gdansk (July 17), Daugavpils (August 7) and Pardubice (October 2) with 10.

As it was, he ended up eighth, with a grateful Ward grabbing one point from heat 20 to jump above Mroczka and claim the seventh and last qualifying berth for the final with nine points.

Mroczka’s manager, Maciej Simionkowski, told the Echo: “Artur was second after three laps but then closed off the gas because he apparently thought the race was finished, even though it was only three laps.

“I don’t really know why that happened because I was at a wedding today and not in Landshut watching the meeting.

“But I spoke with Artur on the phone and will speak to him and the rest of our team again in person after his Polish League meeting tomorrow to talk about what happened today.

“I’m confused because I don’t really know why what happened tonight happened.

“The World Under-21 title was one of our biggest goals of the season, but now Artur is absolutely gutted.”

Mroczka won two races, including a victory which saw Ward finish third in heat 14, and also got two thirds.

Ward, aiming to emulate Russian sensational Emil Sayfutdinov’s back-to-back world under-21 titles in 2007 and 2008, bagged one first, two seconds and two thirds to scramble through.

German semi-final at Landshut: 1 Dennis Andersson (Sweden) 14, 2 Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) 12, 3 Maciej Janowski (Poland) 11+3, 4 Frank Facher (Germany) 11+2 (after run-off), 5 Kevin Wolbert (Germany) 10, 6 Rene Bach (Denmark) 10, 7 Darcy Ward (Australia) 9 (all qualified for final), 8 Artur Mroczek (Poland) 8, 9 Anton Rosen (Sweden) 8, 10 Vyacheslav Gieruckis (Latvia) 7, 11 Joe Haines (Great Britain) 6, 12 Andrey Kudryashov (Russia) 5, 13 Erik Pudel (Germany) 3, 14 Szymon Kielbasa (Poland) 3, 15 Kiril Tsukanov (Ukraine) 2, 16 Slawomir Pyszny (Poland) 1.

Heat details

1 Mroczka, Vaculik, Haines, Kiełbasa

2 Andersson, Gieruckis, Facher, Cukanow

3 Janowski, Ward, Rosen, Pyszny

4 Woelbert, Bach, Pudel, Kudriaszow

5 Andersson, Haines, Rosen, Kudriaszow

6 Facher, Woelbert, Mroczka, Pyszny

7 Ward, Pudel, Kiełbasa, Gieruckis

8 Bach, Vaculik, Janowski, Cukanow

9 Facher, Ward, Bach, Haines

10 Janowski, Andersson, Mroczka, Pudel

11 Woelbert, Rosen, Kiełbasa, Cukanow

12 Vaculik, Kudriaszow, Gieruckis, Pyszny

13 Gieruckis, Woelbert, Janowski, Haines

14 Mroczka, Kudriaszow, Ward, Cukanow

15 Andersson, Bach, Kiełbasa, Pyszny

16 Vaculik, Facher, Rosen, Pudel

17 Haines, Cukanow, Pyszny, Pudel

18 Rosen, Bach, Gieruckis, Mroczka

19 Janowski, Facher, Kudriaszow, Kiełbasa

20 Andersson, Vaculik, Ward, Woelbert

Run off for third

21. Janowski, Facher

Slovenian semi-final, Krsko: 1 Maksim Bogdanovs (Latvia) 15, 2 Patrick Hougaard (Denmark) 13+3, 3 Vadim Tarasenko (Russia) 13+2,(after run-off) 4 Patryk Dudek (Poland) 11, 5 Artem Laguta (Russia) 10, 6 Matej Kus (Czech Republic) 10, 7 Jurica Pavlic (Croatia) 9 (all qualified for final), 8 Simon Gustafsson (Sweden) 7, 9 Justin Sedgmen (Australia) 6, 10 Slawomir Musielak (Poland) 5, 11 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (Poland) 5, 12 Kim Nilsson (Sweden) 5,13 Kalle Katajisto (Finland) 4, 14 Max Dilger (Germany) 4, 15 Simon Nielsen (Denmark) 3, 16 Matija Duh (Slovenia) 0.