Wolves KO'd in Knockout Cup

Wolves 45 Eastbourne 45 (Eastbourne win 95-85 on aggregate)

Wolves star Fredrik Lindgren landed a double whammy in the last heat of an intriguing cup tie at Monmore Green.

The Swede pulled off a pulsating last-lap pass on Bjarne Pedersen to preserve his maximum and save his club from defeat on the night.

Lindgren got tremendous drive from a beautiful line out of the fourth corner on the previous lap, maintained the impetus out of the pits turn and then dived underneath his startled rival on the final bend.

It was tough on Pedersen, who had squeezed between Lindgren and Peter Karlsson on the back straight and must have believed the hard work was done.

But, despite the heroics of Lindgren, who produces similar brilliance at Monmore Green almost as a matter of course, Wolves made their Knockout Cup exit in a disappointing finale.

The 10-point gap from the first leg at Arlington had actually widened by a couple after six races.

Eastbourne, with Lukas Dryml electric from the start and Joonas Kylmakorpi superb everywhere, provided a textbook example of protecting a lead.

Struggling Finn Timo Lahti was the only visiting rider to run a last in the opening half-dozen heats and it was hard to see how Wolves could haul themselves into contention.

They got some impetus when Lewis Bridger got horribly out of shape in heat seven to allow Tyson Burmeister through to join Karlsson at the front.

Proctor bagged his sole win in the eighth with the persevering Ricky Wells third, and the Aussie combined with the elder Lindgren to eke out another heat advantage in the 10th.

Wolves looked poised for a big finish in the final five races, but it all went wrong in the 12th when Kylmakorpi and Cameron Woodward raced to an untroubled maximum.

But, when Kylmakorpi and Pedersen relegated Karlsson to the back in heat 13, the game was all but up.

Tai Woffinden, after two days in bed with an ulcerated tongue, was struggling and fell twice.

His nasty tumble when lying second in the penultmate heat gave Bridger and Woodward a 5-1 and their team the lead on the night – although Fredrik Lindgren had the final word.

By Tim Hamblin