ADAM CZECH'S INTO WORLD U21 FINALS

Adam Ellis has booked his place in this year's World U21 finals after finishing in fourth place on Friday (20th May) night in his qualifying round.

The Poole draft rider scored 12 points from his programmed rides in Pardubice, Czech Republic - where one of the three legs of the final will be staged - but missed out on a rostrum spot when beaten into third place by Dane Patrick Hansen.

Ellis went into his fifth ride of the meeting with a chance to finish overall second place but defeat by Russian Viktor Kukakov denied him that accolade, the Russian instead taking the silver medal as son of former Pirate Slawomir Drabik, Maxim went through the card unbeaten.

The Pirates could have two represenatives in the final as Brady Kurtz rides at the National Stadium, Manchester on Saturday looking for a top four finish to seal his place in the for the second successive season.

Pardubice Scorers:

M.Drabik (POL) 15; V.Kukakov (RUS) 13; P.Hansen (DEN) 12+3; A.Ellis (GBR) 12+2; J.Andersson (SWE) 10; K.Wennestam (SWE) 10; S.Melnychuk (FIN) 9; V.Trofimov (FIN) 9; N.Skorka (SLO) 6; Z.Holub (CZE) 6; R.Benko (HUN) 5; F.Jakobsen (DEN) 5; O.Smetana (CZE) 4; D.Kurmis (LAT) 2; D.Zvorigins (LAT) 1; M.Tomka (SVK) 1.

• The 3-legged finals will be held at King's Lynn on June 18th, Pardubice on September 16th and Gdansk on October 2nd.