BEWLEY STEPS IN FOR INJURED WOFFINDEN

Joint Great Britain team manager Oliver Allen has confirmed triple world champion Tai Woffinden will be replaced by Dan Bewley for Monster Energy FIM Speedway of Nations Final 2 on Sunday (4pm UK / 17:00 CET start).

Woffinden crashed heavily in heat 18 of Final 1 last night, catching Aussie star Jason Doyle’s right leg going into bend three, before hitting the fence hard - bursting a number of air fence panels.

After a delay, Woffinden bravely got to his feet and walked back to the pits.

But he has been declared unfit for Final 2 after suffering damage to his MCL ligament in his knee and his ribs. He will undergo further scans today.

Woffy's fellow GB squad member Dan Bewley steps in on the Manchester track where he led the Belle Vue Aces to this year’s SGB Premiership Grand Final, which saw them lose out to Peterborough over two legs.

Allen admits Woffy started feeling the effects of his fall as the adrenaline wore off. The former FIM Speedway World Cup star said: “We had our physio with us last night and he monitored Tai throughout the evening. His knee is incredibly swollen. By the time he went to bed last night, he was struggling to walk.

“Once he had sat down and the injury settled in a little bit, he was in a lot of pain. The longer it went on, the worse it got.

“There’s the issue with the knee and also his torso – his ribs and back were hurt. It was such a massive impact that it hurt him everywhere, as opposed to a straightforward broken bone.”

Bewley steps in at No.1 for the Lions with Robert Lambert taking over the captaincy for the evening. GB are currently second in the score chart on 30 points - 10 behind leaders Poland, who have 40.

Sweden also suffered injury misfortune on Saturday, with both of their seniors Pontus Aspgren and Jacob Thorssell crashing out of the meeting after tangling going into turn three in race six. Thorssell has concussion and Aspgren suffered shoulder damage.

With Swedish boss Morgan Andersson unable to fly in any replacements this morning, their under-21 rider Philip Hellstrom-Bangs will race alone in all six of Sweden’s heats tonight.

Photo: Taylor Lanning