For the first time in the competition’s 31 year history all four European Cup semi-finalists will be from the British League. A champion from these shores guaranteed with the four division one sides to compete this season all winning their first round ties, some doing so more easily than others. Fans of Greenhill and Swinton will perhaps have wondered what all the fuss was about as their breezed through to the last-four on their competition debuts, both winning home and away in racing to double digit aggregate victories in their maiden ties. Second string Rokus Gergely (9+2) raced to two heat wins and dropped just a point in the former’s 42-48 victory in Horsens this week, while Swinton sealed their progression against the holders in Oslo with two races to spare when racing to back-to-back 5-1’s in heats 12 and 13 on the Norwegian circuit. Lions reserve Thomas Hill (8+3) finished runner-up to Christopher Ellis in the first of those 5-1’s, with Ryan Webb (14) earning his fourth straight victory of the meeting in the second, as Pavel Zirnis (9+1) came through to take the tie clinching two points. Birkenhead meanwhile needed Aleksandrs Zirnis’s (13+1) last heat win over Tabor Tiuri (13) to eventually see off last years runners-up Plock, the second string’s third win of the night completing a 89-91 aggregate success for the Bombers. Stone Cross’s margin of victory over Krakow was just four points, a draw in Poland this week taking the Crusaders into a semi-final tie for the first time since SL7, Stuart Smith’s side won the competition in both SL2 and SL3.

Beaten in Pila but the world numbers one and two are through to this years GP series. Current champion Olesia Duda (10) scored a race-off victory over Petr Bonus to secure third on the podium in this years Continental Final, finishing behind meeting winner, Timperley’s Olga Burdin (14), and SL31 World Champion Luca Romano (13), who was runner-up to Duda in the SL32 final GP standings. Bonus led a group of half a dozen riders who will get another shot of qualification via next months Play Off meeting in Timperley, the six include world number three, Benjamin Hess (9).

Swinton have returned to the top of the division one table after becoming the fifth different side to win at Dundee in the current league campaign. The Cakes went down 44-46 after conceding a last heat 4-2 to Ryan Webb (14) and Christopher Ellis (11), in all Lions riders rode to 11 heat victories in the meeting between them, with Pavel Zirnis (10+1) matching the three achieved by Ellis. Swinton host Stone Cross next, a side that sit fourth in the standings but are just a point off the pace. In-between lie both Greenhill and Birkenhead, the latter ending the week third after extending their winning run to four. Their second away victory on the bounce came at Wednesfield, 43-47, courtesy of a last heat Aleksandrs Zirnis/Kristian Norgaard (13+1) 5-1, second string Zirnis ending the night with season best figures of 14 from five as a result.

Auckland are out of the promotion places in division two after they suffered their first home league defeat in over a year. They replaced in the top three by the victors at the Rosebank, Grangemouth, the Oilers ending the week in second, four points off leaders Whiddon, following the 44-46 win. It was a win that didn’t look like coming after they fell eight behind in the meeting for the second time when conceding a 5-1 to their hosts in heat ten, however the visitors responded well, racing to two 4-2’s and two 5-1’s of their own in the closing stages. The brace of maximums in heats 13 and 15 from Matthew Wild (16+1) and Jari Annala (14+1) proved decisive, both riders had earlier featured as tactical substitutes in heat eight, scoring a 4-2 on that occasion. Grangemouth have now lost just one of their last seven, a run that they began while in the relegation zone. Whiddon meanwhile consolidated their place at the head of the standings with a 43-47 away win of their own against another side that began the week in the promotion places, Eastbourne slipping to sixth after the loss, which was confirmed when they conceded a 5-1 in the penultimate race to visiting second string Alberti Lombardi (10) and reserve Petr Hruza (6+1).

Bolsover extended their club record unbeaten league run to 12 meetings and their lead at the top of division three to ten points with another win double. The second of those victories earned at Burrett Road, 41-49, who have now crashed out of the promotion places after losing four in a row. Kev Lilley’s top five scored at least a point in all but one of their combined 22 outings to the track, second string Jamie Brewer (7+2) in particular impressing. Birmingham replace the Bombers in the top three of the standings, they picked up their fourth away point of the campaign thanks to a draw at Wolverton.