Oxford Silver Machine No 1 Nicki Pedersen recovered from a disastrous start to finish runner-up to reigning world champion Tony Rickardsson in speedway's Grand Prix of Europe at the Slaski Stadium, Poland.

Nicki PedersenIt was a brilliant opening to this year's campaign by the Oxford ace, but he just failed to repeat his victory of last year in Poland.

In the final, he finished ahead of former Sandy Lane star Lukas Dryml, with local hero Tomasz Gollob in fourth place.

It proved a disastrous opening for all three Silver Machine men.

First, Seb Ulamek's engine gave way when he was heading for the chequered flag, quickly followed by Todd Wiltshire, who held a comfortable second place behind Bo Brhel and ahead of Lukas Dryml, before his engine stuttered to a halt.

The next big disappointment followed when Pedersen was thrown out of heat four by referee Tony Steele after what looked a perfect inside pass on his fellow Dane Bjarne Pedersen.

TV studio pundits Chris Louis and Sam Ermolenko thought the Oxford man had been hard done by, and Pedersen was quick to relay his thoughts to the referee via the pits phone.

Pedersen said: "Bjarne turned left into me. I was cutting back and he saw me coming but still turned in. I saw the same monitor as you - he turned left on me."

An angry Pedersen then added: "Thanks very much for excluding me," and promptly slammed the phone down.

It meant that all three Oxford riders were next up in the eliminators where the third and fourth make an early exit.

Heat five was the crunch for both Wiltshire and Pedersen, and it was the Dane, from the outside gate, who stole the show to put his earlier disappointment behind him.

For Wiltshire, however, it was the end of a brief foray into Poland. He missed the gate and was never able to get in a blow on second-placed Krystof Cegielski.

Pedersen was a man on a mission after that early disappointment and he racked up his second successive victory in heat 11.

Ulamek was the next man to join Wiltshire for an early bath after finishing third in the same heat.

It proved a roller-coaster ride for Pedersen as he got tremendous lift when both he and Hans Andersen hit the same rut coming out of the bend. Pedersen was able to get his bike down, but Andersen crashed out and the Dane had to do it all again, this time having to pass Lee Richardson.

Pedersen's next ride saw him cruise home in second behind Thomasz Gollob, after his never-say-die attitude came to the fore again. Rickardsson and Cegielski led the early stages. However, Pedersen came storming under the Pole to shove him aside.

In the semi-final, Pedersen gated well to drive up the inside of Rune Holta and hold off a determined challenge from Dryml, before losing out to the dominant Rickardsson in the final.

It was a brilliant race by the Dane, nevertheless, as he recovered from last place to pick off Gollob and then pounced on a Dryml mistake to secure the silver medal.

He said: "I'm so happy. I'm in good form and my set-up is right. I was angry at the time but when I watched the TV replays again, I can see that Tony was probably right.

"A couple of years ago I would have lost it, but I kept my focus and I am very pleased with the result."