Josef Vana and his leading owner Scuderia Aichner stretched their lead at the head of the Crystal Cup leaderboard with another dominant display in the Polish leg of ther pan-European series, this time with old favourite Gap Pierji, winning the race for a second consecutive time.

Well fancied, and sent off favourite, Gap Pierji never looked in danger, letting White Wood make the running under Jan Odložil, whilst Jan Kratochvil jumped from fence to fence handy behind.

Gap Pierji is well aware of his status, whilst connections collect their prize

Ramuntcho was the first to break formation four out, rider Lukáš Matusky making his move to secure the advantage. But Kratochvil was never far away, and picked him off readily to win by 11l at the line, Reggaeton a further 8l back in third.

The Vana domination of this race was completed by Brunch Royal, brought in as a pacemaker at Merano last week, but able to pick up some place money in this lower value and easier race.

Jadmir, the sole Polish runner, finished seventh.

Vana has never concealed his intentions to win the Crystal Cup, which was wrested from him in the final leg last season by multiple winner Patrice Quinton. He’s played a clever deck of cards through the early races, where racing abroad allows him to pick up double points. With a cushion of 48.5pts over Quinton as his nearest pursuer, even allowing for four of the remaining seven races taking place in France, Quinton will have a hard task reeling him in.

As to Scuderia Aichner, never afraid to throw runners at any valuable race in pursuit of prize money, their approach is admirable, and has added enormously to the challenge, which now heads for Compiegne early next month.

Full result here