ALUN Rossiter was bursting with pride after guiding Great Britain to their first Speedway World Cup podium finish for 10 years on Saturday night.

As Poland became the new world champions at the National Speedway Stadium in Belle Vue, Manchester, the host nation were busy writing their own piece of personal history, with Tai Woffinden – who scored a stunning 19 points – Craig Cook, Robert Lambert and Danny King usurping 2015 World Cup-winners Sweden to clinch second-place.

GB chief Rossiter was blown away by his riders’ display as they upset the odds to leave their home fans beaming from ear-to-ear.

“It’s amazing – absolutely amazing,” said Rossiter, who is also the Swindon Robins team manager.

“The boys were absolutely brilliant. Tai was outstanding but they all did their bit, and that’s all you can ask for.

“We were written off. We were the underdogs but we showed that we had true bulldog spirit.”

Meanwhile, Robins skipper Jason Doyle was joined by one of his Swindon team-mates in the Australia line-up, with Josh Grajczonek drafted in for his World Cup debut as a replacement for Max Fricke, who injured himself during the Aussies’ race-off success on Friday night.

However, Saturday’s international showpiece would offer little joy for the Robins duo, with their nation finishing bottom of the pile.

Woffinden got GB’s bid off to a storming start with victory in heat one, with Doyle finishing at the back of the pack as the reigning Grand Prix champion took the chequered flag.

Swindon’s other Aussie representative also endured a tricky start as he crossed the line fourth in heat two whilst the hosts’ progress suffered a hiccup at the beginning of heat three as King was disqualified for riding into the tapes, leaving Andreas Jonsson to eke out a three-point lead for Sweden with a dramatic victory in the re-run.

Grajczonek made a more competitive start in his second ride of the night in heat five but finished last again after failing to find a way past Britain’s Lambert.

Then, in the sixth race of the meeting, a sensational gate from Doyle, which saw him drift around the entire field from the outside starting position before blazing a trail home, gave the Robins captain his first heat win of the final.

However, both GB and the Aussies found themselves with work to do with eight heats gone, with both locked on eight points as Sweden (17) and Poland (15) streaked ahead.

British star Woffinden dominated heat 10 and notched up his second heat win of the night to hand Rossiter’s troops a glimmer of hope whilst Doyle was in action again in the 11th race of the night but the Aussie was forced to settle for second after losing a fierce battle with Bartosz Zmarzlik.

Rossiter doubled down in heat 12, sending Woffinden out in place of King and as a joker, whilst the Aussies also put out Sam Masters as a tactical substitute, withdrawing Grajczonek.

And the GB chief’s gamble paid off as his country’s GP ace brought home the bacon, bagging double points to keep the Brits alive and kicking.

In heat 14, King put his earlier struggles behind him by picking up a useful second-placed finish, however, Australia captain Chris Holder finished first to leave the battle for the rostrum as tight as ever, with GB holding on to third in the standings by just two points.

In the 15th, Grajczonek was sidelined again in favour of his captain Holder but the race belonged to Woffinden, who blitzed to his fourth heat victory, taking Britain’s total to 23 points and moving them just two points behind leaders Poland.

Doyle was handed the chance to claim double points in heat 16 as he was handed his team’s joker ride but hope quickly turned to despair for the Aussies as, after attempting to nip inside of Piotr Pawlicki, the Swindon man was adjudged to have caused the Polish rider to fall.

In the re-run, Cook took full advantage, winning from the gate after a sublime start to move GB up into second ahead of Sweden, continuing their unlikely recovery.

Doyle was back out again in heat 17 and after an uncharacteristically slow start, the Robins rider passed both Lambert and Peter Ljung to snatch second-place for Australia.

A Zmarzlik win in heat 18 left Poland just a point away from becoming world champions and Krzysztof Kasprzak duly obliged in the penultimate race of the night but he had to settle for second-place behind King, who stunned the field to leave the Brits with second-place in their hands.

The hosts’ fate was left in the hands of Woffinden in heat 20 and although the GP superstar couldn’t prevent Poland’s Pawlicki from signing off with victory, his second-place saw Rossiter’s Great Britain claim their moment in the sun.