David Norris and Dean Barker were in great form as Great Britain came within two points of toppling world champions Australia last night.

Norris won two races and was second in his other three rides, while Eastbourne Eagles team-mate Barker won one, coming from behind to beat Todd Wiltshire in the best race of the night, and was also second three times.

The World Cup meeting at Outrup in Denmark went right to the wire before Jason Crump beat Scott Nicholls in the last race to clinch victory for the Australians and deny Britain a run-off for first place.

Australia finished with 62 points, while Britain scored 60, Slovenia 28 and Italy, who were late replacements for the USA, six. Norris ended with 12 points and Barker ten.

Lee Richardson top scored for Britain with 19 points, which included three wins plus another as a golden tactical substitute worth six points. Nicholls scored 11 and Gary Havelock eight.

Crump and Leigh Adams were the Aussie stars, both with 15-point maximums. Jason Lyons scored 14, Ryan Sullivan 11 and Wiltshire seven. Matej Zagar was the only other rider to make any impression with 13 points for Slovenia.

The result means Britain now go through to Thursday's race-off against the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden or Poland and either Russia or Slovenia, when they will have to finish in the first two to reach the World Cup final on Saturday.