The final round of this year’s SGP series heads to Torun, Poland to cap what has been one of the worst injury hit season to date.
Tai Woffinden is six points off being crowned the new world champion the first Brit since 2000. Woffinden faces his nearest rival in heat five where if the points go in favour of the Scunthorpe born man then the title could be settled as soon as that.
Last week saw Martin Vaculik crowned as the European Champion which after a dismal grand prix campaign sent a vital message out that he is very capable of battling with the stars of the show. Vaculik is currently 14th in the standings with 56 points. The only full time rider to have done worse is Sweden’s Antiono Lindback who incidentally was victorious in last years GP at Torun.
A key man to watch in tomorrows meeting is 21 year old Darcy Ward. Ward, a Torun rider in the Polish Ekstraliga will have extensive knowledge of the 325 meter track. The former two time world under-21 champion has only recorded double figure scores in each GP he competed in.
Fellow Torun team mate Adrian Miedzinski has been handed the wildcard race jacket for tomorrow. While Torun junior Kamil Pulczynski has been given the second reserve place with Pawel Prezedpelski fills the first reserve spot.
With Holder and Torun track record holder Tomas Gollob out injured (Troy Batchelor comes in to replace Gollob in the Australian champions speedway grand prix debut.) the top eight are almost certain as Freddie Lindgren is 11 points adrift of Ward in eighth.
This means that it will be a battle in the lower half of the table to try and impress the FIM in order to get selected to fill the wildcard places for next year. Defending world champion Chris Holder and Andreas Jonsson are obvious picks expected to be in next years series after injury affected both their seasons hopes.
Line up.
Heat 1: A Miedzinski. L Madsen. F Lindgren. T Batchelor
Heat 2: K Kasprzak. M Zagar. G Hancock. A Jonsson.
Heat 3: D Ward. M Vaculik. T Woffinden. NK Iversen
Heat 4: A Lindback. A Dryml. N Pedersen. J Hampel.
Heat 5: J Hampel. A Miedzinski. K Kasprzak. T Woffinden
Heat 6: A Dryml. D Ward. L Madsen. G Hancock.
Heat 7: M Vaculik. A Lindback. M Zagar. A Lindback.
Heat 8: T Batchelor. A Jonsson. NK Iversen. N Pedersen
Heat 9: G Hancock. N Pedersen. A Miedzinski. M Vaculik
Heat 10: NK Iversen. K Kasprzak. A Lindback. L Madsen.
Heat 11: A Jonsson. T Woffinden. F Lindgren. A Dryml.
Heat 12: J Hampel. T Batchelor. D Ward. M Zagar
Heat 13: M Zagar. NK Iversen. A Dryml. A Miedzinski.
Heat 14: L Madsen. J Hampel. A Jonsson. M Vaculik
Heat 15: N Pedersen. F Lindgren. D Ward. K Kasprzak
Heat 16: T Woffinden. G Hancock. T Batchelor. A Lindback
Heat 17: A Miedzinski. A Jonsson. A Lindback. D Ward.
Heat 18: T Woffinden. L Madsen. M Zagar. N Pedersen
Heat 19: F Lindgren. NK Iversen. J Hampel. G Hancock
Heat 20: K Kasprzak. A Dryml. M Vaculik. T Batchelor.
speedwayGP
Speedway World Cup Race Off Preview 2013
With events one and two out of the way all focus is now on the Race Off and which nation will fill the last remaining place in Saturdays World Cup Final. Seeded Czech Republic, Poland and Denmark make up three of the final places, leaving Australia, Great Britain, Latvia and United States of America to battle it out Thursday night.
Great Britain team manager Neil Middleditch has decided to make two team changes for the race off bringing in Ben Barker and Lewis Bridger in place of Craig Cook and Edward Kennett. Both riders struggled in event two scoring just five points between them.
Tai Woffinden will be hoping to produce a similar performance to his grand prix win at the Marketa Stadium in May this year. Woffinden also set the current track record around the 353 metre track of 62.33 seconds on the same night.
Bringing in Barker and Bridger adds more firepower to the team and better starting ability. Bridger has been riding exceptionally for ZKS Row Rybnik. Ben Barker has also endured an outstanding few months with Elite League side Birmingham rarely scoring less that double figures both home and away.
It is rumoured that Australian team manager Mark Lemon is also making team changes reportedly replacing Davey Watt with either Cameron Woodward or Dakota North.
Australia have made the World Cup final three times out of the last four years all of which they have won a silver medal. In comparison, Team GB have only made the final once in the last four years finishing fourth in 2010 behind Poland, Denmark and Sweden correspondingly.
Latvia and the United States of America are surprise inclusions in Thursdays Race Off after seeing off heavily depleted Russia and Sweden teams in events one and two respectively. However their hard work and team effort in reaching the Race Off means that they do not have to qualify for the World Cup next year.
Both Latvia and USA are going to name the same teams for the Race Off as their events. With this, it looks set to be a two horsed race between Australia and GB for the last place in the final. It should also be an exciting contest between Latvia and USA for the minor places in most heats.
Copenhagen Speedway GP Preview Saturday 30 June 2013.
Emil Sayfutdinov will be aiming to extend his 11 point lead at the top of the Speedway Grand Prix standings this weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark. The 23 year old Russian has already claimed three victories in the 2013 GP campaign.
Tai Woffinden, Sayfutdinov’s nearest challenger finished third in Prague two weeks ago with a broken collar bone. So far the 2013 season has been a season to remember for the 22 year old after being crowned British Champion, and with his exceptional meeting in the Czech Republic has proved just how much the Scunthorpe born rider has developed and matured since 2010.
This will be the first grand prix since Czech Republic, 18th May where all 15 original riders will take part with the return of Australia’s Darcy Ward. Ward crashed out in Gothenburg and has suffered two months on the sidelines with a badly broken shoulder.
The former under-21 world champion made his return earlier this week for his Swedish team Dackarna. Scoring 11+1, Ward demonstrated he is still on form prior to his accident.
Track record holder Nicki Pedersen (54.02 seconds), who is still suffering problems with his broken arm after colliding with Woffinden in Sweden four rounds ago, as well as Niels Kristian-Iversen will be aiming to break the curse of the Danes at the Parken stadium.
The only Danish rider to win at the 274 meter track was wildcard Hans Andersen in 2006 with Pedersen managing two consecutive second places in 2007 and 2008.
Rising star Michael Jepsen Jenson has been handed the wild card for Saturday’s meeting. The 21 year old knows exactly what it takes to succeed in a meeting of this calibre as the outgoing Under-21 world champion was victorious in the 2012 Nordic GP.
Grand Prix old boys Tomasz Gollob and Greg Hancock notably put on an exceptional display at the Parken Curcuit as Gollob, 42, has reached the final five times out of the last six years and Hancock, 43, three times out of the last five.
23 year old Swindon Robins rider Peter Kildemand and Peterborough Panthers Kenni Larsen, 25, have been named as the track reserves.
With a capacity just short of 30 thousand the Parken stadium will be set alight from 7:00pm local time (6:00pm British time).
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