IN
THE
WIND
P36
VACULIK TOPS SPEEDWAY
GRAND PRIX OF POLAND
S
lovak star Martin Vaculik
admits he's pleased to get
his mind back on the job after
defying his ankle-injury battle to
top the MIB Nordic Gorzow FIM
Speedway Grand Prix of Poland
podium, August 26.
Vaculik, who won in Gorzow
on his SGP debut in 2012, beat
home hero Bartosz Zmarzlik, Tai
Woffinden and Patryk Dudek in
the final, swooping past his Gor-
zow teammate with a fantastic
move on lap two.
The Zarnovica-born racer
is celebrating his second final
appearance of SGP 2018 after
finishing fourth in Malilla on
August 11, and he's very much
back on form after a painful start
to 2018. Vaculik was sidelined
for two months when he suffered
a badly broken ankle on his SGB
Premiership debut for Leicester
at Swindon, April 12. With his
tibia and talus bones piercing the
skin, he required two operations
lasting over 12 hours in total to fix
the damage. After completing
an incredible turnaround to claim
the third SGP win of his career,
Vaculik admitted he was just
happy to be able to give speed-
way his undivided attention again
after months of rehab.
"I am very happy," Vaculik
said. "I can now be 100-percent
focused on racing and not other
stuff. I'm just enjoying the mo-
ment and enjoying my racing. I'm
enjoying everything. Every win is
fantastic.
Zmarzlik was pleased to thrive
in the pressure cooker of a
home SGP and deliver second
place. "For me, it was such
a very hard meeting because
everybody said, 'you must win,'
but there's no 'must'—only 'can'.
Second place in my home GP is
not so bad for me. I have maxi-
mum focus on the next round
now and we'll see what happens
there. But this is a nice feeling.
It's unbelievable and I'll see you
in the next round in Krsko."
Series leader Woffinden
admits track conditions proved a
leveler after a heavy rain shower
shortly before the meeting. But
he admits he has work to do
ahead of the Aztorin Slovenian
SGP in Krsko on September 8
to ensure he stays on top of the
world.
Greg Hancock had a better
race meet, reaching the semi
after winning two races but the
opposition proved too strong for
the popular ex-champ to transfer
to the final.
John Hipkiss
GP:
1 Martin Vaculik (18)
2 Bartosz Zmarzlik (18)
3 Tai Woffinden (12)
4 Patryk Dudek (12)
5 Artem Laguta (13)
7 Greg Hancock (10)
Back from injury,
Martin Vaculik went
straight to the top
step of the podium
at the FIM Speedway
Grand Prix of Poland.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
