WOFFINDEN CROWNED SPEEDWAY GP CHAMPION
G
reat Britain hero Tai Woffinden
became the nation's first-ever
triple world champion, and instantly
set his sights on matching Ivan
Mauger and Tony Rickardsson's
record haul of six.
The Scunthorpe-born ace didn't
just win the FIM Speedway World
Championship, he topped the
podium on the night in the Torun
SGP of Poland, October 6, inflict-
ing Artem Laguta's sole loss of the
night as the Russian racer stormed
to 20 points—one short of a seven-
ride maximum. Emil Sayfutdinov
finished third with Niels-Kristian
Iversen fourth.
Woffinden, who also took gold
in 2013 and 2015, was elated to
make history and surpass fellow
countrymen Freddie Williams and
Peter Craven's brace of world titles.
But now he's ready to race for even
more history as he bids to become
only the third rider to retain the
sport's biggest prize in the SGP era
since 1995.
"After I won my 2013 cham-
pionship, we were sat in a room
with Nicki [Pedersen], Crumpy
[Jason Crump], Greg [Hancock]
and [Chris] Holder," Woffinden
said. "I mentioned that I wanted to
break the six-time world champion
record. They all kind of had a little
laugh between them. But I've done
it three times in six years and I will
do it six times.
"They say the hardest thing is
being world champion—it's not. The
hardest thing is being world champion
the following year," Woffiden added.
Woffinden was keen to enjoy his
moment after coming under huge
pressure from Zmarzlik in the race
for gold, with the Pole finishing just
10 points short in second spot.
Woffinden dedicated his special
moment to a former Wroclaw team-
mate. "I want to dedicate that win to
Tomasz Jedrzejak," he said. "He's
one of my really close friends who
lost his life earlier in the season.
Zmarzlik was delighted with
his second World Championship
medal after following up bronze in
2016 with silver.
Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren
finished third in the final standings
to bag his first-ever World Champi-
onship medal. It was the ideal way
to bounce back after his 2017 sea-
son was ended by a spinal injury
just over 12 months ago, which left
him briefly bedbound and able to
walk only short distances.
American Greg Hancock finished
fifth overall and qualifies for the 2019
Grand Prix season; he was never off
the pace all year and is an incredible
ambassador for the sport.
Woffinden, Zmarzlik, Lindgren,
Maciej Janowski, Greg Hancock,
Artem Laguta, Jason Doyle and
Emil Sayfutdinov all booked their
places in the SGP 2019 series after
finishing inside the FIM Speedway
Grand Prix top eight.
They are joined by GP Challenge
top trio Janusz Kolodziej, Niels-Kris-
tian Iversen and Antonio Lindback,
plus four wild cards: Patryk Dudek,
Matej Zagar, Martin Vaculik and the
2018 European Championship win-
ner Leon Madsen.
John Hipkiss
1. Tai Woffinden (15)
2. Artem Laguta (20)
3. Emil Sayfutdinov (11)
4. Niels-Kristian Iversen (10)
5. Bartosz Zmarzlik (15)
7. Greg Hancock (9)
VOL. 55 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 9, 2018 P31
Tai Woffinden won
the final Speedway
GP of the year in
Poland and also
wrapped up the 2018
Championship.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
