ROUND 9/AUGUST 17, 2013
LOKOMOTIV STADIUM/DAUGAVPILS, LATVIA
SPEEDWAY
P100
WORLD SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX SERIES
and I've got to make it happen. I love winning…"
Hancock hailed his crew
for their part in his 17th FIM
Speedway Grand Prix victory
as he completed his journey
back to the top of the rostrum.
"I'm very grateful to all my
mechanics," he said. "They
do a lot of work and deal
with all the emotions around
it – the good and bad times.
They've been awesome and
they know we're in this thing
to the end. We have to keep
fighting."
Hancock has won three
of the five GP events staged at
Daugavpils and has clearly found
a magic formula for the Latvian
circuit, which stages Polish First
Division racing.
"I love the shape of the track,"
he said. "I know it's a drag race
to the first corner – it's not a
short run. I have good bikes and
good feelings for tracks like that.
I came here with confidence, but
you never know. Competition is
fierce. We had a great practice
on Friday, and I never like to say
that, but we went to bed with
some great ideas and I think they
worked out well."
Runner-up
Darcy
Ward
climbed up to 10th in the World
Championship on 68 points. He
remains 14 adrift of injured fellow
countryman Chris Holder, who
occupies the eighth and final
automatic qualification position
for the 2014 series. But Ward
was pleased to close on his topeight goal with one of his typical,
swashbuckling performances.
"I was hanging it out there,"
Ward said. "It's a final and that's
what you do, but I couldn't catch
the old master Greg [Hancock].
We're getting closer to the goal.
I have a few more rounds and I
need to keep putting in the good
performances and also go back
to the drawing board and learn
how to gate."
Woffinden may not have won
in Daugavpils, but he moved
into pole position for the biggest
prize of all, edging to the top of
the World Championship with 117
points.
But the British champion
knows his title rival Emil Sayfutdinov, who exited before the semis
with seven points to move to 114
overall, will still take some beating when he defends his advantage at the Doodson Slovenian
FIM Speedway Grand Prix in
Krsko on September 7.
"There are a few meetings to
Hancock celebrates his first
Grand Prix victory since March of
last year.
go yet and anything can happen
in speedway," Woffinden said.
"I'll just keep fighting until the
end. It's not over yet – Emil will
come back. It's good. I did the
job I needed to do tonight. I didn't
stand on top of the box, but if I
can keep doing that for the rest of
the season, I'll be World Champion."
CN
Latvian Grand Prix
1. Greg Hancock
2. Darcy Ward
3. Tai Woffinden
4. Nicki Pedersen
5. Niels-Kristian Iversen
6. Jaroslaw Hampel
7. Matej Zagar
8. Andzejs Lebedevs
9. Martin Vaculik
10.Emil Sayfutdinov
