VOL. 50 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 8, 2013
P81
Two-time World Speedway
Champion Greg Hancock
congratulates the newly crowned
Tai Woffinden.
Championship silver medal he
earned in 2010.
"I'm pretty happy with being world number two," Hampel
said. "Niels [Kristian Iversen]
was a tough competitor and we
had a fierce rivalry until the very
last round. But I have to admit
Tai [Woffinden] was miles away.
He was in fabulous form in every
single Grand Prix. He was racing
superbly and the pace he kept
- from when we started the season in New Zealand until the last
round - was something I was very
impressed with. Second place
is a huge success. I would have
liked to see myself higher, but it is
a great achievement."
Iversen was elated with bronze
in a season that has seen him
retain his Danish Championship,
win the Grand Prix Challenge and
claim Speedway Grand Prix wins
at Terenzano and Stockholm.
He also finished above his
compatriot Nicki Pedersen in
the standings for the first time
to establish himself as Denmark's number-one rider. But the
31-year-old knows he will have to
work hard to stay there.
"It has been a bit crazy really," Iversen said. "I didn't expect it before the season. I was
only dreaming about it. Now I am
here. It's wonderful. People are
making a big deal out of me and
Nicki at the moment. Of course,
I'm stoked to be here. But he's
always there and we have a lot
of good riders in Denmark. You
need to keep focused because
there are a lot of riders who want
to take my spot. I've got to keep
focused and look forward."
Miedzinski was elated to stand
atop the Speedway Grand Prix
rostrum in his hometown after
blasting past Greg Hancock to
win the final. The Californian
claimed second for the night
ahead of Hampel and Iversen.
The Polish fans were gutted to
see Miedzinski's sensational season disrupted by a horrific crash
while he was racing for his country in a test match at Prague's
Marketa Stadium in May. The
spill left him concussed and nursing head, rib and leg injuries. But
he was happy to end 2013 on a
high and hopes it will boost his
bid for a permanent World Championship place.
"That was a unique moment,"
Miedzinski said. It was a massive
night for me and I tried to find the
best setup. The final was a great
race and it was a wonderful feeling
to finish the season with a victory.
"I had a wonderful start to the
season, but I had a horrible crash
in May, which put me out of action. I would have loved to keep
the momentum going and put
myself amongst the elite riders - I
wanted to be in the Grand Prix.
If I don't get a wild card from the
organizers, I will try to fight my
way in through the qualifiers next
year."
CN
Grand Prix
1. Adrian Miedzinski
2. Greg Hancock
3. Jaroslaw Hampel
4. Niels-Kristian Iversen
5. Darcy Ward
6. Tai Woffinden
7. Krzysztof Kasprzak
8. Nicki Pedersen
9. Leon Madsen
10. Antonio Lindback
