IN
THE
WIND
P22
ZMARZLIK WINS POLISH GP
B
artosz Zmarzlik
admits he is in
"dreamland" after be-
coming the youngest-
ever Speedway Grand
Prix winner with a vic-
tory in Saturday night's
Gorzow Grand Prix of
Poland.
The 19-year-old
produced the perfor-
mance of his life to
top the rostrum along
with Matej Zagar and
Krzysztof Kasprzak,
who were second and
third respectively. Dan-
ish racer Michael Jep-
sen Jensen was fourth.
Zmarzlik's victory at the age
of 19 years and 140 days saw
him overhaul Russian racer Emil
Sayfutdinov as the youngest ever
Speedway GP winner. The for-
mer world number three won the
2009 Czech GP in Prague at the
age of 19 years and 181 days.
Having won on only his third
GP appearance, Zmarzlik was
elated to send his hometown
fans at the Edward Jancarz Sta-
dium into a frenzy.
"I've always dreamed that I
could win a Grand Prix," he said.
"This was my third time here
and it's my second time in the
top three. I'm very happy. The
people of Gorzow were here to-
gether with me and helped me.
This is just a dream – that's all I
can say. I was a little bit nervous
before the meeting. But when
I won the first heat, I felt a little
better. Today I was the most ner-
vous because when I first rode in
the Gorzow GP in 2012, I knew I
could do well, but I knew I could
also score zero points. I was very
young."
World Championship leader
Greg Hancock and world num-
ber three Niels-Kristian Iversen
were forced out of the Gorzow
GP following a horrifying crash
on the backstraight in heat 14.
Iversen lifted as he exited turn
two and the pair tangled.
Hancock suffered a broken
finger on his left hand with anoth-
er dislocated. Iversen confirmed
via his personal Twitter account
that he has suffered a suspected
ligament injury and is awaiting an
MRI scan to confirm the full ex-
tent of the damage.
Prior to his crash, Hancock
had piled up nine points from
a possible nine and now leads
the standings by 14 after near-
est rival, defending champion Tai
Woffinden of Great Britain, was
forced to withdraw on Friday due
to a broken hand. Iversen drops
two places to sixth.
John Hipkiss
Bartosz Zmarzlik became the
youngest ever Speedway Grand
Prix winner with his victory in his
home round in Poland on Satur-
day night.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
