Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/581686
IN THE WIND P32 WOFFIDNDEN CLINCHES SPEEDWAY TITLE G reat Britain's new double FIM Speedway World Champion Tai Wof- finden said, "I've proved I'm one of those riders who is going to be at the top for a long time." That state- ment came after sealing title number two in Torun, Poland, October 3. The 25-year-old missed out on the FST Grupa Brokerska Torun FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland semi-finals with eight points on the night three-time World Cham- pion Nicki Pedersen won his third SGP of 2015. But with nearest rival and defending champion Greg Hancock failing to reach the final, "Woffy" will be officially crowned at the final round of the season, the DON Smallgoods Australian SGP at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium on October 24. Woffinden joins Freddie Wil- liams and Peter Craven in the elite club of British double World Champions and is the 16th rider in history to lift the sport's big- gest prize multiple times. The Scunthorpe-born star de- fied odds of 500/1 to claim his first title in 2013 and has been a firm favorite ever since. And he's certain he has found the win- ning formula needed to become a permanent fixture at the very top of world speedway. "I have worked hard this season and it paid off," said Woffinden. "I made a pretty big mistake in 2014. I didn't do what I needed to do and I needed that to level me a bit so that I could start again this year. "I said to Greg when I gave him the trophy last year, 'don't get too comfortable because you're giving me that back next year!' That's exactly what happened and we'll see what happens in 2016. I'll just get my head down, focus and see how many titles we can get." Pedersen was elated to get back to his winning ways after recording seven points in three of the previous four rounds. He sat out Friday's practice session in favor of some private testing at his Polish club Leszno. It paid dividends for the world number three and he's setting his sights on snatching World Champion- ship silver in Melbourne in three weeks. Torun runner-up Jason Doyle was over the moon to reach his maiden SGP final after a catalogue of near misses this season. His awesome 18-point haul pushed him up to fifth place in the World Champion- ship and the Aussie number-one is determined to end his season on a high at the Etihad Stadium. Third-placed Maciej Janowski says he's learning fast in the SGP series as he closes in on securing the top-eight spot he needs to earn qualification for the 2016 FIM Speedway Grand Prix competition. John Hipkiss Tai Woffinden sealed his second World Speedway title. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN HIPKISS