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/591918
IN THE WIND P32 HANCOCK CAPS IT OFF O utgoing champ Greg Hancock stormed to a sensational seven-ride maximum to win an epic DON Smallgoods Australian FIM Speedway Grand Prix, October 24, and seal World Championship silver. Already crowned World Champ Tai Woffinden piled up 12 points in the heats but crashed out of his semi-final to miss out on victory in the country he was raised in. But the UK-born star wrapped up the SGP trophy in Torun three weeks ago and promptly picked himself up to enjoy the medal presentation. The Vetlanda and Wroclaw man is only the 16th rider in history to win multiple world titles, and only the fifth rider to achieve the feat in the SGP era, joining Tony Rickardsson, Nicki Pedersen, Jason Crump and Hancock. Only Rickardsson and Pedersen have won two titles on the bounce and it's a feat Wof- finden would love to match. "Nicki said the hardest thing is to win it back to back," Woffin- den said. "I'm always looking for something to help spur me on; another challenge in life. "Hopefully this is another one I'll knock straight down and I can keep trucking on. But I have so many more years at this, it's unreal. I've won it twice in the last three years. I have estab- lished myself as a top rider who is going to be here for a long time. I'll see how many of these we can get." Woffinden paid tribute to veteran title rivals Hancock and Pedersen. At 45 and 38, respectively, the duo may be the SGP series' elder statesmen, but their pace continues to impress Woffy. "Me and Greg agreed that I don't call him old; I call him expe- rienced," joked Woffinden. "Nicki is also experienced. It's amazing to see how dedicated these guys are at such an old age! It's unreal racing against these guys and long may it continue." Hancock may have been deflated by missing out on his fourth SGP title, but he's determined to keep learning and bounce back in 2016. "We all come here to win this thing," Hancock said. "The truth of the game is second place is the first loser. But it's a medal and shows the determination we all have. "Winning is everything, but there are building blocks along the way. I'm learning all the time and I learned a heck of a lot from this. I love what I do. Speedway is what I have been doing since I was a kid and there's nothing better than get- ting sideways. If I'm going to do it, I want to be the best." John Hipkiss Greg Hancock capped of the FIM Speedway World Championship with a win in Australia. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN HIPKISS