IN
THE
WIND
P26
WOFFINDEN FIGHTS OFF HANCOCK AT
GP OF POLAND SPEEDWAY
T
wo-time World Speed-
way Champion Tai Wof-
finden said, "I feel on top
of my game," after battling
to the LOTTO Warsaw FIM
Speedway Grand Prix of
Poland victory at a packed
PGE Narodowy, Saturday,
May 14.
The Great Britain hero
topped the rostrum in front
of over 52,000 fans in the
Polish capital after fending
off triple World Champion
Greg Hancock, 2015 War-
saw winner Matej Zagar
and 2012 World title winner
Chris Holder in the final.
"Woffy" racked up nine
points in the heats, before
finishing second to Zagar in
semi-final two. But he took the
checkered flag in the race that
mattered most, with a sublime
cutback on the opening corner.
"I learned a lot tonight and
I'm going to take that forward
with me. It's going to be a long
season, as it always is. But I feel
like we've got the resources to
do what we need to do. I feel
the mistakes I made tonight, I
won't make them again."
With no meeting for his Pol-
ish team Wroclaw on Sunday,
Woffinden won't be dwelling on
his mistakes or the challenges
ahead for too long.
"I haven't thought about the
next GP," he said. "I didn't actually
know when the next GP was until
I heard about five minutes ago.
Woffinden was elated with the
LOTTO Warsaw SGP action as
the meeting went down as an
instant classic. He said, "The
guys who put this event on did
an amazing job—full credit to
them. Last year was last year,
this year they smashed it."
Runner-up Hancock has
raced all but one of the 194 SGP
rounds staged since the series
was launched in 1995. And the
American legend believes this
year's LOTTO Warsaw SGP
track was the best temporary
circuit he has competed on.
Zagar was elated to bounce
back from a disappointing four-
point haul in his home event,
the Slovenian SGP in Krsko last
month.
Asked what made the differ-
ence, he sighed, "It's speed-
way. There's no secret, to be
honest. I just got set up with the
bikes and this was a big relief
after Slovenia!"
John Hipkiss
1. Tai Woffinden (14)
2. Greg Hancock (14)
3. Matej Zagar (14)
4. Chris Holder (12)
5. Fredrik Lindgren (12)
Tai Woffinden fought
back John Hancock
to win the Grand Prix
of Poland.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
