VOL. 53 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 25, 2016 P27
I've had, I'm so, so
amazed."
Hancock was elated
with the warm recep-
tion he received Down
Under and paid tribute
to the home fans
and riders – meeting
winner Chris Holder
and the absent Jason
Doyle.
"It was fantastic to
win it here," Hancock
said. "The Australian
people deserve a lot
of credit. Obviously
they were missing
Jason, which is a
shame, but Chris won
and what a great result."
Hancock's night ended after
his third ride. He was disquali-
fied from heat nine by the FIM
Jury under rule 070.10.13, which
states "A rider, who, having
started in a heat does not make
an honest attempt to ride to the
best of their ability, as judged
by the referee, shall be guilty
of an offence, which may entail
disqualification from the heat or
a penalty."
Following the decision, Han-
cock elected to withdraw from
the remainder of the meeting,
and the FIM Jury opted to take
no further action.
While Hancock's evening end-
ed prematurely, Holder stormed
his way into the final and blew
the roof off Etihad Stadium with
a breathtaking triumph over Wof-
finden, Zmarzlik and Lindback.
It was his first SGP victory in
43 rounds, with his last triumph
coming at the British SGP in
2012. It also secured him fourth
place in the final World Champi-
onship standings.
A delighted Holder said, "To
be sitting here with the trophy in
front of my home fans is amaz-
ing. It's sweet. It's something we
dream about doing—all us Aussie
guys. This is the best feeling in
the world apart from being the
champ."
Last year's world cham-
pion Woffinden admits his 2016
season could have been better,
but he was still pleased with a
"special" silver medal.
"Regaining the champion-
ship is really hard and not many
guys have done it," Woffinden
said. "But I gave it my all and
to stand here and have a silver
medal around my neck is pretty
special."
As well as lifting the world title,
Hancock booked his place in
the 2017 SGP series along with
fellow top-eight stars Woffinden,
Zmarzlik, Holder, Doyle, Pawl-
icki, Lindback and Niels-Kristian
Iversen.
John Hipkiss
AUSTRALIAN SGP SCORES
1. Chris Holder 17
2. Tai Woffinden 15
3. Bartosz Zmarzlik 15
4. Antonio Lindback 14
5. Niels-Kristian Iversen 12
6. Matej Zagar 11
7. Michael Jepsen Jensen 10
8. Piotr Pawlicki 8
9. Andreas Jonsson 6
10. Fredrik Lindgren 6
11. Greg Hancock 5
12. Maciej Janowski 5
Hancock didn't
finish the night
but a heat-race
win earlier in
the evening was
enough to clinch
the title.
