VOL. 54 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 10, 2017 P25
DUDEK WINS TORUN SPEEDWAY GP
H
ome favorite Patryk
Dudek ensured the
world championship
race will go down to
the concluding round in
Melbourne after storm-
ing to his first Speedway
Grand Prix victory in the
NICE Torun FIM Speed-
way Grand Prix of Poland,
October 7.
Dudek, who trailed
championship leader
Jason Doyle by 22 points
prior to Saturday's SGP,
overcame a third in his
opening ride to end the
qualifying stage with 12
points.
He went on to make full
use of his gate choice to beat
Matej Zagar to the flag in semifi-
nal one, before booking his spot
on Torun's top podium step with
a win over Tai Woffinden, Bar-
tosz Zmarzlik and Matej Zagar in
the final.
Dudek's win means just 14
points separate him from Aus-
sie Jason Doyle at the top of
the standings, while Woffinden
boosted his medal credentials
by leapfrogging Maciej Janowski
to move into third place.
Dudek, the only full-time SGP
star without an SGP win prior to
Torun, said, "It's an amazing feel-
ing. To win a GP in Poland in my
first year of GP racing, I'm very
proud and happy. Speedway
is difficult. It's a rollercoaster,
sometimes it's good and some-
times it's bad. I had a problem
in my first heat but we made a
change and then things went
okay. That sums up speedway
this year. When you have a lucky
day this is what happens."
Though Dudek put any cel-
ebrations for championship rival
Doyle on hold, the 25-year-old
said he's too focused on the
upcoming QBE Insurance Aus-
tralian SGP to worry about the
standings.
Second-placed Tai Woffinden
overcame a sickness to bag
his second podium finish of the
season. "The job tonight was
to claw points back," he said.
"Overall it's a good night. We
now move on to Melbourne."
Third-placed Bartosz Zmarzlik,
meanwhile, was pleased to bag
another podium after making his
fifth final out of the last six GPs.
"I'm happy to be on the
podium," Zmarzlik said. "It's the
same result as two weeks ago.
But we are working for better
results all the time."
The series moves on to its
final round, the QBE Insurance
Australian SGP in Melbourne
on October 28 where either
Doyle or Dudek will be crowned
champion.
John Hipkiss
1. Patryk Dudek
2. Tai Woffinden
3. Bartosz Zmarzlik
4. Matej Zagar
5. Vaclav Milik
Patryk Dudek kept
the Speedway
Grand Prix
Championship
alive with a win in
Poland.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
