IN
THE
WIND
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DOYLE WRAPS UP SPEEDWAYGP TITLE
N
ew world champion Jason
Doyle revealed that a boat
trip with FIM Speedway Grand
Prix greats Tony Rickards-
son and Leigh Adams inspired
his sensational surge into the
sport's most elite club in Mel-
bourne, October 28.
The Newcastle-born racer be-
came Australia's sixth Speedway
World Champion and the first
to be crowned Down Under, as
he stormed to an unforgettable
victory in the QBE Insurance
Australian SGP ahead of Tai
Woffinden, Bartosz Zmarzlik and
Patryk Dudek.
It was a dream night for the
32-year-old, who has defied the
pain of the right foot he shat-
tered in Torun four months ago
to take his place in history, with
series runner-up Dudek and
bronze medalist Woffinden join-
ing him on the World Champion-
ship podium.
Doyle's determination is the
stuff of legend and nothing
inspires him more than being
underestimated.
"The last couple of years has
been very hard with injuries, but
it was all worth it tonight," Doyle
said. "I knew what I needed to
do. I needed to train hard and
do the right things. It all worked
out in the end."
Doyle admits he has been a
tough man to live with over the
past few weeks as he waited for
his chance to seal gold, after
falling just short of finishing the
job in Torun three weeks ago.
"The last two weeks I have
been a human calculator, trying
to work out what was going to
happen if I got five points, six
points. But today I just thought
'win it or bin it'—the same as I
have done all year. I rode pretty
hard and it worked in the first
three rides and flowed from
there. Once that monkey of the
title came off my back, it just
seemed to work.
"We have worked very hard,"
he added. "I have done a lot of
work behind the scenes and
so have the boys. It has finally
come together and it's just per-
fect. This was a perfect night
and hopefully it sinks in one day
because tonight, it still hasn't at
the moment."
Doyle admits he and his crew
were written off and branded
"amateurs" by one particularly
venomous critic, who remains
anonymous.
"The first couple of years,
they thought we were going to
be knocked out of the Grand
Prix straight away and not be in
the top eight," he said. "But that
was another incentive to do as
well as possible. That guy who
said we were only amateurs has
Jason Doyle
celebrates
the 2017
SpeedwayGP
Championship.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
