IN
THE
WIND
P50
WOFFINDEN WINS POLAND
SPEEDWAY GP OPENER
D
ouble world champion Tai
Woffinden insisted "there's
a lot more to come from me"
after racing to his second win
in three years at Warsaw's sold-
out PGE Narodowy, May 12.
The Great Britain racer
topped the BOLL Warsaw
FIM Speedway Grand Prix of
Poland podium ahead of home
hero Maciej Janowski and last
year's winner Fredrik Lindgren,
with Artem Laguta finishing
fourth on his first SGP ap-
pearance since 2011. "Woffy"
cruised through the heats
with 10 points, before chasing
Laguta all the way in semi-
final two, with the Russian
just coming out on top. Despite
having third choice of gates for
the final, Woffinden got the best
of an epic battle with Janowski
in front of 55,000 passionate
fans to add to his 2016 Warsaw
triumph. Woffinden left Warsaw
with 15 points, putting him one
behind series leader Lindgren,
who has 16. With nine rounds
to race, the Brit isn't looking too
far ahead as he bids to become
Britain's first-ever triple world
champion. He said: "It's always
good to score points, and to win
the GP is a nice little bonus. The
main focus is trying to win the
championship. I want to score
points and take each round as it
comes. But I'll live in the moment
and not look too far forward."
Janowski was pleased to over-
come some mechanical issues
to finish as Warsaw runner-up
for a second straight season.
Lindgren has started the season
in the form of his life, topping
the PGE Ekstraliga averages in
Poland. So he was delighted to
bring his red-hot scoring on to
the SGP stage and top the early
standings.
Former world champion Greg
Hancock finished the meet on
eight points, including a fine win
over current world champion
Jason Doyle after Hancock
had fallen in his first ride. Not
enough points for him to make
the semis, nonetheless, a de-
cent start to his 2018 campaign.
There was bad news for triple
world champion Nicki Pedersen,
who withdrew from the meeting
with concerns over the broken
hand he suffered in Gorzow two
weeks ago. He crashed out of
his fourth ride and was unable to
take his final outing. The Dane is
set to undergo x-rays on Sunday
before making a decision on
how long he will rest from racing.
John Hipkiss
FINAL
1. Tai Woffinden
2. Maciej Janowski
3. Fredrik Lindgren
4. Artem Laguta
5. Chris Holder
Tai Woffinden got the 2018
Speedway GP season started
with a win in Poland.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
