World champion Greg Hancock insisted “I won’t give up until there is no chance” of retaining his FIM Speedway Grand Prix crown after storming to a sensational Mitas Slovenian SGP win in Krsko on Saturday. The Californian racked up 20 points out of a possible 21 after topping the rostrum ahead of Great Britain’s World Championship leader Tai Woffinden, Danish international Peter Kildemand and triple world champion Nicki Pedersen. Hancock’s heroics took him up to second in the standings on 102 points. But he’s still 25 short of runaway leader Woffinden, who charged to 18 to move on to 127 overall. Despite reaching the last two SGP finals, an unspectacular start to his title defence has left the American icon playing catch-up to his good friend. But even with just three rounds to race, the 45-year-old is a long way from waving the white flag. He said: “The only thing I could wish for right now is to be giving Tai a bit more of a run for his money. I had big hopes of retaining the title and doing it all again, but I missed out in a few crucial rounds, where it didn’t go as well as I had hoped. “Gold is what we are chasing, but it’s going to be very, very tough. A lot of people would just take their hat off to Tai now and say ‘thank you and congratulations.’ But I’m an optimistic sort of guy. I won’t give up until there is no chance. Right now, there is still a chance. “He’s a quick guy and you can see he’s riding with a ton of confidence. It’s hard to beat him. But I’m sure Tai doesn’t take anything for granted. He’s still working hard and knows there are three rounds left; anything can happen.” Hancock admitted prior to the Krsko event that some his pre-season changes haven’t delivered the results he hoped they would. But he has no regrets about constantly searching for ways to get an edge over his younger rivals. He said: “It’s about putting the pieces of the puzzle together. We’re constantly trying to find small improvements. It’s hard to reinvent the speedway bike and we’re not trying to do that. We’re just trying to make it a little bit better.
“I have some good people working with me who make a speedway bike not just the simple piece of machinery it is. “I can’t beat these guys by just turning the throttle. I have to outsmart them and have my kit working absolutely perfectly, so that all I have to do is steer it. “I’ve been working on the chassis setup and a lot of things around it. We all have our secrets and I’m trying to make things work for me. What I’m trying to do might not work for everyone else, but it doesn’t matter.” Next up is the TEGERA® Stockholm SGP, which takes place on September 26 at the Friends Arena – a venue built just yards from the Solna apartment where Hancock started his young family with wife Jennie. As a proud Swedish resident with a huge fanbase in the country, Hancock would love to deliver what would be his first ever victory in his second homeland.
He said: “I have never won a round in Sweden and I have always wanted to. It’s a great country and I have a lot of history, family and sponsors there. There are a lot of great people there, who have taken me to another level going back over the last 10 or 15 years. I owe those guys a lot and nothing would feel better than to stand on top of the podium at the Friends Arena.” Runner-up Woffinden admits he’s “on top of the world” after finishing second in Krsko for the second straight visit. He snatched silver to go 20 points clear at the top of the World Championship in 2013, and he’s elated to have left with an even more commanding lead this time around.
He said: “It would be nice to win a GP. But like I have been saying all season, it’s about collecting points. I’m pleased to be back on the Krsko podium; I was there in 2013 and in the same position.
“I feel on top of the world now. I feel so fit, so healthy and I still feel fresh – it’s like my season is just getting started.” Third-placed Kildemand was delighted to take another step closer to the World Championship’s top eight, racking up 13 points on the night to move within 13 of Poland’s Maciej Janowski in eighth. He said: “I just need to push harder to make the top eight. I’m happy with third place and I got the points I needed, so that’s great.”
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 127, 2 Greg Hancock 102, 3 Nicki Pedersen 98, 4 Matej Zagar 89, 5 Niels-Kristian Iversen 81, 6 Chris Holder 78, 7 Jason Doyle 77, 8 Maciej Janowski 72, 9 Michael Jepsen Jensen 66, 10 Peter Kildemand 59, 11 Andreas Jonsson 55, 12 Troy Batchelor 49, 13 Chris Harris 43, 14 Tomas H Jonasson 40, 15 Jaroslaw Hampel 31, 16 Krzysztof Kasprzak 29, 17 Bartosz Zmarzlik 17, 18 Antonio Lindback 14, 19 Craig Cook 7, 20 Mikkel Michelsen 6, 21 Tomasz Gollob 4, 22 Timo Lahti 3, 23 Kasts Puodzuks 3, 24 Vaclav Milik 2, 25 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 26 Robert Lambert 1, 27 Adrian Cyfer 1, 28 Aleksander Conda 1, 29 Denis Stojs 1. MITAS SLOVENIAN SGP SCORES: 1 Greg Hancock 20, 2 Tai Woffinden 18, 3 Peter Kildemand 13, 4 Nicki Pedersen 13, 5 Niels-Kristian Iversen 11, 6 Jason Doyle 11, 7 Chris Holder 9, 8 Troy Batchelor 9, 9 Maciej Janowski 9, 10 Matej Zagar 8, 11 Chris Harris 4, 12 Andreas Jonsson 4, 13 Krzysztof Kasprzak 3, 14 Michael Jepsen Jensen 2, 15 Tomas H Jonasson 2, 16 Aleksander Conda 1, 17 Denis Stojs 1, 18 Ziga Kovacic DNR.