Great Britain’s Tai Woffinden hopes returning to the track where he launched his rise to World Championship glory will inspire him as he prepares for the Czech FIM Speedway Grand Prix in Prague on Saturday (31 May).
The 23-year-old won his first SGP event at the Marketa Stadium in May last year to become the first British rider to win a Grand Prix round since Chris Harris in 2007. That victory launched Woffinden on his way to becoming Britain’s first world champ since Mark Loram in 2000.
After a tough start to his title defence, the Scunthorpe-born sensation stormed to second place in the Mitas Finnish SGP in Tampere on May 17, leaving him ninth in the standings on 28 points, but still just seven behind World Championship leader Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland) in a tight title race.
With just eight points separating the top 10 riders, Woffinden would love to make his move up the table in the Czech capital.
And given that seven of the last 10 Prague winners have been crowned world champion in the same season, Woffy would be delighted to continue his love affair with the event.
Reflecting on his 2013 success, he said: "It was a pretty special moment for me, you could say that. It will be nice to go back there because it will bring back those memories.
"Looking back, it was an amazing feeling to stand on the top step as winner of a GP for the first time and the messages of congratulations were awesome. My target was to secure a top-eight finish in the World Championship at the time, but perhaps that moment started me thinking even higher!
"Gating is vital in Prague and I feel good at the start right now. If I can put five good starts together and get into the semi-finals, then you never know what's going to happen. I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm feeling in pretty good shape and naturally it would be a major boost for me if I could go there and win for a second successive season.
"The last round in Finland was pretty good. I messed up in the final, but still got second and top-scored on the night, which was great. Hopefully it gives me something to build on in Prague.”
Czech Republic FIM Speedway Grand Prix,Saturday 31 May, Marketa Stadium, Prague, 19:00h CET / 18:00h BST.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 35, 2 Greg Hancock 34, 3 Nicki Pedersen 34, 4 Chris Holder 32, 5 Martin Smolinski 31, 6 Fredrik Lindgren 30, 7 Jaroslaw Hampel 29, 8 Darcy Ward 29, 9 Tai Woffinden 28, 10 Matej Zagar 27, 11 Andreas Jonsson 24, 12 Niels-Kristian Iversen 22, 13 Kenneth Bjerre 18, 14 Troy Batchelor 18, 15 Chris Harris 6, 16 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 17 Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, 18 Kauko Nieminen 4, 19 Jason Bunyan 2.
Communication IMG Worldwide - www.imgworld.com -