World Championship frontrunner Tai Woffinden is looking for another moment of Malilla magic when he defends his nine-point lead in Saturday's Swedish FIM Speedway Grand Prix.
The British icon holds a slender advantage over nearest rival Nicki Pedersen in the standings as the Dackarna star lines up on his Swedish Elitserien home track. With seven rounds of the series still to race, the 2013 world champ will have to be on his guard at the top.
Defending champion Greg Hancock, Niels-Kristian Iversen and Chris Holder are all bursting into form as they bid to chase him down, and the title race is set to hot up in the Swedish forests.
Four of Sweden’s Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup winners will be in action – skipper Andreas Jonsson and wild card Antonio Lindback, plus track reserves Linus Sundstrom and Peter Ljung.
And with Pedersen joined by his Dackarna team mates Michael Jepsen Jensen and Jason Doyle on home shale, it promises to be a night not to miss for local, Swedish and international fans alike.
Woffinden triumphed at the G&B Arena last year. And while he's not promising more of the same, he says he's up for the challenge of delivering again on one of world speedway’s greatest race tracks.
“Malilla is a great track and I can’t wait,” he said. “I won there last year and obviously more of the same would do very nicely, but that's easier said than done! It’s a track where you can pass; Daugavpils is harder for that, but Malilla is different and I’m looking forward to it. It’s the halfway stage of the championship so I would love to come away with a good lead again. But there are still a lot of points to go for and my nine-point lead isn’t a lot when you look at the rest of the season.”
Woffinden has again praised his team for their hard work, including engine tuner Peter Johns. “It’s working well with Johnsy right now,” he said. “He’s doing some great work and I just feel if I’m a little concerned about something he can turn out another rocket for me! The team are working well together, we’re happy and relaxed and I’m excited about the rest of the season. I want to say a big thanks to my sponsors and my fans as well, it’s appreciated.”
While Woffinden leads the way, Pedersen in second place is certain his challenge is moving in the right direction after charging to second spot and 11 points in last Saturday’s Rietumu Bank Latvian SGP in Daugavpils.
The Dane feels his form dipped at the previous two rounds as he finished fourth in Prague and missed out on the final in Cardiff. So he was delighted to move three points closer to Woffy in Latvia.
He said: “I slipped off in the previous two, so Daugavpils was very important. I could feel I was going in the right direction. I wasn’t happy in the previous two, but I was back happy on Saturday. I knew I could do something big. I came second and there’s still a long season ahead."
“If it continues like this, it’s very good. I want to be consistent and look after myself. I was happy with the equipment. At the moment, we have to work hard and I’ll keep fighting.”
Swedish SGP tickets are still available online. Visit: www.biljettforum.se/sv/event/2015-swedish-fim-speedway-grand-prix.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 63, 2 Nicki Pedersen 54, 3 Greg Hancock 49, 4 Niels-Kristian Iversen 43, 5 Chris Holder 41, 6 Matej Zagar 40, 7 Maciej Janowski 38, 8 Jason Doyle 37, 9 Michael Jepsen Jensen 34, 10 Andreas Jonsson 33, 11 Jaroslaw Hampel 31, 12 Troy Batchelor 28, 13 Chris Harris 27, 14 Tomas H Jonasson 23, 15 Krzysztof Kasprzak 21, 16 Peter Kildemand 20, 17 Craig Cook 7, 18 Tomasz Gollob 4, 19 Bartosz Zmarzlik 3, 20 Timo Lahti 3, 21 Kasts Puodzuks 3, 22 Vaclav Milik 2, 23 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 24 Robert Lambert 1
SWEDISH FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX LINE-UP (in ranking order with rider numbers): 45 Greg Hancock (USA), 507 Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland), 3 Nicki Pedersen (Denmark), 108 Tai Woffinden (Great Britain), 55 Matej Zagar (Slovenia), 100 Andreas Jonsson (Sweden), 23 Chris Holder (Australia), 19 Peter Kildemand (Denmark – substitute for 33 Jaroslaw Hampel), 75 Troy Batchelor (Australia), 88 Niels-Kristian Iversen (Denmark), 37 Chris Harris (Great Britain), 69 Jason Doyle (Australia), 71 Maciej Janowski (Poland), 52 Michael Jepsen Jensen (Denmark), 30 Tomas H Jonasson (Sweden), 16 Antonio Lindback (Sweden – wild card). Track reserves: 17 Linus Sundstrom (Sweden), 18 Peter Ljung (Sweden).
IMG World