Woffy chases Prague hat-trick

Britain’s FIM Speedway World Championship leader Tai Woffinden is aiming to follow in the footsteps of triple world champion Jason Crump by winning the Czech Republic FIM Speedway Grand Prix for a third successive year.

The 2013 world champion has 22 points from two rounds and is three points clear of nearest rival Nicki Pedersen. He goes to Prague’s Marketa Stadium looking maintain a strong start to 2015.

Triple world champ Crump won in the Czech capital in 2002, 2003 and 2004 – and Woffinden is looking to repeat that feat after securing his first ever SGP victory there in 2013 on his way to the world title, followed by his Prague triumph last year.

He said: “I’m going there to win, of course I am, but records don’t really interest me at this point. I just want to score as many points as I can.

“I’m staying nicely relaxed about things and enjoying my racing, I’m just going to Prague to do my very best.
“I think I’ve prepared the best I can and hopefully I can keep my good record going there – if I can make it three wins on the trot then that will be a bonus.

“It’s nice to lead the World Championship, but it’s very early days and you can’t read too much into it because there are still 10 rounds remaining.

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m playing everything down, but it’s far too early to start talking about winning titles and things like that. I just want to take each round as it comes along.”

A Czech SGP gold medal has become something of a lucky charm in the series, with seven of the last 11 Prague winners going on to claim the World Championship in the same season.

Like Woffinden, Pedersen would love to benefit from that and goes into the Czech SGP buoyed by his first FIM Speedway Grand Prix win since July 2012 at the Finnish SGP in Tampere last Saturday.

He is seeking his fourth Prague win on his Czech league home track. The Dane won the event in 2007 and 2008 on the way to World Championship gold and again in 2012, before claiming silver overall.

Polish hotshot Jaroslaw Hampel is third in the standings on 18 points and also has a terrific track record in Prague, reaching the rostrum there five times. With the former world No.2 back in red-hot form, this could be the year he claims his first win at the Marketa Stadium.

Last year’s Czech SGP bronze medallist Matej Zagar is fourth in the standings on 15 points, tied with Andreas Jonsson, Jason Doyle and Michael Jepsen Jensen.

With just nine points separating top dog Woffinden from Chris Harris in 11th place, things could not be tighter ahead of SGP round three.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 22, 2 Nicki Pedersen 19, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 18, 4 Matej Zagar 15, 5 Andreas Jonsson 15, 6 Jason Doyle 15, 7 Michael Jepsen Jensen 15, 8 Greg Hancock 14, 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak 13, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 13, 11 Chris Harris 13, 12 Tomas H Jonasson 8, 13 Chris Holder 7, 14 Troy Batchelor 7, 15 Maciej Janowski 5, 16 Tomasz Gollob 4, 17 Bartosz Zmarzlik 3, 18 Timo Lahti 3, 19 Piotr Pawlicki 1.

CZECH REPUBLIC 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), 33 Jaroslaw Hampel (Poland), 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 Vaclav Milik (Czech Republic – wild card). Track reserves: 17 Matej Kus (Czech Republic), 18 Josef Franc (Czech Republic).