Aussies out in SGP semis

Slovenian star Matej Zagar won his maiden Speedway Grand Prix round in Finland on May 16, while Australian pair Chris Holder and Troy Batchelor was eliminated at the semi-final stage.

Holder, the 2012 world champion, was fourth in his semi-final behind Greg Hancock, Zagar and Martin Smolinski, while Batchelor put in his most impressive performance so far this year when he was third in the opening semi behind world champion Tai Woffinden and Fredrik Lindgren.

Both Aussies won two of their six outings to finish the event with 10 points, while their compatriot Darcy ward was win-less in his eight-point haul.

Meanwhile, it was 31-year-old Zagar who claimed his first world championship victory on his 44th attempt – after three second places in 2013 -- prevailing ahead of Woffinden, Lindgren and Hancock in the final.

Along with Batchelor, Zagar was the only full-time SGP rider who had not won a round. Zagar said: “It doesn’t just mean a lot to me. My family at home are going crazy at the moment! I hope I gave them the satisfaction they didn’t have for three years I raced in the Grand Prix without winning one and it’s a big thing for me as well.

“It took me a while to win a grand prix and maybe a bit longer than everyone else. But I’ve done it and I want to say a big thank you to my team. They’ve done a great job and have showed a lot of patience with me, and so have my family and my sponsors. They’ve always believed and kept me going.”

Despite sitting out the Finnish round with injury, Krzysztof Kasprzak remains atop the world championship standings on 35 points, ahead of Hancock (34), Nicki Pedersen (34), Holder (32) and Smolinski (31). Ward (29) and Batchelor (18) are eighth and 14th respectively.

The next round will be held in the Czech Republic on May 31.

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.

FINNISH SGP SCORES: 1 Matej Zagar 15, 2 Tai Woffinden 16, 3 Fredrik Lindgren 12, 4 Greg Hancock 12, 5 Chris Holder 10, 6 Nicki Pedersen 10, 7 Troy Batchelor 10, 8 Martin Smolinski 9, 9 Darcy Ward 8, 10 Andreas Jonsson 7, 11 Jaroslaw Hampel 7, 12 Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, 13 Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, 14 Chris Harris 4, 15 Kauko Nieminen 4, 16 Kenneth Bjerre 3, 17 Krzysztof Kasprzak DNR, 18 Juha Hautamaki DNR.