Batchelor second in Denmark

Hometown champion Niels-Kristian Iversen (NKI) won the 2014 Danish Speedway Grand Prix in Copenhagen on June 28, denying Australia’s Troy Batchelor the chance of a remarkable seven-ride maximum.

Batchelor blitzed through his heats with a 15-point maximum, before winning his semi-final in style. So he was gutted to miss out on the first seven-ride maximum since Poland’s now retired Tomasz Gollob in September 2010.

The Queenslander, who is now 11th in the standings and only eight points off the top eight, was delighted to see everything click into place as he produced the performance of his career. He said: “I think I really needed that result today to give me that boost and try and pick myself up and get into that top eight.

“Today was one of those days where speedway was easy. I didn’t learn anything – I just went and rode. It’s weird – it felt like it was in slow motion. I knew where people were going to go, I cut back and I passed them.

“I feel like Tai Woffinden today. That’s what he had last year and that’s what he had in the last couple of GPs. People get that, they get on a roll and that feeling is great.”

American legend Greg Hancock was third in the final, and is now one point ahead of Great Britain’s Tai Woffinden in the overall standings heading into the British SGP at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on July 12. Wildcard Peter Kildemand was an excellent fourth.

But it was NKI who had the biggest cause for celebration as he became the first Dane to win in Copenhagen since Hans Andersen in 2006. He said: “It almost felt unreal, to be honest. It’s the last grand prix in the stadium and I managed to nick it. I took a little bit of a gamble with my bike in the final to try and make it go faster. I knew I didn’t have the speed to be able to win the race in the semis. It helped a bit. It wasn’t perfect, but I just managed to squeeze into that first corner in the lead.

“It was hard. There were bikes coming together in the first turn and it was a man’s ride on that first lap. I’m just happy I could make it around for all four laps and win in the end.”

One of the biggest moments of Iversen’s career was crowned by receiving the top prize from Denmark’s first in line to the throne – HRH Crown Prince Frederik.

He said: “The prince is a cool guy. He’s doing a good job. He’s a tough man – really sporty. He’s into all kinds of sports. He’s an inspiration to a lot of people.”

Australia’s second rider, Darcy Ward, was seventh in Copenhagen, while Chris Holder didn’t start after breaking his wrist in a Danish league match on June 20. The pair is sixth and seventh in the standings.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Greg Hancock 73, 2 Tai Woffinden 72, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen 62, 4 Nicki Pedersen 60, 5 Matej Zagar 60, 6 Darcy Ward 60, 7 Chris Holder 55, 8 Jaroslaw Hampel 54, 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak 49, 10 Fredrik Lindgren 47, 11 Troy Batchelor 46, 12 Martin Smolinski 45, 13 Andreas Jonsson 41, 14 Kenneth Bjerre 35, 15 Chris Harris 20, 16 Peter Kildemand 15, 17 Michael Jepsen Jensen 8, 18 Peter Ljung 7, 19 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 20 Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, 21 Kauko Nieminen 4, 22 Jason Bunyan 2, 23 Vaclav Milik 2.
COPENHAGEN SCORES: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen 16, 2 Troy Batchelor 20, 3 Greg Hancock 11, 4 Peter Kildemand 15, 5 Jaroslaw Hampel 10, 6 Tai Woffinden 9, 7 Darcy Ward 9, 8 Michael Jepsen Jensen 8, 9 Matej Zagar 7, 10 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7, 11 Andreas Jonsson 6, 12 Nicki Pedersen 5, 13 Martin Smolinski 5, 14 Fredrik Lindgren 4, 15 Kenneth Bjerre 3, 16 Chris Harris 3, 17 Mikkel Michelsen 0, 18 Mikkel Bech DNR.