Doyle extends SGP lead

Australia's Jason Doyle overcame a sluggish start to finish with a brilliant second place in the British Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) in Cardiff on Saturday, July 22.

Doyle's runner-up finish saw him extend his lead at the halfway mark in the 12-round championship to 3pts (78 to 75) ahead of deadlocked Polish pair Maciej Janowski and Patrick Dudek (75), followed by a big gap back to fourth-placed Fredrik Lindgren (58).

Janowski and Doyle were followed home in the Cardiff final by Matej Zagar and Bartosz Zmarzlik.

FULL CARDIFF RESULTS

Doyle was pleased to have ground a podium out of another night that started on the wrong foot – having scored just 1pt (third place) in his first ride, before falling in the next.

"Apart from Horsens (round five), I’ve started a couple of GPs not very well and I have really been digging deep. After the first couple of rides, I barely had any points and had to do it the hard way," Doyle said.

“I snuck into the semis again and fair play to Magic and Zagar. They were also good tonight. They had all the lines sorted out.

“I’m really happy with performance. I did it for everyone watching in my box. I thought I’d be sitting out of the semis, so I’m very happy with where I ended up.”

Doyle was delighted to extend his lead to 3pts, but admitted: “It’s a long way to go this season – there are another six GPs. It doesn’t matter where you stand at the moment.

“You just need to bang those points in and see where you stand at the end of the season. We’re all going to be pushing hard – it’s the GPs. It’s tough racing.”

The final round of the 2017 SGP season will be held at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium on Saturday, October 28.

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Meanwhile, reigning world champion Greg Hancock withdrew from the meeting after heat one. He initially dislocated his shoulder when he fell down the stairs at his home in Sweden, and was unable to continue after it popped out during practice on Friday and on the first lap of heat one.

Australia's second rider, Chris Holder, finished eighth in Cardiff and sits 11th in the standings on 44pts.

Round seven will be held in Sweden on August 12.

2017 SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Jason Doyle 78, 2 Maciej Janowski 75, 3 Patryk Dudek 75, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 58, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 58, 6 Tai Woffinden 57, 7 Bartosz Zmarzlik 55, 8 Martin Vaculik 49, 9 Matej Zagar 48, 10 Greg Hancock 45, 11 Chris Holder 44, 12 Piotr Pawlicki 44, 13 Niels-Kristian Iversen 38, 14 Antonio Lindback 36, 15 Peter Kildemand 22, 16 Vaclav Milik 13, 17 Nicki Pedersen 8, 18 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 19 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 20 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 21 Craig Cook 2, 22 Josh Bates 2, Nick Skorja 1.

BRITISH SGP SCORES: 1 Maciej Janowski 17, 2 Jason Doyle 13, 3 Matej Zagar 12, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 16, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 11, 6 Peter Kildemand 10, 7 Patryk Dudek 10, 8 Chris Holder 10, 9 Tai Woffinden 9, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, 11 Fredrik Lindgren 7, 12 Antonio Lindback 7, 13 Martin Vaculik 4, 14 Josh Bates 2, 15 Craig Cook 2, 16 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 17 Adam Ellis 0, 18 Greg Hancock 0.