Doyle leads world speedway title by 22pts

Jason Doyle is on the cusp of becoming just the sixth Australian to win the Speedway World Championship following a sensational performance at round 10 in Sweden on September 23.

Doyle's event-high 18pt haul in Stockholm has now taken him to 132pts in the 12-round title, 22 ahead of main rival Patryk Dudek.

If his red-hot form continues, Doyle could now wrap up the title at the penultimate round in Poland on October 7 – or better still for Australian audiences in the finale at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium on October 28.

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Doyle finished third in the Stockholm final behind Slovenia Matej Zagar and Bartosz Zmarzlik, with Peter Kildemand fourth. Doyle's compatriot and 2012 world champion, Chris Holder, was sixth after bowing out in the second semi-final.

“It’s not all about winning the final; I am very happy with the points I scored tonight. Who would have dreamt that I could get 18pts in a GP and extend my lead?," said Doyle.

“To score that many points, I am over the moon. Hats off to the boys; they rode very well in the final. I am happy with my third place.”

Behind Doyle (132pts) and Dudek (110pts), who failed to make the semi-finals in Stockholm, Maciej Janowski (108pts) is third in the standings ahead of Fredrik Lindgren (107pts), Emil Sayfutdinov (102pts) and Tai Woffinden (100pts).

Holder is 10th in the standings on 75pts, and his goal before the end of the season will be to sneak into the top eight to guarantee himself a spot in the 2018 series. If he replicates his Etihad Stadium form from 2016, that won't be a problem…

Lionel van Praag was Australia's first speedway world champion in 1936 – the first time the title was held – followed by Bluey Wilkinson (1938) and then Jack Young in 1951-1952.

Then it was a huge drought before Jason Crump was crowned in 2004, with follow-up successes in 2006 and 2009. Holder was the champion in 2012.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Doyle 132, 2 Dudek 110, 3 Janowski 108, 4 Lindgren 107, 5 Sayfutdinov 102, 6  Woffinden 100, 7 Zmarzlik 94, 8 Zagar 86, 9 Vaculik 85, 10 Holder 75, 11  Lindback 72, 12 Pawlicki 69, 13 Kildemand 46, 14 Greg Hancock 45, 15 Niels-Kristian Iversen 44, 16 Vaclav Milik 20, 17 Smolinski 17, 18 Nicki Pedersen 8, 19 Michael Jepsen Jensen 8, 20 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 21 Max Fricke 7, 22 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 23 Krzysztof Kasprzak 6, 24 Kai Huckenbeck 4, 25 Jacob Thorssell 4, 26 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 27 Craig Cook 2, 28 Linus Sundstrom 2, 29 Nilsson 2, 30 Josh Bates 2, 31 Nick Skorja 1.