Doyle raring to go for SGP decider

Australia has a long and storied history in world speedway competition, producing not only the first champion in 1936 but four more after that.

All five won their respective titles overseas – from England to Norway – but one Aussie has a strong chance to buck that trend and lift the trophy Down Under at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on Saturday, October 28.

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It’s 32-year-old Newcastle-born Jason Doyle, who takes a 14-point lead into the title decider at Etihad Stadium, with only Polish gun Patryk Dudek capable of spoiling the Aussie’s party.

“It’s just the biggest thing getting the opportunity to race in front of a home crowd, which is something that many great Aussie riders before me didn’t get to do,” said 32-year-old Doyle.

“This will be the third round at Etihad, and I couldn’t be prouder than to be racing in a stadium where we get the major support – not like other week at Torun (Poland) where 18,000 people were cheering on Dudek!

“However, taking the feel good factor out of it, I cannot lose sight of the fact that I will be in Melbourne on Saturday night to do a job.”

Dudek won the penultimate round in Torun on October 7, while it wasn’t one of the best nights for Doyle – but he still came out of it with a big sense of relief and 10 valuable points.

“I was certainly anxious at Torun, because that’s where my championship hopes were derailed last year with that season-ending crash,” said Doyle.

In that horrendous accident, Doyle shattered his elbow, dislocated his shoulder and punctured a lung. He was an understandable scratching from the 2016 Etihad Stadium finale, with American evergreen Greg Hancock adding a fourth title to his impressive resume.

Doyle has also had his injury concerns in 2017 after suffering a broken foot in a Polish league crash on June 18. Miraculously, just a week later, with his foot full of screws, he gritted his teeth and made it through to the final.

It’s the ability to get the job done in those clutch situations which has given Doyle a lot of satisfaction in 2017.

“I knew it would be tough this year, and it has been, but there have been plenty of high moments and I am proud of the way that I have pulled together some great rides in pressure-cooker situations,” said Doyle.

“I am certainly not a fan of scraping into the semi-finals, but it’s a tough championship and when I’m in those situations I just try to learn a little bit more every time, which will help me out in the future.”

A number of permutations will see Doyle make the ascension to world champion in Melbourne, and the simplest is that he scores eight points, which would close the door on Dudek even if the Pole won all his seven races and scored a maximum of 21 points.

Doyle knows he is in for a fight.

“Patryk is a classy rider, and I’ve seen that first-hand after racing in the same team with him in Poland,” said Doyle, who rides with the number 69.

“And he’s very light, which can sometimes be a big advantage in larger tracks like Melbourne. But with the Aussie crowd behind me, I am ready to race and do them proud.”

Doyle will be joined by four compatriots at Etihad Stadium: the retiring Davey Watt in his competition swansong, last year’s Australian Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) winner and former world champion Chris Holder, reigning Australian champion Sam Masters, and Justin Sedgmen.

Holder is fighting to finish in the championship in the top eight, which would guarantee him automatic entry into the 2018 proceedings.

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At 346 metres, Etihad Stadium is one of the longest on the SGP calendar, with the track record held by Hancock at a whisker over 60 seconds.

Each world speedway race is held over four laps, with all 16 riders competing against each other once across 20 heats before the top eight go through to the semi-finals and then the decider.

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

A huge drought then ensued before Jason Crump was crowned in 2004, with follow-up successes in 2006 and 2009. Holder was the champion in 2012.