Pedersen breaks SGP drought

Aussies Chris Holder and Jason Doyle finished well back in 13th and 14th spots at the Nicki Pedersen-won Scandinavian FIM Speedway Grand Prix in Malilla, Sweden on August 11.

Yet another tough outing for the duo means their 2018 world championship aspirations are all but over, and the immediate concern will be finding some form in the final four rounds to finish the 2018 championship in the top eight – which guarantees automatic entry into the 2019 series.

After six of 10 rounds, Doyle, the reigning world champion, is in 11th position on 44pts, and Holder is 12th on 43pts. Artem Laguta is in eighth position on 53pts.

Even if Doyle finishes outside the top eight, he will almost certainly ride in the 2019 SGP title thanks to discretionary full-time ‘wildcards’ handed out by the promoter – which is how Holder is competing in this year’s series.

Meanwhile, three-time world champion Pedersen returned to the SGP winners’ list for the first time since October 3, 2015 at Malilla, winning the final from Matej Zagar, Fredrik Lindgren and Martin Vaculik.

He said: “It’s always easy to say ‘he’s finished’ and things like that. But my family and I always believed in me.

“I know where I’m standing. I always look at myself in the mirror and the day I know I am finished, I wouldn’t even get on the bike.

“It has been uphill. I have broken my back two times. I haven’t quite been there and the engine hasn’t been where I wanted it. But we just kept on pushing and working and getting the points.

“All we wanted to do was plug away and get the points. As the meeting went on, we thought ‘whoa, we can reach the final or even get on the rostrum.’ Step by step, we got up there.

“It’s so easy to say ‘I want to win’, but it’s a very long journey along the way. It’s about getting everything back together.

“I felt I had a good start to the season, but then I had big, big injuries again. I banged my head twice and crashed in a league match at Gorzow and in the Warsaw Grand Prix. That knocked me out for some time – my hand is still not 100 percent, but it’s getting a lot, lot better.

“The form hasn’t been there, but I have the racing in me and I never give up before the fat lady sings. I proved that tonight.”

Great Britain star Tai Woffinden still leads the series, ahead of Lindgren and Maciej Janowski.

Next up for the SGP stars is the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on August 25.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 91, 2 Fredrik Lindgren 74, 3 Maciej Janowski 70, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 69, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 62, 6 Patryk Dudek 56, 7 Greg Hancock 56, 8 Artem Laguta 53, 9 Matej Zagar 50, 10 Nicki Pedersen 46, 11 Jason Doyle 44, 12 Chris Holder 43, 13 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 27, 14 Craig Cook 21, 15 Martin Vaculik 17, 16 Niels-Kristian Iversen 9, 17 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7, 18 Andreas Jonsson 7, 19 Vaclav Milik 6, 20 Peter Ljung 5, 21 Michael Jepsen Jensen 4, 22 Oliver Berntzon 3, 23 Maksym Drabik 2, 24 Bartosz Smektala 2, 25 Robert Lambert 1, 26 Mikkel Michelsen 1, 27 Joel Kling 1.

BETARD SCANDINAVIAN SGP SCORES: 1 Nicki Pedersen 15, 2 Matej Zagar 16, 3 Fredrik Lindgren 13, 4 Martin Vaculik 10, 5 Bartosz Zmarzlik 14, 6 Maciej Janowski 11, 7 Patryk Dudek 10, 8 Tai Woffinden 10, 9 Artem Laguta 6, 10 Emil Sayfutdinov 6, 11 Peter Ljung 5, 12 Chris Holder 5, 13 Jason Doyle 4, 14 Oliver Berntzon 3, 15 Craig Cook 3, 16 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 17 Greg Hancock 3, 18 Joel Kling 1.