RACING: Doyle to begin SGP defence

The 2018 Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) series begins in Poland on Saturday, May 12, with Australian gun Jason Doyle in everyone’s sights.

The 32-year-old won his first world title in front of a home crowd at Etihad Stadium in 2017, but now it’s back to business as he goes into battle against 15 other riders in the 2018 season opener at the 54,000-seat National Stadium in Warsaw.

After post-season surgery to repair a foot he injured in Poland last June, Doyle’s early 2018 form has been patchy before he bounced back to his bustling best on May 9 with victory in the British riders’ title ahead of countryman Troy Batchelor, Hans Anderson and another Aussie, Brady Kurtz.

“After winning the world title, I have taken it a bit too seriously. Now I’m going to enjoy myself like I said I would – that’s my main goal for this year. Then we’ll see what happens,” said Doyle.

“When you’re that tense and getting that much pressure from clubs, you don’t enjoy it and it’s not meant to be that stressful. You’re supposed to enjoy your job and we do have a great job when everything is going well.

“I was wondering what was going to happen if I had a bad one on Wednesday and then had to go to Warsaw with less confidence. So it’s nice to come to Poole and win a big meeting.”

The competition will go to another level in Poland on Saturday, though, with a crack field of SGP exponents including former world champions Tai Woffinden, National Stadium track record holder Greg Hancock, Nicki Pedersen and Australian Chris Holder.

The line-up also includes Patryk Dudek, who pushed Doyle all the way in the 2017 SGP title, as well as more Polish hotshots in the form of Bartosz Zmarzlik and Maciej Janowski. Russian Emil Sayfutdinov, Slovenian Matej Zagar and Swede Fredrik Lindgren are also strong championship contenders.

Doyle’s fellow world champion, Jason Crump, says he’ll have to overcome being the man everyone wants to beat as he bids to become a two-time winner.

“When it comes to being world champion, the SGP side of things never really changes,” said Crump.

“The biggest thing Doyley is going to notice is in every meeting he goes to now and every league match, everybody puts in 10 to 20 percent more to beat the world champion.

“That’s what makes this year hard for him. Every rider in every race he goes in really wants to be beat him a lot more than they ever have done before. As tough as the Grand Prix is, I found I was worn out by all the other meetings more than anything. Every race was a bit harder than it used to be.”

Lindgren won the 2017 SGP round in Warsaw ahead of Janowski, Doyle and Martin Vaculik.

Following the removal of Etihad Stadium from the 2018 calendar, the championship will now be held over 10 rounds.

2018 SGP line-up (in ranking order):
1 Jason Doyle (Australia)
2 Patryk Dudek (Poland)
3 Tai Woffinden (Great Britain)
4 Maciej Janowski (Poland)
5 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland)
6 Emil Sayfutdinov (Russia)
7 Matej Zagar (Slovenia)
8 Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden)
9 Martin Vaculik (Slovakia)
10 Chris Holder (Australia)
11 Greg Hancock (USA)
12 Nicki Pedersen (Denmark)
13 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (Poland)
14 Artem Laguta (Russia)
15 Craig Cook (Great Britain)
16 Wildcard at each round