SGP: Aussies eliminated in semi-finals

Australians Darcy Ward and world champion Chris Holder finished fifth and eight respectively in round two of the 2013 Speedway World Championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland on Saturday, April 20.

Both riders bowed out of proceedings at the semi-final stage, with Russian Emil Sayfutdinov going on to win the final from Matej Zagar, Tomasz Gollob and Tai Woffinden.

After two of 12 rounds, Ward, a two-time world under 21 speedway champion, is second in the standings, 6pts behind Gollob. Holder, the reigning world champion, sits in seventh spot.

Meanwhile, Sayfutdinov believes his world championship dreams are back on track after winning his first Grand Prix for three-and-a-half-years in Bydgoszcz – a city where he lives.

Sayfutdinov’s last Grand Prix victory came at the Slovenian SGP in Krsko on September 12, 2009. He also triumphed in Prague and Gothenburg on his way to third in the world championship that year.

But the Salavat-born man’s 2010 campaign was wrecked by injury and he only really started to get back to his best midway through 2012. With all that behind him, Sayfutdinov is hopeful he can stay on the SGP rostrum and reassert his authority on the World Championship race.

He said: “Of course it’s good to be back in first place. I think I need to keep this form and it will be good for me. I had problems after 2009, but now I’m back. I’m feeling good and I want to keep it like this – being a Grand Prix winner and getting good points. Maybe there will be a chance for the championship?

“Maybe there has been a bit of pressure since 2009. But I haven’t changed anything for this year. I’m just ready now.

“I think this will be good for me. When you’re winning, you feel much better on the bike. You think ‘oh, I’ve done it now. I can do it again.’ We will see if I can …”

Next up for the SGP elite is the Swedish Grand Prix in Gothenburg on May 4.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tomasz Gollob 31, 2 Darcy Ward 25, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 23, 4 Tai Woffinden 23, 5 Nicki Pedersen 22, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 21, 7 Chris Holder 19, 8 Greg Hancock 19, 9 Matej Zagar 19, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 16, 11 Andreas Jonsson 15, 12 Fredrik Lindgren 12, 13 Antonio Lindback 9, 14 Martin Vaculik 9, 15 Krzysztof Kasprzak 6, 16 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6, 17 Jason Bunyan 1.

BYDGOSZCZ SGP SCORES: 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 15, 2 Matej Zagar 14, 3 Tomasz Gollob 16, 4 Tai Woffinden 14, 5 Darcy Ward 13, 6 Nicki Pedersen 10, 7 Chris Holder 10, 8 Niels-Kristian Iversen 9, 9 Jaroslaw Hampel 8, 10 Greg Hancock 8, 11 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6, 12 Martin Vaculik 4, 13 Andreas Jonsson 4, 14 Fredrik Lindgren 4, 15 Antonio Lindback 3, 16 Krzysztof Kasprzak 0, 17 Szymon Wozniak DNR, 18 Mikolaj Curylo DNR.