Slovakian wins world speedway GP

Martin Vaculik admits it was “the best feeling in the world” as he put Slovakia on the speedway map and stormed to victory in the FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on June 23.

Vaculik, who only entered the meeting after Polish star Jaroslaw Hampel was forced to withdraw as he recovers from a broken leg, made a stunning start in the final, which took place on a rain-drenched track, and triumphed ahead of Australia’s Chris Holder, wildcard sensation Bartosz Zmarzlik and 2010 world champion Tomasz Gollob.

Vaculik, 22, will not only go down as the first Slovak to race in and win an SGP event; he is also only the third rider in history to have triumphed on his GP debut.

He said: “I couldn’t have imagined I’d win before the meeting. This is unbelievable. I think it’s the best feeling in the world. I won my hardest meeting ever. I’m very happy and it’s a cool feeling.”

Vaculik could now have the chance to chase another gold medal in the Croatian SGP at Gorican on July 28, as Hampel has admitted he faces a real battle to be fit for the event.

Greg Hancock extended his world championship lead to nine points, moving on to 87, after exiting at the semi-final stages. Holder’s 17pt haul puts him level with compatriot Jason Crump in second place on 78 after the triple world champion missed the semi-finals.

Holder was delighted to pull out two wins in his last two heat races and go on to collect the silver medal. He said: “Second is awesome. I came here to make the final and get some points. It’s so difficult to get points – even in the heat races.

“After three races, I was on five and I was just trying to scrape into the semi. I got there, took gate four and it paid off.

“The rain probably helped me a bit in the final because I was off gate three and thought the boys would go to the outside. I went to the inside, it worked for a lap, but it wasn’t as good as I thought and I ended up having a good race with Bart.

“I’m just happy to be here. I got a lot of points in the bag. It’s great.”

Crump looked set to produce another bagful of points after taking a strong and gutsy win from his first ride, but this was brought to a shattering halt when his front wheel was taken out by Sweden’s Antonio Lindback. The Aussie was controversially excluded for being the cause of the stoppage, as deemed by the referee.

After taking just two more points from his next three rides, Crump missed out on a place in the semi-finals, but the 36-year old Australian was philosophical.

“My first heat was probably the hardest with Hancock, Sayfutdinov and Holder and I won that from gate four,” Crump said. “And the incident with Lindback in heat eight was just one of those racing accidents that could have gone either way and this time it went against me. But that’s all part of racing; you win some, you lose some. This time I lost.

“It was not my night tonight, but I am still in the hunt and not out of contention.”

The Speedway Grand Prix series resumes in Croatia on July 28. For now, the world’s top riders turn their attention towards 2012 Speedway World Cup glory.

GORZOW SCORES: 1 Martin Vaculik 20, 2 Chris Holder 17, 3 Bartosz Zmarzlik 13, 4 Tomasz Gollob 12, 5 Greg Hancock 12, 6 Fredrik Lindgren 11, 7 Emil Sayfutdinov 10, 8 Andreas Jonsson 9, 9 Peter Ljung 7, 10 Nicki Pedersen 7, 11 Hans Andersen 7, 12 Antonio Lindback 6, 13 Jason Crump 5, 14 Bjarne Pedersen 4, 15 Kenneth Bjerre 3, 16 Chris Harris 1.