Ward disqualified in Latvia

Polish racer Krzysztof Kasprzak powered to his second SGP success of 2014 in Latvia on August 17, but the big talking point was Australian Darcy Ward landing himself in hot water before the event even began.

Ward, who was running third in the world standings, failed an alcohol test on the morning of the event and was forced to watch from the sidelines. An FIM meeting will decide any further punishment, if any.

Ward told Eurosport: “I got some bad news yesterday when I was having dinner and a couple of drinks. I didn’t eat properly and I wasn’t hydrated unfortunately.

“It’s the worst day of my life and it will never happen again. I should have hydrated but it was only marginal and I’m having a bad time.

“Of course I will be back and I’m sorry to the sport and all the fans.”

Ward’s disqualification followed on from a dramatic 24 hours, when the original event was cancelled at Riga because of inclement weather , and then rescheduled for Daugavpils 24 hours later.

At Daugavpils, Kasprzak completed an extraordinary week after defeating Dane Nicki Pedersen, American Greg Hancock – the new championship leader – and Kenneth Bjerre in the final. Three days earlier, Kasprzak became Polish champion for the first time.

To make his result even more extraordinary, Kasprzak battled through the pain of a leg injury suffered in a horrifying opening-heat crash.

Kasprzak started the season with third place in Auckland and the first SGP win of his career at Bydgoszcz in April. He then tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in May and this dashed his title hopes. But he cannot fault his engines and admits they have transformed him into a top contender in the SGP series. He said: “When I feel fast, I can win races (the final) like that. Nobody passes Hancock like I did on bend four. When I touched the grip, this bike was very fast.”

Kasprzak had what he hopes will be his last spill of the season in heat three, after being given a hard knock by Australia’s Chris Holder in bend one. He then straightened up, tangled with Britain’s Chris Harris and the pair were buried in the air fence at high speed.

Holder’s compatriot Troy Batchelor was the highest scoring Aussies at Daugavpils before being bundled out in the second semi-final.

Hancock now leads the championship by five points after round eight of 12, ahead of defending champion Tai Woffinden, with Pedersen a further 12 points arrears in third. Ward is now in seventh position after his disqualification, three positions ahead of Holder.

Round nine will be held in Poland on August 30.

DAUGAVPILS SCORES: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 17, 2 Nicki Pedersen 18, 3 Greg Hancock 16, 4 Kenneth Bjerre 11, 5 Kasts Puodzuks 10, 6 Matej Zagar 9, 7 Tai Woffinden 8, 8 Troy Batchelor 8, 9 Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, 10 Fredrik Lindgren 6, 11 Chris Holder 6, 12 Andreas Jonsson 6, 13 Martin Smolinski 6, 14 Jaroslaw Hampel 4, 15 Chris Harris 3, 16 Andzejs Lebedevs 3, 17 Darcy Ward DQ, 18 Vjaceslavs Giruckis DNR.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Greg Hancock 103, 2 Tai Woffinden 98, 3 Nicki Pedersen 86, 4 Niels-Kristian Iversen 81, 5 Krzysztof Kasprzak 76, 6 Matej Zagar 75, 7 Darcy Ward 75, 8 Jaroslaw Hampel 63, 9 Fredrik Lindgren 63, 10 Chris Holder 61, 11 Martin Smolinski 59, 12 Troy Batchelor 57, 13 Andreas Jonsson 55, 14 Kenneth Bjerre 50, 15 Chris Harris 29, 16 Michael Jepsen Jensen 17, 17 Peter Kildemand 15, 18 Kasts Puodzuks 10, 19 Peter Ljung 7, 20 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 21 Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, 22 Kauko Nieminen 4, 23 Andzejs Lebedevs 3, 24 Jason Bunyan 2, 25 Vaclav Milik 2, 26 Craig Cook 2.