Ward second in world speedway

Polish star Krzysztof Kasprzak clinched his first ever Speedway Grand Prix win in the European SGP at Bydgoszcz, Poland on April 26. Kasprzak dived under Australian Darcy Ward for a sublime victory in his homeland, while Jaroslaw Hampel and American Greg Hancock were third and fourth.

Kasprzak admits enlisting the help of a psychologist is finally helping him conquer his battle with nerves in the SGP series.

He said: “My psychologist is making my head relaxed. I haven’t got too much pressure. When I was stressed before, my body tensed up and I couldn’t race properly.

“Everyone was writing me messages and telling me on Facebook ‘you’ll win, you’ll win’ this weekend. But I don’t like this. When people say this, it’s usually a bad meeting. But now I’m just thinking ‘it’s just a league meeting’ and this is good. I’ve got the best psychologist in the world. But I cannot say her name because she is so good.”

FULL RESULTS

Runner-up Ward admits he was fortunate to take part in the event as he continues his battle with the knee ligament damage he suffered at the New Zealand SGP.

Ward said: “I think I’m lucky I was in Bydgoszcz given that I couldn’t even put my foot down. There was some good racing and it was hard work. I had to keep battling because everyone was so quick.

“When the rain came, we had decisions to make and this definitely feels like a win for me. My knee is definitely pretty bad at the moment. But you can just pick your leg up and balance on the bike at Bydgoszcz.

“I got some good points and I didn’t realise how many I got. Obviously KK has an incredible lead after two rounds, but the rest of us are there. We’ve just got to push forward and try and catch this man.”

Australia’s 2012 world champion Chris Holder was eliminated at the semi-final stage, while Queenslander Troy Batchelor finished well back – as did world champion Tai Woffinden.

Kasprzak is 11 points – 35 to 24 -- clear of Nicki Pedersen in the world title, followed by Hampel (22), Hancock (22), Holder (22), Martin Smolinski (22) and Ward (21).

Next up for the world’s top riders is the inaugural Finnish Speedway Grand Prix in Tampere on May 17.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 35, 2 Nicki Pedersen 24, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 22, 4 Greg Hancock 22, 5 Chris Holder 22, 6 Martin Smolinski 22, 7 Darcy Ward 21, 8 Fredrik Lindgren 18, 9 Andreas Jonsson 17, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 16, 11 Kenneth Bjerre 15, 12 Tai Woffinden 12, 13 Matej Zagar 12, 14 Troy Batchelor 8, 15 Adrian Miedzinski, 16 Chris Harris, 17 Jason Bunyan.

BYDGOSZCZ SCORES: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 18, 2 Darcy Ward 16, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 14, 4 Greg Hancock 16, 5 Chris Holder 11, 6 Andreas Jonsson 10, 7 Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, 8 Martin Smolinski 7, 9 Matej Zagar 6, 10 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 11 Tai Woffinden 5, 12 Nicki Pedersen 5, 13 Fredrik Lindgren 5, 14 Troy Batchelor 4, 15 Kenneth Bjerre 4, 16 Chris Harris 2, 17 Szymon Wozniak DNR, 18 Pawel Przedpelski DNR.