Youngest ever world speedway winner

Bartosz Zmarzlik admits he is in “dreamland” after becoming the youngest ever FIM Speedway Grand Prix winner with victory in the  Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on Saturday, August 30.

The talented 19-year-old produced the performance of his life to top the rostrum, with Matej Zagar, Krzysztof Kasprzak and Michael Jepsen Jensen filling positions 2-4.

Zmarzlik’s victory at the age of 19 years and 140 days saw him overhaul Russian racer Emil Sayfutdinov as the youngest ever SGP winner. The former world No.3 won the 2009 Czech SGP in Prague aged 19 years and 181 days.

Having won in only his third SGP appearance, Zmarzlik was elated to send his hometown fans at the Edward Jancarz Stadium into a frenzy with a famous victory.

The talented teenager, who was third in the 2012 Gorzow SGP on his World Championship debut, said: “I’m very happy. This is fantastic. I can’t believe this. “I’ve always dreamed that I could win a Grand Prix. This was my third time here and it’s my second time in the top three. I’m very happy. The people of Gorzow were here together with me and helped me. This is just a dream – that’s all I can say.”

Australians Troy Batchelor and 2012 world champion Chris Holder were eliminated at the semi-final stage of the evening, while Darcy Ward didn’t compete following his FIM suspension.

Meanwhile, world championship leader Greg Hancock and Niels-Kristian Iversen were forced out of the event following a horrifying on the back straight in heat 14. NKI lifted as he exited bend two and the pair tangled.

Hancock suffered one broken finger on his left hand with another dislocated. Iversen has suffered a suspected ligament injury and is awaiting an MRI scan to confirm the full extent of the damage.

Prior to his crash, Hancock had piled up nine points from a possible nine and now leads the standings by 14 after nearest rival, defending champion Tai Woffinden of Great Britain, was forced to withdraw on Friday due to a broken hand. Iversen drops two places to sixth.
Ward is in seventh, one spot ahead of Holder, was Batchelor is in 10th.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Greg Hancock 112, 2 Tai Woffinden 98, 3 Nicki Pedersen 93, 4 Krzysztof Kasprzak 92, 5 Matej Zagar 91, 6 Niels-Kristian Iversen 87, 7 Darcy Ward 75, 8 Chris Holder 70, 9 Fredrik Lindgren 69, 10 Troy Batchelor 66, 11 Martin Smolinski 64, 12 Jaroslaw Hampel 63, 13 Kenneth Bjerre 60, 14 Andreas Jonsson 59, 15 Chris Harris 35, 16 Michael Jepsen Jensen 31, 17 Bartosz Zmarzlik 17, 18 Peter Kildemand 15, 19 Kasts Puodzuks 10, 20 Peter Ljung 7, 21 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 22 Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, 23 Kauko Nieminen 4, 24 Andzejs Lebedevs 3, 25 Jason Bunyan 2, 26 Vaclav Milik 2, 27 Craig Cook 2, 28 Adrian Cyfer 2, 29 Lukasz Kaczmarek 2.

GORZOW SGP SCORES: 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 17, 2 Matej Zagar 16, 3 Krzysztof Kasprzak 16, 4 Michael Jepsen Jensen 14, 5 Kenneth Bjerre 10, 6 Greg Hancock 9, 7 Chris Holder 9, 8 Troy Batchelor 9, 9 Nicki Pedersen 7, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, 11 Chris Harris 6, 12 Fredrik Lindgren 6, 13 Martin Smolinski 5, 14 Andreas Jonsson 4, 15 Adrian Cyfer 2, 16 Lukasz Kaczmarek 2, 17 Jaroslaw Hampel 0, 18 Tai Woffinden DNR.