Tai is so close to a place in history
Tai Woffinden took a giant stride towards an historic third Speedway World Championship title with victory at the German SGP in Teterow.
The Wolves asset topped the podium at the Bergring Arena ahead of reigning champion Jason Doyle and closest rival Bartosz Zmarzlik to stretch his lead to 10 points ahead of the season-ending Torun SGP in Poland on October 6.
That means a 12-point haul for Woffinden that night will make him Britain’s first ever triple world champion, regardless of what Zmarzlik does.
He said: “I think I’ve had three or four GPs, where I wouldn’t say I have been struggling a little bit, but I was just not on my day.
“But it’s the business end of the season now and I mean business. I’ve proved that and I’m ready to go to Torun in two weeks and lift that trophy.
“It was about making sure I didn’t lose a lead or I could extend it. I extended it by one point, so it’s job done. I can go home, relax and focus on two weeks’ time.”
Woffinden had seen his significant lead cut to nine points at the Slovenian SGP last time out when he only managed five points.
But his 16-point haul was topped off by beating Doyle and Zmarlik off the line in the final, leaving him to stand atop his bike and drink in the applause before celebrating with the customary champagne spray on the podium.
Despite falling back in the title race by a point, Zmarzlik was content with his night’s work – not least after a dramatic improvement on the two points he scored in Teterow last year.
He said: “Today was not so bad. I am happy because I scored 15 points and it wasn’t such a bad result.
“All the time I remember last year here – I only scored two points. This was a little bit better and I am happy because I stayed in the top two.”
Woffinden’s fellow former Wolves title winner Freddie Lindgren scored eight points on the night and is level in third with Maciej Janowski, some 26 points off the pace.
Standings: 1 Tai Woffinden 124, 2 Bartosz Zmarzlik 114, 3 Maciej Janowski 98, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 98, 5 Greg Hancock 93, 6 Jason Doyle 86, 7 Patryk Dudek 84, 8 Emil Sayfutdinov 78, 9 Artem Laguta 77, 10 Matej Zagar 73, 11 Nicki Pedersen 67, 12 Chris Holder 60, 13 Martin Vaculik 44, 14 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 35, 15 Craig Cook 30, 16 Niels-Kristian Iversen 26, 17 Szymon Wozniak 8, 18 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7, 19 Andreas Jonsson 7, 20 Vaclav Milik 6, 21 Peter Ljung 5, 22 Michael Jepsen Jensen 4, 23 Oliver Berntzon 3, 24 Kevin Wolbert 3, 25 Maksym Drabik 2, 26 Kai Huckenbeck 2, 27 Bartosz Smektala 2, 28 Robert Lambert 1, 29 Mikkel Michelsen 1, 30 Martin Smolinski 1, 31 Joel Kling 1.
