WORDS: Paul Burbidge
PICTURES: Jarek Pabijan, Chris Horne and Rafal Wlosek
CROATIAN SCORECHART
QUALIFYING SCORES Maciej Janowski ............................3 3 3 2 2 13 Bartosz Zmarzlik ............................3 1 2 3 3 12 Mikkel Michelsen ............................3 0 3 2 3 11 Leon Madsen ..................................2 2 3 1 3 11 Matej Zagar ....................................1 2 2 3 1 9 Anders Thomsen..............................T 1 2 3 2 8 Robert Lambert ..............................3 3 1 0 0 7 Jason Doyle ....................................2 3 T 0 2 7 Freddie Lindgren ............................1 2 3 0 0 6 Martin Vaculik ................................0 1 1 1 3 6 Dan Bewley ....................................1 2 0 2 1 6 Patryk Dudek ..................................1 0 1 3 0 5 Tai Woffinden ..................................0 3 0 1 1 5 Jack Holder ....................................0 0 2 1 2 5 Max Fricke ......................................2 0 0 2 1 5 Pawel Przedpelski ..........................2 1 M 0 F 3 Nick Skorja ......................................0 1 - - - 1 Dennis Fazekas ..............................0 - - - - 0 Referee: Jesper Steentoft 1 Lambert, Doyle, Dudek, Holder, 60.740 2 Zmarzlik, Przedpelski, Zagar, Vaculik, 60.553 3 Michelsen, Madsen, Lindgren, Skorja, Thomsen
CROATIAN HEATS
FINAL RESULT Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland) ................20 Maciej Janowski (Poland) ................18 Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark) ............16 Anders Thomsen (Denmark) ..............14 Leon Madsen (Denmark) ..................12 Matej Zagar (Slovenia) ......................11 Robert Lambert (Great Britain) ........10 Jason Doyle (Australia) ........................9 Freddie Lindgren (Sweden)..................8
Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) ....................7 Dan Bewley (Great Britain) ..................6 Patryk Dudek (Poland) ......................5 Tai Woffinden (Great Britain)................4 Jack Holder (Australia) ........................3 Max Fricke (Australia)..........................2 Pawel Przedpelski (Poland) ................1 Nick Skorja (Slovenia)..........................0 Dennis Fazekas (Hungary) ................0
exc. tapes), 60.564 4 Janowski, Fricke, Bewley, Woffinden, 60.731 5 Doyle, Bewley, Zmarzlik, Michelsen, 61.694 6 Lambert, Lindgren, Przedpelski, Fricke, 62.028 7 Woffinden, Zagar, Thomsen, Holder, 61.558 8 Janowski, Madsen, Vaculik, Dudek, 60.778 9 Janowski, Thomsen, Skorja, Fazekas, Przedpelski
(exc. 2 min), Doyle (exc. tapes), 62.333 10 Madsen, Zmarzlik, Lambert, Woffinden, 61.501 11 Michelsen, Holder, Vaculik, Fricke, 61.491 12 Lindgren, Zagar, Dudek, Bewley, 61.800 13 Zagar, Fricke, Madsen, Doyle, 62.998 14 Thomsen, Bewley, Vaculik, Lambert, 61.955 15 Zmarzlik, Janowski, Holder, Lindgren, 61.638 16 Dudek, Michelsen, Woffinden, Przedpelski, 61.772 17 Vaculik, Doyle, Woffinden, Lindgren, 62.942 18 Michelsen, Janowski, Zagar, Lambert, 62.733 19 Madsen, Holder, Bewley, Przedpelski (f), 62.545 20 Zmarzlik, Thomsen, Fricke, Dudek, 61.834 Semi-final:Thomsen, Janowski, Madsen, Lambert, 62.495 Semi-final: Zmarzlik, Michelsen, Zagar, Doyle, 61.585 Final:Zmarzlik, Janowski, Michelsen, Thomsen, 61.289
• A ‘garbage’ night said Tai Woffinden
GREAT Britain has three full-time representatives in the Speedway GP series for the first time since 2004 this season, and the Lions showed early promise.
Robert Lambert started the night with victory ahead of Jason Doyle in Heat 1, before holding his nerve under pressure from Freddie Lindgren to triumph in race six.
But he was unable to follow up this sublime start, taking just a point from his remaining three heats. It was still enough to get him into the semi-finals on seven, but he exited in semi one after following home Anders Thomsen, Maciej Janowski and Leon Madsen, despite a
BRIT WATCH
clever first-turn cutback to momentarily take the lead.
Lambert’s early-season form suggests he isn’t far away from reaching his first Speedway GP final, and it would be no surprise if we saw Dan Bewley in the last four too.
The Cumbrian put in a solid night’s work with two seconds and two thirds, as well as finishing ahead of meeting winner Zmarzlik in race five. Six race points converted to six championship points is a solid start and something to build on for a rider who looked very much at home in such illustrious company.
Triple World Champion Tai Woffinden pulled no punches in describing his night as “garbage” when interviewed by pits reporter Scott Nicholls.
Scoring just four points has left him with a lot to do in the title race. But having twice topped the podium in Warsaw, he will be relishing the opportunity to bounce back on May 14.
• Heat 18 gets underway, from the inside, Mikkel Michelsen, Robert Lambert, Matej
Zagar and Maciej Janowski
May 7, 2022 speedway star 23
