Polish icon Tomasz Gollob gave his hopes of winning a first-ever World Championship a massive boost, after topping the rostrum in the FIM Dig Deep Czech SGP on Saturday night.
Gollob left Prague’s Marketa Stadium with 17 points to his name after defeating Gorzow team mate Nicki Pedersen, fellow countryman Jaroslaw Hampel and Swedish surprise package Magnus Zetterstrom in the final.
He looked to be staring down the barrel of disappointment after taking third places his opening two outings. But he rallied with a victory in heat 12.The Polish champion then produced the move of the night to blitz around the boards and pip Andreas Jonsson to the line in race 14. A second spot behind Jason Crump in heat 19 was then enough to fire him into the semis with eight points.
Gollob was involved in the night’s major talking point in semi-final one when Jonsson fell as the world No.2 dived under him on lap one, turn three.Despite television footage showing the 39-year-old had touched the Swede, Jonsson was excluded. Gollob went on to win the re-run and take the gold.Even after a nightmare start to his meeting, the Bydgoszcz-born star’s manager Thomas Gaszynski admits Gollob never lost hope.
He said: “Tomasz is the kind of guy who will never say ‘never’. He has a never say die attitude. Even after his first two races weren’t fantastic, he always had his head up and kept drilling away.
“Making the semis is always our first priority. That’s our bare minimum. From there, it was just a matter of a little luck. He made the final with a bit of luck, and in the final, he won it.”
Despite many pundits arguing Gollob should have been excluded from the semis following his challenge on Jonsson, Gaszynski felt his rider was just fighting hard for the final places.
He added: “It was hard racing. Every heat is very hard. It was hard because there are a lot of points at stake between the semis and the final. It was hard racing and you win some, you lose some.
“I think it was fair. Tomasz didn’t touch AJ that much for him to be able to fall down. You win some, you lose some. It was our night and we’re still plugging away.”
Gollob is now just three points behind World Championship leader Kenneth Bjerre and one behind Hampel in second.
For many years he has been regarded as the greatest rider never to top the Grand Prix series rostrum. But a strong start to his 2010 campaign has left many questioning whether this could be his year.
“He has been thinking it could be his year since 1993,” Gaszynski said. “Hopefully, one of these years, we’ll finally pull it off. That’s our aim every year and that’s what we’re doing. But better sooner than later.”
A fiercely competitive night’s racing ended in disaster for Russian starlet Emil Sayfutdinov. He was taken to hospital after suffering a break to his upper left arm, when he collided with Chris Harris’ back wheel and hit the fence at full speed in heat 15.
He underwent an operation to have his arm plated and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.Track reserve Lubos Tomicek also headed for the hospital after jarring his back when replacing Sayfutdinov in race 18.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after three rounds):1 Kenneth Bjerre 42, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 40, 3 Tomasz Gollob 39, 4 Jason Crump 33, 5 Nicki Pedersen 31, 6 Andreas Jonsson 30, 7 Emil Sayfutdinov 27, 8 Chris Holder 26, 9 Greg Hancock 25, 10 Hans Andersen 24, 11 Magnus Zetterstrom 24, 12 Rune Holta 23, 13 Freddie Lindgren 19, 14 Chris Harris 18, 15 Janusz Kolodziej 12 16 Tai Woffinden 10, 17 Antonio Lindback 6, 18 Matej Kus 3.
HEAT SCORESAndreas Jonsson (3-2-3-2-3) 13Kenneth Bjerre (3-0-3-3-2) 11Jaroslaw Hampel (2-2-3-3-1) 11Magnus Zetterstrom (2-1-2-2-2) 9Nicki Pedersen (0-3-2-T-3) 8Tomasz Gollob (1-1-3-3-0) 8Hans Andersen (2-2-2-1-1) 8Jason Crump (0-1-R-3-3) 7Rune Holta (0-2-0-2-3) 7Freddie Lindgren (3-0-2-2-T) 7Chris Holder (0-3-1-1-2) 7Greg Hancock (1-3-1-1-1) 7Emil Sayfutdinov (2-3-0-X) 5Tai Woffinden (3-1-1-0-0) 5Chris Harris (1-R-0-1-2) 4Matej Kus (1-0-1-0-1) 3Lubos Tomicek (0) 0Zdenek Simota (0) 0
Semi-Final 1: (re-run) Gollob, Zetterstrom, Andersen, Jonsson (f.exc).Semi-Final 2: Hampel, Pedersen, Bjerre, Crump.Final: Gollob, Pedersen, Hampel, Zetterstrom.
