OLLOB TOP OF THE POLES
World No.2 Tomasz Gollob stormed to the top of the World Championship after leading a sensational Polish 1-2-3 in the FIM Torun Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on Saturday night.
The Gorzow and Vastervik star romped to an incredible 24-point maximum after going unbeaten in seven rides at the Marian Rose Motoarena.
An explosive home crowd also saw Norwegian-born Polish international Rune Holta join him on the podium as runner-up, while SGP title challenger Jaroslaw Hampel claimed the bronze medal.
Gollob now leads Hampel by three points at the top of the standings, while Holta stormed up to fifth place on 48 points.
It has been 37 years since a Pole was last crowned world individual champion. But Gollob feels he is in the form of his life and is ready to realise his dream of becoming No.1.
He said: “I’m very happy tonight; that was absolutely fantastic. Congratulations to Rune and Jarek because that last heat was very hard. Getting maximum points is great for me and now I am in first position.
“It’s going to be hard work in the next six GPs. But I was in good form tonight. I was always having a fantastic race with the bikes.
“I think I may be strong for the next six rounds of the GP. This year my dream is to be the world champion. The 2010 world champion will be Polish – me or Jarek.”
Reigning world champion Jason Crump closed the gap on the series’ top three after reaching the final. His 15-point haul leaves him in fourth spot, but just one point behind Danish hotshot Kenneth Bjerre in third.
While the inaugural Torun SGP will go down in Polish speedway history, Torun fans will not have enjoyed an horrific spill for their Australian star Chris Holder in heat 14.
The Poole and Lejonen man lost control going into turn three, failed to correct his move and was sent sprawling across Greg Hancock’s path.
The American’s footrest clipped Holder’s arm and the 22-year-old was left in agony on the shale. Initial reports suggested he had broken his arm, but he was hopeful it was just muscle damage and was set to undergo x-rays.
Polish track reserve Artur Mroczka was also involved in a heavy crash after he lost control and collected Magnus Zetterstrom, when he replaced Holder in heat 20.
The Grudziadz and Poole man aggravated an existing ankle problem, but is determined to ride through the pain barrier in the coming weeks.
There was better news for British starlet Tai Woffinden, who reached his first ever SGP semi-final after accruing seven points from his five rides.
The Wolves skipper claimed a brilliant race win over Piotr Protasiewicz and Hans Andersen in heat 16 and bagged two second spots. But he found Gollob, Hampel and Nicki Pedersen a little too hot to handle in the semis.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tomasz Gollob 78, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 75, 3 Kenneth Bjerre 59, 4 Jason Crump 58, 5 Rune Holta 48, 6 Andreas Jonsson 46, 7 Hans Andersen 46, 8 Nicki Pedersen 44, 9 Chris Holder 41, 10 Magnus Zetterstrom 37, 11 Chris Harris 36, 12 Greg Hancock 34, 13 Freddie Lindgren 33, 14 Emil Sayfutdinov 27, 15 Tai Woffinden 22, 16 Janusz Kolodziej 12, 17 Adrian Miedzinski 6, 18 Antonio Lindback 6, 19 Piotr Protasiewicz 5, 20 Matej Kus 3, 21 Leon Madsen 3, 22 Nicolai Klindt 1.
HEAT SCORERS:Tomasz Gollob (3-3-3-3-3) 15Jason Crump (3-2-3-2-3) 13Rune Holta (3-3-2-3-1) 12Jaroslaw Hampel (3-3-1-3-1) 11Hans Andersen (1-2-2-1-2) 8Tai Woffinden (2-0-0-3-2) 7Nicki Pedersen (X-1-2-2-2) 7Adrian Miedzinski (2-1-0-X-3) 6-----------------------------------------------Chris Holder (1-2-3-X-N) 6Magnus Zetterstrom (1-0-3-1-1) 6Freddie Lindgren (1-2-1-0-2) 6Greg Hancock (2-1-2-1-0) 6Piotr Protasiewicz (0-0-0-2-3) 5Chris Harris (2-1-0-1-1) 5Kenneth Bjerre (0-3-1-0-0) 4Andreas Jonsson (0-0-1-2-0) 3
Artur Mroczka (X) 0Maciej Janowski (-) 0Referee: Frank Ziegler (Germany)
Semi-Final 1: Gollob, Hampel, Pedersen, Woffinden.Semi-Final 2: Holta, Crump, Andersen, Miedzinski.Final: Gollob, Holta, Hampel, Crump.
