Russian teenager Artem Laguta stunned the speedway world by storming into the Grand Prix series for 2011 and admitted “it feels like I’m dreaming.”
The Valsarna and Daugavpils rider won the GP Challenge at Vojens on Saturday night ahead of Swedish hotshots Antonio Lindback and Freddie Lindgren, who will also take their places in the World Championship next term.
Laguta bagged a tremendous 12 points from his five heat races, before beating Lindback in a run-off for the gold medal after the Rio Rocket matched his total.
Meanwhile, current SGP star Lindgren guaranteed his place in the series for next year by winning a three-way run-off for third spot ahead of Polish international Janusz Kolodziej and Grand Prix regular Magnus Zetterstrom. The trio finished on 11 apiece.
But the night belonged to 19-year-old Laguta. He now faces a huge battle to prepare himself for the biggest season of his short career in 2011. But the Russian international is determined to fight his way into the top eight and extend his stay in the series.
He said: “I still don’t believe it – it feels like I’m dreaming. I’m going to work 100 percent in the winter for my season in the GP and I’m going to fight to stay in the top eight. I’ll be happy if I stay in the top eight.
“Now I must end this season well and we’ll think about next year in the winter. But racing against the top riders will be very hard – they don’t make mistakes.”
Laguta knew victory in heat 19 would be enough to secure his place in the World Championship, and he made a sublime leap off gate two to defeat Leon Madsen, Grzegorz Walasek and Roman Povazhny.
The young gun admits he was a bag of nerves prior to the biggest race of his life. He said: “Before the heat, I was pacing from corner to corner. I didn’t really prepare, but I just concentrated on the start. That’s all I did. There was a lot of pressure.”
Laguta may not be the only Russian in the SGP elite next year. His fellow countryman Emil Sayfutdinov is a candidate for a permanent wild card, having being forced to cut this season short due to a sprained wrist.
World No.3 Sayfutdinov will have to wait until the winter to discover his fate, but Laguta hopes to see the 20-year-old fighting alongside him.
He added: “I hope Emil will be in the GP as well and we’ll be in it together. We can help each other.”
Kolodziej will serve as SGP series first reserve for 2011, but he will be promoted into the championship full-time if Lindgren finishes in this year’s top eight.
Zetterstrom, who is also still in contention for automatic qualification, claimed the second reserve spot and Swedish Under-21 champion Thomas H Jonasson qualifies as third reserve on nine points.
British champion Chris Harris must now break into the top eight for the first time in his career to guarantee a World Championship berth for 2011. He ended his night with eight points after bagging just one from his opening two outings.
His fellow countryman Simon Stead also failed to realise his SGP dream after scoring six points.
VOJENS SCORES:Artem Laguta (3-0-3-3-3) 12+3, Antonio Lindback (1-3-3-3-2) 12+2, Freddie Lindgren (3-3-2-1-2) 11+3, Janusz Kolodziej (3-3-3-2-0) 11+2, Magnus Zetterstrom (2-3-0-3-3) 11+1, Thomas H Jonasson (2-2-1-1-3) 9, Chris Harris (0-1-2-2-3) 8, Niels Kristian Iversen (3-2-1-1-0) 7, Andrey Karpov (2-1-2-1-1) 7, Grigory Laguta (2-R-2-0-2) 6, Simon Stead (1-1-1-2-1) 6, Leon Madsen (0-0-0-3-2) 5, Roman Povazhny (R-2-3-T-0) 5, Sebastian Ulamek (1-0-1-2-0) 4, Tomasz Gapinski (0-2-0-0-1) 3, Grzegorz Walasek (1-1-0-0-1) 3, Lukas Dryml (R) 0.
