Gorzow FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland winner Jaroslaw Hampel says he rode the wave of Polish passion around the Edward Jancarz Stadium as he bagged his maiden SGP victory on home shale.
Hampel claimed his second gold medal of the season on Saturday to add to the one he collected at the Buckley Systems New Zealand SGP in Auckland on March 31.
The Lodz-born rider stormed past world champion Chris Holder when he lifted on the back straight during the first lap.
And Hampel promptly pulled clear to take the chequered flag ahead of the Sydneysider and British hero Tai Woffinden, who produced a miraculous performance to achieve third just 12 days after undergoing surgery to plate and screw the collarbone he shattered at the Fogo British SGP in Cardiff on June 1.
Hampel was a popular winner, despite triumphing at the home of his Polish Ekstraliga club Zielona Goras arch-rivals.
The 31-year-old was delighted to celebrate his fourth SGP victory in front of such a partisan crowd and admits he could feel the buzz from the stands as he seized the initiative in the final.
He said: It was my first Grand Prix win in Poland and what can I say? It was an amazing feeling. We had thousands of people in the stadium and the crowd was really wild when I started in the final.
When I got in front, I felt all the people stand up around me and that was really cool.
Hampel started the night with just a point from his opening two rides. But he scored seven in his next three heats to edge into the semis on countback with eight points.
He then led Holder, Krzysztof Kasprzak and Niels-Kristian Iversen in his last-eight battle and was pleased he was well placed to take advantage of a slip from the Aussie racer in the final, after Holder picked up drive and lifted following a sublime start.
The Polish international added: I had a pretty quick bike before the final and its really important to take your chance if it comes. I did that when I raced behind Chris very closely. When he made that mistake, I tried to take my chance and go for it.
Early in the meeting, it was very tough and it was a shame I couldnt race better from the beginning. I made the wrong choice between the lines, even when I won the start, and everybody passed me very easily. It was very important to think about the races every single time and in the end, I knew what the best line was and I took it.
Hampel is fourth in the World Championship with 66 points, but is still 18 adrift of frontrunner Emil Sayfutdinov, who exited the event at the semi-final stages with 15more points than any of his rivals achieved. He extended his lead over second-placed Woffinden from eight points to 11 at the summit.
Hampel knows Sayfutdinov is firmly in control at the halfway stage of the season. But he refuses to throw in the towel as he bids to add 2013 World Championship gold to his 2010 silver and 2011 bronze.
He said: Emil is in really good shape. Thats all I can say. He is racing great everywhere. Hes one of the favourites this year for sure. Ill try to keep going. We still have six rounds to go and I will try to build on my wins and think about the good results.
At this moment, its hard to say anything more. I need to look to the next round in Copenhagen and we will see what I can do. It feels like everything is getting better, so hopefully I can prove that.
Holder was gutted to be passed in the final for the second time this season after Sayfutdinov relieved him of first place in Gothenburg on May 4. But he was content with the silver medal.
He said: I didnt realise I rode such a good first corner in the final, but I made a little mistake. If you make half a mistake you get passed really easily. I stuffed up and Jarek was there, he passed me and took off. I didnt have the pace to catch him. He was gone. But Im happy with second. It feels good to be on the podium.
Gorzow is a tricky track and I was having a tough time getting around it, but my mechanics were awesome. They got the bike working a lot better for me and towards the end it was a bit better to get around. I was a bit faster.
Woffinden was unsure until Thursday or Friday whether he would make the trip to Gorzow after being told a crash could have left him back on the operating table to have his collarbone plate put back into place.
The Brit was hopeful of lining up in Wroclaws home meeting with Leszno in the Ekstraliga on Sunday, but is set to make a firm decision in the morning after ending the Gorzow SGP in pain.
Having undergone major surgery less than two weeks ago, he was stunned to take his place on the podium. He said: I probably wouldnt have thought it would happen. My shoulder hurts, but thats just part of it I guess. Ive just got to get over it. Im happy with what I did. I came here to score eight points and I came away with 12.
If I was 11th or 12th in the standings, I probably wouldnt have made Gorzow. But I was sitting second in the World Championship before the meeting and its hard to just let that go away.
Im really pleased with my performance and Im still sitting in second, which was my goal at the start of the day.
Next up for the SGP elite is the Moldow Danish FIM Speedway Grand Prix in Copenhagens PARKEN stadium on June 29.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 84, 2 Tai Woffinden 73, 3 Chris Holder 68, 4 Jaroslaw Hampel 66, 5 Nicki Pedersen 64, 6 Niels-Kristian Iversen 60, 7 Greg Hancock 57, 8 Tomasz Gollob 52, 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak 48, 10 Matej Zagar 48, 11 Fredrik Lindgren 47, 12 Andreas Jonsson 39, 13 Martin Vaculik 33, 14 Antonio Lindback 26, 15 Darcy Ward 25, 16 Ales Dryml 7, 17 Chris Harris 7, 18 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6, 19 Linus Sundstrom 6, 20 Bartosz Zmarzlik 6, 21 Josef Franc 2, 22 Jason Bunyan 1, 23 Craig Cook 1, 24 Josh Auty 1.
GORZOW SGP POINTS: 1 Jaroslaw Hampel 14, 2 Chris Holder 14, 3 Tai Woffinden 12, 4 Greg Hancock 12, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 15, 6 Niels-Kristian Iversen 11, 7 Krzysztof Kasprzak 10, 8 Andreas Jonsson 9, 9 Nicki Pedersen 8, 10 Fredrik Lindgren 7, 11 Matej Zagar 7, 12 Bartosz Zmarzlik 6, 13 Martin Vaculik 4, 14 Tomasz Gollob 4, 15 Antonio Lindback 3, 16 Ales Dryml 2, 17 Adrian Cyfer DNR, 18 Lukasz Cyran DNR.
