Danish champion Niels-Kristian Iversen admits it would be “a dream come true” if he could secure a World Championship medal after storming to Rockklassiker Scandinavian FIM Speedway Grand Prix glory in Stockholm on Saturday.
The Esbjerg-born rider won the dramatic first-ever speedway meeting at the Friends Arena ahead of Poland’s Jaroslaw Hampel, Slovenian star Matej Zagar and American icon Greg Hancock.
The event saw World Championship leader Tai Woffinden of Great Britain re-break to the collarbone he shattered at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on June 1 when he crashed with Polish legend Tomasz Gollob in heat two.
Woffy, who is six points away from becoming world champion, faces an operation in Derby on Sunday evening to repair the damage, while Gollob was taken to hospital and will undergo an MRI scan to assess his injuries.
The World Championship race may not have been settled in Stockholm, but Iversen made a sensational surge into the bronze medal position with an awesome 18-point haul. He moved on to 119 points, while Nicki Pedersen is six points behind on 113 ahead of the season-closing Torun SGP of Poland on October 5.
Iversen has established himself as one of the most consistent riders in world speedway over the past two seasons. After adding his Stockholm success to his Italian SGP win, Puk would love to crown a fine season with a top three finish.
He said: “If I could pick up a medal, it would be a dream come true. It’s something I have always dreamt about. To do that would just be amazing. I maxed out tonight after my first heat when I hit the tapes and to do that at this level is just insane. I can’t really describe it.
“I almost don’t know what to say really. I can’t believe it went that well. I didn’t make the best of starts at the beginning and had to make a few passes. It just went better as the night went on. My starts were better, my speed was better – it was perfect.
“There is still a lot of work to get that medal and there are some guys who want to do it as much as I do. I’ve got to stay focused. I’m not looking at it as needing to defend something in Torun – I need to attack it. I need to score all the points I can.”
Iversen has never finished above the 12th place he achieved in the 2008 World Championship, but has transformed himself from a solid international into one of the sport’s big-hitters over the past few seasons. The King’s Lynn, Esbjerg, Indianerna and Gorzow rider admits small changes have led to a big transformation in his fortunes.
He said: “If you look where I was three years ago, it’s like night and day. Everything has changed since then. I’m completely different as a rider and I make different preparations.
“I know what I’ve done to be here and that’s a good feeling. I know it hasn’t just happened for nothing – I know I’ve worked hard for it and I know what I have to do to stay here. I think that’s more important than actually being here.
“It’s many different small things. There was a big transformation last year from 2011 to 2012. I’ve established myself as a great rider in the leagues. It’s about my training, it’s food, my diet, the way I work with my engine tuner – all these small things have tipped in together to create a big thing.
“There is a fine line between winning and losing in speedway and you need to focus on the small things. Everything is in the small details and Woffinden is a completely different rider from what he was last year. He has been working on small things as well and it works.”
Woffinden raced heroically through the pain barrier to bag seven points and fall just a point short of the semi-finals. He only needs six points in Torun to secure the World Championship with Hampel 16 points adrift of him in second spot.
First he must return to the UK to undergo collarbone surgery as he faces a race against time to be fit for the Marian Rose Motoarena showdown in two weeks. But he pledged to do everything possible to become Britain’s first world champ for 13 years.
He said: “I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s broken. The pain is ridiculous. But it’s alright. I’ve got a two-week break now and I’m going to have an operation on Sunday night in Derby. Cheers to Jamie Dobbs for sorting that out for me.
“It is what it is. It has been a long old season and you’ve heard a lot of national anthems. But the last national anthem you hear is the one that counts. In a fortnight’s time, you’re going to hear mine.”
Hampel is ready to keep Woffinden under pressure in Torun and was delighted to leave the Friends Arena with a bronze medal and 13 points after an up and down evening.
“I’ll try to keep going in the last round,” he said. “This is all I can say. Third place is really good tonight because I didn’t start so well from the beginning. I didn’t feel comfortable on the track and I had some trouble with my bike. But I finished third and I can be happy now.”
Second-placed Matej Zagar was pleased to follow up his silver medal in the Moldow Danish SGP in Copenhagen with another storming display in Scandinavia.
The Ljubljana-born star said: “Scandinavia has been pretty good this year for me. Another second place is okay. I’m pretty confident about staying in the top eight. Everything went well in Stockholm and my form is good, so I’m happy I am making progress.”
The FIM Speedway Grand Prix series returns to the Friends Arena on September 27, 2014 on the back of a stunning attendance of 24,812 on the sport’s debut appearance in Sweden’s new national stadium.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 141, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 125, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen 119, 4 Emil Sayfutdinov 114, 5 Nicki Pedersen 113, 6 Greg Hancock 111, 7 Matej Zagar 107, 8 Darcy Ward 93, 9 Tomasz Gollob 89, 10 Chris Holder 82, 11 Fredrik Lindgren 81, 12 Krzysztof Kasprzak 80, 13 Andreas Jonsson 59, 14 Martin Vaculik 56, 15 Antonio Lindback 45, 16 Leon Madsen 23, 17 Ales Dryml 16, 18 Andzejs Lebedevs 9, 19 Chris Harris 7, 20 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6, 21 Linus Sundstrom 6, 22 Bartosz Zmarzlik 6, 23 Michael Jepsen Jensen 6, 24 Fredrik Engman 4, 25 Aleksandr Conda 3, 26 Oliver Berntzon 3, 27 Josef Franc 2, 28 Peter Kildemand 2, 29 Kenni Larsen 2, 30 Nicolas Covatti 2, 31 Kim Nilsson 2, 32 Jason Bunyan 1, 33 Craig Cook 1, 34 Josh Auty 1.
ROCKKLASSIKER SCANDINAVIAN SGP SCORES: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen 18, 2 Matej Zagar 15, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 13, 4 Greg Hancock 13, 5 Darcy Ward 15, 6 Krzysztof Kasprzak 10, 7 Andreas Jonsson 10, 8 Leon Madsen 9, 9 Fredrik Lindgren 8, 10 Tai Woffinden 7, 11 Nicki Pedersen 5, 12 Fredrik Engman 4, 13 Antonio Lindback 3, 14 Ales Dryml 3, 15 Oliver Berntzon 3, 16 Kim Nilsson 2, 17 Martin Vaculik 0, 18 Tomasz Gollob 0.
