Great Britain’s Tai Woffinden was over the moon to defy the bookmakers and two broken collarbones and seal the FIM Speedway World Championship at the Torun FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on Saturday.
The 23-year-old started the evening needing just six points to secure the gold medal and tallied 10 to end the season on 151. He finished the job off with a sublime victory in heat five and was aided by Torun SGP winner Adrian Miedzinski, who passed Woffy’s nearest rival Jaroslaw Hampel for second place.
But the Polish star bounced back to claim his second World Championship silver medal on 142 points, while Danish champion Niels-Kristian Iversen marked his return to the SGP series after a four-year absence with bronze, scoring 132 points.
The night belonged to Woffy, though. Despite being written off by some before the season, not to mention breaking his collarbone twice, his combination of fitness, speed and sheer determination saw him become Britain’s first world champion since Mark Loram in 2000.
"I got a wild card and I was 500/1 in January to win it. I know people who put £20 or £30 on me back in January. I think they’re going to be pretty happy."- Tai WoffindenThe delighted Scunthorpe-born star said: “It has been an amazing season. It hasn’t been an easy one, but I’ve put everything I can into my speedway this year and really made it happen.
“I’ve had two broken collarbones and I’ve come back from that fighting fit. To put in the performances I’ve been putting in all season was a great achievement.
“I got a wild card and I was 500/1 in January to win it. I know people who put £20 or £30 on me back in January. I think they’re going to be pretty happy.”
Woffinden’s title hopes suffered a setback at the Rockklassiker Scandinavian SGP on September 21, when he re-fractured the collarbone he shattered at the Fogo British SGP in Cardiff on June 1.
The Wolverhampton and Wroclaw rider bent the plate surgeons inserted after the first crash and saw his 22-point lead over Hampel slashed to 16 points at the Friends Arena.
Despite emerging as red-hot favourite over the past two months, Woffy was determined not to take his position for granted.
He said: “I’ve been saying it over and over at the last three GPs – anything can happen in speedway.
“Look at the Scandinavian GP. I was saying it the whole week and I picked up Tomasz’s back wheel in the first race and bust my collarbone again. That proved everything I said was right. I just kept level-headed and didn’t take anything for granted. I put in the hard work and hard work pays off.”
Woffinden is set to undergo surgery to repair the bone and get back to full fitness ahead of his World Championship defence in 2014.
He said: “I’ll be ready for next year. I bust my collarbone two weeks ago and I’m here racing again today.
“It is what it is and it will take me a couple more weeks to get it sorted out. They’re going to have to re-break it and put a fresh plate in because the plate I’ve got is really bent.
“I’ll get it done and when the bone is healed, we’ll take it out and I’ll be sweet to prepare for next year.”
Hampel admits Woffinden was head and shoulders above his rivals throughout the year and was content to add to the World Championship silver medal he earned in 2010.
"I have to admit Tai was miles away. He was in fabulous form in every single GP. He was racing superbly and the pace he kept from when we started the season in New Zealand until the last round was something I was very impressed with."- Jaroslaw HampelHe said: “I’m pretty happy with being world No.2. Niels was a tough competitor and we had a fierce rivalry until the very last round.
“But I have to admit Tai was miles away. He was in fabulous form in every single GP. He was racing superbly and the pace he kept from when we started the season in New Zealand until the last round was something I was very impressed with.
“Second place is a huge success. I would have liked to see myself higher, but it is a great achievement.”
Iversen was elated with bronze in a season which has also seen him retain his Danish Championship, win the GP Challenge and claim SGP wins in the Italian SGP at Terenzano and Stockholm.
He also finished above compatriot Nicki Pedersen in the standings for the first time to establish himself as Denmark’s No.1. But the 31-year-old knows he will have to work hard to stay there.
He said: “It has been a bit crazy really. I didn’t expect it before the season. I was only dreaming about it. Now I am here. It’s a wonderful.
“People are making a big deal out of me and Nicki at the moment. Of course I’m stoked to be here. But he’s always there and we have a lot of good riders in Denmark.
“You need to keep focused because there are a lot of riders who want to take my spot. I’ve got to keep focused and look forward.”
Miedzinski was elated to stand atop the SGP rostrum in his home town after blasting past Greg Hancock to win the final. The Californian claimed second on the night ahead of Hampel and Iversen.
The Polish international was gutted to see a sensational season disrupted by an horrific crash while he was racing for his country in a test match at Prague’s Marketa Stadium in May. The spill left him concussed and nursing head rib and leg injuries.
But he was happy to end 2013 on a high and hopes it will boost his bid for a permanent World Championship place.
He said: “That was a unique moment. It was a massive night for me and I tried to find the best setup. The final was a great race and it was a wonderful feeling to finish the season with a victory.
“I had a wonderful start to the season, but I had a horrible crash in May, which put me out of action. I would have loved to keep the momentum going and put myself in the elite of riders – I wanted to be in the Grand Prix. If I don’t get a wild card from the organisers, I will try to fight my way in through the qualifiers next year.”
FINAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 151, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 142, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen 132, 4 Greg Hancock 129, 5 Nicki Pedersen 121, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 114, 7 Matej Zagar 110, 8 Darcy Ward 106, 9 Tomasz Gollob 89, 10 Krzysztof Kasprzak 89, 11 Fredrik Lindgren 83, 12 Chris Holder 82, 13 Andreas Jonsson 64, 14 Martin Vaculik 62, 15 Antonio Lindback 51, 16 Leon Madsen 30, 17 Ales Dryml 16, 18 Adrian Miedzinski 15, 19 Andzejs Lebedevs 9, 20 Chris Harris 7, 21 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6, 22 Linus Sundstrom 6, 23 Bartosz Zmarzlik 6, 24 Michael Jepsen Jensen 6, 25 Fredrik Engman 4, 26 Aleksandr Conda 3, 27 Oliver Berntzon 3, 28 Josef Franc 2, 29 Peter Kildemand 2, 30 Kenni Larsen 2, 31 Nicolas Covatti 2, 32 Kim Nilsson 2, 33 Jason Bunyan 1, 34 Craig Cook 1, 35 Josh Auty 1.
TORUN SGP OF POLAND SCORES: 1 Adrian Miedzinski 15, 2 Greg Hancock 18, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 17, 4 Niels-Kristian Iversen 13, 5 Darcy Ward 13, 6 Tai Woffinden 10, 7 Krzysztof Kasprzak 9, 8 Nicki Pedersen 8, 9 Leon Madsen 7, 10 Antonio Lindback 6, 11 Martin Vaculik 6, 12 Troy Batchelor 6, 13 Andreas Jonsson 5, 14 Matej Zagar 3, 15 Fredrik Lindgren 2, 16 Ales Dryml 0, 17 Pawel Przedpelski DNR, 18 Kamil Pulczynski DNR.
