The Czech Republic Grand Prix is famously a pretty good way of predicting who wins the Speedway GP title and if that’s the case then it won’t be leaving Tai Woffinden’s trophy cabinet this year.
Tai won his first ever SGP event at the Marketa Stadium last year and went on to lift the big one, and he will hope that he does the same come October after repeating his performance with a killer night a year later.
Just five weeks ago Woffinden left Round Two in Bydgoszcz searching for answers after a couple of tough events, three weeks later he looked to have found most of them in Finland and this weekend it all came together perfectly.
He made a textbook start in the final from gate two which powered him to the front and left the other three finalists chewing dirt with nothing but a view of his back wheel - all the way to the chequered flag.
Woffy was one happy man after securing his second GP win, he said: ”It was a great night for me. I made starts and I worked hard. The rut I was in at the start of the season was pretty deep, I’ve never worked so hard to get out of it.
"I'm out of it now, but I need to keep building and get faster and faster. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.
"I didn't expect to be leading at this point but the points at the moment are so close. We've still got a long way to go, though. I can't count my chickens before they've hatched. I'll keep pushing hard, working hard and make things right.”
The man with the best view of Tai was double world champion Greg Hancock who took his place on the steps for the first time in 2014 after some near misses. GH was on the receiving end of a pretty tough move by Nicki Pedersen in an earlier race and when he got the chance to return the favour he did, bringing home the silver.
The battle at the top of the GP standings is now as close as it’s ever been and it’s dominated by men rockin’ the claw.
Tai and Greg sit joint top of the standings on 46 points each but breathing right down their necks is probably the unluckiest man in Prague - Darcy Ward.
The Aussie speedster put on an absolute masterclass in the qualifying races to win all five but somehow he found himself in third place in the semi and his night was over, but he took 16 points and sits in overall third on 45.
If that isn’t enough 2012 champ Chris Holder is only six back but lies in seventh, which shows how close this year’s title fight is. So far we’ve seen some nerve-shredding, heart-thumping, bar-to-bar action and we’re only four rounds into the series.
The battle is only going to intensify as the tour heads to Malilla, Sweden in two weeks time where the G&B Arena plays host to the craziest sport on two wheels.
Czech Republic Grand Prix Result
1 - Tai Woffinden (18 points)2 - Greg Hancock (12 points)3 - Matej Zagar (16 points)4 - Nicki Pedersen (10 points)
Speedway Grand Prix Top Eight
1 - Tai Woffinden (46 points)2 - Greg Hancock (46 points)3 - Darcy Ward (45 points)4 - Nicki Pedersen (44 points)5 - Matej Zagar (43 points)6 - Krzysztof Kasprzak (42 points)7 - Chris Holder (40 points)8 - Freddie Lindgren (38 points)
