REIGNING World and British Speedway Champion Tai Woffinden is hoping the winning set-up from his stunning Grand Prix glory at the weekend will do the trick in tonight’s British Final at Wolverhampton.
Woffinden romped to victory in the Swedish FIM Speedway Grand Prix at the D&G Arena in Malilla on Saturday with a sweet swoop around the legendary Greg Hancock.He now leads the world championship by a point over Hancock with seven rounds remaining.
And he’s desperate to hold on to his national title on home shale at Monmore Green tonight.
A jubilant Woffinden said: "I'm so pleased with the win, it's not one of my favourite tracks at Malilla but things just went really well for me."Things haven't been going so well for me with Wolverhampton, my form in England hasn't been good enough and I'm fully aware of that.
"I decided straight away to take the Malilla engine back because I've got so much confidence in that one engine and hopefully I can make it happen."I know I'm not doing well in England but it's my home track at Wolverhampton and I'm keen to stay as British Champion.
"It meant so much to me to win the title last season and I'm desperate to hang onto it."
Woffinden admits the win in Malilla was a massive moment in his career."It's the first time I've won a GP away from Prague and it means so much to me," he said."I just felt better and better as the night went on and in the final I managed to time my move to pass Greg which was perfect.
"I knew I had good speed all night and I had to just stay sensible. It's hard work at Malilla because it's big and fast. It's a great track with good racing and we saw that."And Woffinden admits he is more relaxed than ever in the defence of his world crown.He said: "I'm feeling super-chilled because I've been in this position before, only last year."Relaxed, but determined at the same time. It's almost like last year was good because I was only expecting to challenge for the top eight - and this year I made such a bad start but things have turned around for me.
"I'm not feeling pressure apart from what I place on myself - I will just keep racing hard and see what I can achieve."It's nice to be leading the world championship at this stage but we have a long way to go and anything can happen. Greg is a point behind and the other guys aren't far off. It's all good."
