It takes something special to win a world championship, but three? That puts you in a very exclusive club and Greg Hancock is the newest member.
The American star clinched world title number three over the weekend in Torun, Poland with a typically awesome display in front of 18,000 frenzied speedway fans.
Greg knew that 10 points would see him crowned champ again, 14 years since his first coronation, but he beat title rival Krzysztof Kasprzak in his second race and that meant it was his for the taking in his third.
He duly obliged by securing the two points he needed and that confirmed the win, sending the Torun Motoarena into raptors as one of the sport’s most popular racers smiled in disbelief.
He’s known for his famous grin but it got even wider and he told us: “It’s pretty hard to describe, it’s still sinking in.
“What a year, it just got better and better! New Zealand was a roll of the dice and I went in overconfident, so after that we just went back to basics and started building again.
“The momentum kept building, obviously the injury slowed that down but I got back riding again and now I’m the Champ. Unreal. What a feeling.”
The meeting itself was won by Krzysztof Kasprzak, who took overall silver, and Nicki Pedersen beat Tai Woffinden in a race-off for the bronze medal. Chris Holder had a nightmare season for injuries but he showed how good he is by finishing in seventh, and he’ll be back to challenge GH next year. The night, and season, belonged to Greg though. At 44 years of age he put together a dream year and now he is a three-time world speedway champion. We’ll drink to that.
Torun Speedway Grand Prix Result
1 – Krzysztof Kasprzak (17 points)2 – Andreas Jonsson (17 points)3 – Jarek Hampel (11 points)4 – Nicki Pedersen (14 points)
Series Standings
1 – Greg Hancock (140 points)2 – Krzysztof Kasprzak (132 points)3 – Nicki Pedersen (121 points)4 – Tai Woffinden(121 points)5 – Matej Zagar (114 points)6 - Andreas Jonsson (103 points)7 – Chris Holder (100 points)8 – Jarek Hampel (98 points)9 – Troy Batchelor(91 points)10 – Freddie Lindgren (90 points)11 – Niels-Kristian Iversen (87 points)12 – Martin Smolinski (81 points)13 – Kenneth Bjerre (79 points)14 – Darcy Ward (75points)15 – Chris Harris (48 points)
