BRITISH hero Tai Woffinden extended his lead at the top of the World Championship standings despite narrowly missing out on a rostrum spot in the British Grand Prix.
Woffinden bagged 15 points with an impressive display in the showpiece event in Cardiff – and although he was left trailing in the decisive race he still left the fourth round of the series 12 points clear of his nearest rival Nicki Pedersen.After a last place in his opening ride, Woffinden reeled off five dominant wins including a composed semi-final triumph to ignite hopes of becoming the first British winner at the event since Chris Harris in 2007.However, it was not to be as King’s Lynn star Niels-Kristian Iversen brilliantly blasted around Chris Holder to hit the front and claim a well-deserved victory ahead of the popular Australian, whilst Peter Kildemand edged third place ahead of Woffinden.Although he missed out on victory in the final race, Woffinden was nonetheless delighted with another superb performance to enhance his chances of becoming Britain’s first two-time World Champion since Peter Craven in 1962.Said Woffinden: “It doesn’t really matter too much about the final, I scored as many points as I needed to and extended my lead in the Championship.“It obviously would have been nice to win the meeting, but I did what I had to do – I scored plenty of points and points make prizes.“I’ll take that forward now, I’m feeling good about things and I’m in a good position so I’ll just keep working hard and hopefully it will pay off at the end of the season.” Woffinden also reserved special praise for the British supporters who he says left him with “goosebumps” after giving him a rapturous reception. He commented: “The reception I received was just amazing, it gave me goosebumps when I came out onto the track.“Every single time I was out there the noise the fans made was just incredible, and it was an unbelievable feeling.” Meanwhile, wildcard Craig Cook put in a creditable performance against the world’s best. He started his night with a sensational win over Chris Holder, Greg Hancock and Maciej Janowski before ending on seven hard-fought points, agonisingly short of the semi-finals.Chris Harris endured a tough night, scoring five points from his five rides with the highlight a determined second place in the final qualifying heat. Reserve duo Jason Garrity and Robert Lambert also saw the track, with an awkward fall for Troy Batchelor which saw him withdraw handing Garrity a ride in heat 17 before Andreas Jonsson touched the tapes in the same heat. When the race finally got underway, the young duo became embroiled in a tense battle for third place with Garrity eventually excluded after taking down Lambert on the final bend.It was nonetheless a superb experience for both youngsters as they made their introduction on the world stage.
BRITISH GRAND PRIX, CardiffNiels-Kristian Iversen 14 (1st), Chris Holder 18 (2nd), Peter Kildemand 12 (3rd), Tai Woffinden 15 (4th), Greg Hancock 12, Matej Zagar 10, Nicki Pedersen 9, Michael Jepsen Jensen 8, Craig Cook 7, Jason Doyle 7, Tomas H Jonasson 7, Chris Harris 5, Troy Batchelor 4, Krzysztof Kasprzak 4, Maciej Janowski 3, Andreas Jonsson 2, Robert Lambert (res) 1, Jason Garrity (res) 0.
STANDINGS: Tai Woffinden 55, Nicki Pedersen 43, Greg Hancock 39, Niels-Kristian Iversen 35, Matej Zagar 34, Chris Holder 31, Jarek Hampel 31, Jason Doyle 29, Michael Jepsen Jensen 27, Andreas Jonsson 26, Maciej Janowski 26, Chris Harris 23, Krzysztof Kasprzak 21, Troy Batchelor 17, Tomas H Jonasson 16, Peter Kildemand 12.
