Maciej Janowski’s golden spell continued as he created history at the Adrian Flux British FIM Speedway Grand Prix.
‘Magic’ became Cardiff’s first Polish winner as he secured back-to-back GP triumphs – successes which were sandwiched between helping his country win the 2017 World Cup.
The 25-year-old finished ahead of world championship leader Jason Doyle, Matej Zagar and Bartosz Zmarzlik in Saturday’s final. But while the Pole’s success was enough to move him to within three points of the man he crossed the line in front of, Janowski admits he’s not getting carried away by thoughts of a prolonged world title tilt.
- Maciej Janowski celebrates winning the 2017 British GP (Credit SpeedwayGP.com)
“I think we’ll all try and win it (the title),” the former Poole Pirates rider told SpeedwayGP.com.
“But we still have six rounds to finish. Maybe someone else will fight for the gold in the end? All I know is I’m working hard at the moment and I’ll work even harder.
“We’ll see what happens next. We all know how it is in speedway. We can be so confident, but I need to stay focused and keep working hard. For now everything works. I need to keep that up and work a bit harder.”
Doyle, who finished second in Wales despite suffering a slow start to the meeting, now has a three-point cushion over Janowski and Patryk Dudek with a dozen rounds to go.
The Polish pair hold a 17-point advantage over the man in fourth, Swede Freddie Lindgren.
It was a disappointing night for two-time world champion Tai Woffinden who failed to reach the semi-finals after scoring nine points.
Fellow Brits Craig Cook, the wildcard, and track reserves Adam Ellis and Josh Bates, especially, showed glimpses of their talent but endured mixed results under the roof at the Principality Stadium. Cook and Bates scored two points while Ellis failed to register.
- The tapes come up on another memorable heat in Cardiff (Credit SpeedwayGP.com)
The quartet will be hoping for better fortunes – if they are involved – in 2018 when the British showcase returns to the Welsh capital on July 21.
In the meantime, Woffinden will aim to close the gap on this year’s top three when the 2017 series continues in Malilla, Sweden on August 12.
Adrian Flux British SGP scores: 1 Maciej Janowski 17 points, 2 Jason Doyle 13, 3 Matej Zagar 12, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 16, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 11, 6 Peter Kildemand 10, 7 Patryk Dudek 10, 8 Chris Holder 10, 9 Tai Woffinden 9, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, 11 Freddie Lindgren 7, 12 Antonio Lindback 7, 13 Martin Vaculik 4, 14 Josh Bates 2, 15 Craig Cook 2, 16 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 17 Adam Ellis 0, 18 Greg Hancock 0
World championship standings: 1 Doyle 78, 2 Janowski 75, 3 Dudek 75, 4 Lindgren 58, 5 Sayfutdinov 58, 6 Woffinden 57, 7 Zmarzlik 55, 8 Vaculik 49, 9 Zagar 48, 10 Hancock 45, 11 Holder 44, 12 Pawlicki 44, 13 Iversen 38, 14 Lindback 36, 15 Kildemand 22, 16 Vaclav Milik 13, 17 Nicki Pedersen 8, 18 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 19 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 20 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 21 Cook 2, 22 Bates 2, 23 Nick Skorja 1