Polish racer Maciej Janowski was elated with “an amazing night” in Horsens as he won the Kjærgaard Danish FIM Speedway Grand Prix for the second straight season.
Aussie icon Jason Doyle rode through the pain barrier to an extraordinary fourth place to edge ahead of Dudek at the top of the World Championship – just five days after he underwent surgery on a broken foot.
But it was Janowski who got the victory and the Wroclaw-born racer was delighted to push his way into the podium positions, as he went third in the standings on 58 points.
He said: “It was an amazing night. It doesn’t matter where you are, but this is the second time it has happened in Denmark. I’m so happy.
“This was a really tough night. It’s a very small track and there’s not enough room for everyone. You need to be smart and lucky also. Everything worked well for me today – my team, everything. I am happy.
“Points are the most important thing. That was a good kick going into the next half of the season.”
Janowski admits his years of racing in the British leagues, where he won three Elite League titles in a row with Poole between 2013 and 2015, paid dividends as he mastered Horsens once again.
“I have some experience on the small tracks from racing in Britain,” he said. “Sometimes I have two crashes and two points on them! But Britain was a good school for me.
“That’s the way for a lot of young riders to learn. It’s hard to get the experience you get there anywhere else.”
Janowski’s next SGP date comes in Cardiff, when he heads to the Principality Stadium for the Adrian Flux British SGP on July 22.
But first, he’s hoping to be part of Poland’s team for the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup Final at Leszno on July 8.
The Poles are rated as red-and-white-hot favourites to win gold and the weight of expectation on home shale could be a burden for some, but not for Magic.
He said: “There’s no pressure. We’ll just have fun like today and that’s the best way. If you start thinking too much about things, it’s not good for you. I’m really happy to ride speedway, I’m really enjoying it and that’s the most important thing. Everything around it … I don’t care!”
Sayfutdinov worked wonders to get to Horsens in time for action after a hold-up on the motorway in Germany saw him and his team stranded for two and a half hours. So he was more than happy with his first SGP podium since he finished third at the 2013 Italian SGP.
The Salavat-born racer, now sixth in the World Championship on 47 points, said: “After my third race, it went really well. I won my last two heats and I was last in the semi, but I passed Lindback and Zagar.
“I got into the final and I am really happy to be on the podium. I’d just like to say thanks to my team. We have really worked hard. With that hard work, we got to the final.
“We scored some important points today. I’m going up in the standings and I am really happy.”
Dudek is still level on 65 points with Doyle at the top of the World Championship, with only the Aussie star’s 2016 ranking keeping the Pole out of first place. But he’s not too concerned about the standings at this stage as he bids to keep piling up the points.
He said: “It doesn’t matter for me now. For me, I just want to score points through the whole series. When I have the podiums, it’s great. Sometimes I won’t. What’s most important is my score.”
Dudek admits he had to get to grips with the tight, 272-metre Horsens track fast, having rarely raced on such small circuits.
He said: “The track here had tight corners and for me, that’s not normal. Tracks in Poland are so big. But that doesn’t matter. I had third place.”
The SGP series now takes a break for the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup, which launches with Event 1 at King’s Lynn next Saturday, featuring hosts Great Britain, Australia, Czech Republic and the USA.
The action then switches to Vastervik as Sweden stages Event 2, with the home side facing Denmark, Russia and the winner of tomorrow’s qualifying round between Latvia, Germany, France and Italy in Riga.
The winners of each event join Poland in the Monster Energy SWC Final at Leszno on July 8, with the second and third-placed sides contesting the Race Off at the Alfred Smoczyk Stadium on July 7 for the last spot in the Final.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Jason Doyle 65, 2 Patryk Dudek 65, 3 Maciej Janowski 58, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 51, 5 Tai Woffinden 48, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 47, 7 Greg Hancock 45, 8 Martin Vaculik 45, 9 Piotr Pawlicki 43, 10 Bartosz Zmarzlik 39, 11 Matej Zagar 36, 12 Chris Holder 34, 13 Niels-Kristian Iversen 31, 14 Antonio Lindback 29, 15 Vaclav Milik 13, 16 Peter Kildemand 12, 17 Nicki Pedersen 8, 18 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 19 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 20 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 21 Nick Skorja 1.
KJÆRGAARD DANISH SGP SCORES: 1 Maciej Janowski 17, 2 Emil Sayfutdinov 14, 3 Patryk Dudek 14, 4 Jason Doyle 15, 5 Matej Zagar 11, 6 Tai Woffinden 11, 7 Antonio Lindback 8, 8 Fredrik Lindgren 8, 9 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 10 Greg Hancock 7, 11 Bartosz Zmarzlik 7, 12 Chris Holder 7, 13 Piotr Pawlicki 4, 14 Peter Kildemand 3, 15 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3, 16 Martin Vaculik 1, 17 Andreas Lyager Hansen DNR, 18 Frederik Jakobsen DNR.
