There are two Aussies in the top three after two rounds of the 2024 Speedway Grand Prix series.
The 2024 Speedway Grand Prix series has so far produced three different winners from as many rounds as Australians Jack Holder and Jason Doyle are well and truly on the pace.
Holder’s first SGP win was followed by Doyle winning in Poland on 11 May for his first round win since he wrapped up the 2017 World Championship before Dane Mikkel Michelsen scored his first ever victory in Germany on 18 May.
So far no wins for Bartosz Zmarzlik, but the four-time champion sits atop the 2024 standings as he has been the only rider to qualify for all three finals.
In front of a capacity crowd in Warsaw, Doyle was beaten only once in five heats then making a smart choice in gate position on his way to cleaning up the semi and final.
Doyle headed Robert Lambert (nine) in the first semi with Holder (10 from two wins, a second, two thirds) only denied second place by a whisker as Kai Huckenbeck was out after a heavy tumble at the first corner, before Zmarzlik (10) beat Martin Vaculik (12), Dan Bewley (eight) and early leader Szymon Wozniac (nine) in the other.
Jason Doyle celebrates with a wheelie
In the final Doyle held off Zmarzlik with Lambert and Vaculik adrift.
Even in victory, Doyle copped his ‘usual’ warning at the start in the only race he lost and he also ended up on the deck, twice actually, the first time when he crashed doing a celebratory wheelie and the second off the air fence as he celebrated with his team!
At Landshut in Germany, Doyle picked up where he had left off the previous week with two wins, a second and a third, and a start warning, before bike problems in his last heat left him on nine points. Holder matched that score and will take heart from producing a crucial win in his last heat after two seconds and two thirds.
Doyle failed to finish the first semi as Zmarzlik (12) won while Michelsen (10) just beat Madsen (nine). Holder then produced only the second race win of the night beating Dominic Kubera (11), Lambert (10) and Bewley (11).
Michelsen led all the way in the final with Zmarzlik grabbing second with Holder again denied by the smallest of margins as Kubera trailed.
The next round is the GP of Czech Republic at Prague on 1 June.
WORDS: PETER BAKER
SGP STANDINGS AFTER 2 of 11 ROUNDS
1 B Zmarzlik POL 50
2 J Holder AUS 48
3 J Doyle AUS 47
4 R Lambert GB 41
5 M Michelsen DEN 36