Bartosz Zmarzlik takes Speedway world championship at Revline Torun SGP
Bartosz Zmarzlik has become only the third Polish rider to win an FIM Speedway world championship, despite the best efforts of Leon Madsen at the Revline Torun SGP of Poland on 5 October.
Zmarzlik went into the season-ending round with a seven-point lead over Emil Sayfutdinov, and nine over Madsen, but maximum points from Madsen in the heats and a win in the first semi-final kept the championship alive until Zmarzlik finally clinched the 2019 championship with a win in the second semi-final of the final round. Madsen went on to complete the only 21-point maximum of the year after winning his third of the ten rounds, claiming second place in the championship in his debut season and relegating Sayfutdinov to third.
Besides Madsen overtaking Sayfutdinov, the final round saw only one other change in the top eight, with Jason Doyle moving from ninth to seventh, guaranteeing him a berth in the line-up for 2020.
Doyle scored 10 points from his heat races from a win, three seconds and a third before bowing out in the semis.
Patryk Dudek just hung on to eighth overall, staying ahead of Matej Zagar and Niels-Kristian Iversen, who have both qualified for 2020 anyway via the SGP Challenge Meeting, along with Australian Max Fricke.
Four wild card berths for next year are yet to be named, but you can expect that former world champions Tai Woffinden and Greg Hancock (if the latter wants to continue) will be among them.
FINAL STANDINGS:
1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 132
2 Leon Madsen 130
3 Emil Sayfutdinov 126
4 Fredrik Lindgren 105
5 Martin Vaculik 95
6 Maciej Janowski 87
7 Jason Doyle 84
8 Patryk Dudek 79
There was a Polish 1-2-3 finish in the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship, with winner, Maksym Drabik, joining Emil Sayfutdinov and Darcy Wardbecoming to become just the third rider in history to win the title for a second time.
Drabik came out on top after the three rounds with outgoing champion Bartosz Smektala beating Dominik Kubera in a run-off to decide second place.
Russian Gleb Chugunov won two of the three rounds to finished fourth overall.
Australian Under-21 champion Jaimon Lidsey finished on a high making the final in the last round to finish seventh in the championship.
Words Peter Baker
Pic Jarek Pabijan