Bartosz Zmarzlik wins again at Riga Speedway GP to extend lead in championship, Tai Woffinden suffers exclusion in final
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Updated 12/08/2023 at 20:21 GMT
It was another night to remember for Bartosz Zmarzlik as the dominant Pole extended his Speedway GP lead by taking victory at the Riga GP in Latvia. Zmarzlik was once again on top form as he saw off Freddie Lindgren in the final. There was, however, heartache for Britain's Tai Woffinden as he was subject to an exclusion in the final after incurring his second warning of the night.
‘Superb stuff’ - Zmarzlik storms to victory in Speedway Grand Prix in Riga
Bartosz Zmarzlik fired to his fourth win of the season in Latvia and now has one hand firmly on the championship trophy.
Fredrik Lindgren made a magnificent start in the final but was immediately under fire from Zmarzlik. The Pole had the superior speed and made a move around the outside stick to claim the lead. Lindgren secured second to limit the damage in the title standings, but the gap is now up to a massive 22 points.
"I made many mistakes on the rides and with the set-up," Zmarzlik admitted post race. "But I found a little bit for the semi-final and final.
"I'm really happy with winning today because after some tricky heats my situation was not so perfect - the most important time is when you're in the last heats.
"I like it when the track is a little bit harder because you have more possibilities to make the bike work for you."
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‘I am very happy’ - Zmarzlik thrilled with win in Speedway Grand Prix in Riga
The debut at the narrow track of Bikernieki Stadium in Riga was incident-strewn with numerous riders involved in accidents, including Zmarzlik who was excluded from Heat 11.
Still, Zmarzlik progressed to the semi-finals, albeit as seventh in the standings. Lindgren topped the table at that point, closely followed by Tai Woffinden who looked back at his best with three heat wins to his name followed up by another in the semi-finals.
It took two restarts of the final before Zmarzlik could eventually storm to victory. The first attempt of running was cut short when the riders went three-abreast into Turn 1, resulting in Lindgren going down.
All riders lined up for the first restart and it was then that Woffinden's day turned from dream to nightmare. Rolling before the tapes went up, Woffinden received his second warning - the first one incurred in Heat 6 for the same offence - and was excluded from the race.
"It's really disappointing," Woffinden confessed. "The ruts here are super deep and you have to go really far back. Once you start dropping down them, it's really hard to stop. Anyway, no excuses - it's against the rules, I already had a warning and I'm super frustrated.
"We've been working so hard this year to get back to where I know I can be. I've probably worked harder in the last 12 months than I have done in my whole career.
"It's been challenging at times, but we've just been chipping away at it and today's been good, first final of the year, but I would have liked a run time."
Lindgren was on pace throughout the meeting and just narrowly missed out in the end, having to surrender more championship points to Zmarzlik.
"I thought I had a good chance of winning, but Bartosz is too good," he said post race. "He caught me by surprise and came very fast, I couldn't answer.
"It was a bit of survival mode. The track was rutting up pretty badly and I just wanted to stay on the bike. It was really tricky today also with the lighting - we were racing a bit earlier and had the sun in our faces. You couldn't really see where the ruts were going."
Flying under the radar for the most part, Martin Vaculik returned to the podium in third. Having to start from a heavily fading Gate 4 in the final, the Slovak couldn't compete with Zmarzlik and Lindgren but was nevertheless "really pleased with the result".
"He said: Today was a really tough meeting, a tough track. We struggled with the set-up from the beginning, but with my team, we decided to change something and it was a good move. In the final, I just wanted to go and survive."
Vaculik moved up to third in the championship standings, overtaking Jason Doyle, who missed out on a spot in the final, and Jack Holder, who had to withdraw from the Latvia Grand Prix due to a wrist injury sustained at the Speedway World Cup two weeks ago.
It was a difficult day for the Brits in the field. Besides Woffinden's final frustration, both Dan Bewley and Robert Lambert were below par in Riga. Bewley narrowly made to the semi-finals but was well out of contention while Lambert failed to progress.
The meeting was interrupted early by a horrendous crash for Anders Thomsen in Heat 2. Mercifully, the Dane was conscious and moving and was taken to hospital for further checks.
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