'Has to be now' - Leon Madsen says he must win in Cardiff to catch Bartosz Zmarzlik in Speedway GP standings
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ByEurosport
Updated 13/08/2022 at 14:26 GMT
After five rounds of action from the FIM Speedway Grand Prix, Leon Madsen currently sits second in the standings on 60 points; 18 points behind leader Bartosz Zmarzlik. Ahead of tonight’s Speedway GP of Great Britain in Cardiff, where Madsen won the last time the Speedway Grand Prix held an event in the capital in 2019, he believes he has to be victorious on Saturday if he is to catch the Pole.
'Good memories' - Walking the track with Madsen ahead of Speedway Grand Prix in Cardiff
Leon Madsen believes he must win in Cardiff on Saturday if he is to catch leader Bartosz Zmarzlik in the FIM Speedway Grand Prix standings.
An 18-point gap currently separates the reigning Cardiff champion and Zmarzlik in the table with only five meetings left of the season.
Madsen, who topped the podium at the Principality Stadium in 2019, believes “it has to be now” if he is to catch up with Zmarzlik.
“I think it has to be now if we are going to catch Bartosz,” he said.
“His bottom level is so high that if you’re 15 or 20 points behind with two or three meetings left, you are not going to catch him. If we are going to catch him, we have to pull back those points now.
“With this new points system, if you are outside of the semi-final, you can maybe end up with eight points. Then another guy can win the final with 20 points and that’s 12 points you have caught up in one night.
“The standings can easily change in every meeting, but like I say, 18 points is still a lot. With five meetings left, it has to be now."
Madsen says he is in “better shape” now than in the first five meetings of the season and feels he has what it takes to move to the top of the leaderboard.
He added: “I believe I can do it. I am in better shape now and feeling good, fit and healthy. I haven’t felt like that in the first five meetings this year in the GPs. The tracks are also going to suit me better.
“I feel everything is on my side compared to the beginning of the season. I really believe I can do well. But at the same time, I will have to make a few finals to catch Bartosz.”
Madsen has secured victories on indoor stadium circuits in Warsaw and Cardiff. He won the 2019 Warsaw Speedway GP on his full-time series debut and came second in this year’s PGE Narodowy event.
He hopes to take the confidence gained from those results into Round 6 on Saturday evening.
"I have good memories of the indoor tracks,” he said.
"I have raced on them three times – twice in Warsaw and once in Cardiff. I have been on the podium every time. These are tracks I feel very confident on.
"I have managed to find a setup with my bikes that really works very well on those tracks. Going into Cardiff, I feel very confident, but also I know I have to work very hard and it doesn’t come easy.”
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The 2022 Speedway Grand Prix will be available live and ad-free on discovery+ with live race action also on Eurosport 2.
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