LINDGREN GOES THIRD IN SGP OPENER

That’s exactly what our man Freddie Lindgren did at the Croatia Speedway Grand Prix this weekend as he took third place on a night when it was just grit and determination that saw him through.

‘Fast Freddie’ only managed to score five points from his first four qualifying heats and he went into the fifth and final one knowing only a win would give him a chance of sneaking into the semi-final positions - and he delivered. 

He grabbed the last spot in the all-important top eight after a lot of calculations in the FIM office and his semi-final pitted him againstDan Bewley, Tai Woffinden and reigning champ Bartosz Zmarzlik. It was Zmarzlik and Woffinden who got out of the start quickest but he chased down Woffinden on the second lap and charged underneath him to seal a spot in the final.

Zmarzlik, Robert Lambert and Jason Doyle were the other three men at the gate and it looked like Doyle might get the jump from the outside, but he slid off to allow Zmarzlik a clean run up front. Our man Freddie settled into third to take a podium finish and 16 big points in the championship.

He told fimspeedway.com; “It seemed like no-one could decide – or at least they took a long time. 

“When it’s equal on countback and we beat each other, it’s the highest ranked guy from last year who got it, and that was me.

“In the semi-final luckily for me, Woffy came in a bit hot in turn three. I rode a really tight corner, rode where no-one else had ridden, got some grip and passed him, so I did right there. Third place is a good start and sets me up nicely for the next round now.”

It was a solid night for both Woffinden and Bewley, who finished P5 and P7 respectively and both won plenty of races to show that they are fully up to speed already this year.

Jack Holder was the unlucky man to miss out to Lindgren for the semi-final’s and ended up P9, with Patryk Dudek P11.

The tour heads south next to Warsaw, Poland for what has become the biggest and best speedway event on the planet. The Stadion Narodowy hosts round two with 50,000 fans set to pack the stands and create a noise like no other as the word championship rolls into town on May 13.

SPEEDWAY GP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 20, 2 Robert Lambert 18, 3 Fredrik Lindgren 16, 4 Jason Doyle 14, 5 Tai Woffinden 12, 6 Mikkel Michelsen 11, 7 Dan Bewley 10, 8 Martin Vaculik 9, 9 Jack Holder 8, 10 Max Fricke 7, 11Patryk Dudek 6, 12 Anders Thomsen 5, 13 Leon Madsen 4, 14 Maciej Janowski 3, 15 Kim Nilsson 2, 16 Matej Zagar 1.