For a decade now, Poland has yearned for this moment. The Speedway-mad nation has craved a new hero, somebody to get them off their feet and to become just the third Pole to win the individual world championship.
This weekend, they got it. They got the magic moment, with Bartek Zmarzlik winning the biggest prize of them all in front of 17,000 delirious Polish fans and claiming his maiden world title - and boy did he deserve it.
He burst on to the GP scene as a 17 year old back in 2012, becoming the youngest ever rider to finish on the podium, and now here he is seven years later as ruler of the world. He’s been third, second and now he’s number one.
He went in to the last round of the season with a seven point lead and he never looked like letting it slip; he was nerveless. He had Russian Emil Sayfutdinov and Danish charger Leon Madsen on his tail but the gap was too much. Roared on by his home fans, he secured the title in his semi-final race to etch his name into Speedway folklore, and he became a national hero in the process.
On the same weekend, the lineup for the 2020 series was confirmed too with our guys Greg Hancock, Tai Woffinden and Patryk Dudek all returning for a shot at glory next year. Hancock and Woffinden needed wild card picks while Dudek sealed his place by finishing 8th overall this season.
We caught up with triple world champ Woffinden, who is already planning his assault on a fourth gold medal next year; “I’m just glad to get this year out of the way really, it’s been pretty bad. Obviously I had the back injury and that disrupted everything, to miss a huge chunk of the season just killed my year I guess but I’ll be back.
“I’m back in the series next year and I’ll spend the next six or seven months getting myself into the best shape I can be so I’ll be ready to go all out again next season. I never have two bad years in a row and I won’t this time, I am desperate to get my championship back and I’m just looking ahead now.
“Average year but it’s out the way now, I’m going to go back to Australia for a few months and spend some time with my family then it’s all systems go for 2020.”
2019 final standings
1st - Bartosz Zmarzlik (132 points)
2nd - Leon Madsen (130 points)
3rd – Emil Sayfutdinov (126 points)
4th – Fredrik Lindgren (105 points)
5th – Martin Vaculik (95 points)
6th – Maciej Janowski (87 points)
7th – Jason Doyle (84 points)
8th – Patryk Dudek (79 points)
9th – Matej Zagar (78 points)
10th – Niels-Kristian Iversen (77 points)
11th – Artem Laguta (76 points)
12th – Antonio Lindback (63 points)
13th – Tai Woffinden (60 points)
14th – Janusz Kolodziej (57 points)
15th – Robert Lambert (39 points)
2020 lineup
Bartosz Zmarzlik, Leon Madsen, Emil Sayfutdinov, Fredrik Lindgren, Martin Vaculik, Maciej Janowski, Jason Doyle, Patryk Dudek, Greg Hancok, Tai Woffinden, Antonio Lindback, Artem Laguta, Matej Zagar, Max Fricke, Niels-Kristian Iversen.
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