South Australian Champion to make his Speedway Grand Prix debut - October 201

October 4, 2013 by Gillman Media

South Australian champion Troy Batchelor has been called up to make his World Championship debut in the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in Torun tomorrow night (5 October).

The unexpected call-up (replacing 2010 world champion Tomasz Gollob who fractured a vertebrae in the last Grand Prix) will give Batchelor an important opportunity to see what is required to be competitive at the top level should he get more opportunities next year when he starts the Grand Prix series as the second reserve. “It’s going to be a cool taste in Torun to see what the GP is all about, see how different things are, see how fast these guys are, where I need to be and what I need to work on” Batchelor said.

The Torun Grand Prix is the last GP for the season and will decide the 2013 World Champion.

Only two riders are in contention, English-born but Australian-raised Tai Woffinden, and Polish rider Jarek Hampel.

Woffinden is the favourite to be the new World Champion as he leads Hampel by 16 points, and therefore only needs 6 points if Hampel scores the maximum available 21 points, but he’ll be riding under extreme difficulty. Having already ridden many of this season’s Grands Prix with a plated collarbone, Woffinden crashed in his first race in the last GP and broke his collarbone again, and bent the plate holding it together. He has opted against an operation and will ride through the pain barrier.

Superbly fit and determined this season, Woffinden has already proved he can mentally handle the pain so the only question will be if he is capable of controlling the bike – at least enough to pick up the vital 6 points, which, of course, will be less for any points Hampel drops.

Many have dismissed Hampel as not being able to score the maximum 21 points, but he has a lot going in his favour. He is riding in his own country and many of his main riders are missing, or riding injured. Current (until tomorrow night) World Champion Chris Holder, and early season series’ leader Emil Sayfutdinov are both out, as is Gollob, who would have been a favourite on the Torun track, while Woffinden and current third placegetter Niels-Kristian Iversen (broken ribs, bruised hip) will both be riding with injuries.

If 23-year-old Woffinden wins he will Britain’s first world No.1 since Mark Loram in 2000.

Woffinden was born in Scunthorpe, England and rides on a British licence but spent his childhood living in Perth where he learnt all the speedway basics on the Bibra Lake junior speedway track, and then the new Pinjar Park track where he won the 2006 Western Australian Under 16 Championship.

Grand Prix points going into the final GP: Tai Woffinden 141, Jaroslaw Hampel 125, Niels-Kristian Iversen 119, Emil Sayfutdinov 114, Nicki Pedersen 113, Greg Hancock 111, Matej Zagar 107, Darcy Ward 93, Tomasz Gollob 89, Chris Holder 82, Fredrik Lindgren 81, Krzysztof Kasprzak 80, Andreas Jonsson 59, Martin Vaculik 56, Antonio Lindback 45.

Top photo: Troy Batchelor (blue) and Dakota North in action during the final of last season’s South Australian Championship. Batchelor has won the title five times. This season’s championship will be at Gillman Speedway on 7 December. Photo by Judy Mackay.

Bottom photos: Tai Woffinden’s broken collarbone before and after the most recent GP a fortnight ago in Sweden.