Australian's Jason Doyle stormed to a sensational German SGP success in Teterow on Saturday night, winning the historic 200th SGP event – his third SGP round of the season and his second on the trot.
World Championship leader Greg Hancock finished third, allowing Doyle to reduce the points gap from seven points to five.
Asked what drives him to succeed, the Prague, Gorzow and Teterow winner said: “I think many years ago, I didn’t have what I have worked for now. I don’t want to throw it away.
“I had many years with injuries and people putting me down, saying I wasn’t good enough and ‘go back to Australia.’
“I wanted to give myself some plans and some goals to make it in speedway. I didn’t want to go back home and say I didn’t give it 100 percent. When I retire, I want to say I did it 100 percent.
“I’ve spent a lot of money. People just think you rock up with two or three bikes and that’s it. But there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work with engines and with the boys.”
Doyle was quick to pay a glowing tribute to his mechanics, father and son duo Dave and Sam Haynes, Johno Birks and Mark Seabright.
He said: “What a great team I have backing me. Every time I win a race or come in after the race, they’re giving me praise. In the times I need a little bit of help, they give the right feedback. I am really happy with how everything is working. My mechanics haven’t been home for many weeks, so I think they need to take the praise for all the hard work they’ve been doing.
“My engine tuner Flemming Graversen is a great guy too. We give him some stick during the year, but everything has been working with him.
“It’s not just the engine tuner; we still have to put the bike together. I have great blokes behind me. My mechanics work their backsides off. They don’t get the sleep when they need it; they work tirelessly. When I won the final, they were hanging over the fence to celebrate with me and that means a lot.”
Doyle’s breathtaking charge around the Teterow boards to hunt down Zmarzlik in the final underlined his desire to be the best in the world, even if he has to do it the hard way.
He said: “I didn’t make the best of starts, but I had some speed going around turns one and two on the second lap. I don’t really remember; it was just head down, backside up and try to do something special!
“I knew when Bartosz got in front it was going to be very difficult to hunt him down. I knew I had to do it in the first two laps; he’s very quick on these big tracks. But it worked out.”
Next up for Doyle and his rivals is the Stockholm SGP on September 24, followed by the FST Grupa Brokerska Torun SGP of Poland on October 1, before the season finale – the QBE Insurance Australian SGP at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on October 22.
JD may be riding like a man hungry to become world champion, but he admits his primary goal is to secure a third straight season as an SGP rider, something his doubters never felt he would achieve. He said: “I just want to go to Melbourne and know I’m in the GPs again. Of course we’re going to be pushing for a world title. But we’re enjoying ourselves.
“We’re amateurs we’ve been told! We’re amateur speedway riders and mechanics. We’ll keep who told us that a secret, but it was said we were only coming in for one year, and we’re up there.”
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1 Greg Hancock 109,
2 Jason Doyle 104,
3 Tai Woffinden 96,
4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 88,
5 Chris Holder 85,
6 Maciej Janowski 72,
7 Piotr Pawlicki 71,
8 Antonio Lindback 70,
9 Nicki Pedersen 62,
10 Fredrik Lindgren 59
GERMAN SGP SCORES:
1 Jason Doyle 17,
2 Bartosz Zmarzlik 13,
3 Greg Hancock 15,
4 Niels-Kristian Iversen 11,
5 Piotr Pawlicki 11,
6 Tai Woffinden 10,
7 Martin Smolinski 8,
8 Chris Holder 8,
9 Michael Jepsen Jensen 7,
10 Nicki Pedersen 7