BARTOSZ Zmarzlik picked himself up from a terrifying first ride crash with Denmark’s Mikkel Michelsen to win Saturday night’s GP of Latvia in Riga and move a little closer to his fifth world title.
The Polish star was fortunate to avoid injury when he and Michelsen collided on the opening lap of Heat 4 and were slammed into the back straight fence and track. Michelsen took no further part in the meeting and was taken to hospital for checks, but Zmarzlik was able to continue and went on to win the night’s final from Fredrik Lindgren, Dan Bewley and Max Fricke. After a recent slump in form which had seen Zmarzlik’s 27-point World Championship lead cut to 15 over the last two rounds, victory in Riga edged the Pole 17 points clear in the standings, with only the Vojens and Toten rounds to go. Zmarzlik said afterwards: “I am feeling amazing now. The start of the meeting was really hard because I wasn’t feeling perfect in my body. “I am happy, though, because I was really focused today. I wanted to do it, and I am really happy because the last rounds were not so easy for me. It’s a nice feeling to be the winner again.” Britain’s Robert Lambert reached the semi-finals in Riga to bank 11 points and is third in the standings, 15 points clear of Martin Vaculik in fourth but seven behind Lindgren and 24 adrift of Zmarzlik. • Full coverage from Riga in this week’s Speedway Star.
