Zmarzlik will get title defence off to excellent begin regardless of warmth exclusion at Speedway Grand Prix of Croatia

Bartosz Zmarzlik overcame a stunning early exclusion to take victory in an entertaining first Grand Prix of the season and get his world championship defence off to the very best begin in Gorican.

The riders needed to wait a little bit longer than anticipated to get the 2023 season underway as rain delayed the beginning by 20 minutes, in what proved to foreshadow an unpredictable Grand Prix of Croatia.

Heading into the semi-finals it had been a unbelievable evening for British speedway with Robert Lambert, Tai Woffinden and Dan Bewley the highest three riders on the evening, however solely Lambert made it to the ultimate and was pressured to start out off the unfancied gate two.

With Zmarzlik on the within and Jason Doyle in search of his fourth win from 4 races on the surface, all was set for a titanic conflict on the first nook of the ultimate and the Australian seemed set for victory earlier than he span out into the obstacles, handing Zmarzlik the victory.

Lambert scored second place because the watch for his first Grand Prix victory goes on, whereas Frederik Lindgren took an unlikely podium. The Swede solely reached the semi-finals after a prolonged countback and was pressured to go off a gate three that had been ineffective all evening, however caught Woffinden napping within the second semi-final earlier than making the most of Doyle’s misfortune.

In a turbulent opening evening Croatia, race director Phil Morris needed to work as laborious because the riders with observe situations all the time below the microscope as rain showers continued to blow over the Milenium Stadium however following the early delay there have been no extra points.

After a disappointing 2022 season, Tai Woffinden appears to be like again to his finest although as he rode out the altering situations in supreme trend to complete second after the heats.

Nevertheless, as one goes up, one should come down and it was a torrid evening for Leon Madsen, final 12 months’s runner-up scored simply 4 factors to complete thirteenth on the evening after he additionally struggled in qualifying, he’ll hope to bounce again in two weeks in Warsaw.

Standings after Spherical 1

• 1 – Bartosz Zmarzlik – 20 factors
• 2 – Robert Lambert – 18
• 3 – Fredrik Lindgren – 16
• 4 – Jason Doyle – 14
• 5 – Tai Woffinden – 12
• 6 – Mikkel Michelsen – 11
• 7 – Den Bewley – 10
• 8 – Martin Vaculik – 9
• 9 – Jack Holder – 8
• 10 – Max Fricke – 7
• 11 – Patryk Dudek – 6
• 12 – Anders Thomsen – 5
• 13 – Leon Madsen – 4
• 14 – Maciej Janowski – 3
• 15 – Kim Nilsson – 2
• 16 – Matej Zagar – 1

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