Aussie Jason Doyle has won the Czech Speedway GP, closing the championship gap to Dudek to one-point

Aussie rider, Jason Doyle has described his Czech Republic Speedway GP win as ‘getting out of jail again’, after a difficult start put him on the back foot. He recovered however to take his second straight victory at the Czech FIM Speedway GP in Prague.

The Newcastle-born star, who raced to his first SGP win at the Marketa Stadium in 2016, repeated the trick with an electrifying start to triumph in the final ahead of world champion Greg Hancock, Czech wild card Vaclav Milik and World Championship leader Patryk Dudek. Dudek on 51 points still has a one-point cushion over Doyle at the top of the standings.

But having recorded just three from his opening three outings for the second straight round, the Swindon, Zielona Gora and Rospiggarna ace was elated to produce a champagne finish.

Jason Doyle

“We just needed to score the points. I got 13 tonight and if someone had offered me that when I had three going into my fourth ride, I’d have taken it. We’ve got out of jail again. We did it in Daugavpils. We had a tough start and battled into the final there, and now we have done it in Prague. We should have had a podium at the last Grand Prix, but the bike broke down in the final. I guess luck was on our side here and we had a great night. If I finished how I started, it was not looking good. For the first three heats, I couldn’t get any speed out of the first engine. It was the engine I rode for all of last year in the Grand Prix and it was very fast. But we have another rocket now, I guess. I jumped on the third bike and made that work.

“I have never worked so hard to get points. My fourth ride was against a very hard line-up in Bartosz Zmarzlik, Tai Woffinden and Dudek. I knew that win got me on to six points and it made it a little easier for me to get into the semis. I didn’t have to win the last race. The points just weren’t coming at all. I couldn’t make a start; I couldn’t do anything right. But then it just clicked and started working with the track. It was one of those nights where we finished in the right way.”

Doyle produced the ride of the night to force his way past Dudek and Zmarzlik to win heat 14 – the race which turned his evening around. Doyle hit the tapes in his opening ride and it ultimately proved a blessing in disguise – as he avoided a warning for jumping the start.

Had he not touched the tapes, he would have received a caution from referee Craig Ackroyd, which would have seen JD excluded from the final when he jumped the start again. The Aussie international admits he was pretty eager to gain an advantage from the tough outside gate. Doyle paid tribute to his dedicated crew for helping him get his first win of 2017 – and his fifth in two seasons.

Jason Doyle

“I knew I had to have a dig off gate four and make a really good start. I double-clutched it just to try and get the bike pulling to the corner. I made too good a start the first time. I kept it still in the re-run and it was a very hard four laps. I just want to thank my boys, all my team – Johno Birks, Dave and Sam Haynes, Kamil Pulczynski and my family. They stuck by me when we had a few rough ones over the last few weeks. They put up with a lot of hard work when things aren’t going well. They do the right things and that’s why I have such a great Jason Doyle #69 team. I ring my wife Emily after every meeting and when it’s not good, she has the right words to say. I think this is what it’s all about – when you have such a great family base.”

Winning in Prague has brought good fortune for many riders – eight of the last 13 winners went on to become world champion in the same season. But Doyle has little time for that statistic after triumphing last year, only for his campaign to be ended by an horrific crash at the penultimate SGP in Torun.

Runner-up Hancock was elated to regain top form with a whopping 18 points out of a possible 21 as he made his first final of 2017 to climb up to seventh in the standings.

Greg Hancock

“It was a good night. It’s a turning point and we’re back in business. Game on! It’s so great to be back in it. I have speed, I feel good and it’s nice when all the hard work starts to pay off again.”

It was a special night for the home fans as Milik stormed to a sensational third place and his first SGP final.

Vaclav Milik

“It’s a great result for me. It was my fourth start in the Czech SGP and I did a good job with my team. I got third place. It’s really, really good – an amazing result.”

Next up for the FIM Speedway Grand Prix stars is the Kjærgaard Danish SGP in Horsens on June 24.