SWINDON’S Jason Doyle, despite using three bikes on the night, took the title at the Czech GP on Saturday and reduced Patryk Dudek’s lead in the world championship to just one point.

Doyle must have thought his chances of repeating his 2016 win in Prague were out of the window after his first two races.

He went straight through the tapes in his first outing, earning an exclusion, and could score only a solitary point next time out.

A fighting second place in the Australian’s third start when he overcome the Russian Emil Sayfutdinov and Matej Zagar gave hope that perhaps the Robins skipper could get out of jail and qualify for the last eight.

Heat 14 saw Doyle meet Poland's surprise series leader Dudek and, despite being on the unhelpful outside gate, he came from the back to take the three points.

Doyle was ruthless on the Pole and Bartosz Zmarzlik.

With riders taking points off each other Doyle knew that two points in heat 20 would give him a semi-final spot.

Slovakia’s Martin Vaculik, also desperate for qualifying points, took the lead and despite Doyle’s best efforts he could finish only second as he and the race winner moved into the semis.

Drawn again on the outside in his semi-final, Doyle managed to move himself past Chris Holder and Antonio Lindback on turn two of lap one as Dudek took the three points. Doyle again was left with lane four in the final and the drama increased as he moved at the gate incurring a warning. The rerun saw Doyle make an absolute but legal flier as he led Greg Hancock and the local wild card Vaclav Milik, who managed to keep Dudek at the back.

Doyle will hope to take the lead in the championship when the series moves to Horsens for the Kjærgaard Danish SGP on June 24.

It's tight at the top with any one of the top 10 in with a chance, including Greg Hancock, whom many of us had written off.

He bounced back with four race wins in Prague.

Showing his usual dedication Hancock had decided to miss his 47th birthday celebrations in his Swedish home to test bikes in Poland.

2017 MITAS CZECH SGP SCORES: 1 Jason Doyle 13, 2 Greg Hancock 18, 3 Vaclav Milik 13, 4 Patryk Dudek 13, 5 Chris Holder 11, 6 Martin Vaculik 10, 7 Antonio Lindback 9, 8 Peter Kildemand 8, 9 Bartosz Zmarzlik 8, 10 Tai Woffinden 7, 11 Piotr Pawlicki 7, 12 Fredrik Lindgren 6, 13 Maciej Janowski 6, 14 Matej Zagar 4, 15 Niels-Kristian Iversen 3, 16 Emil Sayfutdinov 2, 17 Josef Franc 0, 18 Matej Kus 0.

2017 FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Patryk Dudek 51, 2 Jason Doyle 50, 3 Martin Vaculik 44, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 43, 5 Maciej Janowski 41, 6 Piotr Pawlicki 39, 7 Greg Hancock 38, 8 Tai Woffinden 37, 9 Emil Sayfutdinov 33, 10 Bartosz Zmarzlik 32, 11 Niels-Kristian Iversen 28, 12 Chris Holder 27, 13 Matej Zagar 25, 14 Antonio Lindback 21, 15 Vaclav Milik 13, 16 Peter Kildemand 9, 17 Nicki Pedersen 8, 18 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 19 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 20 Nick Skorja 1.

Elsewhere Swindon riders have been racing for GP qualifying spots and the big surprise was Dany Gappmaier’s 11 points in Abensberg, Germany as he finished third behind round winner Peter Kildemand in a decent quality field.

Not so lucky was Bradley Wilson-Dean who, having scored five points in his first three outings, had two expensive and painful falls and failed to qualify.

On Thursday after what has been a long break, the Robins entertain Rye House led by Chris Harris and including former Swindon stars Eddie Kennett and Scott Nicholls.

It could be close although the Rockets have generally struggled on the road this season.