SWINDON Robins captain Jason Doyle will not have been happy with his performance in the last Saturday’s Swedish Grand Prix in Malilla, Sweden as he could only score five points and rival Maciej Janowski took the lead in the series.

The Pole now leads Doyle by five points. But in fact the deficit could have been even larger had not “Magic” suffered an engine failure in his first race and then trailed in last in an epic final won by compatriot Bartosz Zmarzlik which was the culmination of a superb night’s racing as speedway pundits were calling this “The Thriller in Malilla”!

Former Robin Janowski was looking for his third successive GP win but after the first lap or so he was fighting a rearguard action as his fellow Pole overtook Swede Antonio Lindback coming off the final bend with Freddie Lindgren finishing third.

Britain’s Tai Woffinden had an encouraging night scoring 11 points and was just edged out of second place in his semi final but he now moves into fifth place and must be in with a shout of a rostrum place come the series conclusion in Melbourne in October.

SWEDISH FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX, Malilla
Bartosz Zmarzlik 15 (1st), Antonio Lindback 19 (2nd), Fredrik Lindgren 18 (3rd), Maciej Janowski 13 (4th), Tai Woffinden 14, Emil Sayfutdinov 10, Martin Vaculik 10, Piotr Pawlicki 6, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, Chris Holder 6, Patryk Dudek 5, Jason Doyle 5, Peter Kildemand 4, Matej Zagar 3, Linus Sundstrom 2, Martin Smolinski 1.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 7 of 12)
Maciej Janowski 88, Jason Doyle 83, Patryk Dudek 80, Fredrik Lindgren 76, Tai Woffinden 71, Bartosz Zmarzlik 70, Emil Sayfutdinov 68, Martin Vaculik 59, Antonio Lindback 55, Chris Holder 50, Piotr Pawlicki 50, Matej Zagar 50, Greg Hancock 45, Niels-Kristian Iversen 44, Peter Kildemand 26, Vaclav Milik 13, Nicki Pedersen 8.
In other news, continental success for British riders has been thin in recent years but it was encouraging to see King’s Lynn’s Robert Lambert win the European under 19 title in the Czech Republic on Saturday.