VOL. 50 ISSUE 22 JUNE 4, 2013
Sayfutdinov – one of only two
riders who didn't take part in the
session along with Antonio Lindback – stayed at the hotel and
practiced his sleeping instead.
And he feels the extra rest gave
him the edge.
"Friday was practice day and
I felt good with the track," he
said. "On Saturday morning they
had more practice, but I was at
the hotel having a good sleep. I
woke up at 8:30 in the morning
and Susi, my manager, asked 'do
you want to practice?' I said 'no,
I'll go to sleep!' I woke up at 11
a.m., went for something to eat
and then came to the stadium
Tai Woffinden (14) maintains second
in the championship despite
crashing out and suffering a broken
collarbone. He finished ninth on the
night after winning this battle with
Iversen (13).
ready to race.
"I'm happy with the result. I'm
just looking for points and taking
it heat by heat, so to be leading
the World Championship is a
great feeling."
Sayfutdinov has made no secret of the fact he feels more
ready to chase speedway's biggest prize in 2013. Asked the
secret to his success so far, he
replied: "I think I spent my winter much better. I practiced very
hard doing motocross thanks to
my friend in St. Petersburg, who
coached me and explained how
to ride. This is my secret for winning."
He made the most of some
mistakes from Slovak rider Martin
Vaculik in the semi-final to sneak
past for second place, before going on to win the final.
Sayfutdinov may be flying on
P109
the track, but he has had a torrid time away from speedway of
late, having lost his father Damir
to cancer. The two-time World
Under-21 Champion believes his
first coach was smiling down
from above as he sought a way
into the last four.
"It's like six-time World Champion Tony Rickardsson says; 'a
World Champion needs luck.' I
had luck in this one. I had some
from my father. The second place
got me more points. I'm still winning and I'm still in first position,
so this is good."
Runner-up Iversen was over
the moon to achieve the best
performance of his GP career and better the fourth spot
he notched at the Danish FIM
Speedway Grand Prix as a wild
card in 2009.
"I was making good gates all
