Jason Doyle has taken his second straight Speedway GP victory in the Czech Republic, keeping him a close second in the title standings after four rounds.
Doyle triumphed despite a poor start to the evening to claim a first win of 2017 and fifth win of his career, at the scene of his very first in 2016.
The Australian set up his night with an aggressive ride to victory in Heat 14, beating championship leader Patryk Dudek, Bartosz Zmarzlikm, and Tai Woffinden, then placed second in his semi-final.
Doyle held his nerve despite an initial jumpstart in the final to get an excellent, legal launch at the next attempt and go on to beat Greg Hancock, Vaclav Milik, and Dudek.
“We just needed to score the points,” said the 31-year-old Doyle.
“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 gaol 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.”
With Doyle and Dudek scoring 13 points apiece, the latter continues to hold a single point lead in the championship ahead of Round 5 in Denmark on June 24.
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.
Mitas Czech SGP Scores
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.
VIDEO: Czech SGP Highlights
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