Sayfutdinov doubles up

Teenager wins in Gothenburg after controversy in final

Last updated: 31st May 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Sayfutdinov doubles up

Sayfutdinov - <i>Fotospeedway.pl</i>

World Championship Standings


1 J Crump (Aus) 52pts
2 E Sayfutdinov (Rus) 46
3 A Jonsson (Swe) 39
4 N Pedersen (Den) 34

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Russian ace Emile Sayfutdinov sped to victory in Sweden to continue his fairytale start to Grand Prix racing.

The 19-year-old made it two wins out of three outings in Gothenburg after his historic win in the opening Czech Grand Prix.

But his victory was not without controversy, as world champion Nicki Pedersen was disqualified while leading in the final after Sayfutdinov collided with his back wheel on the second lap, sending the Russian crashing to the ground, with Jason Crump also going down to avoid him.

In the re-start, Crump then swooped around the outside from Gate 4 to take the lead on the first corner from wildcard Antonio Lindback, who was riding from Gate 1.

But Sayfutdinov, riding from Gate 3, first went up the inside of Lindback to take second place on the second lap and then performed the same manoeuvre to take Crump on the third lap and storm into the lead.

The teenager then pulled away to win easily and earn 20 points from his night's work, taking him up from fourth to second in the series standings.

But Crump still leads the way with 52 points overall after earning 16 points in Sweden.

Delighted

He will be delighted with his night's work given he was last in the final before Pedersen's disqualification, while he was also way back in his semi-final when Freddie Lindgren hit a rut and crashed, allowing the Australian to claim second place on the re-run.

A distraught Pedersen fell another three points behind Crump in the series standings, although he did jump from sixth to fourth overall with 34 points.

Andreas Jonsson dropped from second to third overall after going out in the semi-final, while Greg Hancock fell from third to sixth after suffering a puncture while leading in his final heat, so ending his chances of making the semis.

Chris 'Bomber' Harris again proved the best of the British riders, earning five points on the night, but he could not capitalise on an impressive win in his opening heat in which he beat Crump, Hancock and Sayfutdinov.

Scott Nicholls' miserable season continued as he claimed just a solitary point in his final heat - and that only because of Hancock's puncture.

It means Nicholls is still anchored at the foot of the standings with just six points, with Harris second-from-bottom with 16 points.

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