The 2024 Speedway GP season is in full swing and Kai Huckenbeck is also making a name for himself at the second event of the year. The German impressed again after reaching the semi-finals at the season opener two weeks ago in the National Stadium in Warsaw, but a serious fall ended the German’s successful run.
Kai Huckenbeck crashes in Warsaw: Start of the German GP in danger?
As in Gorican, Huckenbeck again made it to the semi-finals. The decisive factor for this was his last heat, in which he needed three points and achieved them with a sensational victory from Gate 2, the worst starting position of the evening.
In the semi-final he got another good start from the same gate, but was brutally thrown off his bike after contact in Turn 1 and landed hard. After a lengthy treatment period on the track, Huckenbeck was able to leave the scene of the accident independently, but he was no longer able to take part in the re-run.
In the final tally, that means 8th place for him. It is not yet known whether Kai Huckenbeck suffered injuries in the accident. A failure would be particularly bitter for him at this point, as his home GP in Landshut, Bavaria, is just a week away.
Speedway GP 2024 – The racing calendar
Jason Doyle breaks Unserie: first win since 2017
Australian Jason Doyle secured victory in front of more than 40,000 spectators in the Polish national stadium. ‘Doyley’ dominated the preliminary round with 14 out of 15 possible points before he was able to control the action from the inner gate in both the semi-finals and the final. In the final run, however, he had to withstand the pressure of world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik, who was close on his heels, over the entire distance.
For Doyle, the victory ends a long dry spell. The former speedway world champion celebrated his last GP success in his title-winning season in Melbourne in 2017. Last year he set the tone for a long time in the Narodowy, but only came fourth after a collision with Zmarzlik in the final.
After crossing the finish line, Doyle caused two strange scenes in his ecstasy. First he had an accident while trying to do a wheelie on the back straight, and later he fell off the air fence while celebrating. Both ‘accidents’ had no consequences. With the victory, Doyle also takes the lead in the world championship.
Poland is still waiting for its first Warsaw victory
With his second place, Zmarzlik secured his best Warsaw result in 2024, but the speedway nation, which is used to success, is still waiting for a home win in the capital. The podium was completed in third place by Robert Lambert, who was able to hold off Martin Vaculik in the final run after he was able to qualify for the final at the last minute.
Opening winner Jack Holder failed to reach the final by 0.005 seconds in a photo finish against Lambert and ended up in fifth position. 6th place went to Dan Bewley ahead of the second local hero Szymon Wozniak, who made it to the semi-finals for the first time in his second event as a regular driver.
However, European champion Mikkel Michelsen (P9) and runner-up world champion Fredrik Lindgren (P10) did not make it into the finals. For Tai Wofnden, after a promising start to the evening (5 points from the first two heats), there was another setback. The three-time world champion only ended up in P11. At the start in Croatia he remained in P16 without any points.