Speedway GP in Vojens: Robert Lambert becomes new World Championship leader following rain-induced suspension

Even before the start of the Danish Grand Prix, World Championship leader Bartosz Zmarzlik had lost his four-point lead: In the first qualifying heat, all the title favourites came out on top; in the second, there was a duel between Robert Lambert and Zmarzlik, which the Briton won. Brady Kurtz then got the better of Dan Bewley in a head-to-head battle and, as the winner of the sprint race featuring the four fastest riders from qualifying, picked up four World Championship points, whilst Lambert took three for second place.

In the main race on Saturday evening, where rain was a constant companion, things went significantly better for Lambert from the outset than for Kurtz and Zmarzlik. Kurtz got off to a poor start with zero points, and world champion Zmarzlik only managed to win his first heat at the third attempt. The Pole found himself at the back of the field on two occasions when his rivals crashed and restarted were necessary. It was only when he was left facing just Nazar Parnitskyi at the start line that the 31-year-old clinched the three points.

Whilst Lambert led the standings after the 20 heats with 13 out of 15 points and went straight through to the final alongside Leon Madsen, Zmarzlik, fifth after the heats, and Kurtz, seventh, had to enter the last-chance qualifiers. What made it particularly tense was that they would have faced each other in the second knockout heat before the final, and at least one of the World Championship contenders would have missed out on the final.

Rain forces race to be abandoned

The first Last-Chance Qualifier got underway in pouring rain, and at the entrance to the final corner, Fredrik Lindgren and Max Fricke crashed into the air fences, leading to the race being abandoned. Whilst the rain continued to fall, the jury held several meetings with Grand Prix Race Director Phil Morris – an attempt to restore the track to a rideable condition using track maintenance equipment failed. Ultimately, Morris announced the decision to abandon the race and to base the standings on the results of the heats.

With the three points from the sprint and the 20 World Championship points for the win, Lambert is the big winner of the evening. Ahead of the season finale in Toruń, Poland, on 26 September, the Briton catapulted himself from third place in the World Championship standings to the top, followed by Zmarzlik, who is now one point behind. Kurtz, who bagged 14 points including those from the sprint, is three points behind Lambert, meaning he can no longer become world champion on his own merits.

In Toruń, it won’t just be the battle for the podium places that’s exciting; the fight for the top seven – which guarantees a place in the 2027 World Championship – is also set to be packed with action: Leon Madsen, Max Fricke, Kacper Woryna and Patryk Dudek are separated by just one point in positions 5 to 8.

Results: Speedway GP Vojens/DK: