LINDGREN SEEKS STARTING SUCCESS

Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren is determined to up his gating game as he steps up his bid for an FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship medal in Riga on Saturday.

The world No.2 finished second at the DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Wroclaw last Saturday, moving into second place on 106 points overall. This puts him level with Great Britain racer Robert Lambert in third, but Lindgren is placed higher due to his Speedway GP win in Gorzow on June 29.

Lindgren put in an action-packed performance on his way to the Wroclaw podium last Saturday and is now just 15 points behind series leader Bartosz Zmarzlik, who exited at the semi-final stage.

Zmarzlik and Lindgren both reached the OlyBet FIM Speedway GP of Latvia – Riga rostrum last year, with the Pole winning the event and the Swede second.

The Orebro-born ace would love to spray the champagne again. But after being forced to battle hard for his points last Saturday, he’s keen to make life easier on himself at Bikernieki.

“I feel like I am riding well at the moment,” he said. “If I can do a little better from the start, that would be nice. I have to do a lot of work from behind. 

"After my fourth or fifth ride, I am always the dirtiest guy out there. I have been eating a lot of dirt. If I can pick up my gating a little bit, it would be nice.”

Lindgren was delighted with second spot in Wroclaw. He said: “I want to win, but I was happy with second on Saturday. I battled hard in every heat. I didn’t usually make the best starts, but I was racing hard from behind and doing some passing. 

“I had good speed in the bike all the way through. I started off well with the inside gates – gate one and gate two. I had five points from two rides, but gate three was a bit of a nightmare. I had it twice and that made me a bit worried. But I managed to get a few points there and I managed to get enough points to get through to the semi.

“When you’re in the semi, it all starts from zero and you just have to go for it.  I ended up second and it’s still pretty good. The racing was pretty fantastic in Wroclaw with a lot of good heats. It was a positive night for me and for speedway.”

Despite closing in on Zmarzlik, who has gone two rounds without a final appearance, Lindgren admits the Pole will take some beating over the final three rounds if he is to become Sweden’s first Speedway GP world champion since the legendary Tony Rickardsson won his record-equalling sixth and final gold medal in 2005.

But Lindgren leads the race for the silver medal and would love to at least replicate his career-best second place from 2023 as he and Lambert lead Denmark’s Mikkel Michelsen, who is fourth on 101 points, with Martin Vaculik on 95 in fifth place and Jack Holder on 93 in sixth.

He said: “Fifteen points is still a lot. It’s hard to make up points in this championship. I will just take it round by round.

“Rob and I are fighting it out together with Michelsen, Martin and Jack. It’s very close in the medal hunt. Every point is crucial.

“The schedule now is very demanding and very hectic for us. You need to be in good form for these last few weeks to be able to race for the silver medal. For me, I am just focused on each round now and trying to do the best I can.”