Emil Sayfutdinov came from nowhere to win the Swedish GP in Gothenburg to claim his second GP victory in two events. The Russian won it for his dad who sadly passed away a few hours after the meeting. For three laps of the final, World Champion Chris Holder was leading the way before the Russian found that extra bit of speed to overtake him off the second corner of the final lap. An injured Nicki Pedersen was able to claim third with Jaroslaw Hampel finishing fourth, both of whom were also in the final of the New Zealand GP.
Hampel ended the heats very impressively and would make it three wins in three races by winning the first semi-final. Holder was the man to take second with Niels-Kristian Iversen ending a great night in third with the championship leader, Tomasz Gollob, coming fourth.
The second semi-final saw Sayfutdinov and Pedersen line up alongside Matej Zagar and Tai Woffinden who were both in the final in Bydgoszcz last time out. But the semi-final came to a spectacular halt when Pedersen and Woffinden contacted before both going in to the fence and suffering a major crash. Fortunately both riders were okay to continue, although Pedersen did suffer damage to his wrist. But, despite the injury and a new bike, Pedersen got the best start in the restart and also led for the first three laps before Sayfutdinov once again found that extra edge to overtake him. After being shut out by Sayfutdinov at the start, Woffinden had to settle for fourth with Zagar at the rear.
The night actually began with Sayfutdinov claiming a third place behind Gollob and Hampel, but ahead of Lindgren. Darcy Ward's 21st birthday didn't go quite as planned and the beginning on the end saw him put him the bike down at the start of the second after being clipped by Iversen. This happened after an initial restart due to movement from the start. So, for the third time of asking, all four riders took to the tapes before Zagar ended up with the chequered flag ahead of Iversen, Krzysztof Kasprzak and Zagar, Kasprzak earning his first point since the New Zealand GP.
World Champion, Holder, won heat three ahead of Woffinden and the wildcard Linus Sundstrom with Greg Hancock disappointingly at the back. After a poor display in Poland, Antonio Lindback began his night with victory in heat four ahead of Pedersen and Martin Vaculik with Andreas Jonsson beginning the meeting in front of his home crowd in last.
It was a victory for Sweden in heat five as Zagar finished behind Lindgren, Sundstrom and Lindback, the latter picking up his second win in two heats. For three laps of heat six, Jonsson was leading with Holder behind but the heat had to be restarted when Ward crashed heavily in to the barrier. Ward was obviously excluded from the restart but unfortunately, the Australian had to be stretchered to hospital with suspected damage to the shoulder. With Ward out, heat six restarted and Holder would win it with Hampel also finishing ahead of the unlucky Jonsson.
Woffinden won heat seven with Gollob only managing to finish third behind Kasprzak. Pedersen would take his first heat of the night in the eighth, ahead of Sayfutdinov, Iversen and Hancock who was still yet to pick up a point.
Woffinden was a bit eager in heat nine and was lucky not to touch the tapes. The heat had to be restarted but all four were allowed to take part. The Brit managed to compose himself and storm the heat to make it two wins in a row with Pedersen coming second. Reserve driver Dennis Andersson woefully finished fourth behind Lindgren. Hancock finally turned things around by winning heat ten ahead of Hampel with Zagar coming fourth. Iversen managed to take heat-11 with Jonsson also finally putting points on the board with second, Sundstrom managed to beat Gollob who didn't even finish the race because he knew he would be last. Sayfutdinov's first victory came in heat-12 ahead of Holder, Kasprzak and Lindback, whose fortunes had suddenly changed again.
Hancock then made it two heats in two with victory in the 13th, Lindgren managed second with Jonsson again coming fourth behind Kasprzak. Hampel had to stave of a last corner fight from Woffinden to take heat-14, his first victory of the night. The Brit passed Lindback on lap three to claim second with Iversen back down in fourth. Zagar won his second heat by surprisingly beating Gollob, Pedersen and Holder in heat-15. Sayfutdinov would also make it two heats in two in a relatively easy heat-16; he coasted past Sundstrom, Vaculik and the second reserve driver, Mathias Thornblom.
Iversen managed to be beat Holder to claim his second heat of the night in heat-17. Hampel booked his place in the semi-finals by making it two heats in a row in heat-18 ahead of Kasprzak, Pedersen and Sundstrom. Gollob ended the heats as he started them, with a victory, in heat-19 with Hancock on the cusp of a semi-final with second. But a third victory from Zagar in the final heat meant he went through at the expense of the veteran American. Sayfutdinov finished second with Woffinden third and Jonsson completing a terrible night in fourth.
After three GP's, Gollob still leads the way on 40-points but the pack is getting very bunched. The second victory fro Sayfutdinov sees him level with Hampel on 38-points in second. Woffinden is only three points further behind with Pedersen on 34. The defending champion, Holder, is on 33 with Zagar a little further back on 28. Hancock sits eighth on 27 with Iversen on 26. After not scoring a point in either of his two rides, Ward drops from second to tenth on a birthday he'd like to forget.
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