SGP RESULT: GORZOW, POLAND

A highly emotional Chris Holder reached the semi-finals of the 8th GP round of the season on a night when the thoughts of the speedway world were all focussed on one man - Darcy Ward.

Holder rode with intense determination scoring 8 points from his heats with a second place to the exceptionally fast Tai Woffinden to start with but was denied a second successive second place in the very next heat when Michael Jepsen Jensen stole a late march on him.  Holder, who had spent most of the week by the side of Ward, had to really work hard just to squeeze a point out of his third ride as Tomas H Jonasson was proving to be a defiant opponent. Fourth time out the 2012 World champion was preparing to set up a blast round the outside but Dane Iversen found the better line and blasted into an unassailable lead leaving Holder having to be satisfied with second place. His place in the last 8 on the night was secured with a second place despite being on the shirt-tails of Bartosz Zmarzlik throughout but arguably one of the hardest nights of his career came to a close when  pegged at the back in the semis.

World champion Greg Hancock was wearing a replicate Darcy Ward race suit, Tai Woffinden declared he was dedicating all his points to the injured Queenslander and eventual  winning  Gorzow finalist  Matej Zagar admitted it had "been the toughest week of his career with one of his friends getting so badly injured".

And it was those three riders that occupied the rostrum after a busy night in Gorzow with the 2014 winner, wild card Bartosz Zmarzlik just missing out on repeating that fate.

Zagar's triumph was made much more incredible as he himself took a very heavy fall when the innocent victim of a heat 18 incident  as Jason Doyle went for a gap that became much tighter than he had anticipated and clipped Nicki Pedersen in the process. Pedersen and Zagar collided and suffered ugly falls with Pedersen forced to withdraw with the effects of concussion, but Zagar somehow dusted himself down, returned for the re-run and  bravely passed birthday boy Troy Batchelor who was not having the best of nights.

But Zagar's best efforts were saved for the final, which he reached by following home  the fast-trapping Greg Hancock in the second semi-final - the stage where Holder's brave activities came to a conclusion.

In the final Hancock looked set to put Ward's colours on the top of the podium but Zagar found the speed and kept probing for an opening which once it came he was quick to seize upon, but not before holding out the interests of Woffinden, the 2013 world champion now boasting a lead of 24 championship points with four rounds remaining.

Poole captain Maciej Janowski was far better value than his meagre five points suggested for whilst he didn’t score in his opening two rides he was very much in the mix, leading his opener  in each of the three attempts it took to get the race completed. His winning third ride was highly impressive but was then denied a point by Chris Harris in heat 16. His efforts to pull two points out of his final ride were made that much harder with fellow Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak holding him out for the bulk of the race.

Holder continues to hold a top 8 placing whilst Janowski has slipped just outside automatic qualification.

1. G.Hancock,B.Zmarzlik,P.Kildemand ,T.Batchelor
2. MJ.Jensen,C.Harris,M.Zagar ,K.Kasprzak
3. N.Pedersen,A.Jonsson,T.Jonasson ,N.Iversen (rtd)
4. T.Woffinden,C.Holder,J.Doyle ,M.Janowski
5. G.Hancock,MJ.Jensen,C.Holder ,N.Pedersen
6. T.Woffinden,C.Harris,T.Batchelor ,T.Jonasson
7. N.Iversen,M.Zagar,B.Zmarzlik ,M.Janowski
8. J.Doyle,P.Kildemand,A.Jonsson ,K.Kasprzak
9. G.Hancock,N.Iversen,J.Doyle ,C.Harris
10. M.Janowski,MJ.Jensen,A.Jonsson ,T.Batchelor
11. T.Woffinden,B.Zmarzlik,N.Pedersen ,K.Kasprzak
12. M.Zagar,P.Kildemand,C.Holder ,T.Jonasson
13. T.Woffinden,M.Zagar,A.Jonsson ,G.Hancock
14. N.Iversen,C.Holder,T.Batchelor ,K.Kasprzak
15. B.Zmarzlik,MJ.Jensen,J.Doyle ,T.Jonasson
16. N.Pedersen,P.Kildemand,C.Harris ,M.Janowski
17. G.Hancock,M.Janowski,K.Kasprzak ,T.Jonasson
18. M.Zagar,T.Batchelor,A.Cyfer ,J.Doyle (fell exc)
19. B.Zmarzlik,C.Holder,A.Jonsson ,C.Harris
20. T.Woffinden,P.Kildemand,N.Iversen ,MJ.Jensen
SF1 B.Zmarzlik,T.Woffinden,MJ.Jensen ,P.Kildemand
SF2 G.Hancock,M.Zagar,N.Iversen ,C.Holder
Final M.Zagar,G.Hancock,T.Woffinden ,B.Zmarzlik

Gorzow Scorers:- T.Woffinden 18 (3,3,3,3,3,2,1), G.Hancock 17 (3,3,3,0,3,3,2), M.Zagar 16 (1,2,3,2,3,2,3), B.Zmarzlik 14 (2,1,2,3,3,3,0), N.Iversen 10 (0,3,2,3,1,1), MJ.Jensen 10 (3,2,2,2,0,1), P.Kildemand 9 (1,2,2,2,2,0), C.Holder 8 (2,1,1,2,2,0), N.Pedersen 7 (3,0,1,3,0), J.Doyle 6 (1,3,1,1,0), A.Jonsson 6 (2,1,1,1,1), M.Janowski 5 (0,0,3,0,2), C.Harris 5 (2,2,0,1,0), T.Batchelor 4 (0,1,0,1,2), T.Jonasson 1 (1,0,0,0,0), K.Kasprzak 1 (0,0,0,0,1), A.Cyfer 1 (1), R.Karczmarz DNR

Championship Standings: T.Woffinden (109); N.Pedersen (85); G.Hancock (82); M.Zagar (81); N.Iversen (70); C.Holder (69); J.Doyle (66); MJ.Jensen (64); M.Janowski (63); A.Jonsson (51); P.Kildemand (46); T.Batchelor (40); C.Harris (39); T.Jonasson (38); J.Hampel (31); K.Kasprzak (26)