It Happened This Week.....2013

SIX years ago the inimitable Darcy Ward won his first and, sadly, what was to be his only Grand Prix round.

Competing in a GP event for only the sixth time, Darcy was just 21 years and 56 days old when he prevailed in a battle royale over Slovenian Matej Zagar in the final.
Remarkably, Darcy's maiden victory came just 56 days after breaking his shoulder blade on his birthday in the Swedish GP at Gothenburg but dropped just two points in his comeback meeting, losing to Nicki Pedersen in his first ride, but not before he had thrown everything at the Danish superstar. Ward had paid the price for a sluggish start in that heat but there were no such errors in his immediate next heat as he out-trapped Tai Woffinden, Zagar and Jaroslaw Hampel to win heat five.

Split loyalties seethed through the Poole camp in heat 12 as Ward went head-to-head with his 'Turbo Twin' Chris Holder. It was heart-in-the-mouth watching as Ward tried to outwit his buddy, but Holder had a master key and swiftly locked down every door before it opened. 

Nevertheless, Darcy's seven points from three rides was only bettered by the hitherto unbeaten Emil Sajftudinov but that all changed when the Russian ran a third place in his fourth ride and Ward won his penultimate qualifying heat.  That became three from five wins as he took advantage of Sajfutdinov running Greg Hancock wide that left an opening on the inside, Ward filling his boots and confirming first pick for the semis.

He was up against Holder and Hancock, the two Pirates (at the time, for Hancock was later to link up with the Championship winning side) booking their places in the final, finishing in a reverse order to that in which they had met, joined by Zagar and Tomasz Gollob. 
Zagar made the better of the starts in the final but Ward, inspite of his relative GP experience, dug deep , varied his lines and found himself ahead of the field with just two laps to go. Cleverly he fended off the retaliation from Zagar and took the chequered flag in sheer delight. For Poole and Aussie fans the rostrum was a double whammy for Holder stood on step three but the night had belonged to Ward.