Saturday night will be the fourth Grand Prix of the year in Hallstavik. It is with back pain that Leon Madsen comes to Sweden as the World Cup after with Polish Patryk Dudek. For Niels Kr. As far as Iversen is concerned, it is about regaining momentum and momentum after the blam in Prague, where he ran one of his career's weakest World Cup races.
By Ib Søby
With only 3 points in the Czech capital, Niels dumped Kr. Iversen down to 8th place in the standings. The space that is traditionally life-giving compared to next year's grandprix series. But for a class driver like Niels Kr. Iversen, who has 85 grand prix races, five wins and World Cup bronze on his resume, is not where he should lie and fight.
- No, I have to go up and fight in the medal match, and after all there are seven races still and many points to win. But to be honest, me and my team were appalled at our poor performance in Prague. It was an evening that hurt the soul several days later, says Niels Kr. Iversen.
- We have analyzed and tested to find an explanation for our lack of speed, but without being able to put the right solution. It is deeply frustrating as a speedway driver when the gadget and setup are just missing the last thing and one is desperately looking for the explanation. An explanation, which is also somewhere in the interaction between motorcycle and rider, Iversen acknowledges.
However, the 37-year-old seven-time Danish champion and four-time team world champion is not asleep in his British home, although he has not felt 100% at the top since the first World Cup Grand Prix in Warsaw in May.
- I'm sure it will come soon. We are constantly working on improvements and, as you know, in the speedway there is only one heat between success and failure. The Grandprix series is at an incredibly high level, where everyone in the field can win big victories or have evenings where they hit by completely, says Niels Kr. Iversen, who is looking forward to the HZ Bygg Arena in Hallstavik.
- It is a course that I know very well from the Swedish league where Rospiggarna has home ground. As far as I know, they have been given a new coating recently, but that may not mean much because the pitches in the grandprix context are often different than for league races.
Australian Jason Doyle and Max Fricke and British Robert Lambert, who are all on Saturday, run daily for Rospiggarne. Incidentally with Danish Rasmus Jensen. Last year, Swedish veteran Andreas Jonsson received a wild card in Hallstavik, but on Saturday it will be Vetlanda driver, Oliver "Vispen" Berntzon, who will have an evening with the world elite.
Back pain Leon Madsen
This year's preliminary surprise, the Danish European champion Leon Madsen, in an interview with speedwaygp.com lowered expectations slightly before Saturday's World Cup showdown. In recent weeks, Madsen has received treatments for back pain, which is not due to a crash on the field.
- In my family we suffer a little with back pain. It is probably hereditary, and of course not optimal for a speedway driver who is already hard on the body, says Leon Madsen.
- I hope to be healthy on Saturday, and otherwise we have to see if an 80% Leon Madsen will be good enough to stay inside the World Cup, says the Dane to speedwaygp.com
After Saturday's race, the grandprix series holds a summer break until Wroclaw on August 3rd. But Leon Madsen and Niels Kr. Iversen will not have much time to enjoy the break, as they are running this year's finals of the World Cup - Speedway of Nations - in the Russian Togliatti on the weekend of July 20 and 21.
Already next weekend, Leon Madsen also starts his defense of the European Championship title when the SEC series of the year starts in German Güstrow. This is the series that will hit the Vojens Speedway Center reopening race on Saturday, August 10.
World Cup position:
1 Patryk Dudek, Poland, 40
1 Leon Madsen, Denmark, 40
3 Bartosz Zmarzlik, Poland 36
4 Frederik Lindgren, Sweden 32
5 Emil Saytfudinov, Russia 30
6 Martin Vaculik, Slovakia, 28
7 Janusz Kolodziej, Poland, 28
8 Niels Kr. Iversen, Denmark, 24
..
9 Jason Doyle, Australia, 23
10 Artem Laguta, Russia, 22
11 Robert Lambert, England, 21
12 Matej Zagar, Slovenia, 20
World Champion Tai Woffinden is out due to injury and American Greg Hancock pauses due to his wife's illness course.
Finals 2018:
Maciej Janowski, Frederik Lindgren, Bartosz Zmarzlik, Tai Woffinden
Individual Danish triumphs on Swedish soil:
1971: New Ullevi, Gothenburg, Ole Olsen world champion.
1984: New Ullevi, Gothenburg, Erik Gundersen world champion.
1991: New Ullevi, Gothenburg, Jan O. Pedersen world champion.
1995: Linköping Motorstadion, Tommy Knudsen grand prize winner.
2004: New Ullevi, Gothenburg, Hans Andersen grand prize winner.
2010: New Ullevi, Gothenburg, Kenneth Bjerre grand prize winner.
2013: Friends Arena, Stockholm, Niels Kr. Iversen grand prize winner.
2015: G&B Arena, Målilla, Nicki Pedersen grandprix winner.