JANOWSKI LAPS IT UP IN LATVIA

Maciej Janowski has been crowned a GP winner  at his fifth attempt - his 12 points over the 20 heats earning him top ranking as the Latvian GP was abandoned prior to the semi-finals.

Heavy rain deluged the track across the final four scheduled heats and after a lengthy delay in hope that conditions would improve for the final three races, the decision was reached to declare the meeting based on the riders' 5 heat performances.

Janowski had three second places and two race wins, one when he benefitted from a second puncture of the night for reignining World Champion Greg Hancock. The American was leading heat 10 when on the final arc he slowed dramatically and the pursuing Pole zipped by his mentor. Despite Hancock's misfortune at least he held on for second place having retired completely from heat 2 when his first puncture occurred, and he finished in the top 8 on 10 points, equal to that of Poole skipper Chris Holder who had three blistering race wins.

In the early part of the meeting he was largely being outdone by fellow Australians Troy Batchelor and Jason Doyle, the current Swindon rider going unbeaten in his first three rides and Doyle  two straight wins to his name before he too suffered a puncture in his third ride, although was trailing at the time.

Batchelor's night concluded with two third places and ultimate bronze medal whilst Nicki Pedersen was declared second overall and closed the gap on series leader Tai Woffinden  to just 9 points, with an 11 point haul  which included a win over the Australian that determined the final standings.

Holder's 10 points moved him to 5th in the overall standings just 2 points behind Iversen of Denmark whilst Poole skipper Janowski sits in 7th place on 38 points ahead of next weekend's round in Malilla.

1. J.Doyle,M.Janowski,M.Zagar ,MJ.Jensen

2. T.Batchelor,A.Jonsson,T.Jonasson ,G.Hancock (rtd)

3. N.Pedersen,T.Woffinden,P.Kildemand ,K.Poudzhuks

4. C.Holder,N.Iversen,C.Harris ,K.Kasprzak

5. J.Doyle,G.Hancock,N.Pedersen ,C.Holder

6. T.Batchelor,M.Janowski,P.Kildemand ,C.Harris

7. T.Woffinden,T.Jonasson,M.Zagar ,K.Kasprzak

8. MJ.Jensen,N.Iversen,A.Jonsson ,K.Poudzhuks

9. T.Batchelor,N.Iversen,T.Woffinden ,J.Doyle (rtd)

10. M.Janowski,G.Hancock,K.Poudzhuks ,K.Kasprzak

11. N.Pedersen,M.Zagar,A.Jonsson ,C.Harris

12. C.Holder,P.Kildemand,MJ.Jensen ,T.Jonasson

13. C.Harris,K.Poudzhuks,T.Jonasson ,J.Doyle (exc)

14. M.Janowski,A.Jonsson,C.Holder ,T.Woffinden

15. G.Hancock,N.Iversen,P.Kildemand ,M.Zagar

16. N.Pedersen,MJ.Jensen,T.Batchelor ,K.Kasprzak (rtd)

17. P.Kildemand,J.Doyle,A.Jonsson ,K.Kasprzak (rtd)

18. T.Jonasson,M.Janowski,N.Pedersen ,N.Iversen

19. C.Holder,M.Zagar,T.Batchelor ,K.Poudzhuks

20. G.Hancock,T.Woffinden,MJ.Jensen ,C.Harris (rtd)

Latvian Scores M.Janowski 12 (2,2,3,3,2), N.Pedersen 11 (3,1,3,3,1), T.Batchelor 11 (3,3,3,1,1), C.Holder 10 (3,0,3,1,3), G.Hancock 10 (0,2,2,3,3), N.Iversen 8 (2,2,2,2,0), T.Woffinden 8 (2,3,1,0,2), P.Kildemand 8 (1,1,2,1,3), J.Doyle 8 (3,3,0,0,2), A.Jonsson 7 (2,1,1,2,1), T.Jonasson 7 (1,2,0,1,3), MJ.Jensen 7 (0,3,1,2,1), M.Zagar 6 (1,1,2,0,2), C.Harris 4 (1,0,0,3,0), K.Poudzhuks 3 (0,0,1,2,0), K.Kasprzak 0 (0,0,0,0,0)

Championship Standings: T.Woffinden (63); N.Pedersen (54); G.Hancock (49); N.Iversen (43); C.Holder (41); M.Zagar (40); M.Janowski (38); J.Doyle (37); MJ.Jensen (34); A.Jonsson (33); J.Hampel (31); T.Batchelor (28); C.Harris (27); T.Jonasson (23); K.Kasprzak (21); P.Kildemand (20)