WOFFINDEN: INJURIES HAVE COST ME

Triple Speedway GP world champion Tai Woffinden admits five seasons of injuries have taken their toll on his FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship chances as he bids to bounce back with title No.4 in 2024.

The Great Britain hero saw his 2023 season ended by a broken hand suffered at the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff on September 2, but retained his Speedway GP status after receiving a permanent wild card from the SGP Commission.

Woffinden was in red-hot form that night at Principality Stadium and looked like he could be on course to end his search for a Speedway GP win, which stretches back to his FIM Torun Speedway GP victory on October 6, 2018 – the night he sealed his third world title.

He was gutted to see a promising night in Cardiff ended by injury in a summer when he was coming into form, and Woffinden admits a run of injuries in recent years has proved very costly.

He said: “I don’t know how many people actually know, but I have been injured every year since 2019. I have broken my back; tore a ligament in my foot; fractured my foot; broke my tibia and femur; smashed my shoulder ligaments, and I have broken my hand. 

“I have calculated since 2019, I have actually missed a full year of racing just because of injuries. That’s part of what we do. It comes with the territory of racing a motorbike as fast as you can.

“Now I am just looking forward to getting this season underway and having another good season, not only in the UK, but in Poland and the World Championships.”

The Sheffield and Wroclaw hero launches his bid for SGP glory in the FIM Speedway GP of Croatia on April 27.

Like the rest of his Speedway GP rivals, the Scunthorpe-born star will have to overcome a man who already has four world titles, Poland’s Bartosz Zmarzlik.

The Lublin and Lejonen star has led the Speedway GP standings uninterrupted since he won the season-opening FIM Croatian Speedway GP on April 30, 2022, and has emerged as the rider to beat in the sport.

But Woffinden has proved he can sustain high-level scoring throughout a SGP season, and he insists all his Speedway GP rivals can be overcome.

He said: “They are all beatable and they are all there to be beaten. I look forward to the challenge. You try and beat not only Bartosz; you try and beat them all. It’s as simple as that. 

“Everyone is there to be beaten and everyone can be beaten. You just have to do it regularly.

“The season always unfolds in different ways, and you find form at different parts of it. Sometimes you taper off a bit. I don’t think any rider knows how to stop that from happening. It happens with everybody – every single rider that has ever raced goes through those patches. You just need to get on with it and keep pushing through.”