'Like a dream' – Vaculik dominates to seal hat-trick of wins in Prague

Martin Vaculik made it a hat-trick of wins in Prague with a dominant performance at the event he considers his home Grand Prix.

The Slovak bagged 14 out of a possible 15 points through the heats to qualify in top spot and carried the form into the semi-finals and final for a popular victory at the Marketa.

“It’s amazing, I don’t know what to say. I’m super happy, so pleased,” Vaculik said. “This is like a dream for me, to win three times in a row here is an amazing feeling.

“What can I say, dreams come true and everybody who has a dream, don’t be afraid to dream, just go for it and really believe your dreams can come true, same as mine when I was a kid.

“I remember in 2003 I stood here, behind the fence, and I asked Greg [Hancock] to please take a picture with me. He said, yes, of course, and I told him I’m a big fan. Today I’m here as a rider and this is my message to young kids: believe your dreams, just go for it and anything is possible.”

Having looked immaculate all evening, Vaculik selected Gate 2 for the final and made the best of it with a blistering start that saw him claim the lead at tapes up. From there, he checked out and stormed to victory.

It had almost been heartbreak in the semi-final though. Robert Lambert moved before tapes up, sparking a chain reaction that saw Andzejs Lebedevs and Vaculik jump start as well. While Lebedevs tore the tapes down and was excluded though, Vaculik got away with a warning.

Behind Vaculik, it was a fierce battle between Fredrik Lindgren and Bartosz Zmarzlik for second in the final. Lindgren had the better getaway but lost momentum when Vaculik slammed the door shut on him.

Zmarzlik came charging down the inside and slotted into second, but Lindgren didn’t give up on the position. Fresh off winning the Swedish championship, he went round the outside down the back straight and made the move stick to claim runner-up.

“It feels very good,” Lindgren said post-race. “I’ve been going through a really rough time with my racing, the last two GPs have been absolutely terrible, and I’ve been very down.

“But we did some good testing over the weekend, I got some more hope within myself and became Swedish champ on Tuesday, so I came here with a lot more hope. It’s good to pull it off and get on the podium.

“I was struggling with some very tough numbers in the beginning, starting from the outside gate, which wasn’t ideal. But I pulled it off later on.”

Despite still chasing his first win of the season, Zmarzlik continues to lead the world championship standings and indeed increased his advantage to 12 points over Jack Holder who failed to progress from the heats in Prague.

“I’m very happy because I was in the final again, that’s the most important for me, being on the podium,” Zmarzlik said.

“I’m not looking at [the championship standings], I’m always fully focussing on myself and on doing a good job at the immediate meeting.”

Dominik Kubera made it a second consecutive final appearance in fourth. Lambert was the top Brit in fifth, elevating him to third in the title standings, while Mikkel Michelsen couldn’t quite replicate his win last time out in Landshut in sixth.

Max Fricke made headlines with a semi-final appearance, having come into the Grand Prix as an injury substitution for Jason Doyle, while Lebedevs finally reached the knock-out stages but still saw his evening conclude prematurely with the exclusion in the semi-final.

Dan Bewley couldn’t exceed 12th while Tai Woffinden, the final Brit in the mix, had an evening to forget in Prague, collecting only a single point through the heats.