LEWICKI: LAGUTA TAKING IT STEP BY STEP IN TITLE FIGHT

Artem Laguta’s manager Rafal Lewicki insists the team is paying little attention to the SGP World Championship standings as their epic title fight with Bartosz Zmarzlik reaches its climax.

Zmarzlik leads the standings on 139 points going into tonight’s Danish FIM Speedway Grand Prix sponsored by Ecco at Vojens, with Laguta in hot pursuit – just one point behind on 138.

With tonight’s action plus the eWinner Torun SGP double-header on October 1 and 2 to race, excitement is building as Zmarzlik chases an historic third straight world title, while Laguta bids to win his first.

But Lewicki insists Laguta and his crew aren’t too worried where they are in the standings at this stage.

With the current SGP scoring system rewarding finalists handsomely and punishing those who fall short, Lewicki knows there could be plenty of twists and turns between now and the final round in Torun.

He insisted: “We only look at what is in our hands now. We don’t need to look at how many points we are in front or behind. All we can do is the best we can do. Artem will try the best he can in every single race.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 points behind with this points system. On paper, 10 points looks a lot. But with this points system, a rider can score 15 race points in the heats, finish last in the semi and end up with nine or 10 championship points. Equally, a guy with eight race points in the heats can win the Grand Prix and get 20 championship points.

“Even 10 points wouldn’t be a huge lead. No matter where we are after Vojens, it will still be an open game.

“You only have two hands and you can only control what’s in your hands. If you focus on too many things, you miss the major things. The major things are getting into the semi and then the final. Then you do your best in the final.

“We are taking things in small steps – step by step. Then we will see the result on Saturday, October 2 in Torun. We will see how many points Artem gets and how many points the other riders have.”

Laguta enjoyed one of the best nights of his career at Vojens in 2010, when he shocked the sport to win the GP Challenge at the age of 19 and book his place in SGP 2011.

But Lewicki admits that triumph is now in the history books and counts for little ahead of tonight.

He said: “Memories are one thing. They always stay with you. But that’s history. Now we are writing a new story and it’s a new day.

“No matter how good the memories are that you have from the track, the next day can be absolutely different. Equally, you can have a track you don’t like and turn it around.

“That’s what happened for Artem in Prague. He didn’t like Prague before this year’s GP. Then he won on the Sunday and now it’s a fantastic track for him.

“It’s all about taking it day by day. You cannot win races with memories. They stay with you and it was a great night for Artem when he first got into the GPs 11 years ago. But it’s in the past and we are looking forward. We are here and focused for another round. We are also focused on every single race.”