JASON Doyle continued his remarkable run in this year’s Speedway Grand Prix series with a runners-up finish at Saturday’s British GP in Cardiff to move clear at the top of the world championship standings.

Doyle was pipped to victory by Poland’s Maciej Janowski in the final at the Principality Stadium, with the Swindon Robins skipper having now made the deciding race in all six GPs in 2017. Slovenia’s Matej Zagar finished third.

The Australian collected 13 points to move onto 78 for the season and he is now three points clear at the summit from Janowski, who collected 17 en route to victory, and fellow Pole Patryk Dudek.

Doyle’s performance was all the more stunning considering the 31-year-old is still stricken by a foot injury – which required him to hobble around the pits on crutches – and the fact he had only scored one point after his opening two rides.

“The last couple of Grand Prix I have been digging really deep. After the first two rides I have barely had any points and had to do it the hard way,” said Doyle.

“Again I snuck into the semis and fair play to Maciej and Matej, they were so good and had all the lines sorted out.

“My dad and my sister were in Prague when I won my very first Grand Prix (last year) – that was a special moment.

“My dad came over again and it is nice to have family and friends over from Australia. There is a lot of Australian support in Cardiff, they come all the way and enjoy a great event.

“I am really happy with my performance. I did it for everyone in my box. I thought I would be sitting out in the semis but I am very happy with where I ended up.”

Doyle’s night did not get off to the best of starts as he only registered a single point in his opening ride with third place in Heat Four. Niels-Kristian Iversen got the better of the Aussie in the charge to the first bend before Zagar found a burst of speed to gobble him, with the Slovenian going on to victory.

Things got even worse in Doyle’s second outing as the already bruised Aussie was left further shaken after crashing out of Heat Seven, having clipped the back wheel of Janowski when looking certain to finish second behind.

Doyle finally got a stroke of luck in Heat 10 with a morale-boosting second to fellow Australian Chris Holder, benefitting from a blow-out for Swede Freddie Lindgren.

With just three points from his first three rides, Doyle turned it on when it mattered most to take back-to-back victories in Heats 16 and 17 to fire himself up the leaderboard.

Bartosz Zmarzlik led the way after the 20 qualifying heats on 13 points, with Janowski and Emil Sayfutdinov both on 11 and former Robin Peter Kildemand on 10.

Doyle was one of five riders on nine points, alongside Holder, Zagar, Dudek and Tai Woffinden, and there was to be no home triumph for the Great Britain ace as it was he who missed out on the semi-finals on countback.

Although Doyle was unable to keep up his winning streak in his semi as Zmarzlik triumphed, he brilliantly fended off Dudek for second to book a place in the final, with Janowski and Zagar qualifying from the other semi.

With the tension mounting, it was almost disaster for Doyle in the final as he received a warning – having narrowly avoided touching the tapes. That meant he was on the back foot for the re-run, with Janowski too good off the line, although Doyle produced a classy ride behind to comfortably take second from Zagar.

Swindon colleague Adam Ellis was also in action in Cardiff, with the Great Britain youngster one of two track reserves alongside Josh Bates.

Due to an early injury to American Greg Hancock, Ellis enjoyed four heats against the best riders in the world but was unable to register a point.

ADRIAN FLUX BRITISH SGP: 1 Maciej Janowski 17, 2 JASON DOYLE 13, 3 Matej Zagar 12, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 16, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 11, 6 Peter Kildemand 10, 7 Patryk Dudek 10, 8 Chris Holder 10, 9 Tai Woffinden 9, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, 11 Fredrik Lindgren 7, 12 Antonio Lindback 7, 13 Martin Vaculik 4, 14 Josh Bates 2, 15 Craig Cook 2, 16 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 17 ADAM ELLIS 0, 18 Greg Hancock 0.

FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 JASON DOYLE 78, 2 Maciej Janowski 75, 3 Patryk Dudek 75, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 58, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 58, 6 Tai Woffinden 57, 7 Bartosz Zmarzlik 55, 8 Martin Vaculik 49, 9 Matej Zagar 48, 10 Greg Hancock 45, 11 Chris Holder 44, 12 Piotr Pawlicki 44, 13 Niels-Kristian Iversen 38, 14 Antonio Lindback 36, 15 Peter Kildemand 22, 16 Vaclav Milik 13, 17 Nicki Pedersen 8, 18 Maksims Bogdanovs 8, 19 Kenneth Bjerre 7, 20 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 21 Craig Cook 2, 22 Josh Bates 2, Nick Skorja 1.

HEAT DETAILS

HEAT ONE: Woffinden, Lindgren, Kildemand, Hancock (R); 53.94

HEAT TWO: Zmarzlik, Lindback, Dudek, ELLIS; 54.00

HEAT THREE: Janowski, Bates, Holder, Vaculik; 54.37

HEAT FOUR: Zagar, Iversen, DOYLE, Sayfutdinov; 55.06

HEAT FIVE: Zagar, Woffinden, Lindback, Vaculik; 54.63

HEAT SIX: Lindgren, Iversen, Cook, Pawlicki; 54.81

HEAT SEVEN: Janowski, Zmarkzlik, Kildemand, DOYLE (F); Awarded

HEAT EIGHT: Dudek, Sayfutdinov, Holder, ELLIS; 54.75

HEAT NINE: Sayfutdinov, Woffinden, Janowski, Pawlicki; 54.19

HEAT 10: Holder, DOYLE, Lindback, Lindgren (R); 54.25

HEAT 11: Kildemand, Dudek, Vaculik, Iversen; 54.69

HEAT 12: Zmarzlik, Zagar, Cook, Bates; 54.25

HEAT 13: Zmarzlik, Holder, Woffinden, Iversen; 54.57

HEAT 14: Janowski, Lindgren, Dudek, Zagar; 54.56

HEAT 15: Sayfutdinov, Kildemand, Lindback, Cook; 54.93

HEAT 16: DOYLE, Vaculik, Pawlicki, ELLIS; 54.87

HEAT 17: DOYLE, Dudek, Woffinden, Cook; 54.12

HEAT 18: Sayfutdinov, Zmarzlik, Vaculik, Lindgren; 53.94

HEAT 19: Kildemand, Holder, Zagar, Pawlicki; 55.00

HEAT 20: Iversen, Lindback, Janowski, Bates; 54.53

SEMI-FINAL ONE: Zmarzlik, DOYLE, Dudek, Kildemand; 54.37

SEMI-FINAL TWO: Janowski, Zagar, Holder, Sayfutdinov; 54.44

FINAL: Janowski, DOYLE, Zagar, Zmarzlik; 54.56