JASON Doyle cannot afford to drop points to his rivals this evening at the British Grand Prix in Cardiff as the speedway world championship reaches its penultimate round.

Swindon Robins skipper Doyle, who on Thursday night helped the club lift the Premiership Supporters’ Cup, trails eighth placed Matej Zagar by five points with two rounds remaining.

The 33-year-old must finish in the series’ top eight to guarantee a place in next year’s world championship.

And while a 12-point return in Vojens a fortnight ago no doubt boosted the Australian’s hopes of remaining in the sport’s top tier, he still faces an uphill battle with the series reaching its conclusion in Torun, Poland, in a fortnight’s time.

All focus will be on the battle for top spot though, with Bartosz Zmarzlik currently holding a nine-point lead over Russian rocket Emil Sayfutdinov.

Leon Madsen’s poor display in Denmark dropped him to third in the standings - 11 points behind leader Zmarzlik - while Fredrik Lindgren, Martin Vaculik and Maciej Janowski pack the other top six spots.

Closer to home, more than 40,000 adoring British fans will be cheering on Scunthorpe-born world champion Tai Woffinden.

Ahead of the meeting, Woffinden said: “I haven’t won (in Cardiff) yet, so I have to do it at some point.

“I can’t win anything else so I may as well try and do it this year.”