Thursday 21st June 2012, 10:57

Slovakian sensation Martin Vaculik isn’t worried about taking on the sport’s biggest stars for the first time in the FIM Gorzow SGP of Poland on Saturday and said “I’m 100 percent not nervous.”

The SGP series first reserve was called up for the Edward Jancarz Stadium event after world No.3 Jaroslaw Hampel was forced out by the broken leg he suffered in Copenhagen on June 9.

Vaculik is no stranger to racing the Grand Prix stars in his meetings for Tarnow in Poland and Vetlanda in Sweden and goes into his World Championship debut with a fearless approach.

He said: “I have nothing to lose. I’ll do my best. It’s a new experience for me and I will see the SGP series from the inside. I’ll enjoy that.

“I’m 100 percent not nervous. I meet these riders in the leagues in Poland and Sweden, guys like Nicki (Pedersen), Jason (Crump) and Tomasz (Gollob). I’ve never been in the GP, but I enjoy new experiences.”

Beating a Grand Prix rider here and there in an Ekstraliga or Elitserien race is one thing. Trying to beat 15 SGP stars in the same meeting is an altogether tougher challenge.

Despite his confidence, Vaculik isn’t naïve enough to expect an easy ride. “It will definitely be the hardest meeting I’ve done in my life,” he said. “It’s a new experience and a new school for me. But I’m going to enjoy racing at this level.

“Gating is very important everywhere and it is in the GP too. I’ll just have some good starts, get into a good position and score some points. I need to be fighting hard and hopefully I can beat these riders.”

Asked how far he felt he could go in the Gorzow SGP, Vaculik was reluctant to set any targets.

He said: “It’s my first time in the GP series. I can’t say whether I’ll get eight points, two points or 15 points. It’s a very hard meeting.

“I don’t want to say ‘I’ll get eight points’ or ‘I’ll be in the semi-final’ because maybe I won’t. But maybe I will get there? We’ll see what happens on the track.”

Whatever he achieves in Poland this weekend, Vaculik will make history as the first Slovak ever to appear in an SGP meeting.

But the Zarnovica-born man is keen to write more history in the years to come and take speedway in his homeland to greater heights by becoming world champion.

He said: “There aren’t really that many Slovak riders at the moment, or even before when the World Championship wasn’t a Grand Prix series. But it’s great because I’ll be the first, which is a cool feeling.

“I think Slovakia needs a world champion in speedway and then it will be more popular in the media, newspapers, television, everywhere. More people will be talking about speedway and it will be good for the sport. I have a big chance. I’m still young and my whole career is in front of me. One day, I want to be the best, and I think that can help speedway in Slovakia.”

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