Wednesday 28th September 2011, 13:15

Polish international Jaroslaw Hampel has pledged to “stand and fight” in the FIM Enea Gorzow SGP of Poland on October 8 as he bids to overhaul Andreas Jonsson and retain the series’ No.2 race jacket.

The World Championship is now out of Hampel’s reach after American legend Greg Hancock became the oldest world champion in the shale sport’s history at the FIM Nice Croatian SGP on Saturday.

The Leszno and Vetlanda hotshot could still win the silver medal, but surrendered second place in the standings to Jonsson when the Swede topped the rostrum in Gorican.

AJ leads the race for second place on 118 with Hampel on 117. But with a wild Polish crowd behind him at the Edward Jancarz Stadium, Hampel will fancy his chances of getting the better of the five-time Swedish champion.

The Lodz-born man, who was eliminated at the semi-final stages in Croatia, admits his form has slipped of late. But Hampel is determined to be back on top of his game in his homeland.

He said: “I’ve had some trouble in the last few weeks and I haven’t raced as well as before, so I need to work much harder before the last GP.

"I’ve still got a chance to finish second, but I need to improve on the track.

“Andreas is on very good form. But the important thing is I like the track in Gorzow. It’s a good place to race and I can think positively going here.

“My plan is to work really hard with my bikes and myself to be ready to stand and fight. I’ll try to prove that in Gorzow. I won’t stop. I still want to fight and finish second. It’s so important for me.”

Hampel qualified for the semis in Gorican on nine points, but only had third choice of gate for the big race after finishing fifth in the heat scorechart. The 29-year-old admits the points he dropped over his first five races proved costly at the business end of the meeting.

He said: “It’s very important to race all five heats consistently before the semi-final because then there is a chance to make a choice with the gate.

“All of the guys in the semi-final are very fast and if you don’t have such a good gate position, sometimes it’s hard to win. It’s important to be more consistent and make that choice. It’s a little bit easier if you have a better gate than the other guys. I need to race better in Gorzow from the beginning, have the right setup and be ready in every single race.”

While Hampel will have to wait at least another year to become world champion, he was quick to pay tribute to Hancock for landing the sport’s biggest prize with a supremely consistent season.

The Pole said: “I want to congratulate Greg from my heart. He deserves to be No.1. He has raced all of the rounds from the beginning of this year very well. It didn’t matter where they were or what track. He has a great personality too. He’s a great guy and a good man.”

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