Tai Woffinden off the pace in title defence

Tai Woffinden's world title defence faltered in the European Grand Prix at Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The Wolves star could muster only five points – the same as his former Monmore team-mate Freddie Lindgren – and is currently 23 points adrift of current leader Krzysztof Kasprzak.

Woffinden's seven points in the opening New Zealand GP actually represented a good effort for a rider battling with ligament and back injuries.

He now has a gap to regroup until the next GP in the 12-round series, at Tampere in Finland on May 17.

Kasprzak, the former Birmingham No.1, reckons winning his battle with nerves has transformed his fortunes after his maiden GP triumph.

He scythed under Australian sensation Darcy Ward on the last turn in the final to open up an 11-point gap at the world championship summit. It was a venue where he failed to score a single point in five rides last year.

He said: "My psychologist is making my head relaxed. I haven't got too much pressure.

"When I was stressed before, my body tensed up and I couldn't race properly.

"Last year I was a different rider. I have different engines, a different team; everything is different.

"I sat down in the winter, thinking, 'I'm nearly 30 years old, I have good technique, I'm a very good starter', so I was wondering why I wasn't winning races in the GP. We talked about this and made some changes. What we have done is working well for me."

Runner-up Ward admits he was fortunate to take part in the event as he continues his battle with the knee ligament damage he suffered at the New Zealand SGP.

Ward, who sat out Friday's practice session, left with 16 points. He said: "I think I'm lucky I was in Bydgoszcz given that I couldn't even put my foot down. There was some good racing and it was hard work. I had to keep battling because everyone was so quick."

World No.2 Jaroslaw Hampel finished third ahead of America's former Cradley icon Greg Hancock.

Bydgoszcz scores: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 18, 2 Darcy Ward 16, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 14, 4 Greg Hancock 16, 5 Chris Holder 11, 6 Andreas Jonsson 10, 7 Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, 8 Martin Smolinski 7, 9 Matej Zagar 6, 10 Adrian Miedzinski 5, 11 Tai Woffinden 5, 12 Nicki Pedersen 5, 13 Freddie Lindgren 5, 14 Troy Batchelor 4, 15 Kenneth Bjerre 4, 16 Chris Harris 2, 17 Szymon Wozniak DNR, 18 Pawel Przedpelski DNR.

Title standings: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak 35, 2 Nicki Pedersen 24, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 22, 4 Greg Hancock 22, 5 Chris Holder 22, 6 Martin Smolinski 22, 7 Darcy Ward 21, 8 Freddie Lindgren 18, 9 Andreas Jonsson 17, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 16, 11 Kenneth Bjerre 15, 12 Tai Woffinden 12, 13 Matej Zagar 12, 14 Troy Batchelor 8, 15 Adrian Miedzinski, 16 Chris Harris, 17 Jason Bunyan.