Ex-Lynn favourite delighted to get GP monkey off his back

King’s Lynn speedway favourite Robert Lambert admitted his relief at finally getting the Grand Prix-winning monkey off his back in Denmark last weekend.Norwich-born Lambert, who is now very firmly established as one of the sport’s top riders, had one glaring omission from his CV before the tenth round of this year’s series in Vojens.On nine previous occasions he had reached the Final of a GP, and his consistency placed him in the hunt for a medal overall, but he had never actually won one – until this time he conjured a brilliant start and rode four perfect laps to victory.His wasn’t the only story on the night as following him home in second place was Bartosz Zmarzlik, which was enough to seal a fifth World title for the Pole, and many feel if there is a challenge to come to his dominance in future years, Lambert could just be the man to do it.Lambert said: “It’s been a few years of hard work, and frustration as well of not getting it, so I couldn’t believe it once I made the start and got in front.“I knew I needed to get across in front of Bartek, and that was going to be a tough challenge, but once I did that in the first corner I don’t know how many deep breaths I was taking for the whole race.“I was looking up at the TV and making sure where the guys were behind, and soaking it up as I was going around. “On the last corner, I was looking at the start-finish line to make sure it was the finish flag, and it was, and to cross it in front was incredible. “It was a shame the limelight was taken off me a little bit, obviously Bartek is World Champion, but big congratulations to him as he deserves it.“He’s an incredible rider and I’ll strive to be in his position one day.”Lambert spent the early years of his career racing for the Stars at Premiership level from 2014-19, but the following season saw him base himself in Poland as he won the European Championship which was one of the few events to take place due to the pandemic. Since then he has focused mainly on continental racing, although he did make a hugely popular return for Lynn in the closing stages of the 2023 season when the club was at arguably its lowest ebb.He now stands on the brink of being confirmed as World No.2, as he has a ten-point advantage over Sweden’s Fredrik Lindgren heading into the final round next weekend, but he admits the win was all-important. Lambert said: “It’s been too long coming, but it’s finally here so I’m super-happy, and hopefully I can do it again now.“If I can do it again in Torun that will be silver in the bag, but anything can happen there. “We’ll keep things steady and see what happens there, but how incredible to get it this year.“If I didn’t get it this year then everyone would be talking about it all winter!”