FIM SPEEDWAY: THOMSEN, VACULIK & LEBEDEVS INTO FIM SGP CHALLENGE

Feature photo by: Michal Krupa

Danish champion Anders Thomsen took a giant step towards guaranteeing his place in the 2026 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series after winning his SGP qualifier at Slovak circuit Zarnovica on Saturday, June 7.

Thomsen finished joint top of the score chart with Slovenian star Matej Zagar and Poland’s Kacper Woryna. And it was the Dane who came out on top in a run-off for the win with Zagar second and Woryna third as all three riders booked their place at the FIM SGP Challenge in Holsted, Denmark on August 9.

They will be joined by Slovakia’s Martin Vaculik, who finished fourth in his hometown with 11 points, with Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs bagging the fifth and final qualification place on 10 points.

The top four riders in Holsted will be guaranteed spots in the 2026 Speedway GP series as Thomsen, Vaculik and Lebedevs all bid to defend their places in the World Championship. Zagar seeks an SGP return for the first time since 2021, while Woryna has his sights set on becoming a regular Speedway GP rider for the first time.

Norway’s Mathias Pollestad just missed the cut on nine points, along with American racer Luke Becker. But Pollestad at least has an SGP2 season to look forward to this year after winning his qualifier for the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship in Pardubice.

Czech rider Vaclav Milik exited on eight, along with French racer David Bellego and 2012 Speedway GP world champion Chris Holder, who replaced the injured Brady Kurtz in Zarnovica.

The day’s other qualifier takes place at Italian track Lonigo this evening, with the final qualifier being staged at German circuit Stralsund on Monday.

ZARNOVICA SCORES: 1 Anders Thomsen (Denmark) 12+3, 2 Matej Zagar (Slovenia) 12+2, 3 Kacper Woryna (Poland) 12+0, 4 Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) 11, 5 Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia) 10, 6 Mathias Pollestad (Norway) 9, 7 Luke Becker (United States) 9, 8 Vaclav Milik (Czechia) 8, 9 David Bellego (France) 8, 10 Chris Holder (Australia) 8, 11 Marko Levishyn (Ukraine) 6, 12 Oliver Berntzon (Sweden) 5, 13 Adam Ellis (Great Britain) 4, 14 Matic Ivacic (Slovenia) 4, 15 Andrei Popa (Romania) 1, 16 Antti Vuolas (Finland) 1, 17 Jakub Valkovic (Slovakia) 0, 18 Anna Hajkova (Slovakia) 0.

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