FIM SPEEDWAY: HOMECOMING CHALLENGE FOR THOMSEN

Triple Danish champion Anders Thomsen is hoping for the happiest of homecomings as he bids to punch his ticket into the 2026 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series when he contests the FIM SGP Challenge in Holsted on Saturday, August 9.

Thomsen takes to the shale at his boyhood club, where the top four riders guarantee their place in Speedway GP for next season. With no semi-finals or finals, 16 riders have five races each to change their lives and earn a spot on speedway’s biggest stage.

A stellar line-up heads for Holsted, including Thomsen’s Speedway GP rivals Andzejs Lebedevs, Dominik Kubera, Jan Kvech, Martin Vaculik and Kai Huckenbeck, who are all aiming to defend their spots in the World Championship.

Former world number two Leon Madsen is the wild card for the event and is determined to regain his Speedway GP status, with Denmark also represented by new national champion Michael Jepsen Jensen, who is bidding to return to the SGP series for the first time since 2015. Holsted hero Rasmus Jensen will hope to earn his full Speedway GP debut for 2026.

Former Speedway GP stars Matej Zagar and Kim Nilsson are also in the running, along with a number of riders seeking their series debuts – double SGP2 champion Mateusz Cierniak, Kacper Woryna, Francis Gusts, Mathias Pollestad and Kevin Wolbert.

Thomsen finished second in the 2024 FIM SGP Challenge in Pardubice to earn his Speedway GP spot for this year. While he knows he’s in for a testing night, he would love to earn SGP qualification in very familiar surroundings.

The Vojens rider said: “It’s my home city and I know the track pretty well. I have never ridden for the club, but I have ridden on the track plenty of times.

“Last year we had the Speedwayligaen Super Final there and I have been there this year as well. I have been there plenty of times in the last couple of years.

“I always watched racing there when I was younger, especially when they had the Danish Final with all the big names. When I was young, I stood on the side of the track and watched them ride. Now I am one of those riders and I have ridden in big meetings. I hope that will continue.

“The Challenge is not easy. It’s all about collecting all the points you can during the whole night and not getting any zeros. Then anything is possible. Ending up in the top four is tough. But if you score the points in every heat, it is possible.

“Everybody else has two wheels as well, so they can also be in the top four. It’s going to be a tough meeting with really good riders.”

Thomsen is currently 10th in the Speedway GP World Championship on 54 points – 13 short of the top-seven spot needed to secure automatic qualification for the 2026 series. If he falls short, a top-four finish at the FIM SGP Challenge offers Thomsen another route into Speedway GP for 2026.

Thomsen is determined to keep fighting for a top-seven place in the final two rounds of 2025 at Polish venue Wroclaw on August 30 and his Danish club Vojens on September 13. But he admits 2025 hasn’t gone to plan so far.

He said: “Of course, I want to end up in the top seven in the GP. It has been a tough season. I haven’t really reached my goals this year, but I am staying focused and not looking back too much. Hopefully I can get some good results at the end of the season.

“I think it’s going my way now. I have been working really hard with my equipment and my mentality as well because it all goes together. When your equipment goes down, you start thinking whether there is something wrong with you.

“I can’t really give you the exact reason why it hasn’t gone my way, but I think it’s sorted now, and I am in a better mood as well. I am going in a good direction; I am taking it step by step and I am 100 percent sure it’s going to be good in the end.” 

2025 FIM SGP CHALLENGE STARTING LINE-UP:

1. Dominik Kubera (Poland)

2. Jan Kvech (Czechia)

3. Kim Nilsson (Sweden)

4. Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia)

5. Michael Jepsen Jensen (Denmark)

6. Anders Thomsen (Denmark)

7. Francis Gusts (Latvia)

8. Kevin Wolbert (Germany)

9. Martin Vaculik (Slovakia)

10. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany)

11. Leon Madsen (Denmark)

12. Matej Zagar (Slovenia)

13. Rasmus Jensen (Denmark)

14. Kacper Woryna (Poland)

15. Mathias Pollestad (Norway)

16. Mateusz Cierniak (Poland)

17. Bastian Pedersen (Denmark)

18. Mikkel Andersen (Denmark)