ZMARZLIK LANDS MAXIMUM POINTS IN LANDSHUT AFTER SPEEDWAY GP & SPRINT DOUBLE

Polish racer Bartosz Zmarzlik was elated with the perfect start to his historic bid for Speedway GP World Championship number six after claiming the maximum 24 points at the WWK FIM Speedway GP of Germany – Landshut on Saturday, May 3.

Five-time Speedway GP World Champion Zmarzlik, who is bidding to become only the third rider in history to win a sixth FIM world individual title gold medal, stormed to victory in the sprint race in qualifying during the afternoon.

This earned him four Speedway GP World Championship points, and he added another 20 by winning the evening’s SGP event in Bavaria, beating second-placed Great Britain racer Dan Bewley, who was second, and Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs, who finished third to claim his first-ever SGP podium.

It was also a memorable night for Australian star Brady Kurtz as the full-time Speedway GP debutante finished fourth on only his third SGP appearance and his first on a European track.

But the night belonged to now 27-time SGP winner Zmarzlik – a man bidding to become the first rider to win four Speedway GP World Championships in a row and an incredible six in seven seasons.

Zmarzlik suffered a setback after qualifying when he was deemed to have missed the two-minute deadline to line up for start position selections. Despite winning the right to choose first with victory in the sprint race, he was forced to choose last.

The Lublin and Lejonen star says this setback only inspired him to deliver a special victory in the evening. 

He said: “I’m really happy. After qualifying, I was a little bit nervous because the situation was not easy for me. But maybe this gave me a little bit of power and extra motivation for tonight.

“I am very happy because the night went well. Practice started really badly, but we made a couple of changes, and we found the speed.

“But I am happy that for the first time in my career I won the sprint, I won the meeting after five heats, and I won the final too. I am really happy about this.

“I want to say thank you to all of the fans – everyone made a great night for us riders and I think the fans had a good night too.” 

Next up for Zmarzlik and his Speedway GP rivals is the Orlen Oil FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Warsaw on May 17, with a circa 50,000-strong crowd expected at the iconic PGE Narodowy.

While Zmarzlik would love to become the first Polish winner of the world’s biggest speedway event, he is determined to treat it with the same focus as any other round.

“This is, of course, a special meeting,” he said. “I will go into every meeting like I always do. It doesn’t matter where we go; I always want to do a good job. I always do the best I can.” 

Second-placed Bewley took the gamble of selecting number one when he chose his starting positions, meaning he was in action after every track maintenance break. 

This can make it challenging for riders to find the right bike setup after a period of grading and watering. But Bewley made it into the last-chance qualifiers, taking victory to earn his place in the final.

He said: “The day didn’t start off brilliantly with the qualifying. But after that, I scored pretty good points in the heats. I made some changes towards the end of the night. 

“I took number one, and nobody likes it, but I looked at it today and believed in myself. It didn’t work out too badly.

“I just want to say thank you to my team, everyone supporting me – my sponsors and all my fans, who are with me through thick and thin. They are always there for me, and we have been working hard.” 

Third-placed Lebedevs admits he has broken another barrier in the sport after Latvia’s first and only Speedway GP rider achieved his first top three finish.

He said: “Step by step, these walls are being broken down. This opened up the podium for me and I am so happy. I feel like I have won! I am really happy and satisfied with myself and my team. We scored points in every heat. I had a good gate choice for the last-chance qualifier. I focused for that and won this last-chance heat, made the final and now my first podium has come.”