EUROPEAN REPORT - Week 23

Chasing a first league title since 2008, Lambert’s side recorded a dramatic 54-36 win over league leaders Torun in the opening leg of the Play-Off Final to give themselves a huge opportunity in the decider.

All seven home riders won at least one race in a terrific contest, often coming through from the back, with Lambert’s victory coming in a brilliant Heat 13 where Dominik Kubera retrieved second place from Emil Sayfutdinov whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik was relegated to the back.

Newly crowned SEC Champion Patryk Dudek top-scored for Torun with 13 points, with Lambert contributing 8+1 from five rides. Zmarzlik scored 13 from six for Lublin but the ongoing injury problems for reserve Wiktor Przyjemski may prove to be a decisive factor in the tie overall.

Wroclaw look set for third place overall after thrashing Grudziadz 61-29 in the first leg of their Play-Off, with World No.2 Brady Kurtz scoring a paid maximum (14+1) and Dan Bewley continued his warm-up for the SoN with 10+3 from five rides.

Michael Jepsen Jensen scored 15 points from six outings, which was more than half of the GKM total, and they will now require a miracle to snatch Bronze after what has still been a strong season.

At the other end of the table, Rybnik are officially relegated after their 54-36 defeat at Gorzow, who won 105-75 on aggregate.

Andzejs Lebedevs, on a busy weekend which saw him also race at Pardubice on Friday and Sunday, collected 13+1 for the home side with Anders Thomsen adding 13.

Maksym Drabik scored 12 for Rybnik, whose season is now over, whilst Gorzow now face Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga runners-up Bydgoszcz, featuring Tom Brennan, for the last place in next season’s top flight.

Relegation issues in the second tier were decided on Saturday with no great surprises as Lodz defeated Tarnow 57-33, for a 104-76 aggregate win to send their opponents down to the bottom level.

Mikkel Andersen top-scored with 11+2 and Matej Zagar scored 11+1 against his former club as Lodz secured their survival, whilst Marko Levishyn scored 13+1 from six rides for Tarnow.

There was a surprise result in the National Speedway League decider where Pila secured promotion back to the second tier with a convincing aggregate win over league leaders Gdansk. Pila had finished third in the regular standings, eight points behind Gdansk, and after taking out second-placed Gniezno in the semi-final, they then went one better in the decider.

A 49-41 home win on Saturday for Pila left the tie intriguingly poised, but few expected them to race to a 52-38 away win to inflict Gdansk’s first home defeat of the season at the most crucial time.

Glasgow’s Villads Nagel was key to Pila’s success with 9+1 at home and 9+2 away, whilst Norbert Kosciuch (10+2) top scored at hope, and Wiktor Jasinski (12) led the way in the return fixture.

Meanwhile, Lambert already has one league title in the bag after a sensational ending to the Swedish season on Tuesday saw Vastervik secure Gold in a thriller against Smederna.

Leading by four points from the first leg, the home side were strong favourites but the team from Eskilstuna kept themselves in the fight and levelled the scores on the night with a 5-1 in Heat 12.

Lambert won Heat 13 to keep Vastervik four up on aggregate before a remarkable Heat 14 saw Madsen and Mathias Pollestad both pass Lambert to put Smederna on a 5-1, only for Lambert to hit back and regain the lead.

Leon Madsen went back past Lambert on the last lap but Pollestad lost third place to Jacob Thorsell meaning it was 42-42 on the night, and Smederna needed a 5-1 to tie on aggregate.

Incredibly Jepsen Jensen and Gleb Chugnov gated in that position, but as Fredrik Lindgren suffered a puncture Jepsen Jensen was affected and Mads Hansen came through for the second place to win the title for the home side, despite a 46-44 defeat on the night.

Lambert kept his head amongst the mayhem to top-score with 10+3 but Brennan failed to score from two rides, as in-form reserve Bartosz Smektala (10+1) appeared in the later races.

Dudek’s top scoring performance for Torun on Sunday came two days after he secured his place in the 2026 GP series by completing victory in the Speedway Euro Championship.
The Pole was kept honest throughout the deciding round in Pardubice, which he went into with a six-point lead over Lebedevs, and a win in Heat 20 secured the title.

Following that, Dudek went on to win the meeting itself to become the first rider to win three rounds in a regular four-round SEC series, with Timo Lathi an impressive second on the night ahead of Lebedevs and Kacper Woryna, who fell in the Final when chasing a point to keep in the battle for third overall.

Woryna was one point behind Leon Madsen who had been excluded from the Last Chance after a clash with Szymon Wozniak, but Woryna’s failure to score in the Final meant it was bronze overall for the Dane.

Brennan completed his SEC campaign with 22 points after scoring seven in the Czech Republic, which left him 11^th overall.

Given his disastrous Round 2 in Gustrow where he failed to score, it was a solid effort especially in the second half of the season, and he also had the distinction of pulling off the ride of the night with a brilliant move to go around Nazar Parnitskyi off the last bend in Heat 14.

Dudek won the title by eight points ahead of Lebedevs with Madsen third, and the other qualifying places for 2026 went to Woryna, Parnitskyi and Jepsen Jensen.

Lebedevs looked set to take some consolation in the prestigious Czech Golden Helmet back at Pardubice on Sunday – but he suffered dramatic heartbreak in the Final.

Having led the first running of the six-lap race until being brought down by Jason Doyle, who was excluded, Lebedevs hit the front again and was destined for a clear win, until he began to slow on the last lap with a puncture.

That enabled Dimitri Berge to pass him out of the final bend for the win, leaving Lebedevs second ahead of Rasmus Jensen.

Adam Ellis made it through to the ‘B’ Final where he finished third behind Ryan Douglas and Sam Masters, whilst Brennan was eliminated in the Quarter-Finals and Leon Flint just missed out in Group 2. Ellis then finished third in the Lubos Tomicek Memorial at Prague on Monday, with Jan Kvech winning the meeting.

Congratulations also to Zach Wajtknecht on being crowed FIM Long Track World Champion in Roden on Sunday, as he led a Great Britain one-two with Chris Harris in second place overall.

It was GB’s first Individual world title in the series for 25 years, and the two riders had previously been part of GB’S Long Track of Nations victory in Vechta one week earlier.