EUROPEAN PREVIEW

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Round 10 of the PGE Ekstraliga takes place with Wroclaw just inside the play-off places, and they have a match in hand on Zielona Gora who are one point ahead of them in third position.

And they also have a good chance of taking an away win from Gorzow, who they defeated 56-34 in the reverse fixture earlier in the season to put them in control for the bonus point.

The home side name their GP regulars in their line-up including Martin Vaculik who crashed out last Saturday, along with Anders Thomsen and Andzejs Lebedevs, whilst GP winner Brady Kurtz is also in the team alongside Bewley for the visitors.

Elsewhere on Friday, leaders Lublin take on third placed Grudziadz having won 49-41 in the away match, and they will look to make it nine wins out of ten this season.

Wiktor Przyjemski lines up at reserve but there has been confirmation this week that he will be returning to hometown club Bydgoszcz in 2026.

Sunday’s meetings are headlined by the clash between Torun and Zielona Gora, who are second and third respectively in the standings.

The Mickey Mouse club edged a narrow 46-44 victory the last time they met, but it’s an opportunity for Robert Lambert to regain top form against opposition of the calibre of Leon Madsen, Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Jarek Hampel.

Bottom club Rybnik, who are likely to finish eighth ahead of the play-down phase, are at home to Czestochowa who won 51-39 on their last meeting.

Interestingly Nicki Pedersen has been left out of the hosts’ line-up after being involved in further drama last week when he only scored one point at Wroclaw.

Saturday sees the European Team Championship Final at Gdansk, with the host nation going strong as Poland field a team of Bartosz Zmarzlik, Piotr Pawlicki, Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Patryk Dudek and Wiktor Przyjemski.

Their closest challenge is likely to come from Denmark who include Mikkel Michelsen and Michael Jepsen Jensen, whilst Sweden and Ukraine complete the quartet of competing nations.

Call-ups for that event means the Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga fixture between Poznan and Tarnow scheduled for Saturday has been postponed; however the sides do still meet as planned at Tarnow on Friday, with both sides in the bottom half but Poznan only trailing Rzeszow on race points.

The weekend began with a huge home win for Bydgoszcz on Thursday as they thrashed Ostrow 63-27, taking the bonus point by a massive 60-point margin.

Tom Brennan enjoyed an excellent day as he won three rides and completed the meeting with a paid win to finish on 12+2 from five rides, whilst Alexandr Loktaev (15) and Krzysztof Buczkowski (13+2) both scored maximums.

The result puts Bydgoszcz back on top ahead of Leszno, who will kook to respond when they race at home to Rzeszow on Sunday, with three points also on offer as they won the reverse match 51-39.

Also on Sunday Krosno can keep up the pressure in third as they have a home match against bottom club Lodz, having raced to a narrow 46-41 win in the reverse.

In the National Speedway League the leaders Gdansk are without a fixture this weekend, so there is the opportunity for Pila or Gniezno to take over at the top.

Gniezno are three points behind ahead of their home match against Landshut on Sunday, with the visitors including Charles Wright although Leon Flint is out injured.

Pila are just two points behind the leaders as they travel to second-bottom club Krakow, who will be looking for another big score from Richard Lawson.

The remaining meeting on Sunday sees bottom club Opole hosting Daugavpils.