EUROPEAN PREVIEW

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

Woffinden’s team takes on Leszno just over a week before the GB skipper and the Australian, who took the World title in 2017, kick off a new Grand Prix season in Gorican.

The two riders are scheduled to meet in Heat 1, as Wroclaw bid to bounce back from last week’s defeat in Grudziadz.

Dan Bewley is also warming up for his debut on the sport’s biggest stage, with Maciej Janowski making it a third GP rider in the Wroclaw ranks despite the absence of Artem Laguta.

The Wroclaw/Leszno fixture takes place on Friday evening, whilst GB’s third Grand Prix competitor Robert Lambert has to wait until Sunday evening when Torun travel to Gorzow in the final fixture of the round.

That means Lambert will be up against Bartosz Zmarzlik, who was surprisingly outpaced by Mikkel Michelsen on his home track a fortnight ago but returned to top form in Leszno last weekend.

Leszno and Gorzow are still awaiting the outcome of investigations into the controversial Heat 15 in their fixture, with the result declared as a 45-45 draw after Zmarzlik passed Janusz Kolodziej on the last lap with the race having been allowed to run before Piotr Pawlicki was retrospectively excluded.

The weekend starts with a top-of-the-table clash with surprise leaders Grudziadz traveling to Lublin with both sides boasting a 100 per cent record of four points.

And the two sides yet to get off the mark also met, with Czestochowa favourites to break their duck as they travel to Ostrow.

In Division One, Lodz host Rybnik in a re-arranged Round 1 fixture on Friday, before racing at home to Bydgoszcz the following day. Rybnik, meanwhile, are back in action at home to Krosno on Sunday.

The other fixtures see Landshut host Zielona Gora on Saturday, and Gdansk face Gniezno on Sunday – and there is a rearranged Round 2 fixture between Krosno and Zielona Gora on Monday.

In Division Two, Adam Ellis is in action for early leaders Daugavpils on Sunday afternoon as they travel to Pila, who suffered a huge defeat in their first meeting.

Rawicz travel to Opole although Steven Goret has replaced Tom Brennan in the initial team declarations, and Saturday’s fixture sees Rzeszow host Poznan.

The build-up is also continuing to the opening round of the new Under-24 Ekstraliga, which takes place on Tuesday.

Teams have yet to be confirmed, but Jason Edwards (Grudziadz), Jordan Jenkins (Czestochowa), Anders Rowe (Gorzow) and Jack Smith (Wroclaw) are all declared in squads.