EUROPEAN PREVIEW - Ekstraliga Play-Offs

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

SGP2 Champion and series leader Wiktor Przyjemski suffered a fractured left ankle in an horrific crash in Sweden on Tuesday which resulted in him being taken to hospital by helicopter.

Przyjemski has already undergone surgery back home in Poland and has not been ruled out for the remainder of the season, but he clearly faces a major race against time with the most crucial fixtures of the campaign to take place next month.

In the meantime, Lublin will look to get past fourth-placed Grudziadz in their Semi-Final with the sides meeting at the home of GKM on Friday.

Previous encounters this year saw Lublin win 49-41 in the away fixture in late May, before completing a comfortable 56-34 win at home.

The main British interest is in the other Semi-Final between Torun and Wroclaw, with the first leg of what promises to be a fascinating contest taking place on Sunday.

Robert Lambert’s Torun side have home advantage over Dan Bewley’s Wroclaw and they will look to make the most of it, bearing mind the fact that Wroclaw raced to a 56-34 home win over Torun in the final round of regular league matches.

The league encounter at Torun came way back on April 13 in Round 1, where Torun pulled off a 49-41 win, with Bewley suffering a slow start to the season as he scored 4+1 from three rides, whilst Lambert scored nine for the hosts.

The Play-Down phase also gets underway this weekend with bottom club Rybnik first into action against Zielona Gora on Friday, with Nicki Pedersen again declared in the line-up for the hosts whilst the visitors are back at full-strength after recent injuries for Rasmus Jensen and Przemyslaw Pawlicki.

The second Play-Down Semi-Final features Czestochowa and Gorzow, with that tie getting underway on Sunday, and a bizarre team declaration from the visitors does not include either Martin Vaculik or Anders Thomsen, although changes to that line-up can still be made.

The opening Play-Off meetings took place at Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga level last weekend, with Rzeszow defeating Leszno 44-43 in a dramatic Semi-Final first leg.

The unusual scoreline can be explained by the events of an extraordinary Heat 7 where the home side’s Jacob Thorssell was the only finisher after Grzegorz Zengota, Keynan Rew and Kapcer Mania were all excluded for offences at the start and failing to beat the time allowance.

Rzeszow finished strongly to edge a narrow victory from their home match, although Leszno will be strong favourites to turn the Semi-Final around back on their own circuit, and they had the individual star of the meeting in Janusz Kolodziej who scored 14 from five rides.

Meanwhile in the first leg of the Play-Down Semi-Final, Poznan won 46-44 at Tarnow with reserve Norick Blodorn scoring a paid maximum from his three rides, whilst Ryan Douglas scored 10.

For Tarnow the outcome was substantially better than in their previous meetings although their line-up for the second leg later this month is still to be confirmed with rumours over possible incoming riders.

This weekend’s fixtures see Bygdoszcz, including Tom Brennan, visiting Krosno on Sunday in the first leg of their Play-Off Semi-Final.

They will travel with confidence after a 50-40 away win at the same venue as recently as mid-July, with Brennan scoring a solid 8+1 in that fixture.

In the Play-Down phase, Ostrow host Lodz in a match between two sides who finished with just a point between them in the regular table.

The first legs of the National Speedway League Play-Off Semi-Finals are also on the Sunday schedule, with the leaders Gdansk heading to Latvia to face Daugavpils, whilst the second Semi-Final features the clash between Pila and Gniezno.

The latter meeting should involve Adam Ellis, although he is currently awaiting the results of scans to his knee after his involvement in the Przyjemski crash on Tuesday.

This weekend’s other big event is the third round of the Speedway Euro Championship in Leszno on Saturday. Patryk Dudek leads the standings by four points at the halfway stage from Kacper Woryna with Leon Madsen and Andzejs Lebedevs also in contention, but of those four riders Dudek is the only one not to have secured a Grand Prix place for 2026, and therefore the stakes are higher for him to win the SEC.

It's also an important meeting for Brennan to establish himself back in the series after he failed to score in round two at Gustrow – although he could hardly have been handed a tougher opening race as he faces Woryna, Lebedevs and Michael Jepsen Jensen in Heat 2!

Play-off action is also underway in Sweden, with Lejonen won the first leg of their quarter-final against Rospiggarna 49-41 at Hallstavik despite the injury to Przyjemski.

Bartosz Zmarzlik scored 14 points, whilst Ellis picked up three points from four rides for the home side.

Tuesday’s other Quarter-Final resulted in narrow away win as Smederna took a 46-44 verdict at Indianerna, although their lead had been up at eight points with two races remaining. Luke Becker made a successful return for the home side with 11+1 from five rides.

The other Quarter-Final was held over until Wednesday due to the weather, and it resulted in another close contest but another away win as Vastervik won 46-44 at Dackarna.

Lambert picked up 10 points from five rides including a win in Heat 14 which ensured Vastervik would not lose the meeting, whilst Brennan totalled 6+2 from five. The two British riders combined for a 5-1 in Heat 9 which put their side ahead on the night.