EUROPEAN PREVIEW - SGP Gorzow

Image Courtesy of Phil McGlynn

Bartosz Zmarzlik takes an 11-point lead over Brady Kurtz into Round 6 which takes place on the circuit where he spent over a decade in the PGE Ekstraliga, and where he has previously won GPs on three occasions.

The first of those was way back in 2014 when he was the youngest winner in SGP history at 19, and the last was a memorable Final victory over Leon Madsen in 2023 – but he was denied a fourth triumph by a brilliant overtake by Fredrik Lindgren in the decider last year.

The Great Britain challenge is currently being headed by Dan Bewley thanks to his superb victory in Round 4 in Manchester last weekend.

Bewley is fifth in the standings, nine points adrift of third placed Lindgren, whilst it’s also an important weekend for Robert Lambert who finds himself outside the top seven as he is yet to reach a Final this season.

Lambert is only three points behind Andzejs Lebedevs and Max Fricke, who are tied for sixth place, so a decent points return could see him jump back into the automatic qualification places for 2026.

Lambert reached the semi-finals at Gorzow in both 2022 and 2023, but finished down the order with just three points last year, from which he did well to recover to still make it to second place overall.

Meanwhile Bewley is also awaiting his first Final appearance in Gorzow, having reached the semis in both 2022 and 2024. There are 24 points available this weekend as there will be a Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon, and history will be made in the referee’s box as Christina Turnbull becomes the first female to ever officiate at a Grand Prix.

Having been a regular on the UK referee list for around two decades, and also having taken charge of multiple FIM/FIME events, she now becomes the seventh Briton to referee a GP – following on from Frank Ebdon, Graham Brodie, Mick Posselwhite, Tony Steele, Jim Lawrence and Craig Ackroyd.

A busy weekend for Bewley kicks off with a home meeting for Wroclaw on Friday when they host bottom placed Rybnik, and he goes into it after a heavy crash when racing for Belle Vue at Leicester on Thursday.

Bewley reared on the back straight and hit the fence as he came off the bike in Heat 13, with Norick Blodorn and Sam Masters taking rapid avoiding action to prevent any more serious damage, with Bewley able to limp away after treatment.

Wroclaw go into the weekend outside the top four play-off positions in the Ekstraliga, although that is partly due to the fact that they are one meeting behind their rivals after their recent postponement at Czestochowa.

They have three points very much on offer to them against Rybnik, having won the reverse fixture 50-40 recently, and they will also be hoping Brady Kurtz is fit to face his former club, whose biggest threat as ever is likely to come from Nicki Pedersen along with Rohan Tungate.

Elsewhere on Friday, Lublin will expect to extend their lead at the top of the table when they host second from bottom Gorzow, having already won 54-36 away from home in the previous meeting.

There is also plenty of interest between the clubs with speculation of rider transfers for 2026 intensifying, with Martin Vaculik hotly tipped to make the move to Lublin with Jack Holder seemingly heading in the opposite direction and Dominik Kubera also set to leave the defending champions.

Lambert’s league match this week is on Sunday when Torun, who go into the weekend second in the standings, travel to their closest rivals Grudziadz who are just two points behind.

The aggregate bonus is also nicely poised with Torun having won the reverse match 52-38, and Lambert will lead a full-strength side for the visitors alongside Patryk Dudek, who was the top points scorer in the opening round of the Polish Championship Finals at Torun on Thursday.

The remining top league fixture of the weekend sees Zielona Gora, who are nicely placed in fourth, hosting Czestochowa after winning the away match 48-42 recently in a meeting where former Czestochowa rider Leon Madsen took centre stage for his new employers.

This weekend’s action in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga starts with a Round 5 match between Krosno and Tarnow on Saturday, where a home win will take Krosno level on points with the top two sides Leszno and Bydgoszcz.

Later that day, Leszno have the chance for a three-point haul if they can win at bottom club Lodz, where they take a 60-30 lead for the bonus point.

Bydgoszcz race at Tarnow on Sunday afternoon, and they too will travel in expectation of an away win, with Tom Brennan in the side as they look to complete the double with a 58-32 win on the board last time they met.

The other meeting takes place on Sunday lunchtime, and it could see some involvement for Anders Rowe who has been added to the Ostrow squad with Luke Becker on the long-term injury list.

They take on Poznan, who were narrow 46-44 winners in the reverse fixture and are three points ahead of their hosts in the league table.

There are two matches in the National Speedway League on Sunday and with the top two not in action Pila have the chance to gain ground if they can win at home to bottom club Opole.

The Great Britain interest comes in the meeting in Germany where Landshut host Krakow with Charles Wright and Leon Flint named in the line-up for the home side whilst Richard Lawson is back at No.1 for the visitors.