EUROPEAN PREVIEW - SGP LANDSHUT

There is a new venue for the German Grand Prix, which switches to the OneSolar Arena in Landshut having been staged at Teterow since 2016.

Landshut is no stranger to FIM events itself although it has only ever hosted one GP previously, well before any of this season’s competitors were involved.

That was back in 1997 when Danish legend Hans Nielsen took the honours ahead of fellow countryman Brian Andersen, with eventual champion Greg Hancock third.
But several of the class of 2024 have raced at Landshut in the past, as the venue staged the 2018 GP Challenge and a semi-final of the Speedway of Nations the following year, as well as previously hosting the SEC and Speedway Best Pairs events.

German duo Kai Huckenbeck and Norick Blodorn (the wild card for the event) both rode for Landshut prior to the club being restricted to the third tier of Polish league racing from this season onwards.

So it should largely be a level playing field in Bavaria this weekend with Jason Doyle taking a six-point lead over Jack Holder and Bartosz Zmarzlik into the meeting following his win in Warsaw.
Robert Lambert is the best placed GB rider in fourth place in 29, nine off the top, whilst Dan Bewley is in eighth place on 18 having picked up useful points in Round 2 thanks to his sprint race win and semi-final appearance in the main event.

Tai Woffinden will be desperate to turn around his fortunes after collecting just nine points from the first two rounds, and he goes into the meeting in 13^th place overall.

But before that, Bewley and Woffinden go back into PGE Ekstraliga action on Friday evening as Wroclaw host Leszno, with the home side strong favourites to climb to second position in the table.

The visitors are currently sixth but the recent injury to Janusz Kolodziej leaves them extremely vulnerable, especially away from home, and it could be a chance for Wroclaw to rack up a big score.
The same could be said for Lublin, who have won four out of four so far, and it would be a major surprise if they were to slip up at home to Zielona Gora, although the promoted club do find themselves placed fifth in the early table.

Their GP quartet of Zmarzlik, Holder, Fredrik Lindgren and Dominik Kubera will all be hoping for a trouble-free evening before heading to Landshut overnight.

Action will then resume on Sunday following the GP with Gorzow, currently second in the table, hosting Grudziadz who are second from bottom.

And Lambert will be back to racing for mid-table Torun as they make the trip to Czestochowa who surprisingly find themselves bottom with just one point from four matches so far.

There’s also a full weekend of racing in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga, including a clash of the top two with Rybnik hosting Krosno on Sunday evening, both teams going into the meeting with a 100 per cent record from four matches and separated by just four race points.

Sunday’s other fixture features third placed Bydgoszcz who visit Poznan, and an away win could take them above the team who loses in the Rybnik/Krosno fixture.

Tom Brennan will be in action on Saturday when Gdansk, who have just one point so far, visit Rzeszow who are one point better off, and that means the GB racer will be taking on former treble World Champion Nicki Pedersen.
The other fixture in Poland’s second tier this weekend sees Ostrow host bottom club Lodz with the visitors having lost all four matches so far.

In the National Speedway League, the clash of the top two between Gniezno and Landshut takes place on Wednesday, but there are two fixtures on Sunday as Steve Worrall lines up for Daugavpils at home to Pila, who include Adam Ellis. The other meeting sees Tarnow host Opole.

Meanwhile the route to the 2025 GP series also gets underway on Monday, with the first two of four qualification rounds.

Ellis competes at Hungarian venue Debrecen, where his opponents include Polish duo Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Kacper Woryna, as well as Australian Champion Rohan Tungate, current GP racer Andzejs Lebedevs, and Danish stars Benjamin Basso and Frederik Jakobsen.

Also on Monday Brennan and Leon Flint are in Germany to race at Abensberg, where they will face the likes of Rasmus Jensen, Max Fricke, Kubera and Huckenbeck.

There are two further rounds on May 25 at Zarnovica and Lonigo in the build-up to the GP Challenge at Pardubice on October 4.