EUROPEAN PREVIEW - SGP Riga

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

Bewley’s recent form has been excellent with third place finishes in both Gorzow and Malilla to back up his Round 4 win in Manchester, and that means he goes into the meeting just two points adrift of Fredrik Lindgren in the battle for a medal.

Up at the front of the standings, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz have been dominating proceedings with Kurtz winning the last two rounds ahead of Zmarzlik to trim the margin to nine points with three rounds to go.

Lambert’s battle is to reach the top seven to secure automatic qualification for 2026, and he boosted those hopes with ten points in Malilla whilst several close rivals – Max Fricke, Dominik Kubera and Mikkel Michelsen – scored significantly less.

That means Lambert is eighth as things stand, but just two points adrift of Fricke and Andzejs Lebedevs in the final two qualifying positions. Past form at Riga very much favours Zmarzlik, who has won the previous two GPs at the venue ahead of Lindgren, with Kurtz due to appear there for the first time.

Bewley finished in third place in Riga last season after reaching the semi-finals in 2023, whilst Lambert scored 11 points in 2024 as he just missed out on reaching the Final.

The second round of the SGP2 series took place on Friday with Czech youngster Adam Bednar underlining his current form by taking victory in an eventful Final which required two re-starts. The first of those saw Bednar come down on the first bend and be allowed back in, whilst in the second Norick Blodorn was excluded after a fall.

Bednar then burst to the front in a dramatic first lap of the re-run to defeat Nazar Parnitskyi and first-round winner Wiktor Przyjemski.

There was a solid performance from Great Britain’s Dan Thompson who scored eight points from his five rides, including a win in his fourth outing, before he was eliminated in the first Last Chance Qualifier. But it was an altogether tougher day for Jake Mulford who failed to score from five rides.

The result leaves a virtual two-horse race for the title with Przyjemski four points ahead of Parnitskyi, as the only two riders to reach both Finals so far.

William Dreyer is third, ten points off the leader, but only eight points cover him all the way down to tenth placed Antoni Mencel. Thompson is currently placed 13^th on 13 points.

There are only two meetings scheduled for the PGE Ekstraliga this weekend, by which stage all clubs should have completed 13 of their 14 matches.

Friday’s match will feature Lambert as Torun travel to Czestochowa on Friday, having narrowly won the reverse fixture 47-43. Another victory will virtually cement second position in the standings ahead of the play-offs.

The home side have named Piotr Pawlicki in their line-up as he closes in on a return from injury, amidst reports that he is heading back to Leszno for the 2026 season.

Meanwhile on Sunday Grudziadz have the opportunity to close in on a top four place as they visit bottom club Rybnik, with the bonus point very much within their grasp after a 51-39 home victory.

A busy weekend in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga got underway on Friday with Rzeszow significantly enhancing their play-off position with a 51-39 win at Ostrow which also saw them take the bonus point.

The home side raced into an eight-point lead after Heat 4 but the visitors quickly turned the match around helped by a 15-point maximum from Keynan Rew, and double figures from Marcin Nowak (11+1) and Pawel Przedpelski (11).

The result gives Rzeszow clear breathing space in their battle with Poznan, who have a winnable fixture on paper away at Lodz on Saturday.

Rzeszow themselves have a much tougher test at home to second placed Bydgoszcz featuring Tom Brennan, who will be keen to hit back from last week’s home defeat to Leszno.
The leaders face third placed Krosno on Sunday, whilst Ostrow’s second home fixture of the weekend sees them go up against Tarnow.

The top two in the National Speedway League meet on Sunday as Gdansk play host to Gniezno, who are two points behind them with two matches remaining. Adam Ellis, who scored 11 points in a narrow defeat at Pila last week, lines up again for the visitors.

Elsewhere, a potentially decisive meeting in the race for the top four sees Daugavpils on 12 points hosting Landshut on 10.

Charles Wright is in the line-up for the visitors, who have also named Erik Riss after nearly a month on the sidelines with illness.

The other meeting on Sunday sees the bottom two meet as Opole look to move above Krakow, who have Richard Lawson racing at No.1.