EUROPEAN PREVIEW - SGP & SGP2 Malilla

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

It’s the end of a punishing schedule which has seen five rounds scheduled in a six-week period, and there is then a summer break before the run-in commences in early August.

Malilla is well known to the majority of competitors, and it has been holding GPs since 2005, missing out in only two years since then, one of those due to Covid.

The title race is still very much on with Brady Kurtz trailing Bartosz Zmarzlik by 11 points after his win last time out at Gorzow.

Kurtz has some track knowledge to call upon as he raced for Dackarna in 2022-24, but Zmarzlik is very much an expert in GP terms having won at the venue on no fewer than four occasions – in 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

The exception in the last four years was Dan Bewley’s triumph in 2023, whilst of the current line-up Fredrik Lindgren also has a Malilla victory to his name in 2019, and he currently has a six-point advantage over Bewley who is trying to chase him down for an overall rostrum place. Bewley is also a former Dackarna rider, having raced for the club in 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile Robert Lambert arrives at the meeting in eighth place in the standings, one place and four points behind current home rider Andzejs Lebedevs in the battle for 2026 qualification.

Lambert is yet to reach a Final this season but he did finish third at Malilla in 2024, and a repeat of that performance would be major boost after only being able to add nine points in the last two rounds.

It’s also a big weekend for Great Britain duo Dan Thompson and Jake Mulford who both compete in the opening round of the SGP2 (World Under-21 series) on Friday.

Mulford made it through from the rain-affected qualifying round at Glasgow, and whilst Thompson missed that meeting due to injury, he was rewarded with a deserved permanent wild card from the SGP2 Commission.

He rode in the final round of the 2023 series in Torun, where he scored eight points and just missed out on a place in the semi-finals, whilst Mulford will be making his debut.

The series gets underway at Malilla on Friday with further events in Latvia (Riga) next month and then Denmark (Vojens) in September.

Once again the field is loaded with top talent, as all of last season’s top four return, led by defending champion Wiktor Przyjemski.

He was joined on the rostrum in 2024 by Nazar Parnitskyi and Mathias Pollsestad, along with fourth placed Mikkel Andersen.

Others who are expected to be involved in a competitive battle are Norick Blodorn, Mitch McDiarmid and Adam Bednar.

There is no PGE Ekstraliga action this weekend but all clubs have now completed ten fixtures after Wroclaw defeated Czestochowa 55-35 in a re-arranged match on Thursday.
The result was also enough for the bonus point by a five-point margin for Wroclaw, who therefore join Torun on 17 points, four behind leaders Lublin.

But the story of the meeting was a sensational performance from Jason Doyle, who rolled back the years with an incredible 20-point haul, reeling off six straight wins after finishing second behind Artem Laguta in his first outing.

Despite that performance, Czestochowa – without the injured Piotr Pawlicki – find themselves five points outside the top four play-off places with just four matches remaining.

Meanwhile in Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga, Rzeszow won 50-40 at Lodz to move into the top four, with Pawel Przedpelski top-scoring on 12 points. The meeting was delayed by half an hour due to track work but the visitors made the best of conditions to edge back ahead of Poznan in their battle to reach the play-offs.

The top three teams all race away from home this weekend, starting with third placed Krosno who visit Tarnow on Saturday in a Round 10 fixture, before then heading to Rzeszow on Sunday in a re-arranged Round 8 clash. Then on Sunday, leaders Leszno visit bottom club Ostrow who are once again expected to include Anders Rowe in their No.8 berth as they continue to be without the injured Luke Becker.

Meanwhile Bydgoszcz are two points behind Leszno and they travel to Poznan with Tom Brennan in the side as they look to consolidate their position.

In the National Speedway League on Sunday, the British interest will be at Krakow, who take on second placed Gniezno in a meeting which will pitch Richard Lawson for the home side up against Adam Ellis for the visitors.

The other meeting sees current leaders Pila visit third placed Gdansk, and with the top three all separated by a single point, top spot could change this weekend.