EUROPEAN PREVIEW - SGP Warsaw

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

The PGE Naradowy Stadium has hosted the GP series since 2015, with the exception of two years out due to Covid, and it can hold over 50,000 supporters.

This will be the last GP at the venue for a couple of years as next season Warsaw will stage the World Cup Final instead, but indications are that it should return to the GP schedule in 2027.

Bartosz Zmarzik arrives as a five-time World Champion and with the series lead after his dominant display in Landshut a fortnight ago – but no Polish rider has ever won at Warsaw, although Zmarzlik did finish second last year.

Dominik Kubera and wild card Patryk Dudek are the other two ‘home’ representatives with Dudek having stood on the podium at the venue in 2019.

Lambert clinched the British Championship title at Belle Vue on Monday and he goes into the meeting with 11 GP points from the first round. His form at Warsaw is encouraging as he made the semi-finals back in 2019 and then reached a Final there for the first time last year, finishing third behind Jason Doyle and Zmarzlik.

Bewley was runner-up in Landshut and has 18 points on the board, six behind Zmarzlik, and he has reached the semi-finals at Warsaw for the last two seasons but is yet to reach a Final there – although he did win the SGP’s first-ever sprint race in 2024.

Fredrik Lindgren is the only double Warsaw winner to be racing on Saturday, having triumphed in 2017 and 2023, whilst Tai Woffinden has also won the event on two occasions.

From the current field, Max Fricke (2022) and Doyle (2024) have also tasted victory at the PGE Naradowy.

Elsewhere on Saturday, the fourth SEC qualifying round takes place at French venue Lamothe-Landerron with Jason Edwards representing Great Britain.

The line-up includes Edwards’ Birmingham team-mate Jonas Jeppesen along with in-form Polish duo Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Wiktor Przyjemski, with the host nation represented by David Bellego, Mathias Tresarrieu and Steven Goret.

The meeting is the final qualifier building up to the SEC Challenge at Stralsund on May 31, with the main four-round series getting underway at Bydgoszcz on July 12.

Domestic racing in Poland is limited this weekend due to the Warsaw GP, and the weather forcecast has caused early postponements of the majority of the Sunday schedule.

Amongst the call-offs are the PGE Ekstraliga Round 5 fixture between Grudziadz and Lublin which also fell victim to unfavourable conditions last weekend.

Both Metalkas 2. Esktraliga matches which were due to complete Round 4 are also off, so there will be no action between Tarnow and Rzeszow, or between Poznan and Leszno.

In the National Speedway League the clash in Latvia between Daugavpils and Opole has been postponed, so the only meeting remaining is in Germany where Landshut will host Gniezno.

That match which features a healthy GB contingent as Charles Wright and Leon Flint are both named in the side for the hosts, whilst Adam Ellis races for the visitors.