EUROPEAN REPORT - SEC Chorzow

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Track conditions in Chorzow were tricky with organisers having worked overtime to provide a suitable temporary surface, and work continued up to start time with practice having been delayed by five hours.

Brennan found himself off the outside gate in Heat 1 and having made a good cutback he looked set to move into a decent scoring position until he grabbed unwanted drive on the inside, causing him to come off the back of the bike in a spectacular fall with thankfully the nearby riders managing to avoid him.

The GB rider then had a long wait until his next ride, where he finished third in Heat 8 ahead of Dimitri Berge, but his highlight came in Heat 12 where he took an excellent win, controlling the race after making a good start from gate two, and defeating Robert Chmiel, Norick Blodorn and Timo Lahti.

Brennan added two more third places, once in Heat 16 when he was ahead of Jevgenijs Kostigovs before the Latvian crashed out, and then a fine effort in Heat 20 to round Tim Sorensen off the final turn.

It meant he finished with a creditable six points although all attention in that final race of the regular qualifiers was further up the track as second place for Andzejs Lebedevs saw him clinch the SEC title and a confirmed place in next year’s GP series.

Danish star Anders Thomsen was a dominant winner on the night, collecting 17 points to secure his place in the top five, whilst Leon Madsen and Kacper Woryna were second and third in the event and also overall, with Piotr Pawlicki claiming the final qualification place for 2025.

Good weather over the weekend resulted in promotion issues in Poland’s two lower leagues being resolves, but the PGE Ekstraliga title is still some way from being sorted as they await the conclusion of the second semi-final between Wroclaw and Gorzow.
That match should now take place on Wednesday after repeated postponements due to flooding, with Wroclaw favourites to progress as they trail by just two points from the first leg.

They are, however, sweating on the fitness of Maciej Janowski who was involved in a frightening incident in the SEC when his right hand became caught in the rear mudguard of Jacob Thorssell and was exposed to the spinning wheel, with both riders crashing and withdrawing from the meeting.

Early fears over a broken wrist were remarkably eased, and Janowski was having physio in a bid to be fit both for Wroclaw and for the final GP of the season in Torun this weekend.

Domestic attention therefore switched to the fight for promotion to the Ekstraliga, and it was Rybnik who pulled off a major shock by defeating strong favourites Bydgoszcz over two legs to seal a top flight return for the first time since their relegation in 2020.

ROW, who made the Final last year but were demolished by Zielona Gora, won a fiercely contested home leg 50-40 on Friday, with Brady Kurtz scoring a 14+1 paid maximum.

But it was generally felt that this would be unlikely to be enough against a Polonia side who have been in brilliant form at home this season.

However, the defence of the visitors was superb with the Rybnik reserves, who had outscored their Bydgoszcz opponents 10-2 at home, once again having a major impact as Pawel Trzesniewski and Maksym Borowiak again accounted for ten points whilst the home duo scored only four – and on two occasions, Olivier Buszkiewicz was excluded for bringing down Trzesniewski as he attempted passing moves.

With Kurtz having been outstanding in the first leg, it was compatriot Rohan Tungate who stepped up in the return, with his Heat 13 win leaving Rybnik six points up overall with two races remaining.

Bydgoszcz still had hope when Andreas Lyager and Mateusz Szczepaniak grabbed a 5-1 in Heat 14, and they had a strong line-up for the final race with the unbeaten Kai Huckenbeck being paired with Krysztof Buczkowski, who had only dropped one point.

But Tungate made the start from the outside to spark celebrations in the visitors’ camp, completing a 13+2 score from six rides – and it may well be that he leads them into the Ekstraliga, whilst the future of Kurtz is currently up in the air as he had already been linked with top-league sides.

The National Speedway League play-off Final saw league leaders Gniezno fall short as a 48-42 win over Tarnow wasn’t enough for aggregate victory.

Sam Masters scored 17 from six rides for the home side, but Tarnow did enough to defend their 13-point first leg lead and won by seven overall – although their actual promotion to Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga is yet to be officially rubber-stamped.

That is because the governing body issued a negative recommendation over the club, who have had financial issues, but the club are confident they can resolve these and still take their place in the middle tier in 2025 for the first time in four years.

Another meeting to be beaten by the weather is the Bauhaus-Ligan title decider second leg between Lejonen and Dackarna, which will now take place on October 1 after being postponed on Tuesday.