EUROPEAN REPORT - SGP Vojens

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

A consistent season for Bewley saw him win the first Manchester GP along with finishing second in Landshut and third in Gorzow, Malilla and Wroclaw, and the key moment in Vojens came in the second Last Chance Qualifier where he was pitched against his direct rival Fredrik Lindgren.

Bewley won that race which confirmed that Lindgren would not be able to overhaul him, so he completed the campaign with bronze even though it was fourth on the night behind wild card Michael Jepsen Jensen.

Lambert was unable to repeat his Vojens triumph of 2024 but a place in the Last Chance Qualifier proved sufficient for him to overturn a three-point deficit to Max Fricke, who failed to reach that stage.

That pushed Lambert back into the top seven, and his winter work will now be focused on returning to Finals as remarkably he was absent from all ten of those races this year.

Once again title chasing duo Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz dominated the meeting, both reaching their ninth Final out of ten meetings, and whilst Kurtz made history in racing to a fifth successive GP win – the first rider ever to achieve that feat – second place on the night for Zmarzlik was enough to see him take a sixth World title, by a single point.

The Pole broke a record himself by becoming the first rider to win four titles on the bounce, and his total of six now sees him match Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson with the clear potential to add more.

Elsewhere in the top five behind Zmarzlik, Kurtz and Bewley - and ahead of Lambert - Jack Holder and Andzejs Lebedevs are also confirmed qualifiers for 2026, with the Latvian’s position also promoting Jepsen Jensen back into the series via the GP Challenge.

Leon Madsen, Dominik Kubera and Kacper Woryna came though that meeting last month, and another place will go to Patryk Dudek if he can round off victory in the SEC this Friday.

The major action in Poland last weekend was the second leg of the Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga play-off Final, and Leszno are now celebrating their return to the top flight.

Having drawn the first leg in dramatic circumstances at Bydgoszcz, they were strong favourites back on home territory, and that was how things turned out as Leszno raced to a 50-40 win, having their victory confirmed in Heat 13.

Ukranian star Nazar Parnitskyi top-scored with 11 points and Ben Cook scored 10, with those two riders along with Janusz Kolodziej and Grzegorz Zengota set to stay with the club as they move back up, although Josh Pickering will be moving on.

Aleksandr Loktaev scored 13 points for Bydgoszcz but Tom Brennan was unable to repeat his SEC exploits at the venue as he scored 3+1 from four rides.
However, Bydgoszcz’s promotion hopes are not yet over as they will now face the winners of the Gorzow/Rybnik play-down battle in an opportunity to take the last place in the 2026 Ekstraliga.

At the bottom end of the table, Lodz were 47-43 winners at Tarnow in a re-arranged meeting on Monday to make their survival in the second tier all the more likely.

The home side’s scoring was dominated by two riders with Mateusz Szczepaniak (14+2) and Timo Lahti (13+1) both in strong form, but Lodz were the more solid overall with Patrick Wojdylo scoring 10+2, and former Tarnow rider Matej Zagar – who left the club during the season – picking up 8+2.

In the National Speedway League, the scheduled Final clash between Pila and Gdansk was postponed on Sunday due to rain, and the sides will now meet twice in 24 hours this weekend.

Brennan then played a crucial role in Sweden on Tuesday as Vastervik made themselves favourites to take the league title by winning the away leg of the Final at Smederna.
The meeting was abandoned after Heat 13 due to heavy rain, and at the time Vastervik led 41-37 so they will bring a four-point advantage into the return.
Brennan scored eleven points from four rides, dropping his only point to Madsen in his final ride, despite a fall in the first staging which also involved his team-mate Lambert, who was excluded after earlier scoring 7+1 from his first three outings. Jepsen Jensen top-scored for Smederna with ten points.