EUROPEAN REPORT - Week 4

Image courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

Whilst Bewley wasn’t able to get the better of defending champion Bartosz Zmarzlik, who ominously banked a maximum 24 points from the event, the Belle Vue racer will be pleased with his first round especially compared to last season when he left Croatia with a broken foot.

At Landshut, he collected nine points from five rides and actually led Zmarzlik away from the start in Heat 1 before going too wide off turn two on a heavily watered track, with the Pole going through for victory.

Despite a last place in his second outing, Bewley was safely jn the qualifying zone thanks to seven points from his last three, winning Heat 13 against Jason Doyle, Max Fricke and Kai Huckenbeck.

Zmarzlik and impressive newcomer Brady Kurtz moved straight into the Final under the new format, whilst Bewley won the second Last Chance Qualifier – a race which spelt the end of Robert Lambert’s hopes.

Lambert started the meeting strongly with seven points from his first three rides before adding just one from his last two, which was still enough for a top ten finish and progression to the closing stages.

But with only one rider going through, gate choices for the LCQs are set to be all important, and it was Bewley who took the honours despite a charging ride from Fredrik Lindgren, whilst Lambert was third with Anders Thomsen retiring.

Andzejs Lebedevs won the first LCQ race, but the Final was all about Zmarzlik from the inside, whilst Bewley settled into second place and fended off Lebedevs whilst Kurtz’s choice of gate three didn’t work out.

Having already won the Sprint Race, Zmarzlik’s 27^th GP triumph gave him 24 points to Bewley’s 18, whilst Lambert has 11 as his nine from the meeting are increased by two thanks to his third place in the Sprint.

Last week also saw the fourth round of PGE Ekstraliga fixtures, with Lambert being part of Torun’s 47-43 win over Czestochowa to move them up to second position in the league table.

The home side were made fight harder than had been expected, especially after they went eight points ahead in the early stages, but the visitors fought back to level the scores with two heats remaining.

A 5-1 in Heat 14 from Patryk Dudek and Emil Sayfutdinov put Torun back ahead, and Lambert then clinched victory with a win over Piotr Pawlicki and Doyle in Heat 15.

Lambert and Dudek both scored ten from five rides whilst in-form Pawlicki racked up 15 from six outings for Czestochowa, who will take encouragement from their display.

It was also a good weekend for Wroclaw who edged a close encounter at Grudziadz 47-43 for their second win of the season, in the process inflicting GKM’s first defeat.

Wroclaw were 33-21 up after Heat 9 but they still found themselves with a match to win as the home side came fighting back to within four points with two races remaining, before the visitors sealed it in the penultimate heat.

Bewley scored a strong 9+1 from five rides with Artem Laguta top scoring on 12+1, whilst Michael Jepsen Jensen (14+2) and Jakub Miskowiak (14+1) dominated the Grudziadz scoring.

The other Round 4 meetings featured a huge 63-27 win for Lublin over Rybnik, the defending champions being able to rest Zmarzlik after three rides as he prepared for GP duty.

Wiktor Przyjemski (11+1) scored a paid maximum, whilst Dominik Kubera notched 12, and Rohan Tungate with 7+1 was best for the newly promoted side, who are now second from bottom in the the table.

The derby clash between Gorzow and Zielona Gora went down to the last race where a 4-2 from Lebedevs and Martin Vaculik helped the home side to a 47-43 win, Vaculik with 13+1 dropping only one point in the meeting.

But for Zielona Gora, their start to the season now reads four defeats from four matches leaving them as the only side without a point. Przemyslaw Pawlicki with 13 and Leon Madsen with 11+3 both scored double figures.

In Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga, the two remaining fixtures in Round 3 saw Rzeszow defeat Ostrow 48-42 with Pawel Przedpelski leading the way on 12+1, whilst Lodz collected their first points of the season with a 55-35 win over Tarnow, led by 13 from Andreas Lyager despite an impressive 14+1 from Timo Lahti for the visitors.

In the National Speedway League, the top two both won with Adam Ellis scoring 10+1 from five rides for Gniezno, who defeated Pila 51-39 to remain level on points with Gdansk who were also winners, in their case 47-43 at Ostrow.

However, the meeting at Gniezno was marred by a crash involving visiting team-mates Tomasz Gapinski and Adrian Cyfer, with Gapinski sadly taken to hospital for treatment on multiple injuries.

Elsewhere there was a first win of the season for Krakow, with Richard Lawson contributing 6+3 from five rides in their 46-42 victory over Daugavpils, leaving the Latvian side as the only ones yet to score this season.

Tuesday night saw the first round of fixtures in the 2025 Bauhaus Ligan in Sweden, with several close contests taking place.

Lambert was the Heat 15 hero for Vastervik along with Lindgren as they raced to a 5-1 to snatch a 47-43 triumph at Indianerna, in a meeting where they never trailed but were repeatedly pulled back level.

Lindgren completed a 14+1 paid maximum on his return to Swedish league racing whilst Lambert scored ten from five rides, including a fall in his third outing.

It was also a good night for Tom Brennan at reserve for Vastervik as he scored ten from five as well, just missing out on points in Heat 13 after an impressive performance in his earlier races.

There was also a last heat decider in Eskilstuna where Smederna defeated Rospiggarna 46-44 thanks to a win in that final race from Gleb Chugunov who got the better of a previously unbeaten Laguta.

A late comeback from Piratera at Vargarna, inspired by Lyager, saw the visitors come from 14 points down to make it 44-40 with one race remaining, but Oskar Polis (13) crucially split Lyager and Tim Sorensen in Heat 15 as the hosts edged a 46-44 win despite Lyager’s 17-point haul.

Finally there was a 50-40 win for Dackarna against Lejonen with the hosts’ solid performance enough to see off a visiting side who depended too much on Zmarzlik (16) and Kubera (13).