EUROPEAN REPORT - Week 8

Image courtesy of Taylor Lanning Photography

Whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik won Round 3 of the series to reclaim his overall lead over Brady Kurtz, who crashed out on the final bend of his Last Chance Qualifier, Lambert experienced a night to forget in Prague, as he was only able to collect three GP points.

In a meeting where the inside gate was utterly dominant, winning 17 of the 23 races, Lambert’s win in Heat 15 put him on to five points for the meeting and in with a chance of making the top ten.

But in Heat 18 he was left trailing Kurtz, Jack Holder and Kai Huckenbeck, and the overall result leaves him eighth in the standings on 27 points, 26 behind leader Zmarzlik.

Bewley fared somewhat better at the Marketa Stadium with a consistent display in the heats to score ten points, which was only one less than Fredrik Lindgren who made it straight to the Final.

However, Bewley lost out to Leon Madsen in the LCQ as the Dane sent out a message to those who overlooked him for the series this year by then moving inside Kurtz heading into the last bend, whereupon the Australian’s chain snapped and Madsen surged through to win.

The Dane reached the podium in the Final, just missing out to Lindgren for second place as Zmarzlik celebrated his 100^th GP with a 28^th win, and Holder was left in fourth spot.

It means Zmarzlik leads Kurtz, who like Bewley will be racing on his home track of Belle Vue next time out, by eight points with Holder a further three back in third.

Bewley is in the top six on 34 and needs to pull back six points to reel in Lindgren, and clearly the National Speedway Stadium is a venue where both he and Lambert will expect to shine.

The weekend also featured the SGP3 Final where Denmark’s Villads Pedersen was crowned champion after recovering from a last place in his first ride to post four straight wins.

12 points was enough to take the title after the other main contenders stole points off each other, although after three races apiece it was Great Britain’s Cooper Rushen who led the standings on eight.

A last place in Heat 15 was a setback for the 15-year-old, who finished on ten which was one adrift of runner-up Sven Cerjak, and it put him into a four-rider run-off for bronze.

But after just missing out from the inside Rushen had to be content with third place in the race and fifth overall as Beau Bailey overtook Carlos Gennerich to secure the rostrum position.

The line-up for the Speedway European Championship is close to being known with five more riders confirmed through the SEC Challenge at Stralsund in Germany.

There were no British riders in the event, but the SEC itself will already have three new faces as Ukranian Nazar Parnitskyi finished in third place ahead of Denmark’s Frederik Jakobsen and Mateusz Cierniak of Poland, all of whom booked their places.

Top two on the day were Dimitri Berge and Michael Jepsen Jensen, whilst Jakobsen and Ciernak made it through a four-rider run-off which spelt elimination for Szymon Wozniak after a tangle with Przemyslaw Pawlicki, who also missed out in the re-run.

Five Wild Cards are due to be announced to complete the line-up alongside the top finishers from the 2024 series.

The big match in the PGE Ekstraliga at the weekend was the clash between leaders Lublin and closest rivals Torun, and the outcome was a comfortable 55-35 win for the defending champions.

Lublin had won their rearranged trip to Grudziadz 72 hours earlier and they then dominated the race wins at home, although Lambert enjoyed the satisfaction of beating Zmarzlik around his home track in Heat 6.

But it was a mixed day for the GB rider as he ended on 7+1 from five outings as the Lublin heat leaders generally had the best of a contest which featured seven current Grand Prix riders, as well as Emil Sayfutdinov and Patryk Dudek.

Zmarzlik top-scored for Lublin on 13 from five rides, whilst Holder added 10+2 and Lindgren 9+3 also from five starts, whilst Dudek scored nine from six for Torun.

Bewley, meanwhile, was out of action on Friday due to the late postponement of the Wroclaw/Czestochowa fixture due to concerns over the track, whilst was worked on following rain earlier in the day but not to the satisfaction of the riders and the referee.

Elsewhere over the weekend, Grudziadz returned to winning ways with a 58-32 home win over struggling Gorzow, who are only one point off the bottom of the table whilst GKM are well placed in the top four.

In-form Jakub Miskowiak scored 14 points from five rides with Jepsen Jensen carding 12 despite a controversial clash with Anders Thomsen from which the referee ruled all four back. Martin Vaculik scored 12 for the visitors.

Zielona Gora were made to fight hard to a 48-42 win over bottom side Rybnik, who will feel the bonus point is a possibility when the sides meet again this week.

Pawlicki scored 13+1 from five rides for the home team with Madsen on 13+1, a total matched by Maksym Drabik from six rides for the visitors and Nicki Pedersen impressed with 11+1.

In Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga there were two Sunday fixtures with leaders Leszno improving their position at the top with a comfortable 51-39 win at Rzeszow, as Parnitskyi completed an excellent weekend with 13+2 from six rides and Janusz Kolodziej scored 13+1 from five.

Meanwhile Krosno secured their first away win in Lodz for over 20 years when they were 46-41 winners thanks to double figure contributions from Berge, Mathias Pollestad and Tobiasz Musielak. The result took them into third place, level on points with Bydgoszcz who did not race last weekend.

In the National Speedway League the top two of Gniezno and Gdansk both won, Gniezno with a straightforward 57-32 win over Krakow who were without Richard Lawson, their regular source of big points this season.

Adam Ellis scored 8+2 for the home side, whose scoring was led by Sam Masters on 12+1, whilst Gdansk were declared 29-25 winners at Pila in a meeting halted due to rain with the result standing.

Charles Wright was in good form again for Landshut, scoring 11+2 from five rides in a 47-43 win over Opole for the German side’s first win of the season – despite the visitors tracking Martin Smolinski for the first time, and he scored 8+3 on very familiar territory.

There were a series of close results in the latest round of the Swedish Bauhaus-Ligan on Tuesday with a maximum margin of eight points between the sides in all four matches.

Leaders Vastervik were beaten for the first time in 2025 by Lejonen, who recovered from an early eight-point deficit to snatch a 46-44 victory.

The visitors still led by four points with four races remaining but a trio of 4-2s saw Lejonen edge ahead, and although Lambert won Heat 15 for Vastervik his partner Lindgren suffered mechanical trouble at the start enabling Dominik Kubera and Kacper Woryna to share the race.

Zmarzlik scored an outstanding 17 for the home side, dropping his only point to Lindgren in Heat 11, and it was a strong night for Lambert who top-scored for Vastervik with 12 from five rides.

Vastervik’s defeat meant Smederna had the opportunity to pull level in the standings, and they did so with a 49-41 win at Vargarna as Kim Nilsson raced to an 18-point maximum.

Piraterna still await their first points of the season as they were beaten 48-42 at home by Rospiggarna, for whom Ellis picked up 5+1 from four rides including a key 5-1 in Heat 6 with Artem Laguta, ahead of Andreas Lyager and Vaclav Milik to put the visitors six points ahead.

Elsewhere Dackarna defeated Indianerna 48-42 with a consistent team performance headed by Andzejs Lebedevs with 13 points, and the victory moves them above their rivals in the table.