Jakub Miskowiak will only be 19 years old in August 2020, but last year was his first season in the bright lights of the top tier of world speedway. He raced as a junior in the PGE Ekstraliga with forBET Wlokniarz Czestochowa, was a wildcard for the Speedway European Championship and finishing just out of the medals at the U21 European Championship won by Viktor Lampart.
But his highlight was U21 Polish national championships in Tarnow in August just 12 days after his 18th birthday. “On the start line for this meeting there were much more experience riders than me, but I managed win the Gold medal,” he says with pride.
He was up against an elite field featuring double U21 World Champion, Maksym Drabik and one-time U21 World Champion, Bartosz Smektala. But that did not daunt Miskowiak and he lost just two points on his way the U21 national title with one of his best totals for the whole year.
And whilst this was undoubtedly his best performance of the year, he also made a good account of himself in Round 2 of the SEC in Torun. He twice beat the Czestochowa teammate, Adrian Miedzinski, and finished the evening above riders of the calibre of Vaclav Milik and Antonio Lindbäck who both have previously medalled in the Torunament. “My start in the SEC was a new experience for me,” the young Pole says, “I was really satisfied with my race in this competition. I think the SEC is a difficult competition where you ride against many top riders,” he summarised.
In the Ekstraliga his club Czestochowa came away with a bronze medal from the 2019 season beating FALUBAZ Zielona Gora with an outstanding home match in Round 18. Miskowiak played his own small part in that victory, notably coming second in Heat 4 beating Matej Zagar.
“The most difficult thing for me in 2019 was adapting to my first season in Ekstraliga. There it is really hard to get a point. In this league if make a little mistake you cannot win any points at all,” he says with brutal honesty about the challenges of competing in the world’s best league. But the young Pole can come away with his head held high with a 0.902 average and know he has time to develop. “I'm still learning and improving so I don’t put any pressure on myself,” he says.
Whilst no one knows quite how the 2020 season is going to pan out, he has given himself a realistic goal for the year, “My aim is to be in all the finals for U 21 World Championship and for now I have the Polish league and a lot of junior meetings”.
I ask him if he wants to follow his mentor and uncle Robert Miskowiak and come to the Elitserien, “I’m not looking for that right now. But when I get an offer to start in a club then I'll think about it. Why not?” he says optimistically.
36-year-old Robert was himself U21 World Champion in 2006 and whilst he only raced two full seasons in Sweden, he was a regular stand-in with several Elitserien club, last with Rospiggarna in 2017 (in blue helmet, above). He spent 2019 in Nice 2 with second placed Power Duck Iveston PSZ Poznan.
Jakub Miskowiak is a less well-known name at the moment, but if he can continue to develop as he has done in 2019, he could be a name we become very familiar with. He has three more years to win the U21 World Championship and to perform as a junior in the Ekstraliga so watch out for Miskowiak as a name for the years to come.
