Jakub Jamrog, was 30 year old this summer and is originally from Tarnow in Poland. But in 2021 he is racing with Gdansk in eWinner 1.
Back at his home track, in the very first heat of the 2021 season, he was fenced by veteran, Niels Kristian Iversen, as the two took the checkered flag. The result was a crash (See the clip from You Tube) where both ended up in an enormous heap, dust, bikes and all about 30 metres after the finishing line.
However, it was the Dane who was worse off as he fractured his shoulder blade so that he was forced to miss the first month of the 2021 seasons. By contrast, the younger Jamrog seemed to be unaffected by the dramatic looking tumble. He got back on his bike, score 11+1 and help his Gdansk team to victory and has continued to do so all year.
But it is not just Poland where the 30 year old has been racing, "this season I am racing all meetings in Sweden and Poland, so I am happy. I love to race alot and having many races", he says with broken English and a smile.
Two years ago he was with Vetlanda (see picture), but this year he has raced every single match for Motala Piraterna in Sweden. That's 13 so far and he has clocked up a 1.690 heat average, making him the second highest scorer in the club behind fellow Pole, Oskar Fajfer.
And whilst the club are firmly anchored at the bottom of the table with just one point this season, Jamrog is still please with his own individual performance, "I am feeling really well about my own racing in Motala and Gdansk," he tells us, "But I do not like the separation from my wife and two boys as I spend much time away in travel, etc.," he says pointing out a common problem for professional speedway riders.
And maybe being closer to his family means that his results in Poland are better than abroad. In his home country he has also raced in every one of Gdansk's 14 meetings this year. And whilst there, as in Sweden, is the team's second best scorer, for Gdansk he has an impressive average of 2.029 putting him in 13th place on the overall classification. In fact, he is just 0.044 points behind Motala teammate, Fajfer, in 12th and who races for rivals, Gneizno.
But in contrast to Fajfer, only Jamrog will be in the playoffs this year and his team face Krosno Wolves in the semi finals, "I am hoping that the best things this season are in front of me, in the playoffs," he says hopefully.
And he and the team have every reason to be confident, even if they finished fourth, whilst the Wolves were first in the table at the end of the regular season. That's because Gdansk beat the league leaders both home and away as well as taking the bonus point, 96:84. And Jamrog put up good numbers in both those matches, scoring 11+1 at home and 8+1 in Krosno.
The prospect of getting to League 1 final means that the Tarnow born rider is not thinking about the future, "I don't think about plans for 2022," he tells us, "the season is not over and so I only focus on my races," he says with a determined tone.
So, we will have to see whether he remains at strugglers Motala in 2022 or whether he might return to the UK, where he raced in 2015 with Coventry. Regardless of Gdansk's success, the 30 year old will be hoping for a return to the Ekstraliga where he raced with Wroclaw in 2019 and Lublin in 2020. And a good run in the playoffs might be the best advert for his skills before the 2022 contracts signing gets underway in the winter months.
