26-year-old Tobiasz Musielak can look back on 2019 as one of the best seasons of his career so far. He won the Premiership title with Swindon Robins, in a final where he dropped just six points in 10 Heats, and was the second-best Polish rider in Nice 1 with a heat average of 2.103 for Orzel Lodz – the best points of his career in that league.
“I think all my season was good,” he said, “and I am absolutely satisfied with all my scores, except one match at Lodz against Gniezno”.
As for any rider, the worse thing about the season is the injuries. He was involved in a three-man pile up at Lodz on 16 June and came away with damaged knee ligaments. Having just come back after another injury, “the timing wasn’t the best time in my life. But I got my chin up and was ready to be back on the bike after three weeks.”
Musielak has been one of the few Poles to race in the UK. But after five years he’s decided to give it a break, “I’ll be back one day”, he hopes.
For 2020 he will be focusing on Sweden’s Elitserien and Nice 1.
In Sweden he has opted for Gisvaled Lejonen, a team who have also signed fellow countrymen, Maksym Drabik and Krzysztof Kasprzak.
“I raced with Lejonen in 2015 so I know many people at the club”, he explains. In fact, he will be reunited with Kasprzak and Swede, Mattias Thörnbolm, who were both at the club then.
The rider, who lives in Leszno, comes into the Elitserien with a 1.357 average, calculated by his last full season in Sweden for Vetlanda Speedway (above) in 2016.
But do not be surprised if he raises that a notch or two in 2020. With Robert Lambert joining the Polish riders on the roster, the club could well be in the final four by the end of 2020.
If so, Musielak has already shown that he can really turn up the gas in the high-pressure situations and get great results. So watch out for the 26 year old in the Elitserien’s playoffs later this year.
Also see my end of year review for Musielak here on Sportbloggare.
