SEC - Round 4 - Chorzow: A place where history is made

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SEC - Round 4 - Chorzow: A place where history is made

Chorzow in southern Poland is not a permanent speedway venue like Vojens or Torun but a stadium where large events, like concerts, are also held throughout the year.

Until the SEC last year, the Slaski Stadium had not been used for speedway for many years. That means that relatively few of the riders have ever experienced the track or the electricity of hearing 55,000 fans scream and shout you around your four laps.

Chorzow’s past: The 2002 and 2003 World Championships

But one of those who has been here before is the Dane, Nicki Pedersen. In 2002 he was a relatively unknown 25-year-old who surprised everyone by winning his first ever World SGP race in Chorzow.

2002 also saw the Polish 20-year-old, Jaroslaw Hampel, racing his second SGP of the year as a wildcard collecting four points.

A year later the SGP would return to Chorzow and Swedish legend Tony Richardsson would win. Pedersen would come second that night, but then go on that year to win the first of three world titles (2003, 2007 and 2008) and become a household name for speedway fans across the world.

Chorzow 2018: SEC’s first visit

Now let’s fast forward to 15 September 2018 when the TAURON Speedway Euro Championship visited the Slaski Stadium for the first time.

A number of this year’s competitors got their first ever taste of this special venue with Leon Madsen, Kacper Woryna, Antonio Lindbäck, Mikkel Michelsen, Jaroslaw Hampel, Robert Lambert, Peter Kildemand, Vaclav Milik and Kai Huckenback all on the grid that night.

2018 SEC champion Madsen dominated that night, not losing a single heat in qualifying, whilst Woryna and Michelsen also showed their class only dropping three points in the five qualifying rounds.

But the semi-final would see Michelsen defeated by Hampel who was back on the Chorzow track after a 16-year break.

In the final Madsen went out from Gate 1 on full gas going first through the corner and he was unstoppable after that taking the Round and the Championship in style.

But behind him Lindbäck and Woryna went head-to-head for second place.

Woryna led coming off the first turn and was chased hard by Lindbäck on the outside. But try as he might the Swede could not overtake him.

The Pole was still leading as they went through the second turn, but as soon as they were onto the straight again the Swede ducked to the inside and just managed to come first into the third corner ahead of Woryna.

Lindbäck accelerating hard coming out of turn three creating daylight between him and Woryna so that the Swede was able to secure second by the time they hit the chequered flag. Woryna had to be content with third, well ahead of compatriot Hampel.

Chorzow 2019: Who can win this year?

Mikkel Michelsen, Kacper Woryna (pictured) and Leon Madsen have all done well at this track before and should be able to use their experience of the Slaski Stadium to put in another good result. They are all less than eight points behind the leader, Grigorij Laguta, who has not raced on this track before.

So even without the triple world champion, Nicki Pedersen, we could well see a Dane winning the Round again or even taking the whole championship victory in 2019 or will a home victory for Poland or a first ever international championship win for the Russian?

Join us on Saturday to find out!