The fourth and final round of the 2019 Speedway European Championship (SEC) will take place in Chorzow, Poland on 28 September.
The competition is so close the winner could be decided in the final turn of the final heat with the top five riders separated by just five points.
The favourites
Russia’s Grigorij Laguta (pictured) and Denmark’s Nicki Pedersen are two of the most experienced riders in the competition, but only Pedersen has won the SEC before and that was back in 2016.
However, Pedersen’s injury means there will be no repeat success for the Dane as he will be unable to compete in Chorzow.
That leaves 35-year-old Laguta four points clear of his nearest competitors. All he has to do is better, or equal, his rivals he has a chance to win the most prestigious competition of his career.
The hopefuls
Three rising stars of the Speedway world are out to steal the day from the Russian.
In third is SEC Denmark’s winner, Mikkel Mikkelson, and behind him the on equal amount of points the 2018 U21 World Champion, Bartosz Smektala and the ever consistent, Kacper Woryna. This Polish pair are only five points behind the leader.
24-year-old Dane, Mikkel Michelsen is having the season of his of life for both Motala Piraterna in Sweden and SPEEDCAR MOTOR Lublin in Poland. He is scoring above 2.0 per heat in both leagues for the first time in his career. But can he repeat his Vojens victory without the support of his home fans?
Bartosz Smektala is growing with every race and will have just turned 21 years when the SEC comes to Chorzow. Last place in the semi-final in Vojens cost him dearly, but if he can make it to the final this time it could pave the way for his first senior international title.
Kacper Woryna has been keeping a low profile and is probably the least well known of the top five contenders. In the national leagues he is still riding with his home town club, ROW Rybnik who will start next season in the Ekstraliga. In Sweden he is at the same club as SEC rivals Robert Lambert and Jaroslaw Hampel - Gislaved Lejonen.
More importantly for the SEC, the 23-year-old came second in the final in Vojens. If he repeats that performance in Chorzow he could be crowned European champion and the speedway world would be treated to one of the great surprises of 2019.
The outsiders
In sixth and seventh place are two Danes, Michael Jepsen Jensen and Leon Madsen. Statistically, they could win the whole SEC with great results in Chorzow. However, they would also need to rely on a poor showing from those above them, especially Laguta.
Jepsen Jensen has just won the Swedish championship with Eskilstuna Smederna and is just seven points behind Laguta.
But perhaps a greater threat is seventh placed Madsen. Just eight points behind the leader, he was unable to participate in Vojens due to injury. But, whilst clearly suffering, the 28-year-old is still producing fantastic results such as winning the penultimate SGP in Cardiff last week.
It really is a open race and with both the prestige of winning the Round and the possibility of becoming the European champion at stake, you won’t want to miss a great night of speedway in Southern Poland on Saturday.
