Now in his third year in the Premiership with Swindon Robins, 26 year old Polish rider, Tobiasz Musielak has claimed his second national championship with the club. He is one of the few Poles to ride in the UK and was the nation's top scorer in the Premiership this year where he finished 13th overall. And his successful post-season partnership with Dane, Rasmus Jensen, was one of the key factors in the Robins’ trophy win.

Since 2015, Musielak has been almost unique in racing in the Ekstraliga and the Premiership. Others who have done that include the likes of Jason Doyle and Robert Lambert. But despite that he is probably much less well known than he should be in a glittering sea of talented Polish riders.

But instead of riding in the Ekstraliga this year, he took the decision to become a top rider in the Nice 1 League where many other Premiership riders have also found success. And whilst his team Orzel Lodz came last and were relegated, it was not because of the 26 year old.

He was the league's seventh highest scorer with an impressive score of 2.103 P/H - the first time in his career has ever finished the season with an average over 2.0.

That made him the second highest scoring Pole in Nice 1 just behind Kacper Woryna (Rybnik/ Lejonen), who also came fourth in the Speedway European Championship (SEC) - a competition where Musielak could well have great success in the future.

This year's performances should turn heads and it will be interesting to see where he goes in Poland having already signed to race with Woryna for Lejonen and return to the Elitserien where he has not raced for two years.

If Musielak continues in the kind of form he showed in 2019, there's every chance he will be able to add more medals to his silverware cabinet in whichever league he rides in.

Maksym Drabik

Whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik, Maciej Janowski and Patryk Dudek were the Polish riders who finished in the top eight of the Speedway GP series, I want to highlight another Polish rider who I think had an exceptional season. At 21 years old, Maksym Drabik - with Wroclaw and, above, with Lejonen - has a great future ahead of him and may be the next Pole after Zmarzlik to win the SGP series.

He won the U21 World Championship for the second time this year and came eighth in Elitserien with a heat average of 1.971. That meant he beat Australian former world champions Chris Holder and Jason Doyle as well as doing better than many of the SGP riders including Antonio Lindbäck (SWE), Niels Kristian Iversen (DEN), Patryk Dudek (POL), Robert Lambert (GBR) and Max Fricke (AUS).

And proof that this was no accident can be seen in the even more fiercely competitive environment of the Ekstraliga. He finished as the ninth best rider in his home nation. Again, this put him above world champions of the calibre of Nicki Pedersen and Holder as he collected an outstanding heat average of 2.136 P/H which also placed him above experienced SGP riders such as Janowski, Matej Zagar (SLO) and Fredrik Lindgren (SWE).

Drabik, of course, was part of Poland's Team U21 World Championship who retained Gold in Manchester in July and was the nation's junior representative in the Speedway of Nations competition. Scoring 6 points out of a possible 12 he actually had a better series than either Dudek or Janowski who accompanied the dominant Zmarzlik as the senior riders in the team on each day.

But that was not the only international races the 21 year old was involved in. He also got to taste the magic of the SGP when he rode on the track where he holds the lap record, Wroclaw, as well as an appearance in the SEC in the last round in Chorzow, Poland.

Neither of these performances were outstanding despite the fact that he has been many of the riders he was competing against in the regular season in both Sweden and Poland. But this is probably the only disappointment in an otherwise near perfect season for the Wroclaw rider, who also picked up a Silver medal with the club as they finished second behind Leszno. in the Ekstraliga.

Nicki Pedersen

Three times world champion, Nicki Pedersen, above, may be 42 years old but still had a season few riders can dream of scoring over 2.0 P/H in all the leagues he performed in. Arguably his broken hand towards the end of the season not only prevented him from medalling in the European Championship (SEC), but also hindered Zielona Gora (Ekstraliga), Västervik (Elitserien) from going further than the semifinals in their respective nations.

And whilst the triple world champion's team, Holsted Tigers, easily won the regular season matches, he was not able to race in the four team Metal League final. Amazingly the busy Dane even found time for a couple of matches in the German Bundesliga where he again managed an average of greater than 2.00.

In 2020 he will be racing for Rospiggarna in Sweden and you know wherever ever he goes he will only be riding with one thing in mind - to win.

Leon Madsen

But the Dane who perhaps should be considered as the nation's top rider for 2019 must be Leon Madsen. At 31 and with a young child he took the decision to reduce his league commitments to just riding for Chestochowa in the Ekstraliga and concentrate on his international commitments in the SEC and SGP series.

It paid off.

Madsen topped the Ekstraliga with an enormous 2.433 P/H in the toughest league in the world. He ran Zmarzlik close to pick up the Silver medal in the SGP series winning three rounds on the competition and overtook, Emil Sayfutdinov in the last round in Torun to gain second place. Not to forget that he also came third in the SEC, a competition he would surely have won had he not missing one of the rounds through injury.

He really could hardly have done more right and is perhaps Denmark's most likely candidate to take over from Pedersen as their next world champion.

Mikkel Michelsen

However, a word must also go out to Mikkel Michelsen, who won the SEC this year with a great performance in the last Round in Chorzow. He had by far his best ever season in the Ekstraliga with Lublin where he scored over 2.0 P/H and was the second best rider in the team just 0.109 points behind Grigorji Laguta, the Russian who took second place behind the Dane in the SEC competition.

In Sweden the 25 year old also had his best ever season riding with fellow Dane, Niels Kristian Iversen, at Motala Piraterna. He was the top scoring rider from Denmark in the Elitserien with a 2.141 P/H average. That made him the fifth placed rider in the league in 2019. But he will be riding with Indianerna in 2020 whilst Iversen has gone to Smederna.

Michelsen also got to ride in both the Scandinavian SGP in Målilla as well as the SGP in his home country where he also represented Slangerup SK who hosted the Metal League final only to be beat by underdogs Team Fjelsted in a four-way team race.

Speedway of Nations and other Danish victories

2019 was a great year for Danish speedway and the country may well be disappointed that they only came fourth in the Speedway of Nations competition in Togalitti, Russia. Madsen led the way with Iversen as their second rider, whilst their U21 representative was Fredrik Jakobsen. The junior rider was part of the winning team in Danish Metal League along with Anders Thomsen (Gorzow/ Indianerna), gained a silver medal in Sweden with Dackarna and got to race in the SEC in Vojens.

Not only that but Rasmus Jensen played a pivotal role in Swindon Robins' win in the Premiership.

So don't be surprised if 2020 sees more Danes taking podiums spots in the national and international competitions.

The 24 year old will be able to look back at 2019 and see not only that he became the third Pole to win the coveted Speedway Grand Prix world championship, but excelled in almost every race he participated in.

And this was no flash in the pan victory, but the result of many years of hard work. In the last four years he has finished first, second, third and fifth in in the SGP series and no one will be surprised if there are more podium finishes to come.

Back in July in the Speedway of Nations competition Poland won the Silver medal in no small part due to the flying Zmarzlik who took 35 of the teams 47 points.

In the same month back home in the Ekstraliga, he won the Individual Championship (IMME). And by the end of the regular season he had come second in the overall table of riders with a more than impressive heat average of 2.410 - just 0.031 pts behind the leader, Leon Madsen of Chestochowa.

It was good for the Pole that he was able to take the IMME and receive a personal award as his team, Gorzow, really struggled this season. Coming second to last in the table they were forced into a two-leg race off against Ostrovia, who came second in the Nice 1 League. However, with help from Zmarzlik, who took a maximum in the home tie, Gorzow easily won and will continue in the Ekstraliga next season.

Another remarkable result that was the 24 year old's riding in the Elitserien for Vetlanda. He finished the season with a near perfect 2.791 P/H average.

To put that into perspective he won 76 of the 91 heats he rode in Sweden and never came last apart from one no-finish. By comparison fellow Pole, Maciej Janowski of Dackarna won just 25 of his 74 heats he competed in.

This year Zmarzlik has been the complete rider - whether riding for his country or as individual, in the league in Sweden or Poland, he has topped points tables and thrilled spectators with his great gating and “never say die” attitude as he wrestles with the bike and overtakes his rivals one by one. A worthy world champion and a great pleasure to watch, congratulations Bartosz Zmarzlik.

36 year old Jason Doyle was the last Australian to appear on the podium at the end of the SGP series when he won the championship in 2017. And whilst no one from that country was close to that this year, Doyle can go into the 2019 post-season as the most successful Aussie on the European circuit.

The nation's third place in the Speedway of Nations in July was mainly due to the former world champion. With Max Fricke and Jaimon Lidsey alongside him, it was Doyle who took 30 of the team's 41 points, whilst youngster Lidsey only scoring two points from his two rides in Russia.

In both Sweden, with Rospiggarna, and Poland, with Torun, the Australian found himself in teams that were under-performing and ended up struggling at the bottom of their respective tables. The Hallstavik team narrowly avoided being last by a final surge - but with there being no relegation in the Elitserien this year it was more a matter of pride for the team that hosts the Swedish SGP.

Doyle was the team's top rider with a heat average of 1.865. But when it comes to Australians in the league, both the Holder brothers were above him. It was older brother Chris Holder of Indianerna who earnt the title as the best Roo in Sweden with 1.904 P/H In fact, the Elitserien was the only league that Jason competed in where he was not the top Australian rider.

In the Ekstraliga it was a similar story as Torun were relegated to the Nice 1 with a truly awful season that saw them win just two matches. But the Australian was perhaps the only saving grace for the team. He finished the season as the sixth best rider in the league with a staggering heat average of 2.280. So despite the chaos around him, the 36 year old found his rhythm and continued to churn out points despite less than promising circumstances.

On the Speedway Grand Prix front the season did not start well for Doyle and he looked unlikely to be in the top eight and gain automatic qualification for next year. However, he rallied in the last three SGPs to score 36 points which, alongside the 12 he gained in the Czech SGP in June, saved his SGP status for 2020. He said afterwards, that this had been one of his key goals for the second half of the season.

The talented Aussie is one of the few riders who races in three different leagues. So as the only permanent SGP rider to race in Britain, he must had felt justified in his choice as he was able to add the UK national championship to his palmeres. He captained the Swindon Robins to an emphatic Premiership gold medal win. Whilst it was, of course, a great team performance no one would deny that Doyle has a leading role to play in the victory. He was the league's top scorer above countrymen Max Fricke and Troy Batchelor with a 2.262 heat average and also scored a paid maximum in the second leg of their final which saw the Robins take their first Premiership title on home shale.

Doyle's 2019 season in numbers:

Speedway GP - 7th place with 84 points

Speedway of Nations - 3rd place with Australia

Elitserien (SWE) - 12th best rider, 1.865 P/H

Ekstraliga (POL) - 6th best rider, 2.280 P/H

Premiership (GBR) - 1st placed rider, 2.262 P/H - League winner with Swindon

Metal League (DEN) - 2 matches for Esjberg Vikings, 2.333 P/H

On Friday at home Leicester Lions took a convincing victory over rivals, Glasgow Tigers, in the first leg of the Championship final in the UK, 51-39, before the deciding match last night.

The shortage of riders in British speedway means, as in Sweden, that many who ride in the Premiership also compliment their work by riding in the second division, Championship too.

So Premiership winners Rasmus Jensen, Ellis Perks and Claus Vissing from the Robins as well as Ipswich's Richard Lawson and Chris Harris were all in action again competing for silverware on British shale as the top two team's in the regular season met in the final.

Danes Jensen (15) and Vissing (8+2) kept the Tigers in the match, but for the Lions it was Brits Lawson (11+1, who was guesting for the home team) and Perks (9+2) who made the biggest contribution to the 12 point lead the team could take to Glasgow last night.

And on Tuesday upto Heat 11, when it was 33-33 on the night, everything seem to be going Leicester's way until in Heat 12 Vissing led a 4-2 victory for Glasgow.

The crowd were treated to some top quality speedway in the next two heats.

First in Heat 13, Tigers' Jensen managed to overtake both Lions' rider in the first lap to take a 3-3 - or so it seemed, but behind him former SGP rider Craig Cook (pictured above in the white helmet) was back to his best and refused to sit back. First he overtook one of Lions on the third lap and then the other on the line to take 5-1 for the home team and take them within six points of the visitors with just the nomination heats to go.

As the penultimate heat got underway it look like the momentum in the match had shifted as the Tigers starting best out of the gate with a 5-1 on the cards. But, Perks, who took won the Premiership title last week, put on a title winning display from third place. In the last two laps he passed both Glasgow riders, to take a 3-3 which took his total on the night to 11 points, but more importantly clinched the Championship title for Leicester Lions. Perks was the team's top scorer and the only rider to take both Premiership and Championship winners medals home with him this year.

Swindon Robins may have come second in the regular season, but tonight against the Ipswich Witches they were by far the best team, losing only two heats all night as they took their fifth GB championship and second in three years.

Swindon brought with them an eight point advantage from the meeting in Ipswich on Tuesday and never looked in doubt having doubled their lead to 16 points after only Heat 5.

Three riders scored a paid maximum - Jason Doyle (14+1), Tobiasz Musielak (12+3) and Rasmus Jensen (11+1, pictured riding for Hallstavik Rospiggarna who hosted the Sweden SGP in July).

The Witches made a smart signing in bringing in SGP rider Niels Kristian Iversen as soon as his season had finished with the financially troubled Motala Piraterna in Sweden. And he certainly helped their cause with a 1.808 heat average prior to the finals.

But tonight the Dane had a nightmare start when he touch the tapes and was disqualified in the very first heat. He ended up with a hugely disappointing five points on a night when they needed him to score in double figures. In the end it was only reserve rider Jake Allen who would do so with 11. Australian Allen has, in fact, topped the scoring in all but one of the Witches post season matches.

The Ipswich team should be proud that they made it to the final in this their first season back in the Premiership. But in the end their main contribution was removing Poole Pirates in the semis, a Poole team which is also in financial difficulty and has this week applied to be part of the Championship division in 2020.

But for the Robins it was a well deserved victory as they won this home tie 62-27 to take the 2019 SGB Premiership title by an impressive 111-68.

The weather continued to play it's part in the post-season of the UK Premiership as Monday's first leg fixture between Swindon Robins and Ipswich Witches was cancelled and then moved to Tuesday 15 October instead. But fortunately, a dry evening in Ipswich saw great racing between the two clubs who finished second and fourth respectively in the league table this year.

There was nothing to separate the teams in the first five heats as they were all drawn 3-3 in a tense and nervy affair.

Things started to look up for the hosts when they won Heat 6 with a 5-1 coming from SGP rider, Niels Kristian Iversen and Australian Cameroon Heeps. But no sooner was that over then the Robins responded with a 1-5 of their own, as Rasmus Jensen and Tobiasz Musielak leveled the scores. Musielak (pictured riding for Vetlanda) would go on to top the scoreboard for the visitors with an impressive 12+1.

And the Robins' Danish-Polish pairing would again pull the team back from the brink with another 1-5 victory in Heat 10 meaning that score was dead even at 30-30 with five heats to go.

And it was in this last third of the tie that we would see daylight appear between the two finalists.

The Robins SGP rider and captain, Jason Doyle won Heat 11 and behind him teammate Adam Ellis would make up for a bad start to overtake the Witches' Jake Allen to secure second place and, more importantly, Swindon's first heat advantage of the night to take the overall lead 31-35.

And this lead would increase in the nomination heats as Jensen took Heat 14 and Doyle won his heat in a head-to-head against SGP rival, Iversen.

It means the visitors return home to Swindon with an eight point advantage after winning this match, 41-49.

This could well be enough for the Robins to lift the Premiership trophy on their home track on Thursday, where they have not lost this year, as the Witches come to visit for the final match of the league's season.

#OSTGOR

The final official match of the Ekstraliga season in Poland took place yesterday as Arged Malesa TZ Ostrovia from the Nice 1 Liga hosted world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik's team, TRULY.WORK STAL Gorzow. And the home team knew that had an uphill battle ahead of them with the visitors leading the tie 60-30 after an emphatic win at home in Gorzow last weekend.

Things could hardly have got off to a worst start for the hosts when Ostrovia's top scorer from last week, Nicolai Klindt, fell at the first corner and was then dismissed from this first heat. The decision seemed harsh as the replay clearly showed that Gorzow's Syzmon Wozniak made contact with him. As the Pole jostled for position with the Dane, he naturally swung the back of his bike out for the turn and caught Klindt's front wheel, who was then forced out to correct his position only to fall off the bike harmlessly in the process. Wozniak would win the re-run as Ostrovia started the match with a 2-4 loss.

Things continued in the wrong direction as the home team were defeated in the reserve Heat, 1-5. Then in Heat 3 Australian Sam Masters' bike packed in enabling Krzysztof Kazprzak and Anders Thomsen to take another 1-5 for the visitors.

So, after just three heats, Ostrovia were already down 4-14 in a match they needed to win by 30 or more points. Masters would only compete in one more Heat, where he came last, but the two from Gorzow would go on to top the scoring for their team. Thomsen took 12+2, Kazprzak with 11+2 whilst Wozniak would also go into double figures with 10+1.

Ukranian, Oleksandr Loktaev, (as he is called in Poland, photoed above racing for Hammarby) was the only rider from Ostrovia to shine, taking home 13 from a possible 18 points. It was a truly exceptional score from the 25 year old who had a points average of 1.308 from this season in Nice 1 and just 1.00 from his time with Masarna in Sweden.

As it turned out then, the impossible was simply not possible and Gorzow ran out easy winners by 33-57, a similar score to last week to take the whole series by a convincing 117-63. Therefore, Zmarzlik at Gorzow retain their status as an Ekstraliga club for the 2020 season.

Nearly three weeks have gone since Ipswich Witches got through to the UK Premiership final. And now, after three cancelled matches between Wolverhampton Wolves and Swindon Robins, the Witches finally know who they will face after torrential rain caused havoc to the British speedway schedule.

Match 1, Wolverhampton, 9 Oct

The weather threatened to ruin this match too, but in the end the second semifinal got underway in a wet Wolvehampton on Wednesday. The visitors took an early lead when Musielak and Rasmus Jensen picked up a 1:5 in heat 3, but the Wolves would come back and narrowly lead the tie between Heats 5 and 10.

On a night with many falls, it would be three spills from Wolves' riders in heats 13 and 14 that would cost them dearly and separate the teams by the end of the night as the Robins were able to take a 1:10 advantage in those two heats.

Wolves' top scorers were Australians Rory Schlein (10) and Sam Masters (8+2) whilst countryman 2017 World Champion Jason Doyle (11+1, pictured) and Pole Tobiasz Musielak (11) lead for the Robins.

Swindon Robins took the tie 39-49 and went to their home ground, where they have not been defeated in 2019, as favourites.

Match 2, Swindon, 10 Oct

Many had tipped Wolves to edge the first match at home, but instead they came to this decider 10 points down and needed to put in a spectacular performance.

But instead it was the home side who put the match to bed early with four 5:1s in just the first six heats. Doyle took two wins on his way to a 12 point maximum on the night for the Robins.

Wolves finally took their first heat advantages in heats 8 and 9 as first Brit Kyle Howarth and then Swede Jacob Thorsell lead the team in two 2-4 victories.

But any hope of a late comeback were squashed as soon as Doyle was back on the track for Heat 10 and took his third 5:1 victory.

Howarth had a bad match in the first semi, but more than made up for it leading the Wolves with an impressive 10+2. But with the match beyond the visitors, it was perhaps hard to find the motivation to race and the Robins took full advantage.

It finished 58-32 on the night and a convincing 107-71 overall. Apart from Doyle, Swindon had two riders in double figures on Thursday as Troy Batchelor took 13+1, just one short of a maximum and Brit, Adam Ellis collected 10+4 behind the rampant Doyle.

The final will take place with the first match on Monday 14 October in Ipswich and then the second match in Swindon next Thursday 17 October, of course, weather permitting!