On Sunday evening, less than 24 hours after Maciej Janowski won the German SGP, he was back in action in Poland’s Ekstraliga, Round 15, the first leg of this year’s semi finals.

The results were:

Czestochowa - Leszno 38:52

Zielona - Wroclaw 48:42

#CZELES

The result was never in doubt as the reigning champions, FOGO UNIA Leszno travelled to forBET WLOKNIARZ Czestochowa.

Leon Madsen was on top form, as usual, following up his semi final place in Germany on Saturday with a near perfect 15 for Czestochowa. But even when he and Pawel Przedpelski scored a couple of 5:1s it simply was not enough against a Leszno who never were threatened. Emil Satfutdinov (13) and Piotr Pawlicki (12+1) lead the way for the visitors.

Next Sunday’s match should see the league leaders cruise with ease into the final as they return home with a 14 point lead.

#ZIEWRO

This turned out to be the third really close match of the season against these two teams. BETARD SPARTA Wroclaw had won the first two encounters and took an early lead in this tie.

But it was STELMET FALUBAZ Zielona Gora would finish better with a 5:1 in Heat 13 and 4:2 in the final Heat to win the match narrowly 48-42.

Heat leaders Martin Vaculik (11+1), Michael Jepsen Jensen (13) and Patryk Dudek (11) were effective for Zielona whilst top scorer for Wroclaw was Tai Woffinden with 10 with Janowski struggling after his German win with only 5+1.

It should be a truly epic return match in Wroclaw next Sunday with both teams capable of joining Leszno in the final.

The second quarterfinals matches took place tonight and whereas on Tuesday the home team took advantage, tonight it would be different.

Lejonen v Smederna, 48-42 (77-103)

Lejonen had beaten Eskilstuna twice in the regular season by the same score, 48-42 - coincidentally the same winning margin as in tonight’s quarterfinals.

And this was a good performance by the home side with British rider, Robert Lambert, continuing in great form since coming back from long term injury. He lead the home team with 12+1.

But the damage was done in the match on Tuesday where Smederna won 55:35.

20 points was simply too much to overcome and Polish rider, Adrian Miedzinski (in photo) led the visitors and current champions with 9+1 in a controlled team performance that saw all but one of their riders score five points or more.

They will face Bartosz Zmarzlik’s Vetlanda next Tuesday.

Västervik v Kumla Indianerna 51-39 (91-89)

Like Smederna, Kumla took a home victory on Tuesday, 50:40, which put them in the driving seat before the return match in Västervik tonight.

And the home team were still without their top rider, Nicki Pedersen, and their best rider on Tuesday, Jack Holder could not make it due to commitments in England so the visiting Indianerna seemed to have the advantage.

But whilst they were leading after Heat 4, it was downhill from there as they let a two point advantage become a 10 point deficit by Heat 13.

And in the next heat Västervik’s Danish rider, Peter Kildemand and Pedersen’s replacemen, Rune Holta took a 5:1 victory for the east coast team which would ultimately seal their semifinal place as they ran out winners by just two points.

Västervik will face table toppers, Dackarna in the semifinals on Tuesday and Pedersen is not expected to join them there either.

Both teams took full advantage of being at home winning the first leg of the quarterfinals in the Swedish Elitserien last night.

Results:

Kumla Indianerna 50:40 Västervik

Eskilstuna Smederna 55:35 Lejonen

Top scorers:

Tai Woffinden, Kumla (11)

Jack Holder, Västervik (12+2)

Michael Jepsen Jensen, Eskilstuna (11+2)

Robert Lambert, Lejonen (10)

Longer match reviews:

Smederna v Lejonen

Lejonen never got closer than being two points behind home team, and that was in heat 3, as Smederna showed the kind of postseason form that won them the title in 2018.

The visitors reduced the deficit to just 10 points after a 1:5 victory when their best rider on the night, Robert Lambert, took the heat victory.

But any notion of a comeback was clinically put down by a Eskilstuna as they won the following three heats 5:1, 5:1 and 4:2.

Smederna will travel to Gislaved on Thursday in the driving seat knowing that anything other than a loss by 21 points or more will see them through to the semifinals.

Indianerna v Västervik

Three victories in a row in Heats 6-8 gave Kumla a commanding lead which ultimately paved the way for this home victory.

Västervik without their top rider, the injured Nicki Pedersen, however did not give up and mounted a nail biting comeback. And without the veteran, it was left to Australian Jack Holder, 20 years younger than the Dane to take up the fight.

Västervik took the next three heats in a row themselves to make it 35:31 with the final four heats to go.

But in the very next heat age and experience paid off as Kumla’s world class Brit, Tai Woffinden, and 44 year old Polish rider Piotr Protasiewicz put the match out of Västervik’s reach as they registered a 5:1 for the home team.

It finished 50:40 to the Indians so that for Västervik a home victory by 11 or more points is needed when they meet on the east coast on Thursday.

Speedway

Elitserien Quarterfinals

#ingabromsar

The regular season may have only finished on Thursday, but the postseason is already swinging into action in Sweden this Tuesday. Tonight is the first of home and away meetings that will decide who will meet the top two teams, Dackarna and Vetlanda, in the semi-finals.

Kumla Indianerna v Västervik Speedway

Kumla Indians, who finished in sixth will meet third placed, Västervik Speedway. Despite their differences in the table, when the clubs have met it could have not have been more equal. In Round 3 they drew 45-45 in Västervik, whilst in Kumla in Round 16 it was a 46-44 win for the Indians.

So predicting who will win this quarterfinal is almost impossible as it will probably go down to the wire.

Kumla’s top rider, British three times world champion, Tai Woffinden has been out for two months, but actually played in both matches against the side from Småland, leading the team and scoring 13 each time. Dane, Kenneth Bjerre will also be a key rider for the Närke squad.

But sadly for Västervik, Danish veteran and three times world champion, Nicki Pedersen broke his hand in the last round of the Polish league on Sunday and is out indefinitely awaiting an operation.

That means additional responsibility on their other riders, particular Swede, Peter Ljung who is absolutely flying round the track this season, the top placed Swede in 13^th on heat average.

Meanwhile, don’t expect there to be much brotherly love dished out between Chris Holder of Kumla and younger brother Jack Holder of Västervik during this series. Jack has been had an excellent season here is Sweden, but his older brother will probably be keen to remind him that he won both the heats when they met last time, as well as the fact that his younger brother scored 0 in Heat 15 when Kumla took home the match in that deciding heat.

Eskilstuna Smederna v Gisleved Lejonen

This match up bears much in common with the other fixture in that the team finished highest in the league actually did not win when they met in Rounds 3 and 16. That is to say that fourth placed Smederna lost 48:42 both times they met fifth placed Lejonen.

Apart from this the other fact that perhaps points to a victory for Gisveled is that they are a team on an upward curve. They have won four of their six matches since the restart at the end of July and have beaten all of the other clubs in the playoffs that they have met.

It is a team that is firing on all cylinders, but particularly worth of note is the young Pole Maksym Drabik who is having his best season as a senior in both Sweden and Poland. He is able supported by a well known figure from the GP circuit, Jaroslaw Hampel and the less well known, but actually more effective this year Krzystof Kasprzak.

For Smederna the one to watch is Scandinavian GP winner Fredrik Lindgren, who managed to take first place in Målilla. Lindgren also managed to bunny-hop over Dackarna's Patryk Dudek to avoid serious injury for the Pole who had fallen in the middle of the track during one of the heats.

However, Lindgren has already announced he will not ride with the Eskilstuna club next year amid rumours of a fallout with the organisation. How this will affect the Swede’s motivation during this crucial match remains to be seen.

They still have Dane Michael Jepsen Jensen on the roster and expect him to score in double figures if Smederna are to advance to the semis.

In the end this match may come down to who of the B-list riders performs best. Look out for yet more Polish riders, this time Adrian Miedzinski (ESK) and Kacper Woryna (LEJ). Both have performed excellently in the European SEC where Miedinski got to take part as a wildcard in the Round 2 in Torun.

Woryna is a permanent rider in the SEC and could be the unexpected winner of the whole competition, or at least be on the podium again if he scores highly in Chorzow at the end of September.

The regular season may have only finished on Thursday, but the postseason is already swinging into action in Sweden this Tuesday. These are the first of a home and away meeting that will decide who will meet the top two teams, Dackarna and Vetlanda, in the semi-finals.

Kumla Indianerna v Västervik Speedway

Tai Woffinden's Indianerna met Nicki Pedersen's Västervik in a tie that produced 45-45 and 46-44 matches when they met in Round 3 and 16 in favour of the Kumla side. Pedersen, however, will not be competing due to breaking his hand on Sunday in Poland. That probably makes Kumla the most likely team to go onto the semis.

Eskilstuna Smederna v Gisleved Lejonen

Fredrik Lindgren's Smederna (in photo) are the current champions but will have to beat the Lion's whose top rider is Maksym Drabik. The team from Gisleved won both the meetings between the teams, 48-42 and so are probably favourites in another closely contested match.

Sunday night in Poland saw the last two matches in the regular season in the Ekstraliga. They were two matches whose result would not affect the overall standings but in which pride would be the main motivating factor.

In the early game, bottom of the table and already relegated GET WELL Torun hosted STELMET FALUBAZ Zielona Gora.

In the late match, BETARD SPARTA Wroclaw could not catch leaders, FOGO UNIA Leszno but they would want a victory in front of their home fans as well as the psychological factor of beating their biggest rivals to the trophy just before the playoffs.

But sport being sport nothing went as planned. Torun fought back from a 10 point deficit to win the match in Heat 15, whilst Leszno totally humiliated Wroclaw strongly suggesting they will go on a win this year's Ekstraliga.

Sadly for Zielona, Nicki Pedersen was seriously injured in the first heat and later reported he had broken his hand. It is also bad news for his Danish club Holsted Tigers and Swedish club, Västervik who are all set for playoff action.

Detailed match reports below:

#TORZIE

Torun have had a miserable season winning only one match, and this one started true to form as Zielona went ahead with three 2:4 heats in a row. In Heat 6 Michael Jespen Jensen and Piotr Protasiewicz won a 1:5 for the visitors and Torun's last home match in the Ekstraliga appeared to be following pattern as all the rest as they were behind 13:23.

But then this started to change for Torun as they did what they failed to do all season - mount a comeback. Three 4:2 heats in a row with Jack Holder, Jason Doyle and veteran Rune Holta all winning for the home team put them back in contention. Jack Holder (above) and Holta would lead the charge for the home side by scoring 10 each.

And when in Heat 11 Australian pair of Jack Holder and Jason Doyle gained a 5:1 over Zielona, they were back level for the first time since the match started at 33:33.

The remaining four heats contained some classic speedway as the match swung backwards and forward with each bend and heat. Whilst Chris Holder and younger brother Jack both won heats for Torun, they could not get ahead and Jespen Jensen was on winning form again in heat 14 to bring the match to a tantalizing climax - 42:42.

Heat 15 saw a epic battle as Torun's veterans, former world champion, Chris Holder (32 yrs) and Rune Holta (45 yrs) were pitched against Zielona's young darlings of the SGP circuit, Martin Vaculik (29 yrs) and Patryk Dudek (27 yrs).

And strangely enough the youngest rider would be last and the oldest rider first. Local hero, Holta, lead in a 4:2 for Torun and a disappointing season finished on a high as they won 46:44 to gain their second victory of the season.

#WROLES

In Round 1 when the two teams met in Leszno the match finished 50:40 and Wroclaw came back from 16 points down to not win it, but at least save face. They were led by Tai Woffinden who dropped just two points that night.

So, at home on Sunday night the home fans expected nothing but a victory, even if the bonus point was probably unlikely to be taken.

But they were to be sorely disappointed as Sparta failed to win a single one of the first seven heats. When Maksym Drabik and Maciej Janowski finally won a 5:1 in Heat 8, Wroclaw were already behind the 2018 Polish champions by 10 points.

But if anyone thought that this might be a turning point for the match they were definitely wrong.

Leszsno continued to pour on the misery as Janusz Kolodziej, Piotr Pawlicki, Brady Kurtz and Emil Satfutdinov won the next four heats so that the league leaders led by 20 points (!) at the end of heat 12 having already won the match 26:46 with three heats to go.

Woffinden was at least able to salvage some pride for Wroclaw by winning one heat. But lead scorer for the second placed team was the young Drabik, with 12 points.

Winner of the Czech SGP, Kolodziej was the highest scorer with 13 for Leszno who won 35:55 by the time the final checkered flag was waved.

It was an awesome displayed by the champions against the next best team in the Ekstraliga. And after that, few would dare to believe anything other than that Leszno will take home their fourth title in five years.

On 9 June 2019 as British born, Tai Woffinden, was riding Polish club Wroclaw, he tried to pass two Lublin riders to prevent a 5:1 victory for his rivals in the first heat, when he clipped his opponent. As Woffinden slid off the bike he missed the inflatable barrier by a couple of metres and crashed hard into the side walls damaging his spine, shoulder and lungs.

It was not until the Polish SGP back in Wroclaw nearly two months later on 3 August that he would return to competitive racing.

Two months out of competition in the middle of the year has almost certainly put paid to any chance of the three times world champion defending his title this year. The injuries also prevented him from being part of the Speedway of Nations competition where he played a significant role in Britain winning bronze in 2018.

On the national league front, he absence definitely caused his Swedish team, Kumla Indianerna to suffer. On his return team leader Peter Johansson said that said that it wasn’t just his points scoring but his role as an experienced rider and team leader that Kumla has missed whilst the Brit was on sick leave.

By contrast, his Polish team, Sparta Wroclaw is so talented that they continued to win without him showing a strength-in-depth few clubs in the world can rival finishing the season in second place.

The summer break has given the Brit a chance to write his biography due to be released in time for British SGP in Cardiff as well as giving him the chance to get involved in a bit of commentary work in the UK.

And now, less than a month after his on his return, he could be part of winning teams in both Sweden and Poland, as the postseason kicks off next week.

But typical of his luck this season, the 29 year old lost his position as the best rider in the Ekstraliga in the very last match of the season as Wrocław went to pieces in the hands of league leaders, Leszno. Despite the injury had held this position since before that crash on 9 June.

In Poland he racked up an impressive 2.321 P/H. But only nine points in six outings in the final match meant his average slipped from over 2.4 which was needed to beat the best in Ekstraliga. That left him in fourth behind SGP rivals Bartosz Zmarzlik, Martin Vaculik and Leon Madsen.

And in Sweden he is in third with a more than acceptable 2.326 P/H. He sits behind another SGP rival, Artem Laguta and the practically unstoppable Zmarzlik (see separate article).

It remains to be seen if the Brit will finish the SGP season within the top eight and automatically qualify for the event in 2020. But surely the FIM will give the superstar a wildcard place because of his status as a world renowned figure with speedway.

UK fans will be eager to see the Scunthorpe born rider win the British GP on home turf. But I think a win with Indianerna in Sweden’s Elitserien might be his best chance of silverware this season.

If everyone remains fit, he will have fellow World Champion, Chris Holder and Danish pairing of Kenneth Bjerre and Anders Thomsen who are all more than capable of beating any rider in the top Swedish league.

SPEED CAR MOTOR Lublin secured their survival in the top division in Poland in their last match of the regular season late on Friday night.

But the did not make it through due to their own skill, despite going into the match with an eight point winning margin from their meeting in Round 1. Instead, home side

MRGARDEN GKU GRUDZIADZ

thrashed them by an humiliating 52-38.

Lublin can be grateful to TRULY.WORK STAL Gorzow for missing the opportunity to go above them. Had Gorzow scored one more point in any heat during Friday's early game against forBET WLOKNIARZ Czestochowa they would have won taking two points which would have put them in sixth in the overall table.

But instead it was a 45:45 draw meaning Gorzow finish in seventh and will go into the relegation playoff against one of the Nice 1 league teams.

#GORCZE

The match was extremely even so that even by Heat 9 it was even at 27-27. But then in heat 10 and 12 Czestochowa began to pull ahead as Matej Zagar and then Leon Madsen won heats for the visitors. Before the final heat it was 40-44 and the match was tipped in favour of the Czestochowa and Gorzow's fate seemed sealed.

However, the home crowd were able to go home satisfied as Bartosz Zmarzlik and Syzmon Wozniak took home a 5:1 in the very last heat to level the scored at 45-45.

Looking back you can only think, "what if?" For example, in heat 7 - what if when Wozniak and Peter Kildemand were leading the heat 5:1, the Dane had not hit the inside kurb and momentarily lost control of his bike. It was just long enough for Zagar to overtake him so that the heat finished 4:2. And what if Anders Thomsen's bike hadn't given up at the start of Heat 10?

Both Zagar and Madsen finished with 10 points apiece for the winners and, as usual, Zmarzlik was faultless scoring 17 in 6 heats to lead for the Gorzow.

#GRULUB

Things we re going well for SPEED MOTORCAR Lublin and even when they lost heat 10 with a 5:1 they still had the match under control behind by just two, 31-29.

But in the last five heats it all went to pot for visitors as first the match and then the bonus point slide away from them.

In fact in the second half of the team only won one won heat with Andreas Jonsson (above in red and white) bring the only one taking the flag first. He would be top scorer alongside Grigorij Laguta who both scored 9+1 for visitors who were not on point at all in the last rounds.

MRGARDEN GKU GRUDZIADZ took control of the meeting as Artem Laguta won three heats, Kenneth Bjerre two and Krzysztof Buczkowski and Przemyslaw Pawlicki one each in the final eight heats of the night.

Laguta and Bjerre would both only drop one point each as the Russian finished with 14 and the Dane with 13+1.

The Extraliga 2019 is now over for these two teams. Lublin survive by finishing in sixth whilst for Grudzaidz the season is also over as they finish outside the playoffs places in fifth.

#WROLES

Designed as the fixture to end the regular season, the planners rightly picked the two teams who would finish one and two in the league to race against each.

FOGO UNIA Leszno have been dominate as ever this season, losing only one match and winning outright all but two of the year's fixtures. Not so difficult when you have Emil Safutdinov, Piotr Pawlicki and Janusz Kolodziej as your top three riders - all with a heat average of over 2.1 this year!

But even if they cannot overtake them in the table, you can be sure that BETARD SPARTA Wroclaw will not give them an inch as they think to the forthcoming playoffs, where they may meet Leszno again, and their home fans who will long to see a victory.

Leszno won the first match of the season 50-40 at home - and don't be surprised if Tai Woffinden, Maciej Janowski, Maksym Drabik and Max Fricke take home the victory and the bonus point. Woffinden leads the entire Ekstraliga in heat average and all four of them have gained more than 1.91 this season.

Heat 2- reserve heat - the future of Polish Speedway

It is difficult to choose a heat with 10 of the top 30 riders in the league on display during this game. But I decided to go for a heat with more of the unknown riders in this top of the table clash.

The main qualification to take part in this heat is that you are Polish and under 22 years old. The home team will present Maksym Drabik in the red helmet. Only 21 he is already making a name for himself with a career best season in Poland and in Sweden with Lejonen (see him in action in the picture above) as well as on the international circuit including the U21 team world championships and the Speedway of Nations. He is my favourite to take this heat.

In blue is 19 year old Przemyslaw Liszka, who surprised everyone last week away against Zielona by scoring 7+1, dropping a single point in three heats. He will be looking to show it was no accident and what better to do this at home against league leaders, Leszno.

The two riders wanting to stop these two are none less than 20 year old Dominik Kubera and U21 world champion from 2018, Bartosz Smektala.

Kubera has been riding for Leszno for 5 years (!) but this is he best season at the current national champions. This has been his first year as a pro in an foreign league and his has had an amazing season at Elit Vetlanda in Sweden where he has already joined that select group with an heat avergae greater than 2.0.

Smektala was 21 only on Thursday and he too has been part of the Leszno organisation for many years. He is now in his second season in Sweden as Västervik Speedway sees an improvement in performance there.

I am predicting a 3:3 heat with Drabik, Kubera, Smektala and Liszka. But anything could happen as Poland's bright young things strut their stuff on Sunday evening.

#TORZIE

Sunday night sees the last two matches of the regular season in Poland. It is a repeat of Round 1 of the Ekstraliga and was designed to see the top four teams go head to head.

But for GET WELL Torun, who have already been relegated, it is simply a matter of pride as they host STELMET FALUBAZ Zielona Gora. The visitors are currently in third and will know after the results on Friday whether they will need to win to retain that position or whether the match in Torun will have no impact their overall standing. Zielona almost certainly have the bonus point already in the bag as they won at home by 53-37 with Nicki Pedersen dropping just a single point on the night.

Heat 5 - older champions and their challengers

The teams are so chock full of talent in the Polish league that almost every heat can look like a GP race program.

But I have gone for Heat 5 in the match in Torun. That because two former world champions, Chris Holder (TOR) and Nicki Pedersen (ZIE), will go against two riders who are currently competing in the GP series, Martin Vaculik (ZIE) and Niels-Kristian Iversen (TOR).

On current former in the league it should be a 1:5 for Zielona both Vaculik and Pedersen are in that elite level of riders who have a heat average 2.0 or greater. Vaculik in particular has been very impressive this year both in Poland, where is the third best rider and in the GP series where he is currently in fourth just seven points behind the leader, Leon Madsen (CZE). Pedersen is always a pleasure to watch with his tenaciousness and fiery attitude anything can happen. When excluded from a heat in Round 12 he went bananas, kicking the barriers and exploding in a tirade of angry words at his mechanic.

In this heat he will go against long time Danish rival, Iversen who is five years younger than the three times world champion who was born in 1977.