After yesterday’s semifinal we now know the four teams who will fight it out for Danish Metal Speedway League final in Vojens on 15 September.

Hosts Sønderyjlland Elite Speedway (SES) qualified by winning the regular season as did runners up, Slangerup Speedway. And last night Holsted Tigers and Team Fjelsted came first and second in the four team semi final in Grindsted. And it was Team Fjelsted’s young talent, Marcus Birkemose who topped the scoring with 14 from 6 heats.

See Zuzelend for full scores.

Two years ago, the last time the Danish league ran, Team Fjelsted surprised everyone by winning the superfinale despite coming in as the last qualifying team. And they will be hoping to defy the odds do the same again on 15 September.

SES are, naturally, the favourites at home and having lost only one of their matches this season.

Nicki Pedersen’s appearance in yesterday’s semifinal for Holsted only comes after he appealed to overturn his 6 month ban received after an “threatening and unsportsmanlike” altercation with a referee in a Metal League match on 2 July. The ban was initially reduced to 4 months and is now suspended whilst the case is discussed. It unlikely to be resolved in the next two weeks meaning that the former world champion is likely to be available for the final in Vojens.

The Danish league features all the countries top riders. Here are the top two riders averages in each the finalist squads. Scores are match averages plus bonus for 2021 season in Denmark:

Mikkel Michelsen SLA 10.22 (pictured)

Anders Thomsen SES 9.10

Nicki Pedersen HOL 9.09

Rasmus Jensen HOL 8.55

Nicolaj Klindt SES 8.26

Frederik Jakobsen FJE 7.92

Peter Kildemand FJE 7.76

Rohan Tungate SLA 7.61

For complete list see DMU’s website.

As the season comes towards its end, the teams in Elitserien will all race two matches this week, both Tuesday and Thursday to ensure the 18 Round regular season is over next week. However, with 9 teams in the league, Smederna will only race on Tuesday, whilst Lejonen will only race on Thursday this week.

Dackarna 61:29 Vetlanda (103:87) #DACVETS

This match provoked a huge amount of discussion in Swedish speedway social media forums when it was announced that Dackarna would race with 3 SGP riders – Tai Woffinden, Maciej Janowski and Jason Doyle, whilst Vetlanda would not have Bartosz Zmarzlik and Dominik Kubera in their line-up. Fans of both clubs, as well as neutrals, were up in arms over the fact that the visitors were not going to race the derby match with their best Polish riders with people saying they would refuse to come to see the match. So much was written that the club themselves were forced to comment and blamed the Ekstraliga clubs for not releasing their riders before the playoffs in Poland.

Regardless, Vetlanda, travelled to Målilla with a 6-point lead from their Round 6 match when it came to the bonus point.

But that advantage was soon wiped out as Dackarna totally humiliated the visitors. Vetlanda gained just one heat win during the whole night when Brady Kurtz won Heat 1. The Australian would be their top scorer with just 8+1.

For the home side it was Doyle (pictured in blue helmet) who top scored with a paid maximum (14+1) as their top five riders all scored double points against a forlorn Vetlanda.

Full scores from Zuzelend here.

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Västervik 65:25 Piraterna (110:60) #WMSKPIR

Piraterna’s only point this season came from a 45:45 draw with Västervik at home in Motala. But Daniel Davidsson’s team travelled without top scorer, Oskar Fajfer, or top scoring Swede, Tomas H Jonasson, whilst the home side have added SGP rider, Fredrik Lindgren to their side that drew in Motala.

If the visitors had any notion they might take home three points, it was soon crushed as Västervik took four 5:1s in the first 6 heats. It did not get any better for Piraterna who lost 65:25. Danish U21 World Championship representative, Jonas Seifert-Salk, was the team’s top scorer with 7 pts and lead out the only 1:5 the visitors took. For the triumphant home team, it was Lindgren took a 15 pts maximum whilst Bartosz Smekala, took a paid maximum with 13+2.

Full scores from Zuzelend here

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Masarna 38:52 Rospiggarna (88:92) #MASROS

Masarna had a 10-point advantage from the first match between these two teams when the Hallstavik side travelled north to Avesta for this match.

But when Rospiggarna’s top two scorers, Pole, Patryk Dudek (15) and Swede, Kim Nilsson (13+1) crossed the finish line in Heat 15 with a 5:1 in the bag, the scores were 38:52.

That meant the visitors took all 3 points home with them to Hallstavik on a night when the home team struggled on the start line. The Avesta side only won two heats before the three nominations heats, giving them far too much to do to win the match. Nonetheless, veteran Antonio Lindbäck was the home side’s top scorer with 9 pts. But his two heat victories in his last two heats was too little too late for Masarna.

Full scores from Zuzelend here.

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Smederna 45:45 Indianerna (96:84) #SMEDIND

League leaders, Smederna won their away match in Kumla 39:51 giving them an extra advantage coming into tonight’s return match in Eskilstuna. This match also has extra significance as the two clubs’ B teams will also meet tomorrow in the first semi-final of Allsvenskan, Swedish second division. 3 riders from each of these Elitserien teams will double up and take part in Wednesday’s match in Kumla.

In the first half of the match, it looked like the home side was in control as they turned a heat 1 loss into a 23:19 lead by Heat 7. However, Indianerna were not prepared to give up and in Heat 8 drew level – as they would in Heat 14 when Smederna looked looked like they were on the brink of victory, 40:38 after Heat 13.

Both times it was the visitors’ Danish duo, Niels Kristian-Iversen and Jonas Jeppesen who gave life the Indians.

But in the deciding Heat 15 it was 3:3 as Eskilstuna’s Grigory Laguta took the chequered flag first, to score a perfect 15 pts. Meanwhile, it was Max Fricke who had to settle for second place and be content with being his side’s top scorer with 12 pts as the scoreboard read 45:45 with Smederna’s away win in Kumla securing the bonus point.

Full scores from Zuzelend here.

Jakub Jamrog, was 30 year old this summer and is originally from Tarnow in Poland. But in 2021 he is racing with Gdansk in eWinner 1.

Back at his home track, in the very first heat of the 2021 season, he was fenced by veteran, Niels Kristian Iversen, as the two took the checkered flag. The result was a crash (See the clip from You Tube) where both ended up in an enormous heap, dust, bikes and all about 30 metres after the finishing line.

However, it was the Dane who was worse off as he fractured his shoulder blade so that he was forced to miss the first month of the 2021 seasons. By contrast, the younger Jamrog seemed to be unaffected by the dramatic looking tumble. He got back on his bike, score 11+1 and help his Gdansk team to victory and has continued to do so all year.

But it is not just Poland where the 30 year old has been racing, "this season I am racing all meetings in Sweden and Poland, so I am happy. I love to race alot and having many races", he says with broken English and a smile.

Two years ago he was with Vetlanda (see picture), but this year he has raced every single match for Motala Piraterna in Sweden. That's 13 so far and he has clocked up a 1.690 heat average, making him the second highest scorer in the club behind fellow Pole, Oskar Fajfer.

And whilst the club are firmly anchored at the bottom of the table with just one point this season, Jamrog is still please with his own individual performance, "I am feeling really well about my own racing in Motala and Gdansk," he tells us, "But I do not like the separation from my wife and two boys as I spend much time away in travel, etc.," he says pointing out a common problem for professional speedway riders.

And maybe being closer to his family means that his results in Poland are better than abroad. In his home country he has also raced in every one of Gdansk's 14 meetings this year. And whilst there, as in Sweden, is the team's second best scorer, for Gdansk he has an impressive average of 2.029 putting him in 13th place on the overall classification. In fact, he is just 0.044 points behind Motala teammate, Fajfer, in 12th and who races for rivals, Gneizno.

But in contrast to Fajfer, only Jamrog will be in the playoffs this year and his team face Krosno Wolves in the semi finals, "I am hoping that the best things this season are in front of me, in the playoffs," he says hopefully.

And he and the team have every reason to be confident, even if they finished fourth, whilst the Wolves were first in the table at the end of the regular season. That's because Gdansk beat the league leaders both home and away as well as taking the bonus point, 96:84. And Jamrog put up good numbers in both those matches, scoring 11+1 at home and 8+1 in Krosno.

The prospect of getting to League 1 final means that the Tarnow born rider is not thinking about the future, "I don't think about plans for 2022," he tells us, "the season is not over and so I only focus on my races," he says with a determined tone.

So, we will have to see whether he remains at strugglers Motala in 2022 or whether he might return to the UK, where he raced in 2015 with Coventry. Regardless of Gdansk's success, the 30 year old will be hoping for a return to the Ekstraliga where he raced with Wroclaw in 2019 and Lublin in 2020. And a good run in the playoffs might be the best advert for his skills before the 2022 contracts signing gets underway in the winter months.

Hubert Legowik is a 26 year old Polish rider who races with Rzeszow in the Polish League 2, the club of Australian veteran, Sam Masters and Danish U21 World Championship representative in 2020, Tim Sörensen.

But this year he has also raced in Sweden in Allsvenskan, the country's second division. Legowik has been part of Smålänningarna, a new outfit that is the development team shared by both Målilla Dackarna and Gislaved Lejonen, but formerly based at the latter club (see picture).

We catch up with him as the regular season comes to an end in both Poland and Sweden and neither of his clubs will be playing the post-season.

The Pole tells us that he found it hard going when the season kicked off in the spring, "It was difficult season for me, 'cause before it I change everything in my equipment. I sold out every engine and all my stuff to buy a new one. I had to find new setups and understand how it works".

But his results seem to prove the process, though hard, was a success. In Poland he finished with a heat average of 1.900 (including bonuses) which put him in 18th position on the individual rankings. In Sweden, however, he took 2.231 (excluding bonuses) placing him in tenth, just 0.30 points behind Sörensen, who raced for rivals, Norrköping Vargarna.

The experience of riding in Sweden was one of his highlights of 2021, "I believe this league is, for me, a chance to show my ride for more people," he says with an upbeat tone, "Riding in Sweden is so nice. Tracks are grippy like I love, not slick like in Poland. We can make great races and, for sure, it is a more chill atmosphere," he says about his season with Smålänningarna, "It is a priority for me to be in Bauhaus Ligan next year and maybe Denmark too," he reveals.

In Poland, Rzeszow finished the season on the same amount of points as Lokamotiv Daugavpils. However, the Latvian club finished in fourth and get to go to the playoffs whereas Stal have finished their season by coming fifth. That's because they lost the last match of the season in Daugavpils.

"The team was not regular as the start of the season and we lost three bonuses for this reason," but, he tells us, personally, he has finished the season with a smile on his face, "I think it was a good season for me. I rode regular and I was one of the [heat] leaders for the team," he says satisfied.

Of course, many foriegn riders dream of racing in Poland. But for Legowik who has grown up there, he can also see the advantages in other countries, "in Poland there is too many things to remember, but in Sweden speedway and races is on first place -it should be like that everywhere!" he concludes.

The 26 year old has made a great contribution to his teams' season in both Poland and Sweden. And if he gets his way, we should be seeing a lot more of the Polish rider in Scandinavia in the years to come.

Allsvenskan, Sweden's second division of Swedish speedway, finished it's regular season with no less than five matches in four days so they could start the playoffs as scheduled next Wednesday 1 September.

About Allsvenskan

The league is made up of six teams, three of which are individual clubs in their own right (Nyköping Griparna, Hagfors Valsarna and Norrköping Vargarna) and three which are development teams run by sides in the Elitserien - Kumla Indianerna B, Team Rapid (Smederna) and Smålänningarna (Dackarna and Lejonen). There was no Allsvenskan last year because of the Coronavirus and for the third year in a row there will be no promotion to the league above this season.

Apart from the entertainment value, the league primarily exists to give Swedish riders who are not racing outside Sweden a chance for greater track time. However, there are a number of foreign riders, mainly juniors, who are wanting to get more experience outside their country of origin.

The 2021 season

This year's 10 Rounds finished with the top three teams separated by just one point. It was Valsarna who took the title with a home win on Monday when they beat the current champions Griparna at home in Hagfors in front of 751 fans. This was the third time this season they have had over 700 at the ground, easily making them the best supported club in the league where average attendence is currently 284.

The team’s top riders are Victor Palovaara (2.381, 5th overall), Tomas H Jonasson (2.240, 9th) and Swedish U21 World Championship rider, Alexander Woentin (1.824, 15th).

Both Jonasson and Woentin rider with Motala Piraterna in the Elitserien and have also raced 9 matches in Poland this year. Woentin has been an injury replacement at Tarnow in League 1, whilst Jonasson has been in League 2 with Daugavpils.

However, 27 year old Palovaara has not raced outside Sweden since 2018 but is currently signed with Vetlanda, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Dominik Kubera's club in Sweden.

Valsarna’s recent signing, 18 year British rider, Leon Flint is an exciting addition to the club. In three matches he has made an excellent contribution to the side and sits just behind teammate, Woentin, in the individual standings with a 1.750 average.

However, the league's top rider is Griparna's Kim Nilsson (pictured racing this year for his Elitserien club, Hallstavik Rospiggarna). The 31 year old is almost unbeaten in 10 league matches with an incredible average of 2.849. It means he and has only dropped 8 points all season and that does not include bonus points, as is the practice in the Swedish leagues. He was reserve for the recent, SGP in Målilla and has also race a couple of matches at the beginning of the season for troubled Tarnow.

As well as Swedes, the top ten in the individual league includes three internationals who race in Poland - Grudziadz's 22 year old, Norbert Krakowiak (Indianerna) and two riders from League 2's Rzeszow - 26 year old, Hubert Legowik (Smålänningarna, see interview) and 22 year old Dane, Tim Sörensen (Vargarna).

Semifinals

The semifinals will now take place starting on 1st September with the return match the following week.

League winners Valsarna surprised Swedish speedway fans by choosing to take on Nilsson's Griparna who finished third, instead of Eskilstuna Team Rapid who finished in fourth place a total of four points behind the league leaders.

That leave the other match as Kumla Indianerna against the Eskilstuna squad who were runners up in the last final in 2019.

The teams have been very even so far. so it really is anyone's guess how the playoffs will finish by the end of September.

All nine teams are in action this week, however Kumla Indianerna are the only team who did not race on Tuesday night and will face Vetlanda at home on Thursday.

Many absence due to SGP in Togliatti

Social media forums in Sweden were full of debate about the SGP riders missing from Swedish matches this week and legitimacy of using Riders Replacement when it has been known for a long time that this week’s race will be in Togliatti. Dackarna travelled to bottom of the table, Motala without Tai Woffinden or Maciej Janowski and Bartosz Zmarzlik (VETS), Artem Laguta (WMSK), Robert Lambert (LEJ) and Krzysztof Kazprzak (LEJ) were not in the starting lines up on Tuesday night nor was wildcard, Vadim Tarasenko (WMSK).

And the same time Jason Doyle (DAC) and Oliver Berntzon (LEJ) did race for their Swedish club’s tonight, whilst Västervik used Rider’s Replacement for Fredrik Lindgren, who was reported as having a hand injury, which many on social media were sceptical about.

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Lejonen 47:43 Masarna (96:84) #LEJMAS

Lejonen won the team’s match in Avesta, 41:49, so tonight’s meet was a real three-pointer. The Gislaved track was perfectly prepared for an excellent night of speedway with overtaking right from the start. At the first track break the scores were level at 9:9, but the next six races saw the visitors take an early lead, 24:30, as Masarna’s French duo of David Bellego (10) and Dimtri Berge (8) outclassed their rivals with two 2:4 heats in a row.

Lejonen’s Jakub Miskowiak (9) was racing his first home match for the Gislaved club and after 0 pts in his first heat, he then took in 3 heat wins in a row so that the match was equal at 36:36 before the nomination heats.

And whilst the match has been tight up to this point, the home side showed their class when in counted, securing all three points in Heat 13 and 14 with two 5:1s in a row.

The greatest cheer of the night was given to Lejonen reserve, Casper Henriksson (3) who had come last in the only heat he had raced that night. Nonetheless, he was on the start line for Heat 13 when teammate, Nicolai Klindt, was first from tapes into turn 1.

The 17-year-old Swede was not so fast and was in last position from the start. However, he decided to take the outside line into turns 1 and 2. He found a great line and came like a rocket passing first, Philip Hellström-Bängs (4) and Martin Smolinski (3) with ease out of turn 2. Henriksson was able to hold off the German for the next 3.75 laps and the crowd applauded wildly and took to their feet as the teenager took a lap of honour.

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Vetlanda 41:49 Smederna (74:106) #VETSSMED

League leaders, Smederna, won the teams’ first meeting by 57:33 and whilst Vetlanda were at home they were favourites to take the bonus point even before tapes went up.

The home side was without Zmarzlik but still had Ekstraliga riders, Dominik Kubera (12) and Brady Kurtz (13) in the squad so there was going to be no easy win for the visitors.

However, all three of Vetlanda’s Swedish riders had a poor night on their home track. Whilst they took 13 heats between them, only twice did they finish above third place in a heat.

So, when the home team duo of Peter Ljung (3) and Victor Palovaara (2) lost Heat 13 with a 1:5 to the visitors, the result of the match was settled and Smederna took all three points back to Eskilstuna to remain at the top of the table. Michael Jepsen Jensen (pictured) was top scorer with 11 pts for the visitors.

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Rospiggarna 55:35 Västervik (95:85) #ROSWMSK

Västervik had a ten-point victory from their home match against Rospiggarna to defend, whilst also wanting to keep the pressure on the leaders, Smederna, who were only ahead of them by six points before tonight’s match. The east coast team also had a game in hand over their Eskilstuna rivals.

However, Västervik showed their reliance on their SGP riders as they won only two heat advantages in their entire match with Jaimon Lidsey scoring just one point for the visitors. In fact, all but seven points tonight were scored by just two riders – Bartosz Smektala (16) and Wiktor Kulakov (12) showing that the side lack strength in depth which may be costly in the playoffs.

With Rospiggarna looking to cancel out their ten-point loss from game 1, the Hallstavik team were relentless as their top 5 all pushed their rivals and refused to give anything away. The management will be happy with the win and the way they did it, with the whole team contributing. Kai Huckenbeck and Timo Lahti took 11 pts, Patyrk Dudek and Adrian Miedzinski with 10 pts, Kim Nilsson with 9 pts and even #6 Daniel Henderson taking 4 pts for the triumphant Hallstavik side.

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Piraterna 42:48 Dackarna (63:117) #PIRDAC

When Piraterna travelled to Målilla earlier this year they were annihilated 67:23, so that bonus point was more or less decided before tonight’s match in Motala. Piraterna were hoping that a weakened Dackarna side might be vulnerable for an upset but received a wake-up call when they were behind 2:10 after just two heats.

However, the bottom of the table team refused to give up and Peter Kildemand (6) and Tomas Jonasson (8) took two heat advantages in Heats 6 and 7 to keep the deficit to a respectable 10 points at the third track break.

A 5:1 in Heat 12, gave the home side a glimmer of hope when captain, Jonasson led in teammate Thomas Jörgensen (8) who was only racing his second match for the club this season.

However, with Kildemand crashing out in Heat 10 and unable to return to the match, Piraterna were missing the killer instinct.

Instead, Dackarna were able to hold the lead and captain, Jacob Thorssell showed his class with a 15 pts maximum for the Målilla side.

NOTE: all points listed here do not include bonus points.

Pedersen celebrates league win with Masarna in 2020.

#GRUCZE

Yet another remarkable episode in Danish veteran, Nicki Pedersen’s long career was written today when his Polish team, GKM Grudziadz, avoided relegation with a surprising home win against Częstochowa on Sunday night, 48:42. It was only their second win of the entire 2021 season.

The Dane was only given permission to ride five days ago after being banned for six months by the Danish Motor Union following an altercation with a referee in Denmark.

Whilst the 44 year old was not the team’s highest scorer, he scored 11 pts and without a rider of his calibre it is hard to see how they could have beaten the Lions who have strength in depth with Nordic SGP duo, Leon Madsen and Fredrik Lindgren, in their roster as well as the year’s best junior, Jakub Miskowiak.

It was a closely fought match where Grudziadz went ahead several times only for their lead to be cancelled out in the next heat. But three advantages in a row in heats 9-11 gave the home side an 8 points lead which paved the way for the victory, 48:42.

The win means it will be Falubaz Zielona Góra who will be relegated after 15 years in the top division. Therefore, Max Fricke and Patryk Dudek are likely to racing for a new club in 2022, especially after they both qualified for the year’s SGP by coming 2nd and 3rd in the SGP Challenge in Zarnovica yesterday.

At the other end of the table Wroclaw, Gorzow, Lublin and Leszno are through to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the current leader of the SGP series, Bartosz Zmarzlik (GOR) leads the individual rider’s points competition with an incredible average of 2.627, just 0.007 more points than Wroclaw rival, Maciej Janowski.

The eWinner 2 league started late with doubt over whether it would get off the ground and which teams would be in the league. But this weekend saw the final round of matches with the league winning only being confirmed in the final matches of the season. Click on the match to see the riders full scores.

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#RZEPOZ

Despite the fact that the Rzeszow won the tie with convincing figures, 54:36, they needed three more points to take the bonus from Poznan who won their first meeting this year 56:34. That means that the home side will not be going to the playoffs and finish in fifth place.

Australian, Sam Masters scored 9+2 for the home side and Dane, Mattias Nielsen scored 6 for the guests in both teams last match of the 2021 season.

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#LANRAW

Leszno's development team, Rawicz arrived in Germany knowing that a win could be enough to secure them first place in the regular season table. But the Polish side appeared to lack motivation and Australian juniors, Keynan Rew (2) and Matthew Gilmore (1) were kept at the back of the field all day. By contrast, Landshut came out all guns blazing with Martin Smolinski (12+2) riding with a new found confidence after a superb meet in Zarnovica yesterday. The German veteran narrowly missed out on qualifying for the SGP series and today was pipped to top scoring rider by teammate, Kai Huckenbeck (12+2, pictured). It seems that the Germans may have peaked at just the right time before the playoffs.

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#DAUOPO

In Daugavpils the result did not matter in terms of the table as the other fixtures meant Opole had won and Lokamotiv were in fourth. However, perhaps with the pressure off, this was the closes fixture in this final Round.

The home side went with an all Latvian line up including their three riders who will be in the U21 World Championships and Jevgenijs Kostigovs (5) who finished an impressive ninth in yesterday's SGP Challenge race. Opole also had their U21 World Championship representative, Mads Hansen (9) on the starting line up.

The home side took a 9:3 lead with heat advantages in the first two heats and whilst the visitors chased hard, it look like Daugavpils would finish the regular season off with a win.

However, Opole, and in particular, Sweden's Jacob Thorssell (14+2) were out to spoil the party for the Latvians. The Dackarna rider was in second place in Heat 13 when the Polish side gain a 1:5 to bring the score to 40:38 before the nomination heats.

Then in the last Heat of the match, the Swede crossed the line first as the visitors took another 1:5 to take the lead for the first time in the match - 44:46 stealing the victory from Daugavpils right at the end.

Tough competition

Before the U21 Swedish Championship final in Målilla on 1 August, only two riders were considered to be in the running for the Gold - Masarna's Philip Hellström-Bängs and Vetlanda/ Piraterna's Alexander Woentin.

Woentin had won the competition for three year's in a row, is Sweden's only representative in the U21 World Championships and in 2021 has raced his first ever season in Poland with Tarnow in eWinner 1.

Hellström-Bängs was second behind Woentin last year and the week after this junior final he would take Silver in the U19 European Championships as well as racing with Start Gniezno in Poland.

Kumla's talented kids

But that meant that people had forgotten the hard work that has been going on at Kumla, where Indianerna have been investing in their youth programme and are now seeing results.

Behind the two more well-known names in last year's U21 final were the Grahn brothers, Jonatan Grahn (born 2000) and Gustav Grahn (born 2004) in the third and fourth places respectively. Gustav was only 16 yrs and in his first season on a 500 cc when he finished just outside the medals.

Winning ways

This year, Gustav did not just get on the podium for the first time, he won the whole competition.

"I know that I like the track at Målilla and if I did well in the qualifiers I would have a chance," he says about his thoughts before the competition, "and I felt confident because I was using my favourite engine," he adds.

Only the top three riders in the qualifying heats were guaranteed a place in the final. Then there would be a single semi-final heat where the winner would take the last remaining place in the deciding Heat 22.

Great speed from the start

After three Rounds, Gustav had only dropped one point and had beaten his older brother and Lejonen's Casper Henriksson, who is also having a excellent season in the Swedish leagues.

Then came Heat 14, where he would have to go head-to-head with the 2020 gold and silver medalists. However, it was not one of last year's finalists but Piraterna's William Björling who was away from tapes first, closely followed by Grahn. The Indianerna rider had got ahead of Woentin in third and, in last place, Hellström-Bängs. The four raced around in a tight pack, but without changing position and Grahn finished the heat in second knowing he had taken points from his biggest two rivals.

"I had great speed right from the start of the competition," he remembers, "but I tried not to think about the overall score. I just sat on the bike at the start of each heat and tried to take it easy," he says about his way of dealing with the mounting pressure.

It worked.

He finished the five qualifying races with 13 points from 15, the same as Henriksson, but the Indianerna rider was placed first having beat his Lejonen rival.

Winning the final

Leading the qualifiers meant he was able to choose the inside gate for the final, the same one he had beaten Henriksson from in Heat 7. Grahn did not squander the opportunity. He took the start and was first out and was able to hold the lead all the way to the checkered flag.

"It was hard to really take it in at the time, it was only after the lap of honour and then eveyone celebrating that I could really enjoy it. It was a great honour to go up on the podium," he says with a smile.

"This is a great step up in my career," he continues and then he adds, "But I'm only 17 years old, I don't need to have it all right now and I've still got four more years as a junior," he explains, "But it means I can relax when it comes to these bigger competitions because I know I can do it".

Promising League results

Gustav Grahn is U21 Swedish national champion for 2021. But, of course, he is also active in the top three Swedish speedway leagues.

He is 5th place in the individual rankings for Division 1, where he has a 2.407 average and his team, Indianerna, are in first position.

Meanwhile, he has raced in every match in Allsvenskan and there he has a heat average of 1.282. That puts him at 26th in the individual rankings, only 0.303 pts behind older brother, Jonatan. And with Indianerna B in first place with two rounds to go, Gustav is guaranteed playoff speedway in Sweden's second division this year.

And the Junior Swedish champion has now raced 10 heats in Elitserien with Kumla Indianerna and, whilst that it is not enough to have an official average, he can still be proud of a 0.400 average at Sweden's most senior level.

Hard to believe it is only his second year at 500cc. It seems like there is a bright future ahead of this Kumla star.

Thursday’s match sees Dackarna face Rospiggarna at Målilla, the venue of last Saturday’s SGP. That means six of the team’s were in action on Tuesday night with Masarna taking a break this week. However, heavy rain just before the match in Kumla meant the meet was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday 26 August.

To see individuals' scorers, go to Zuzelend.

Västervik v Lejonen #WMSKLEJ

Lejonen won at home by 46:44 so tonight’s match was also about the bonus point with four SGP riders present – Västervik have recently signed Fredrik Lindgren, whilst the Gislaved team had Robert Lambert, Oliver Berntzon and Krzysztof Kasprzak in the team.

The match started out even and the team’s when into the first track break after Heat 3 at 9:9. Mads Hansen took an impressive Heat 2 victory for the home team when Lejonen’s Lambert and Berntzon cleverly boxed out Lindgren at the start, whilst allowing the Opole rider to cruise ahead.

But the match turned suddenly after this to the home team’s advantage as they took four 5:1s in five heats (4, 6-8) to lead 34:20 at the second track preparation pause.

Heat 7 saw Västervik’s Noel Wahlqvist (pictured) hold off Jakub Miskowiak and Rohan Tungate for an impressive 2 points for the Swede who is only 17 years old. Heat 9 also saw Lejonen’s Linus Eklöf come first ahead of none less that Lindgren.

By Heat 13 the home side had won the victory and the bonus point ending up winners by 54:36 (100:90). The win also takes Västervik upto second place in the league behind Smederna.

Top Scorers:

Wiktor Kulakov WMSK 13+1

Jakub Miskowiak LEJ 9

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Smederna v Piraterna #SMEDPIR

The current league leaders host the bottom of the table team in Eskilstuna and were favourites to retain the bonus point after winning 43:47 in Motala.

However, at the first break after Heat 3 Piraterna were holding their own with the match at 10:8 to Smederna. But as has happened before with the Motala side they then went to pieces losing all but one of the next six heats. That meant it was 37:17 at the break before Heat 10.

Two heats later and the home side completed the victory and by the end of the match it was 60:30 and the win and the bonus point were easily secured for the league's top side.

Top scorers:

Pontus Aspgren SMED 13+1

Tomas H Jonasson PIR 9