On Wednesday the nominations for the Swedish National Championships in Målilla on 13 July were released by SVEMO.

The noteworthy addition is that Czestochowa's Swedish SGP rider, Fredrik Lindgren (pictured) is going to participate as he had planned to last year before having to stay put in Poland because of the corona regulations.

Eight riders are already nominated to fina including the double Swedish champion, Jacob Thorssell. The Dackarna rider is the only person who has won the championship since Lindgren last won in 2018.

There will also be a qualifying race and SVEMO have named another 14 riders who will be in that competition. Not only that but there will also be a four-man qualifying heat for those final two spots in the qualifier for the nationals.

The qualifier will take place in Västervik, 2 July at 19:00 hrs.

Nominated riders direct to final in Målilla

Pontus Aspgren, Smederna SF
Oliver Berntzon, Gislaveds MK
Jacob Thorssell, Målilla MK
Kim Nilsson, Rospiggarna SK
Viktor Palovaara, Vetlanda MS
Linus Eklöf, Gislaveds MK
Peter Ljung, Vetlanda MS
Fredrik Lindgren, Örebro SF

Startlist for the National Qualifing race

1. Alexander Woentin, Vetlanda MS
2. Tomas H Jonasson, SMK Motala SK
3. Casper Henriksson, Gislaveds MK
4. Johannes Stark, Smederna SF
5. Mathias Thörnblom, Gislaveds MK
6. Filip Hjelmland, Vetlanda MS
7. Daniel Henderson, Rospiggarna SK
8. Gustav Grahn, Kumla MSK
9. Ludvig Lindgren, Kumla MSK
10. Anton Karlsson, Westerviks MSK
11. Noel Wahlqvist, Westerviks MSK
12. 1:an i kvalheat
13. Joel Andersson, Kumla MSK
14. Jonatan Grahn, Kumla MSK
15. 2:an i kvalheat
16. Philip Hellström-Bängs, Masarna SK

Qualifying heat for last two regular places

17. Alexander Liljekvist, Masarna SK
18. Joel Kling, Smederna SF
19. Christoffer Selvin, Kumla MSK
20. Emil Millberg, Masarna SK

Riders who will be called up in the case of rider absence

21. Avon Van Dyck, Målilla MK
22. Ludvig Selvin, Kumla MSK
23. Lucas Woentin, Vetlanda MS
24. Maximiliam Belsing, Smederna SF

It was nealy 30 degrees C in Gislaved when Dackarna came to visit to race against Lejonen.

With a number of riders out because of the up and coming SGP qualifying races on Saturday, Lejonen presented a weaker team that their guests with Jakub Miskowiak's place taken via Rider Replacement.

But there was little to split the teams with four tied finishs in the first five heats.

And it was Dackarna who were first to break the deadlock as the new pairing of Luke Becker and Maciej Janowski (5+1) took 1:5s in Heats 1 and 7 to split the teams by 8 points.

It was Becker’s first match in Dackarna colours after being signed last year but being unable to travel to Europe because of the pandemic. And he impressed by scoring with 12+2, just one point off a paid maximum, the same as Jason Doyle (14).

The home side only took one 5:1 in the whole match and that was in the all Swedish Heat 13 where Mattias Thörnblom (5) and Casper Henriksson (2+1) lead out for Lejonen.

But the home side could not catch up and guests took a well deserved 40:50 victory. For Lejonen is was Krzysztof Kazprzak who showed his experience taking 16+1 in seven heats.

See full scores here.

Official highlights video is available from Elitspeedway.com

FORM PREVIEW: Hansen, Milik and Lathi

We continue our look at the form of some of the competitors who will be taking part in this year’s TAURON SEC and who also race in Poland’s League 1 division.

Having looked at Bellego, Lebedevs and Logachev, we now consider the next three highest scorers in that league.

4. Patrick Hansen, DEN, 12^th 2.094

5. Vaclav Milik, CZE, 23^rd, 1.828

6. Timo Lahti, FIN, 27th, 1.784

_______________________________________

Patrick Hansen, DEN

The 23-year-old Dane is one of the most improved riders of 2021. Last year he was in eWinner 2 League and finished 15^th overall, but now he one of the best riders in eWinner 1 and the leading foreign rider with his team, Arged Malesa Ostrow.

He started grabbing headlines earlier this year when he won the Danish SEC/ SGP qualifier losing only one heat when he was beaten by TAURON SEC rival, Mikkel Michelsen. But Hansen can still boast that he beat the 2019 European Champion earlier on in the competition.

That means that whilst Hansen is a debutant in the European Championship, he is definitely a name to look out for in this year competition.

________________________________________

Vaclav Milik, CZE

The Czech Republic’s rider is one of the well-known faces of the European Championships. Now 28 yrs, he has appeared in every TAURON SEC final since 2015 and medalled in 2016 (Silver) and 2017 (Bronze). This year he comes to the finals after receiving a Wildcard.

At club level in eWinner 1, the Czech rider has found himself part of a winning squad with Wilki Krosno. The club is trying to go from eWinner 2 to Ekstraliga in just one season. However, he is in a supporting role behind the team’s heat leaders, including Latvia’s Andzejs Lebebevs. Milik gets better with every race and currently has a heat average of 1.828. But one thing he has over his rivals is experience in Europe’s best competition. Can he use that to better last year’s 10th place finish in Europe?

_________________________________________

Timo Lahti, FIN

Finland’s Timo Lahti (photo) made an impressive start to his first ever TAURON SEC appearance as a permanent rider in 2020 when he came 7th overall. That result was founded on two excellent results when he came second in Round 4 at Gniezno and then third in the final Round at Torun.

This year he received a Wildcard so that he could take part in this year’s competition after finishing just outside the automatic qualifying positions in the SEC Challenge in Pardubice.

He currently has an average of 1.784 for Start Gniezno, which puts him in 27th in the individual rankings in the Polish league.

But as he proved in the TAURON SEC last year, he is capable of more. For example, he top scored for his team when they visit Rybnik on 24 May, the venue for the final Round in this year’s European Championship.

*Statistics correct as of 8 June 2021

FORM PREVIEW: Bellego, Lebedevs and Logachev

With less than a week to go until the tapes go up on the TAURON SEC, fans across the world are talking about who will win Round 1 in Bydgoszcz on Saturday.

Below, we take a look at the current form of some of the top three riders who are racing in Poland’s eWinner 1 League. The first three are:

1. David Bellego, FRA, 3^rd, 2.281

2. Andzejs Lebedevs, LAT, 8th, 2.175

3. Sergey Logachev, RUS, 9^th, 2.167

---------------------------------

David Bellego, FRA

28-year-old Frenchman, Bellego, is due to appear in his third TAURON SEC in a row. He is the top placed rider in 1 League who is competing in the European Championship and there he has an incredible heat average of 2.281.

This was looking like the best season of his career and the Frenchman was hoping to get to finish in the top four of a Round for the first time in in the competition.

However, a horrific three-way crash on Saturday 6 June in Rybnik has left him with a broken left collarbone. The initial prognosis was that he would be out for a least 10 days. That would mean he would miss the opening Round at his home track in Poland, Bydgoszcz. However, no operation can be done to heal the collarbone. So, it will be a question of how long it takes for doctors to say he can race again.

___________________________________

Andzejs Lebedevs, LAT

When it comes to the TAURON SEC, Andzejs Lebedevs (red helmet, above) is one of the most experienced riders in the competition having appeared in six of the last eight events since 2014. And in 2017 the Latvian stunned the speedway world with his first ever win in the European Championships. Although he did not win an individual round, he came to the final in all four events, including a second place in Güstrow, which will also feature in this year’s competition.

The Latvian qualified by finishing 4^th in the SEC Challenge in Pardubice and is back as a permanent rider in the competition for the first time since 2018. Not only that, but his form in eWinner 1 with league leader’s Wilki Krosno shows that 26-year-old is back to racing some of his best speedway since the European title win.

------------------------------------

Sergey Logachev, RUS

The 26-year-old Russian has been in the European Championship before. However, he appeared in just one heat as a replacement when the event visited his club, Rybnik in 2020. This time around when the 2021 TAURON SEC visits the town, Logachev will be there as a permanent rider.

In 2020, the Russian was with his team in the Ekstraliga and finished the season off in 37^th position with a 1.465 average. That put him level with riders of the calibre of Michael Jepsen Jensen, Antonio Lindbäck and Krzysztof Kasprzak.

And this year in 1 League he is flying with a 2.167 average. His experience in this league could be a great advantage when it comes to the overall rankings. That’s because three of the four venues for this year’s TAURON SEC are clubs from this Polish league.

Three other of this year’s TAURON SEC competitors are also racing in eWinner 1 League in Poland. They are Patrick Hansen, Vaclav Milik and Timo Lathi. We’ll have a look at them in our next article.

*Statistics correct as of 8 June 2021

Beautiful weather across southern Sweden meant all three matches were able to go ahead with a full capacity of 500 spectators, in accord with Swedish Corona regulations. And it was three home wins tonight with two of the matches finishing with the same score.

Västervik Speedway 53 v 37 Avesta Masarna

Västervik played their first game at home this season in their second meeting of 2021. They hosted the 2020 champions, Masarna, who travelled to the east coast town at the bottom of the table before tonight’s three matches in Sweden.

The hosts had the strongest team, with SGP rider, Artem Laguta (11) leading the side as well as U21 World Champions Jaimon Lidsey (9+3) and Bartosz Smektala (13+1) in the squad.

However, the visitors managed to keep the deficit low until Heat 6 when Smektala and Lidsey won a 5:1 against the Swedish duo of Antonio Lindbäck (4+2) and Philip Hellström-Bängs (4).

Just two heats later the two U21 World Champions took another 5:1 for Västervik and the home team lead by 32:22 at pause before Heat 10.

Masarna never looked likely to take back the lead, even though the match provided more overtaking opportunities as the night went on.

So, by Heat 15 we were treated to a spectacular race where all four riders were in the lead at one point or another. However, it was Västervik’s Smektala that passed both the Pawlicki brothers on the inside coming out of turn two, who would finally take three points. His team ran out deserved winners, 53:37.

Top Scorers:

Piotr Pawlicki MAS 14+1

Bartosz Smektala WSMK 13+1

Pawel Przedpelski WSMK 13+1

You can watch official highlights here.

___________________________________

Kumla Indianerna 56 v 34 Motala Piraterna

22-year-old, Mateusz Tonder’s debut in the Swedish league for Piraterna at Kumla today was not the dream start he, and Motala, were hoping for. He came into replace the injured Peter Kildemand. But scored 0 in his first three heats and was then replaced in his final heat by Jakub Jamrog.

At the same time, Tomas H Jonasson also had a nightmare. He had two engine stops and when he finally completed four laps in Heat 8, he came last. The Swede also finished with 0 pts and was taken out of his last heat. This time the replacement was Piraterna’s other Polish rider, Oskar Fajfer.

It was a completely different story for Kumla’s Andreas Lyager who came for another injured Dane, Niels Kristian Iversen in after the preliminary teams were announced. He scored 9+1 pts while fellow Dane, Jonas Jeppesen (10+1) and Australian, Max Fricke (14) made sure of a comfortable home victory.

Fortunately for the guests, Jamrog and Fajfer were on top form scoring 25 pts for Piraterna who lost 56:34.

Top scorers:

Oskar Fajfer PIR 15+1

Max Fricke KUM 14

Jakub Jamrog PIR 10+2

Jonas Jeppesen KUM 10+1

You can watch official highlights here.

_______________________________________

Eskilstuna Smederna 53 v Rospiggarna Hallstavik 37

Smederna, who did not take part in the 2020 season, played their first home match since winning the championship at the end of 2019. They were also the only team tonight to not have a Polish rider in their line-up. Instead, they started with Russians Grigory Laguta (12) and Gleb Chegunov (9+2). The match also had two Latvians against each other as Smederna’s Andzejs Lebedevs (13+1) faced Rospiggarna’s Oleg Mihailov (2).

After the embarrassment of not being able to even start the match last week in Eskilstuna, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when tapes finally lifted on the first heat of 2021. And the fans, of course, loved it when Laguta (12) took 3 points for the home team, with Michael Jepsen Jensen (5+1) in second so that Smederna led 4:2 from the start.

They never seemed likely to let up this lead which increased to 10 points after another Laguta/ Jepsen Jensen 4:2 victory in Heat 6.

But things might have been different if Zielona Gora star, Patryk Dudek (pictured) had not crashed out of the meeting in Heat 2. In third place, he lost control of the bike as he came out of the turn and fell. But unfortunately, he was run over by teammate, Timo Lahti (10+1) and left the meeting in an ambulance.

See the crash at 0:21 in the official highlights video here

With another 5:1 for the home team involving Rybnik’s Jepsen Jensen in the first nomination heat, Smederna extended their lead to 13 points and in the end ran out winners 53:37.

Top scorers:

Andzejs Lebedevs SME 13+1

Grigory Laguta SME 12

Adrian Miedzinski ROS 12

Kim Nilsson ROS 10+2

Krosno came to this match in a much better form that visitors Gdańsk and immediately took the lead 10:8 after Heat 3.

But then the momentum in the match shifted as the visitors won four heat advantages in the next five heats.

When the team’s top two scorer, Victor Kulakov (11) and Jakub Jamrog (8+1) took another 1:5 in Heat 13 the match was all but won as Gdańsk lead 35:43.

However, the home team did not give up and gave their opponents a scare by taking two heat advantages in the nomination heats. Krosno’s Vaclav Milik (13+1) won Heat 14 and took second place in Heat 15 behind fellow SEC rider, Andzejs Lebedevs (14, in photo in red). But it was not quite enough as Gdańsk won 44:46.

Dane, Rasmus Jensen was in the final nomination Heat for the hosts and scored 7 in total.

Bad weather cancelled the TAURON SEC in Bydgoszcz on Saturday and also their home match in League 1.

Lublin were also forced to postpone their Ekstraliga match until Monday.

#LODOST

Łódź led the match from the very first heat when Ostrow came to visit this afternoon. But the margin was always tight, so that when they won their first 5:1 in Heat 7 through Luke Becker (11) and Marcin Nowak (8+1) the score was only 22:20 in the Eagles’ favour.

And when Łódź won their second 5:1 in Heat 10, it looked like Norbert Kosciuch and Australian, Brady Kurtz (6+1), were taking the home side towards victory as the team were six points ahead at 33:27.

Amazingly, the last five heats of the match would produce four 5:1s as Ostrow’s top scorers, Polish riders Tomasz Gapinski (12+2) and Grzegorz Walasek (13+2) put pressure on the home riders.
But it was not all one way traffic as the sides exchanged heat advantages.
In Heat 14 it was Becker who again won the heat for Łódź. But behind him, the Scandinavian duo of Patrick Hansen (11+1) and Oliver Berntzon (5+1) took second and third leaving everything hanging on the final heat with the scores at 43:41.

And in an all Polish final heat it was Ostrovia’s veteran pairing of Gapinski and Walasek who would take another 1:5 and for the first time in the match give the visitors the lead.

So Arged Malesa ran out winners 44:46 on the night even though Danish rider, Nicolai Klindt scored just 1 pts.

#GRUZIE

It was a bottom of the table clash in Grudziadz who needed a convincing win to overturn 51:39 win from the Round 2 match in Zielona Góra.

In a match that lurched slowly forward because of many re-starts, the home team seemed in control and were in the lead 25:17 after Heat 7.

But with two exclusions of Grudziadz riders Przemyslaw Pawlicki (9+1)and Pawel Miesiac (5+1) in Heats 9 and 10, suddenly the match was a 30:30 draw and the momentum seemed to swing towards visiting Falubaz.

The fight was on, but neither team could break the deadlock and after five 3:3 heats in a row, the match finished with a draw and the bonus point went to Zielona Góra.

Dropping the bonus point could be the difference between the two teams at the end of the season and now Grudziadz are bottom with just one win under their belt after 9 Rounds.

Top scorers were:

Zagar ZIE 14+2
Pedersen GRU 14
Dudek ZIE 13+1

Others:

Bjerre GRU 8

Fricke ZIE 4+1

Photo - Pedersen , Vaculik, Zagar from SGP 2018.

#LANRZE

In today’s first Germany v Poland match in eWinner 2, Landshut hosted Rzeszow in the day’s first meet in the Polish leagues.

And it was the hosts who lead from Heat 1, when Germans, Kai Huckenbeck (11) and Martin Smolinski (9, pictured) started the match of with a 4:2 win.

The Polish team did draw level in Heat 7 when their eventual top scorer, Hubert Legowik (14) led a 1:5 victory. But after that Rzeszow never got close to the victory as the Germans, slowly but surely, closed in on the win. By the end they took the match 49:39.

Naturally, it was Huckenbeck who top scored for Landshut alongside Frenchman, Dimitri Berge (11).

#OPOWIT

After nearly winning their opening match in Germany, Wittstock Wolves were destroyed away at Opole this afternoon.

The Polish hosts won all of the first six heats, five of them with a 5:1.

And it didn’t stop there.

The final score was an unbelievable 69:21 with Jacob Thorssell scoring a paid maximum for the hosts and Danish U21 rider, Mads Hansen also getting in on the rout with 10 pts.

For the guests it was again, German U21 rider, Lukas Baumann that led the way with 10 pts, the only highlight in a dismal performance by the Wolves.

Today the two qualifiers for the U21 World Championships took place in Daugavpils and Gustrow.

Daugavpils

Motor Lublin’s Wiktor Lampart scored a maximum 15 pts to win the competition and Russian teammate, Mark Kairon also qualified with just one point less.

Latvians, Francis Gusts and Daniil Kołodinski used local knowledge to ensure their qualifications, whilst Ukraine’s Marko Levyshyn will return to the finals in 2021 after a brilliant finish with 3 wins after a poor start to the programme.

However, TV fans were treated to a four-man extra heat to decide the 6th and final place.

It was a third Latvian who made it to the final as Ernest Matjuszonok gated to win the deciding heat.

Sweden’s Philip Hellström Bängs failed to qualify when he came last in the race off. However, the real problem was an engine failure in Heat 14, which was the only heat he wasn’t first or second.

Wiktor Lampart POL 15

Mark Kairon RUS 13

Francis Gusts LAT 11+3

Daniil Kolodinski LAT 11+2

Marko Levyshyn UKR

Ernest Matjuszonok LAT +3

Full results, Daugavpils

Gustrow

This match was not televised but it was another Pole who is signed by an Ekstraliga club who won the competition. In Germany it was Częstochowa’s outstanding junior, Jakub Miskowiak who qualifying first from Gustrow. Assuming he maintains his current form, which places him at 13th in the Ekstraliga, the 19 year old will be the clear favourite when the competition begins in September.

The top six who qualified to the U21 World Championship are:

Jakub Miskowiak POL 14
Mads Hansen DAN 13+3
Jonas Seifert Salk DAN 13+2 (pictured)
Jan Kvech CZE 13+1
Alexander Woentin SWE 12
Steven Goret FRA 9

According to Speedwaynews.pl live updates, Australian Matthew Gilmore (5) was taken off in ambulance after being hit by Germany’s Lukas Baumann (7) riderless bike in heat 19.

Full results, Gustrow

The organizers will announce three wildcards in the coming days in addition to the 12 riders named above.