#RYBTAR

Tonight's first match was from eWinner 1 where one of the league's top teams, Rybnik, hosted the bottom team, Tarnow.

The visitors have not won a game this season and were again without Niels-Kristian Iversen. And just as it was for Kumla who were also without the injured Dane yesterday, it was another humilating defeat for Unia.

Australian, Rohan Tungate (8), was not able to carry the whole and Swedish U21 national champion, Alexander Woentin (6+2) continues the right way on his development curve.

But it will take more than that is the club are to avoid relagtion this year.

At the other end of the depot, Rybnik, are vying for a return to Ekstraliga. And more performances like this will help the cause. Rune Holta and Michael Jepsen Jensen (pictured) led the team with 14+1 and Sergei Logachev (11+1) put in a great performance a day before his first TAURON SEC appearance.

#TORWRO

Wroclaw continue to impress and currently look like the team to beat as they routed Torun, scoring over 50 points again against the newly promoted side. That meant they take the bonus point 75:105 after tonight's 36:54 drubbing.

Five English speaking riders were racing in Torun tonight, but on both teams it was Polish riders who top-scored for their teams. The only person to score in double figures for the home side was Pawel Przedpelski (11).

Meanwhile, the Holder brothers were tamed with Chris (4+2) scoring higher than younger brother, Jack (4) for one of the first times this season. European Champion, Robert Lambert scored 8 pts the day before he starts the defence of his title in Bydgoszcz.

For the victors, it was an SGP riders 1-2-3 with Maciej Janowski (14+1), Artem Laguta (13) and Tai Woffinden (11) scoring more than the entire Torun squad.

Dan Bewley (7+2) was the next highest scorer giving him confidence before go also joins his compatriot in tommorrow's TAURON SEC Round.

#LESCZE

Tonight's late match was between two teams chasing behind Wroclaw and, unlike the other two matches, was a close fought affair.

Home team Leszno held onto a slight lead from the opening heat until Heat 6 which was a 1:5 to the Danish pairing of Jonas Jeppesen (8) and Leon Madsen (9+1) from Czestochowa. Sweden's SGP rider, Fredrik Lindgren, also kept his team in contention, notching up 8+1.

But then four heats later the hosts took back the lead through an Australian pairing of Jason Doyle and Jaimon Lidsey (9+2) ,who also took a 5:1, to bring the scores to 31:29 with just five heats to go.

A brilliant piece of overtaking from Emil Satfutdinov (7+2) turned a 2:4 in Heat 14 to a 3:3 giving us a tie at 42:42 and the mouthwatering prospect of a deciding heat 15.

But Czestochowa's Danish duo were not up to the fight and by turn three of the first lap, Leszno's Janus Koledziej (13) and Jason Doyle (12+1) were in first and second to seal a dramatic 5:1 victory. That gave them the 47:43 and confirmed that the bonus point would also go to home side with a total of 96:84.

Kumla Indianerna had a total disaster when they travelled to Hallstavik tonight for Rospiggarna’s first home match of 2021.

Several riders had difficulty with the dry shale on the outside of turn two, leaving them either on the deck or in last place before the heat had really got going.

Even Max Fricke (15) encountered a problem at the same spot, in an otherwise team saving performance. The Australian SGP rider scored nearly half the points for the struggling visitors. The rest of the team were non-existent, with the next best rider, Jonathan Grahn (5+2) the only other Indian to win a heat all night.

The home crowd, attending their first match since the end of the 2020, were able to sit back and watch their side decimate the Indians in the glorious Swedish sunshine.

The only disappointment for them was that neither of last year’s SGP riders, Patryk Dudek (ROS) or Niels Kristian Iversen (IND) were available for the tie.

Instead it was Kim Nilsson (15+1) and Kai Huckenbeck (16, pictured) who topped scored for the home side that ran out easy winners, 56:34.

See Zuzelend for full scores

Sadly, for both the USA and Great Britain Speedway teams, changes and regulations around the Coronavirus have prevented their riders from taking part in this year’s U21 World Championship qualifying events this weekend.

Five One Racing has spoken to two of the riders who were due to take part on what might have been.

Sebastian Palmese, USA

Palemse will be 18 yrs this summer and lives in California, like American speedway legend, Greg Hancock (pictured).

He was second in last year’s USA U21 National Championship, behind Luke Becker who is now racing with Wolvehampton Wolves and Orzel Lodz.

But, the 2020 champion is now too old to represent the Stars and Stripes as is Broc Nicol, who is also racing in the UK with Wolves this year. So, USA Speedway nominated Palmese to take part in the qualifier in Manchester, UK.

However, with all the details in place, on 5 May the event at Belle Vue was cancelled due to complications around the stringent Corona regulations in Britain and moved to Daugavpils in Latvia.

But for the USA team, who use the UK as a base for European events, this was a fatal blow for their efforts to be part of the U21 World Championship event.

"Yes, I've raced in Europe," the 17 year old tells us, "but it is much different by being much more popular and with larger tracks".

He goes on to let us know his plans for this year, "I'm just gonna be racing in the US and be consistent in the D1 events," he says, and then continues, "Most likely, I will be competing in World qualifiers in 2022 and, hopefully, we have more time to plan!" he says with a youthful smile.

Tom Brennan, GBR

On 26 May, Team GB speedway proudly announced that Tom Brennan and Drew Kemp had been chosen to represent the country at Gustrow.

However, this´Tuesday, just five days before the event, Team GB were forced to withdraw after receiving no guarantees from the German authorities that the team would not be quarantined for 10 days, even though they will only be in the country for an event that lasts c. two hours.

Brennan will be 20 yrs this summer, and is currently racing with Ekstraliga riders, Brady Kurtz and Daniel Bewley with Belle Vue Aces in SGB Premiership. He is also doubling up at Eastbourne Eagles, the team that Drew Kemp races for in the Championship.

"Last year was pretty tough as there was no British league racing," he tells us, "I qualified to the European U21 Final, which was probably the highlight of the year, but struggled a bit in the Final. However, it was all experience and I’ve certainly learnt a lot from being out there," he says with measured maturity.

And he seems to be taking the disappointment in his stride too, "It's such a shame, but it's out of our control! I just have to keep pushing forward and concentrate on the next meeting," he says with down-to-earth realism.

He takes the same attitude when it comes to the 2021 season, "All I really want to achieve is progress. I want to be able to look at my first meeting of the year and my last meeting of the year and see a huge improvements in myself," he summarises.

It it still early days, but after two matches in the Championship he currently has a 5.90 points per match average - not far off the 6.05 he finished with in the 2019 season.

After his success last year and this knock back for the World Championships, Brennan seems likely to be named again when U21 European Championship competition gets underway later this year.

So despite this year's disappointment look out for both Brennan and Palmese in the year to come at international U21 events.

Sweden's second division, Allsvenskan started tonight with matches taking place in Eskilstuna, Västervik and Kumla. There was no Allsvenskan in 2020 because of corona restrictions, so the defending champions are Nyköping Griparna who won the final in 2019 against Team Rapid.

The league is a showcase for Swedish talent, especially riders who do not race in other leagues. However, there are one or two foreign riders who are expected to have a great impact in the season. So, it was no surprise that Polish rider, Hubert Legowik (b. 1995) top scored for Smålännignarna and Danish U21 rider, Tim Sørensen put up an impressive 12 pts for Norrköping Vargarna.

Best of the Swedish riders was:

Kim Nilsson GRI 15 MAXIMUM (pictured)

Pontus Aspgren TEA 14

Tomas H Jonasson VAL 13

Mattias Thörnblom VAR 13

And in Round 1, it was away wins for Valsarna, Griparna and Vargarna. However, it is the latter named that are in first place at this early stage after they beat Smålänningarna by 13 points. The other two teams only won by the tightest of margins - just 2 points.

Below you can see the detailed scores for each match (that does not include bonus points):

#TEAVAL

Team Rapid 44: 46 Valsarna

#INDGRI

Indianerna 44:46 Griparna

#SMAVAL

Smålänningarna 37: 53 Vargarna

After last year’s horrific crash that wrote off his 2020 season, France born Britian, Adam Ellis is back.

“I started practising in March and then from April we were racing again,” he says as we meet in a sun soaked depot in Motala, Sweden before his Bauhaus Elitserien debut for 2021.

The Brit has been racing in Rzeszow in eWinner 2 but is based in the UK with Sheffield Tigers in the SGB Premiership.

“Yeah, it was a bit slow to start with,” he admits, “But I feel I’m getting back in form. I just hope I can bring some of the Sheffield success to Sweden and Poland too.”

The difference he is talking about is reflected in his statistics; in two matches in eWinner 2 he only has a 0.800 average. But in his home country he is a heat leader alongside Jack Holder and currently in 15th place on the individual rankings with 1.944 p/h after four matches.

He goes on, “I like the tracks in Britian, they are more technical than those in Poland. There it is more about who has the biggest engine,” says the Brit.

Ellis only raced in two matches for Piraterna last year before his accident, but picked up a 2.600 average in those 10 heats. And last night in Motala it seemed as if he had never left. He started off on full gas and finished off as top scorer for the home side with 10+2 as they lost to Vetlanda.

In fact, it was only the 25 year old who stopped Motor Lublin's Dominik Kubera from getting a paid maximum on the night when he passed him in Heat 12 to claim 2 pts behind Vetlanda and Gorzow super star, Bartosz Zmarzlik. See match report here.

PIRATERNA 42 V 48 VETLANDA

Piraterna were the only team who did not race in the first week of Elitserien. And tonight, they got to host Bartosz Zmarzlik and Vetlanda Speedway at RMV Skog Arena.

And the double world champion was in fine form, breaking the track record twice in the match.

With 10 points separating the two teams coming into the three nomination heats, Vetlanda seem to have the match more or less won.

But Motala fought back with impressive 5:1s in Heats 13 and 14 as Piraterna’s dominated proceedings.

But it was the Polish duo of Dominik Kubera (pictured) and Zmarzlik who put the breaks on a Piraterna party with a final 1:5 to take home the match 42:48.

“My performance was okay,” said Zmarzlik to Five One Racing after the match, “but the most important thing was that the team won,” he said as everyone packed up in the depot.

Piraterna Motala: 42
9. Oskar Fajfer (t, 2 *, 1, 3, 2 *, 0) 8 + 2
10. Jonas Saifert-Salk (1, 3, 0, 0) 4
11. Adam Ellis (2, 2 , 2 *, 2, 3, 1) 12 + 1
12. Jakub Jamróg (0, 0, 3, 2 *, 3) 8 + 1
13. Thomas H. Jonasson (3, 1, 2, 0, 2 *) 8 + 1
14. Rasmus Broberg (1, w, 0) 1
15. William Bjorling (0, 1) 1


Vetlanda Speedway: 48
1. Bartosz Zmarzlik (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) 15
2. Victor Palovaara ( 2 *, 1, 1, 1, 1) 6 + 1
3. Filip Hjelmland (1, 2 *, d, 1) 4 + 1
4. Dominik Kubera (3, 3, 3, 1, 2 *) 12 + 1
5. Peter Ljung (0, 1, w, 3, 0) 4
6. Alexander Woentin (2, 2 *, 0, 1, 2 *, 0) 7 + 2
7. Lucas Woentin NS

DACKARNA 55 V 35 MASARNA

Masarna continue to struggle in their defence of the 2020 Swedish Championships. This time away at Målilla, it was Dackarna who won three 5:1 heats before the nominations were called. Jacob Thorssell (8+3) was the only rider to be involved in two of those three wins when he came second in Heat 3 and then won Heat 9 for the home team.

That made impossible for the reigning champions to get back into the match as almost every rider struggled for the Avesta club. It was only Piotr Pawlicki who seemed to be on form for Masarna, and he finished just two points off a maximum.

Meanwhile, Dackarna were led home by their two SGP riders, Maciej Janowski (14) and Jason Doyle (12). They were backed up by Danish rider, Rasmus Jensen who scored an impressive 12+1.

Dackarna Malilla: 55
9. Maciej Janowski (3, 3, 3, 2, 3) 14
10. Frederik Jakobsen (0, 1, 2 *, 1 *, 3) 7 + 2
11. Rasmus Jensen (3, 2, 2 *, 2, 3) 12 + 1
12. Jacob Thorssell (2 *, 1 *, 3, 1 *, 1) 8 + 3
13. Jason Doyle (3, 3, 2, 3, 1) 12
14. Maksymilian Bogdanowicz (0, 0, 1 *, 0, 1) 2 + 1
15. Avon Van Dyck NS


Masarna Avesta: 35
1. Piotr Pawlicki (2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2) 16
2. Marcin Nowak (1 * , 0, 0, 2) 3 + 1
3. Antonio Lindbaeck (1, 1 *, 1, 0, 2) 5 + 1
4. Francis Gusts (0, 2, 0, 0, 0) 2
5. Przemysław Pawlicki ( 1 *, 2, 1, 1 *, 0) 5 + 2
6. Philip Hellstroem-Baengs (2, 0, 0, 2, 0) 4
7. Emil Millberg NS

SMEDERNA V LEJONEN

The televised match between two of the favourites for this year’s title was delayed due to quality of the track in Eskilstuna. After one hour of waiting and discussion the match was cancelled and heavy rain that came last night blamed for the problems.

After 35 minutes only two heats had taken place in Ostrow as crashes in both heats delayed the match. The first was most severe as Ostrovia’s Nicolai Klindt (6+1) went down along with Tarnow’s Rohan Tungate (4) and Ernest Kosa. It was the last named who got off worse and was taken away in an ambulance.

Winless Tarnow desperately need a match where their heats leaders, including Tungate and Niels Kristian Iversen, score in double figures to lay the basis for a team win. But with their #1 out, the Australian clearly shaken and the Danish former SGP rider only managing 9 pts, today was not that day.

With 10 heat advantages, Ostrovia romped home, 60:30. Top scorer was Grzegorz Walasek (12, pictured) but Scandinavians, Oliver Berntzon (9) and Patrick Hansen (6+2) also played their part.

The club are now up to second place, just five points adrift and have a game in hand to league leaders, Wilki Krosno.

#ZIETOR

A 1:5 in Heat 9 from Toruń‘s Pawel Przedpelski (14+1, pictured) and Robert Lambert (9+1) brought the scores to within two, 28:26. The Pole would top scorer, but the visitors never got closer than that as Zielona Góra bounced bad I from last weekend’s humiliating loss to Wroclaw. Falubaz won 48:42 with top scorers, Matuesz Tonder (11) and Patryk Dudek (10+1). Australian, Max Fricke scored 7 for the home team.

The Australians in the visiting team depot also kept the scoreboard ticking over as Jack Holder scored 12+1 and older brother Chris, 5+1.

#GORLES

A great match took place between last year’s finalists who had already met at the beginning of the year with Gorzow providing a shock win against the reigning champions in Round 1.

The racing was tight and the teams exchanged heat advantages with the scores locked at 36:36 after Heat 12.

However, a brilliant piece of action saw the home team’s Rafal Karczmarz (3+1) pass Leszno’s U21 World Champion, Jaimon Lidsey (2+2) to take third place and separate the teams by two points going into the nomination heats.

Heat 15’s SGP line up ended up as a 4:2 to cement Gorzow’s victory 47:43 and they also took the bonus point from two victories against Unia Leszno.

Karczmarz had come in to replace Marcus Birkemose (1), who continues a luckless first season in the Ekstraliga. Meanwhile, Gorzow’s other Danish rider, Anders Thomsen faired much better with 9+1.

Leszno’s Jason Doyle continues his great season, top scoring alongside teammate, Janusz Koledziej (11+1).

EWinner 2 #RZEOPO

Embrassing day for Rzeznow who were unable to get the track up to standard leading to delay and then cancellation with the points going to Opole without a single heat being raced.

EWINNER1 #RYBBYD

A tight fixture that will be most remembered for a horrendous crash in Heat 9. All four riders were involved. But the rider who worse off was Bydgoszcz’s Grzegorz Zengota who fell lightly only to be run over by his own teammate, David Bellego. The Frenchman did not return to the match and Zengota was taken away in an ambulance.

Rybnik won 48:41 with Michael Jepsen Jensen (14, photo) top scoring for the home side whilst #8 Yevgeniy Sajdullin scored scored 11 pts for the visitors. The young Russian will be in the U21 World Championships qualifier in Daugavpils on Saturday.

#WROGRU

Sparta Wroclaw continued in the form that enabled them to destroy Zielona Góra last week by putting over 60 pts past rivals Grudziadz tonight.

Few pundits gave the visitors as chance before the game had started. As last week, Wroclaw refused to let up, even with the match won at Heat 11.
The match finished 63:27 with Nicki Pedersen high scoring for Grudziadz with 11 pts and Kenneth Bjerre taking 7+1 pts.

For Wroclaw two SGP riders scored paid maximums - Maciej Janowski (14+1) and Tai Woffinden (13+2). The team’sother British rider, Daniel Bewley impressed agee as in with 10+3.

#CZELUB

Both teams came to this match undeafted in their last two games. But Częstochowa set the mood for the match with a 5:1 in the first heat with Bartosz Smektala (11) and Leon Madsen (11+1) leading the way.
Vocal supporters screamed from the Lions almost nonstop between heats, and were rewarded with four 5:1s in the first 9 heats making it impossible for Lublin to get into the match.

The final result was a resounded 56:34.

Mikkel Michelsen (15) topped the scores for the visitors. But the home team had four riders with a double figure score and the whole team performed as the managerial staff would have hoped for when they planned their 2021 squad. Encouragingly for the home time, Fredrik Lindgren (12+1, pictured) finally looked like the quality SGP rider he is for the first time this season. Dane Jonas Jeppesen (4) also played his supporting role for the winners.