CHILLED POLE CIERNIAK LANDS SEVEN-RIDE MAX TO WIN FIM SGP2 OF POLAND - GORZOW

Poland’s reigning FIM SGP2 champion Mateusz Cierniak admits an unscheduled fishing trip was the perfect preparation for landing an historic seven-ride maximum in the KGHM FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow on Friday.

Cierniak produced a breath-taking, all-action performance in round two of the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship to blaze through his heats and semi-final unbeaten, before beating Australian Under-21 champion Keynan Rew, Denmark’s Emil Breum and Sweden’s Casper Henriksson in a thrilling final showdown.

He is the first rider to go unbeaten over seven rides since the championship was relaunched as FIM SGP2 in 2022 and the first since Polish star Bartosz Smektala won all seven races in the last round of the 2018 World Under-21 Championship at Pardubice on October 1, 2018.

Cierniak and his rivals had plenty of time on their hands during the day as the official practice session at 13:00 CET was cancelled due to rain.

While the track was being readied for racing, the Lublin youngster admits he made the most of his unexpected free time on a fishing lake, before landing his biggest catch of the day at Edward Jancarz Stadium.

He said: “When I knew that they had cancelled practice, I went fishing. I spent almost two hours on the lake; then we went to McDonalds to eat something, and then I came here. I had a very chilled-out day and maybe this is a good idea for next time.

“I feel very good, very happy after this, but also very tired. I feel so proud of myself. I took some good positions on the track in this competition.

“Every heat made me more confident, and I didn’t change almost anything on my bike. I just focused on my rides on this track and thought about what line would be the best.”

Cierniak holds a 10-point lead at the top of the FIM SGP2 standings ahead of Rew and Poland’s Bartlomiej Kowalski, who are tied on 30 points and ranked second and third respectively, with the Aussie placed higher due to his superior FIM ranking.

Breum holds fourth spot on 26, with Poland’s Damian Ratajczak fifth on 25 and Norway’s Mathias Pollestad sixth on 22 points.

The FIM SGP2 champion will be crowned at the FIM SGP2 of Denmark – Vojens on Friday, September 15. Denmark’s national speedway stadium is one of the world’s most storied race tracks; but also one of the sport’s most technically testing.

Cierniak heads to South Jutland expecting a challenge, despite needing just a final appearance or third place in one of the semi-finals to be certain of retaining his FIM SGP2 title, joining Emil Sayfutdinov, Darcy Ward and Maksym Drabik in the club of double FIM Speedway Under-21 world champions.

He said: “Now I have a two-and-a-half-month break before the Vojens round, so I think that’s enough time to learn something more and prepare for this last round.

“Vojens is a very difficult track. Everyone in Poland says that you love this track, or you don’t like it, so we will see. I have only raced on this track one time – last year in SON2. That was a good meeting for me, and I won the gold medal with Poland, so maybe I will do the same this year.”

Following an epic night of FIM SGP2 action, the spotlight switches to the sport’s senior stars as they race in the KGHM FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Gorzow on Saturday.