GUSTS: TIME ON MY SIDE IN SGP2

Latvian shooting star Francis Gusts insists he has time on his side in his quest to land the SGP2 title after going fastest in Prague FIM SGP2 of Czech Republic practice this afternoon.

Gusts qualified for SGP2 – the revamped FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship – by winning his qualifier at Slovenian track Krsko on 14 points on May 7.

And he brought that momentum to Marketa Stadium this afternoon as he clocked the fastest lap time, 15.078 seconds.

His nearest rival was Poland’s Wiktor Przyjemski on 15.259 seconds, while flying Finn Timi Salonen registered 15.271 seconds and defending champion Jakub Miskowiak’s best time was 15.272 seconds as he took fourth place. Czech racer Jan Kvech was fifth on 15.280 seconds.

For some of the SGP2 class of 2022, it is their last chance to lift the trophy as they will be too old to compete in the series next year. But with Gusts not celebrating his 21^st birthday until February 1, 2024, he insisted: “I have some time. I am 19 years old, so in this competition I can do two more years.”

Asked his goals for SGP2 this season, Gusts replied: “I hope I will finish without any crashes. Then we will see.

“I will not be very sad if I lose, but of course everyone comes here to win and do their best. And I will try to do my best.”

The FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship has been taken under the SGP banner by new FIM Speedway global promoter Discovery Sports Events, and rebranded as SGP2.

With the under-21 stars sharing the same stage the Speedway GP riders will grace on Saturday night, Gusts is excited to be part of the action.

“It’s completely different,” he said. “I have never been in an event like this. I am pretty happy that I qualified to be here and I am enjoying this event. We will have some interesting racing tonight.”

Gusts is no stranger to racing in top events, having served as Latvia’s reserve rider in the FIM Speedway of Nations Final in Manchester last season.

It was the country’s first-ever world final, but the youngster admits flying the Latvian flag alone in an individual event is a different challenge to being the standby man in a team meeting. “I had one heat,” he smiled. “For me, this is a tougher challenge – I am racing alone.”

 

PRAGUE FIM SGP2 OF CZECH REPUBLIC PRACTICE TIMES:

1. Francis Gusts (Latvia) 15.078
2. Wiktor Przyjemski (Poland) 15.259
3. Timi Salonen (Finland) 15.271
4. Jakub Miskowiak (Poland) 15.272
5. Jan Kvech (Czech Republic) 15.280
6. Mateusz Cierniak (Poland) 15.339
7. Wiktor Lampart (Poland) 15.375
8. Mateusz Swidnicki (Poland) 15.376
9. Benjamin Basso (Denmark) 15.431
10. Daniel Klima (Czech Republic) 15.486
11. Gustav Grahn (Sweden) 15.575
12. Kevin Juhl Pedersen (Denmark) 15.601
13. Casper Henriksson (Sweden) 15.613
14. Petr Chlupac (Czech Republic) 15.616
15. Jonas Knudsen (Denmark) 15.821
16. Celina Liebmann (Germany) 15.916
17. Matous Kamenik (Czech Republic) 16.088
18. Bruno Belan (Czech Republic) 16.265