KUBERA'S GUARDIAN ANGEL

Polish racer Dominik Kubera says he has a “guardian angel” with him on the bike as he prepares for his full-time FIM Speedway Grand Prix debut in Croatia next Saturday.

Kubera famously raced to back-to-back Speedway GP finals when he made his championship debut as a wild card at the 2021 FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Lublin double-header, finishing second on night one and third on night two.

Those results were remarkable for a rider in their first SGP events. Kubera admitted: “I love to look back to Lublin and, when I do, I think, ‘How did I do that?! How?!’ It was a really nice weekend.”

These results on August 6 and 7, 2021 were even more incredible given that Kubera lost his mum Renata, 54, to lung cancer in April 2021. The 25-year-old recalled: “We only knew about the cancer in December. It was really hard for me. The season was very hard. 

“I lost Mum – one of the most important people in my life. Every time I went home, I went to Mum, kissed her and hugged her. When I lost her, it was the hardest and toughest emotion of my life. But now I think I have an angel behind me all the time. She stays close and helps me.

“The first three months were tough, but day by day, it got better. When it is better in my life, I race better in speedway. Step by step, things got better and the GP results in Lublin gave me a lot. 

“It was a tough year for me. I lost my mum, I changed clubs (from hometown team Leszno to Lublin), and I had a lot of problems with speedway. After reaching those finals, there was big satisfaction for me. These two days kicked my backside, lifted me up and I felt better.”

Kubera is certainly doing his mum proud on the track. He has since gone on to win Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup gold with Poland last summer, as well as helping Polish club Lublin to two PGE Ekstraliga gold medals and one silver in the past three seasons.

He has also finished in the top eight in the PGE Ekstraliga averages for the past three years, and these incredible results underline why he received a permanent Speedway GP wild card for 2024 from the SGP Commission.

While Kubera is tipped for a very bright future in Speedway GP, he is determined not to put any unnecessary pressure on his shoulders ahead of his biggest season so far.

Asked his goal for this term, he said: “I just want to do the best I can. I want to get a lot of experience from this year. I am looking to the future and if I get this experience now, maybe after two years or so it will be really helpful for me. I just want to finish as high as I can.”

Kubera kicks off his full-time SGP career with the FIM Speedway GP of Croatia in Donji Kraljevec next Saturday. While he has some experience of the Speedway Stadion Milenium circuit, he knows it will be a year of adjusting to new venues.

He said: “Many tracks will be new for me. I have been to Croatia for practice.  Prague, Vojens, Cardiff and Riga will all be new as well. I have these tracks I have never been to, and I have no information about them. 

“But I want to be in Speedway GP. I have always dreamed about it, and I feel ready to fight. I want to get better day by day and meeting by meeting. I am looking forward to it. Now I am waiting, and I am nervous. But I want to get started and I want to feel and experience it. I want to feel everything around Speedway GP, meet the people in the pits and experience how the riders are feeling. I want to taste it now.”

INTERVIEW: PAUL BURBIDGE