MADSEN LAUNCHES EUROPEAN TITLE DEFENCE IN CZESTOCHOWA

Speedway GP star Leon Madsen will launch his Speedway European Championship title defence at PGE Ekstraliga home track Czestochowa on June 17 after the 2023 SEC calendar was confirmed.

The continental series will be staged over four rounds once again, with the winner guaranteed a place in the 2024 Speedway GP line-up.

The action gets underway on the high-speed Czestochowa circuit, before German track Gustrow stages round two on August 5.

Former Polish Speedway GP venue Bydgoszcz hosts round three on September 9, before the champion is crowned at Czech track Pardubice on September 22 as part of the club’s famous Golden Helmet weekend.

Madsen overhauled Polish star Janusz Kolodziej to lift the trophy in 2022, but the Dane did not need the 2023 Speedway GP spot on offer to the winner, as he had already guaranteed a top-six finish in the 2022 Speedway GP World Championship. As a result, the SGP qualification place passed to a sixth wild card, nominated by the SGP Commission.

But victory in the European rounds offers another possible route into next season’s Speedway GP line-up and last year’s runner-up Kolodziej will hope to go one better this season and return to the sport’s biggest stage for the first time since 2019.

Madsen and Kolodziej are joined in qualifying automatically for the 2023 SEC series by last year’s bronze medallist Mikkel Michelsen, who is seeking his third European title. His Speedway GP rival Patryk Dudek in fourth place and Poland’s Dominik Kubera in fifth were the other automatic qualifiers.

The remaining places in the SEC line-up will be handed to wild cards and the top riders from the SEC Challenge at Hungarian track Nagyhalasz on May 14 – the day after the PZM FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Warsaw.

The qualifiers for the SEC Challenge take place at Italian track Terenzano on April 25, former FIM Latvian Speedway GP track Daugavpils on April 29 and Austrian venue Mureck and Hungarian circuit Debrecen on May 1.