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MICHELSEN CONFIRMED AS SLANGERUP SKIPPER FOR 2024

European champion Mikkel Michelsen has been confirmed as captain of Danish Speedwayligaen side Slangerup for 2024.Michelsen is back to spearhead the Speedwayligaen’s most easterly club once again. He will also be racing for Polish side Czestochowa, as well as competing in the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series and defending his Speedway European Championship crown.Slangerup is where Michelsen’s speedway career started, and he will be bidding to help the club improve on its 2023 bronze medal.Team leader Patrick Hougaard said: “We were incredibly happy with Mikkel's efforts both on and off the track last season. Therefore, we think it's only natural that Mikkel has the title of captain again for the season. “In our opinion, he gave his all on the track and was good at giving tips to the other riders. We are looking forward to the season and hopefully seeing a Slangerup team on top in 2024.”

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2024 SPEEDWAY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR CONFIRMED

Danish racer Mikkel Michelsen launches his Speedway European Championship defence at Hungarian track Debrecen on June 8 as riders battle it out for a guaranteed place in the 2025 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series.For the first time ever, Hungary hosts a round of the main SEC series on Debrecen’s giant, 400-metre-plus track, before the action switches to Polish venue Grudziadz on July 20. Gustrow in Northern Germany hosts round three on August 24, with the championship concluding at Chorzow’s iconic Slaski Stadium on September 21 – a week before the season-closing FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Torun on September 28.The winner of the SEC series will become one of the first riders to secure their spot in the 2025 Speedway GP line-up, joining the 2024 SGP top six, the top four riders from the FIM SGP Challenge in Pardubice on October 4 and four permanent wild cards, selected by the SGP Commission.Michelsen won the SEC crown for a record-breaking third time in 2023 to seal a return ticket for Speedway GP this season. He will be joined in the SEC field by fellow top-five finishers, two-time SEC winner Leon Madsen of Denmark, Poland’s Janusz Kolodziej and Patryk Dudek and 2017 SEC champion Andzejs Lebedevs of Latvia, who also makes his full-time debut in Speedway GP in 2024.

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LEBEDEVS: GOING FULL-TIME FOR 2024

Latvian ace Andzejs Lebedevs believes racing full-time in Speedway GP in 2024 will be less stressful than serving as a series substitute.The Daugavpils-born racer makes history as Latvia’s first-ever full-time Speedway GP rider this year, after being handed a permanent wild card for the series by the SGP Commission.Lebedevs was among the standby stars in previous years, having been named as first reserve for the 2023 series and third substitute in 2022.This meant he was called into a round if regular members of the championship were unavailable due to injury, illness or other reasons. But these call-ups sometimes come at the last moment – unless the rider being replaced is on the long-term injured list.Lebedevs admits not knowing whether he would be needed for every round was a challenge, so he’s elated to start 2024 certain that he will be part of every Speedway GP event.He said: “I am really honoured that the FIM and Warner Bros. Discovery nominated me to be a full-time Speedway GP rider. It’s a small step towards my dream.“Now I know I will go to the next round for 100 percent. I can focus and build my team for a full season in the World Championship – not like when I was first reserve. Then you never know when you will race and even after racing a round, you don’t know if you will be going to the next one or not.“It brings big stress. You want to take the chance and show your best. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself. I think this season will be easier for me mentally. I can prepare my head for a full season, just go full throttle and fight for the best place I can.”Lebedevs would require a top-six finish to guarantee his Speedway GP spot for 2025, and competition is set to be fierce with 14 other riders also chasing the World Championship and qualification for next year. The Leszno signing is confident he can take the fight to the best riders in the world – if he wins his own mental battle.“I always say the biggest opponent is in my head,” he said. “If I can fix this, I can beat everyone. I want to enjoy speedway and enjoy being part of Speedway GP. I also want to keep this place for next year.”Lebedevs did not reach a Speedway GP semi-final in five appearances in 2023. He’s keen to put that right in 2024 and ensure he’s a regular fixture at the business end of SGP rounds.“At every round I am fighting to be in the semi-final,” he said. “A new story starts in the semis, and anything can happen in the semis and final.“I want to be in the semi-finals and then concentrate on the next step and make the final. Then the next step is to make the podium. The goal for the whole season is to consistently make the semis.” 

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WOZNIAK: POLISH TEAM SPIRIT STRONG AFTER MALTA TRAINING CAMP

Speedway GP newcomer Szymon Wozniak believes Poland’s Maltese training camp has strengthened the squad’s bond as they chase their first-ever FIM Speedway of Nations gold medal in Manchester this summer.The Poles jetted to Malta for a pre-season camp, where Wozniak, Speedway GP world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik and SGP permanent wild card Dominik Kubera have been training, cycling and also enjoying some downtime alongside the likes of Maciej Janowski, Patryk Dudek, Janusz Kolodziej, Jaroslaw Hampel, plus young guns like SGP2 champion Mateusz Cierniak and Bartlomiej Kowalski.While getting into shape for the season is part of the mission in Malta, Wozniak admits spending time together as a group can make a big difference ahead of the FIM SON, in which team riding is vital as 15 countries go for gold.The Gorzow star told PolskiZuzel.pl: “Physical activity and training are important, but each of us works on this all the time, so the most important thing is the atmosphere that can be built by spending time together.“The weather is so beautiful that you want to go out for fresh air and spend time with your friends, drinking coffee in the sun or just relaxing together. At this training camp we have many opportunities to simply be together, meet and talk. This creates an atmosphere.”Wozniak recently travelled to California with his family to train with his new Speedway GP coach, Greg Hancock. Now he is exploring Malta on two wheels – albeit without the aid of a 500cc engine. Wozniak added: “The island is compact, it's warm, the people are nice, and the views are beautiful. “You can just leave the hotel, get on your bike and you can see it all. The island is not large, so this bike is an indispensable and very helpful element of the training camp.”

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KOLODZIEJ STILL DREAMS OF SPEEDWAY GP COMEBACK

Polish international Janusz Kolodziej insists he still has an FIM Speedway Grand Prix comeback in his sights.The 39-year-old remains one of the top riders in Poland’s PGE Ekstraliga, with the Leszno star finishing an impressive third in the average charts in the world’s top speedway league for the past two seasons, registering 2.427 points per race in 2022 and 2.333 in 2023.Kolodziej has not always transferred these fine performances on to the Speedway GP stage. Despite reaching two finals as a wild card in the 2010 series, finishing fourth in Leszno and third in Bydgoszcz, he struggled to 14th place in the 2011 series as a full-time SGP rider.The Tarnow-born man returned to the series for 2019 and ended his wait for a win at the FIM Czech Speedway GP in Prague. But he repeated his 14th-place finish overall after reaching just one other final in Wroclaw, where he was fourth.There is no doubt that Kolodziej’s domestic form places him among the best riders in the world and he’s a regular member of the Polish national team, with whom he has won three FIM Speedway World Cup gold medals in 2010, 2011 and last year in Wroclaw.Speaking at their training camp in Malta, Kolodziej told the Polish team’s official media that he still has Speedway GP ambitions. He said: “If I didn't want to race there, I wouldn't ride speedway. Everyone wants to ride with the best. Just because I'm an older competitor doesn't mean I don't want to race with the world's best. “We see each other in other competitions, and we can compete. It is known that I have got into this series a couple of times and not everything turned out well, but I have the impression that it is getting better over time. “I managed to win the Grand Prix in Prague and that's probably a good sign that anything can happen. For me, individual successes are a way of showing me that it is worth believing in myself and that I can achieve good results, but I need to combine them at the right time. I will try and see what will come of it.”

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MICHELSEN CONFIRMED AS SLANGERUP SKIPPER FOR 2024

2024 SPEEDWAY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR CONFIRMED

LEBEDEVS: GOING FULL-TIME FOR 2024

WOZNIAK: POLISH TEAM SPIRIT STRONG AFTER MALTA TRAINING CAMP

KOLODZIEJ STILL DREAMS OF SPEEDWAY GP COMEBACK