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NORWEGIAN TEEN POLLESTAD EYES SGP DREAM AHEAD OF GORZOW SGP2 SHOWDOWN

Norwegian shooting star Mathias Pollestad dreams of putting his country back on the FIM Speedway Grand Prix map as he heads into the KGHM FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow on Friday.The iconic Edward Jancarz Stadium hosts the sport’s top riders for the KGHM FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Gorzow on Saturday night.But first, the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship race takes centre stage, with reigning SGP2 champion Mateusz Cierniak leading the standings on 20 points after winning the opening round in Prague on June 2. His fellow Polish stars Bartlomiej Kowalski in second and Damian Ratajczak in third joined him on the podium at Marketa Stadium.But Pollestad raced to a fantastic fourth place on a night which saw him win three heats, including a breath-taking victory over Cierniak as he overhauled the Lublin racer to take the chequered flag in race seven.mcierniak-pollestad2193.jpg 230.91 KBPollestad should feel at home on the Edward Jancarz Stadium circuit. He competes for tonight’s host club Stal Gorzow and is making rapid progress. He is averaging 2.189 points per race in the Under-24 Ekstraliga this season and his form has even earned the 18-year-old sensation a spot in their PGE Ekstraliga senior side.Former Speedway GP world No.4 Rune Holta was the last Norwegian rider to reach the top four in a World Under-21 final event, when he took the silver medal in 1994.Pollestad knows there’s a lot of work to do to match or better that result, or maybe follow Holta into Speedway GP one day.“That’s the dream,” he said. “But it’s a long way to go. Everything can happen in the future. For now, I am just focused on SGP2 and the Under-24 Ekstraliga. I am trying to be as good as I can be. We will see if I go into higher leagues in Poland and Sweden next year.“I am really happy that they gave me a permanent SGP2 wild card because Norway had Rune Holta who raced in the GPs, but that was a long time ago.“After Holta, speedway dropped off a lot in Norway. I hope I can change that because it will be fun to race more at home and not only be in Poland, Sweden and Denmark.”pollestad-henriksson2153.jpg 280.57 KBFor now, Pollestad must test himself in the Polish, Swedish and Danish leagues, and he admits having Stal Gorzow’s support as he takes the step beyond Norway to test himself in the sport’s most competitive nation has been priceless.“It makes a really big difference,” he said. “If you don’t come into a really good club and get the help, it’s much harder to come to the top. But if you have the team that I have at Stal Gorzow now, it’s much easier to go up step by step. They know everything and I do not know so much.“In the winter I trained really hard and changed engines. I tried different ones and now I have found something that’s really good.“Everyone in the team is working 100 percent, so I hope I can keep the speed up and score some good points.”pollestad-kowalski1956.jpg 224.8 KBThe KGHM FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow sees Latvia’s Francis Gusts make his first appearance in the championship this season after he sat out the opening round in Prague with a wrist injury.Australian Under-21 champion Keynan Rew raced to 12 points in Prague and will hope to build on that in Gorzow, with Sweden’s Gustav Grahn on 11 and Danish prospect Emil Breum on 10.The event also sees former FIM Speedway Youth World Championship winner Oskar Paluch make his much-anticipated SGP2 debut. Son of Stal Gorzow legend Piotr Paluch, who raced for the club from 1987-2007, the 17-year-old is being tipped for success as he stands sixth in the Under-24 Ekstraliga average charts on 2.500 points per race. 2023 KGHM FIM SGP2 OF POLAND – GORZOW LINE-UP (in FIM ranking order with rider numbers): 161 Emil Breum (Denmark), 27 Keynan Rew (Australia), 94 Esben Hjerrild (Denmark), 33 Norick Blodorn (Germany), 243 Philip Hellstrom-Bangs (Sweden), 302 Bartlomiej Kowalski (Poland), 842 Mateusz Cierniak (Poland), 43 Casper Henriksson (Sweden), 140 Francis Gusts (Latvia), 63 Nicolai Heiselberg (Denmark), 118 Gustav Grahn (Sweden), 523 Damian Ratajczak (Poland), 999 Mathias Pollestad (Norway), 226 Anze Grmek (Slovenia), 44 Petr Chlupac (Czech Republic), 16 Oskar Paluch (Poland – wild card), 17 Wiktor Przyjemski (Poland – first track reserve), 18 Mateusz Bartkowiak (Poland – second track reserve). GORZOW SGP2 FANZONE: FRIDAY, JUNE 23Enjoy the first of two fun-filled afternoons in Gorzow at Friday’s KGHM FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow fanzone.Friday’s fanzone opens at 12:30 CET, with all of the 2023 FIM SGP2 riders signing autographs from 16:30 CET. Fans can grab a photo with the Speedway GP trophy. Vintage bikes will be on display, and food, drink and official merchandise will be available for purchase. WHERE TO WATCH: KGHM FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow – Friday, June 23 at 19:00 CET.Coverage can be enjoyed via discovery+ and the Eurosport App in markets where these are available.Coverage is also available on:·      Poland – Eurosport Extra·      Across the Baltics – Go3·      United States of America / Canada / New Zealand: Recast: recast.tv/fimspeedway

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LIONS RECRUIT GB YOUNG GUN KEMP

Great Britain Under-21 star Drew Kemp is back in the Sport Insure Premiership after signing for Leicester.One of the country’s most promising junior riders, Kemp surprisingly started 2023 without a club in any of the British leagues, but he was recently snapped up by Scunthorpe in the Cab Direct Championship.Now he’s doubling up in both of the top leagues after replacing local rider Dan Thompson in the Lions side as the club’s Rising Star.Kemp impressed as a guest with a seven paid eight-point haul against Ipswich at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena last Thursday and makes his full-time debut at home to Belle Vue this Thursday.While club boss Stewart Dickson admits it was a tough call to drop long-time club prospect Thompson from their Premiership side, he admits the chance to recruit the triple British Under-19 champion was one he could not turn down.He said: “Firstly I’d like to thank Dan for his contribution so far this season. But it’s my job as team manager to provide the supporters with the best team possible, and I do think this change makes us stronger.“I have a responsibility to the owners and the supporters to do that, and whilst everyone saw how well Drew rode last Thursday, I also think it could help us on the away tracks.“I know it’s really tough on Dan and maybe not everyone will agree, but sometimes in this sport you have to make tough decisions and that’s what I’ve done here.”Kemp will be among the favourites to line up for GB at the FIM Speedway of Nations – SON2 event in Latvian capital Riga on August 11.

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WOZNIAK BACK FOR GORZOW SPEEDWAY GP

Former Polish champion Szymon Wozniak will bid to make the most of his home-track knowledge when he lines up as FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Gorzow wild card on Saturday, June 24.Wozniak, who scored three points as a wild card in the 2022 Gorzow event, has emerged as one of Poland’s top stars in recent seasons, winning 2020 FIM Speedway of Nations silver alongside Bartosz Zmarzlik in Lublin.He was crowned Polish champion in Gorzow in 2017 and joined Stal Gorzow for the 2018 season, where he has remained ever since, helping the club to three PGE Ekstraliga silver medals and one bronze.Wozniak is five good rides away from becoming a full-time Speedway GP rider for 2024, having booked his place at the FIM GP Challenge in Gislaved, Sweden on August 19. The top three riders there become the first qualifiers for next season’s Speedway GP World Championship.The 30-year-old is joined in the event by Stal Gorzow teammates Oskar Fajfer and Wiktor Jasinski, who serve as track reserves, donning the No.17 and No.18 race jackets respectively. They will take to the track if one of the main 16 riders is forced out of a heat due to injury, illness or other reasons.The Edward Jancarz Stadium stages a double-header of FIM Speedway action that weekend, with the FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow on Friday, June 23 also featuring a home hero as wild card.Teenage sensation Oskar Paluch, who celebrates his 17th birthday today, will wear the No.16 race jacket for round two of SGP2 – the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship series, which launched in Prague last Saturday.paluch_44_9734-ok.jpg 196.81 KBPaluch, the 2021 FIM Speedway Youth world champion, served as a track reserve in last year’s FIM Gorzow Speedway GP but did not take a ride. He will definitely get five rides in this season’s SGP2 showdown on the Edward Jancarz Stadium circuit, where he represents Stal Gorzow in both the PGE Ekstraliga and Under-24 Ekstraliga.Son of former rider Piotr Paluch, Oskar is currently seventh in the Under-24 Ekstraliga average charts on 2.583 points per race.The FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow line-up is completed by track reserves Wiktor Przyjemski and Mateusz Bartkowiak, who wear No.17 and No.18 respectively.Tickets for both nights of FIM Speedway action on June 23 and 24 are on sale now. Book your tickets HERE.

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ROWE HAILS HANCOCK'S WORDS OF WISDOM AFTER STORMING TO SGP2 SEMIS

Great Britain racer Anders Rowe admits some expert coaching from four-time Speedway GP world champion Greg Hancock helped him star on his FIM SGP2 debut in Prague last Friday.The Poole rider was only called into the Prague FIM SGP2 of Czech Republic with 48 hours’ notice but put in a fantastic performance to reach the semi-finals in the biggest meeting of his career to date.Rowe put himself firmly on course for the last eight with a win and two second places in his opening three rides. He almost made it a fourth victory in heat 14 after holding off PGE Ekstraliga stars Mateusz Cierniak and Bartlomiej Kowalski for three laps, but the pair found a way through before finishing first and second in the final.Rowe was only listed as championship second reserve after missing out on a full series spot in a five-man run-off in the Vojens qualifier on May 20.But the Weymouth-born man admits he received a few words of wisdom from American great Hancock that day in Denmark, and Rowe was delighted to get some more pointers in Prague.He said: “Greg has been absolutely brilliant with me. He has helped me so much and he did at the qualifier in Vojens as well.“My dad has known Greg for a long, long time now. We got talking in Vojens and he has been helping me a lot. He’s an absolute legend of the sport. You can’t buy having someone like that helping you.“I can’t thank Greg and (Great Britain joint team manager) Olly Allen enough for all the help they gave me last Friday.”Rowe was delighted he made the last-minute dash to the Czech capital along with father and mechanic Delwyn to take his FIM SGP2 shot.He said: “I got told just before the Poole meeting on Wednesday that I was in, and I was never going to say no to it.“We flew out to Krakow on Thursday morning and got a taxi down to Rzeszow. We changed an engine and drove to Prague. We got there at 1.30am on Thursday night and it was a whirlwind.“But I have loved every minute of this. We worked so hard to get here and I was so unlucky in Vojens not to get a place. I think I proved what I could do here, and I had a ball. “I didn’t get a very good time in qualifying, but I wasn’t going into that to be top of the board. I was going out there to perfect my style and get my leg and body positioning right.“We went out, did the job and had fun. My mum flew out on the Friday as well, so that was really cool. She hadn’t seen me race in ages and she had never seen me race in a different country. I am so happy with everything.”Rowe has been in fine form for Polish Second Division side Rzeszow, averaging 1.600 points per race. He would love to bring his continental scoring to Cab Direct Championship side Poole where he has had a mixed start to 2023.He admitted: “It’s weird. I come over to the continent and I am a totally different rider and person.  I don’t understand why. I am trying to figure that out. We have the same bikes. The only difference is the engines. Maybe I just have a lucky bike there!“It was crazy. I went to Oxford and scored one paid two points last week. Then I went and made an SGP2 semi-final on the Friday.”Rowe replaced Francis Gusts in Prague, with the Latvian shooting star nursing a broken scaphoid. If the Brit is called up for the FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow on Friday, June 23, he’s ready to make the most of a golden opportunity on his home track from the 2022 Under-24 Ekstraliga season.“I hope Francis gets better soon,” he said. “You never want to see a rider injured. Best wishes to him, but if I get that opportunity, then I am going to take it with both hands because I love Gorzow. I love everything about it. It’s brilliant. Every track in Poland is fun to race.”

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CIERNIAK HONOURS GRANDFATHER’S MEMORY WITH PRAGUE FIM SGP2 TRIUMPH

Polish shooting star Mateusz Cierniak dedicated an unforgettable Prague FIM SGP2 of Czech Republic win to late grandfather Wladyslaw after defying a high-speed crash to top the Marketa Stadium podium on Friday.The defending FIM SGP2 champion followed up his 2022 title triumph by leading a Polish one-two-three with fellow Tarnow-born rider Bartlomiej Kowalski in second and Damian Ratajczak in third.Norwegian racer Mathias Pollestad stormed to an impressive fourth place as he made history – becoming Norway’s first rider to reach the top four in an FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship Final event since former Speedway GP world No.4 Rune Holta won world junior silver in 1994.But the night belonged to Cierniak, who overcame a battle on and off the track to take victory. His grandfather Wladyslaw passed away a few days ago and the Lublin rider also had to bounce back from a high-speed crash in heat 20 tonight.Cierniak admits he maintained a steely focus to deliver a victory in his grandfather’s memory.He said: “Generally, I am very strong, and it wasn’t overthinking it. I focused on my practice session in Lublin and the practice in my hometown Tarnow going into the meeting. I didn’t have time to dwell on it.“Death is a part of life. My grandfather must go to the other world now and I dedicate this win for him. I want to thank everyone for their support and for being with me. I want to thank my family, my team and my coach, who also helped me a lot today.”Cierniak suffered a big impact after colliding with Sweden’s Philip Hellstrom-Bangs in heat 20 – an impact which saw his front wheel collapse, before he was thrown  into the back-straight safety fence. But the Pole admits this hard knock proved a blessing in disguise.He said: “Finally after a big crash I had to change my bike and after this, it was good. In the first and second heats, I made the start, but then I didn’t feel fast enough on the bike. This crash helped me a little to decide to change the bike – I had to change. “Then my start in the final was very, very great – definitely the best start of the night for me. I was looking at the big screen on the first corner and watching what was happening behind me. I think it’s the best feeling for a speedway rider to be in front after a very difficult night.”Cierniak has now won an incredible three out of four FIM SGP2 rounds since the series was taken under the FIM Speedway umbrella by global promoter Warner Bros. Discovery Sports in 2022.Having lifted the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship in 2022, he’s determined to repeat the feat and follow Emil Sayfutdinov and Darcy Ward in becoming a back-to-back winner of the competition, while Poland’s Maksym Drabik is also a two-time winner. “And maybe me!” he enthused. “I will try and do it. In this meeting, I was very focused. Before the season, I was very focused on this competition. I prepared for it very hard, and I have one destination. My destination is to hopefully get the same result as last year. Now I am heading in the best way.”Next up in the championship is the FIM SGP2 of Poland – Gorzow on Friday, June 23, with the series concluding at the FIM SGP2 of Denmark – Vojens on Friday, September 15.“I like riding in Gorzow so much,” Cierniak said. “I like riding in Vojens too, but it’s a very long way to go until then. Now I am preparing for my league meeting on Sunday in Grudziadz, and then I must think about what I must do in Gorzow.”WhatsApp Image 2023-06-02 at 20.48.43.jpeg 391.71 KBRunner-up Kowalski underlined his title credentials by topping the heat score chart on 13 race points, before finishing second to Cierniak in the final to leave with 18 championship points.He said: “I am very happy with the result in the first round of SGP2. I didn’t make a good start in the final, but I am very happy with the second place. It means a lot to me.“The track was very good today. There were many lines to overtake, and I could make more moves on the track. “After each grading break, there were a lot of changes with the track, and I had to be very focused to react to those changes with the bike.”Third-placed Ratajczak recorded just one race point in his opening three heats, before producing an astonishing turnaround, winning his final two heats to reach the semi-finals on countback with seven.He then followed Cierniak home in a lively semi-final two before clinching third place in the final. Ratajczak was pleased he found his form when it mattered most. He said: “It was very difficult racing tonight. My rivals are the best riders in this category in the world.“I had a problem with one bike and decided to change it. It wasn’t so good in the second heat, but I made some changes with the setup, and it all went well. It was perfect at the end, so I am very happy with the outcome tonight.”The racing continues in the Czech capital as the sport’s senior stars take centre stage for the Prague FIM Speedway GP of Czech Republic on Saturday night at 19:00 CET.

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NORWEGIAN TEEN POLLESTAD EYES SGP DREAM AHEAD OF GORZOW SGP2 SHOWDOWN

LIONS RECRUIT GB YOUNG GUN KEMP

WOZNIAK BACK FOR GORZOW SPEEDWAY GP

ROWE HAILS HANCOCK'S WORDS OF WISDOM AFTER STORMING TO SGP2 SEMIS

CIERNIAK HONOURS GRANDFATHER’S MEMORY WITH PRAGUE FIM SGP2 TRIUMPH