The big absentee that day was Nicki Pedersen. The Dane, a few days earlier, fell dangerously in an English league match, and the information about his abandonment of the tournament appeared a quarter of an hour before the first tape. However, the speedway rider showed up at the place of the competition, was examined by a doctor, thanks to which he will be able to go in the first league round against Włókniarz Częstochowa. The leader of GKM Grudziądz was replaced by Kacper Pludra – a club friend.
The first race could also bring the biggest surprise. Krzysztof Lewandowski (replacing Pludra after his tape) made a great start from under the fence and defended himself against Bartosz Zmarzlik for two laps. Patryk Dudek and Leon Madsen rode far behind them, but already the third lap restored everything to the expected order. In the end, the race was won by the new star of Platinum Motor ahead of Dudek and Madsen. The junior of the hosts showed himself very well, but in the end he finished fourth. After the first series with full points, together with the three-time world champion, Martin Vaculik, Fredrik Lindgren and Anders Thomsen were in the lead, overtaking Dominik Kubera on the last bend.
At the start of the second series, we received a duel of club colleagues – Zmarzlik and Kubera came out great from the start and it seemed that they would settle the issue of the kit for this run. The elder of the “Koziołki” took the lead, and Vaculik caught Kubera in the distance and last year’s Polish team champion could not count this race as successful.
– For now, I have a big problem, I’m fighting with the motorcycle so that it doesn’t throw me off, I’m not enjoying it. I’m losing points on the route, so I can’t be happy – said the yellow-and-blue rider on Canal Plus. The next three races began to slightly show the ruling group that day in Toruń, and only former colleagues from Gorzów remained with the complete set. Kacper Woryna also performed very well, losing only one point.
Another sensation, and at the same time a great help for Zmarzlik, was the withdrawal from the co-leader of the competition. The Dane before the next series decided not to fight anymore due to stomach problems. In response to this, the pupil of Stal Gorzów won heat 9 ahead of Maciej Janowski, who had any chance with him only at the start. The third place in this clash was brought by Fredrik Lindgren and after three starts he had 6 points. Fans in Toruń could see a fantastic race during the clash of Robert Lambert with the Częstochowa trio on “M” – Madsen, Michelsen, Miśkowiak, for whom he was simply too fast and starting from the last position with a great maneuver on the inside took the lead, which he did not give up.
Before the end of regular racing, any speculations about the shortness of breath of the world’s most famous number 95 had to be thrown away by critics. Full points and riding out of reach of any rival was the best answer. In the fourteenth competition, Kubera also woke up, who controlled his course from the first bend and sent a signal that he can still count. A good performance allowed him to jump to 5th place, one place above his Swedish teammate – Lindgren. The inhabitants of Lublin could therefore be optimistic about their recent starts, confident of their performance in the later phase of the tournament.
For the first time, the three-time world champion was beaten only in the 17th race by Mikkel Michelsen, and the third place in this race was taken by Woryna. The speedway rider from Częstochowa finally finished the main phase second and together with Zmarzlik he advanced directly to the final of the whole event. Madsen, however, said goodbye to the competition, having visible problems with finding the optimal ride. He triumphed during his last performance, in which he confidently defeated Kubera and Janowski, and the role of an extra was played by Holder, who did not count for the entire length of the competition. In the last clash from the regular “20” Vaculik won, noting the third “three” of the day and joined the Polish duo among the favorites before the semi-finals.
Excluded by gastric problems, Thomsen surprisingly made it into the top ten with two three-pointers. According to the regulations, the field he was supposed to occupy remained empty. Another variable in relation to the Grand Prix tournaments was the sure promotion of the two top scorers. Only the winners of the semi-finals had the opportunity to join them, thanks to which Zmarzlik and Woryna calmly waited for the results in the machine park. Participation in this phase ended with Lindgren defeated by Vaculik, while Kubera made a real comeback by winning his heat by fending off Michelsen’s attack on the second lap and bringing his old teammate behind him.
In the final we had almost a Polish clash. The best two and Vaculik, who speaks excellent Polish, were joined by Kubera. The best – the first field, thanks to the victory in the general round, went to the new leader of the Polish champion and, as expected, he used it diligently. Finally, in the race without much history, the Slovak came behind him, and the podium was closed by Woryna. The second of the “yellow-blue” representatives had a lot of grudges against the judges, suggesting that the Włókniarz competitor damaged his machine, but the protest was quickly rejected. For the entire length of the tournament, the new addition of Motor was beyond any competition and for the fourth time reached for the title of individual champion of the highest league in Poland.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION
- Bartosz Zmarzlik 14 (3,3,3,3,2+3)
- Martin Vaculik 12 (3,2,3,1,3+3,2)
- Kacper Woryna 12 (2,3,3,3,1+1)
- Dominik Kubera 9 (2,1,1,3,2+3,d)
- Maciej Janowski 9 (2,1,2,3,1+0)
- Fredrik Lindgren 9 (3,2,1,1,2+2)
- Mikkel Michelsen 8(0,3,2,0,3+2)
- Jakub Miskowiak 7(1,0,1,2,3+1)
- Robert Lambert 6 (0,2,3,0,1+1)
- Maciej Janowski 9 (2,1,2,3,1+0)
- Anders Thomsen 6 (3,3,-,-,-,)
- Janusz Kolodziej 6 (1,0,2,1,2)
- Patrick Dudek 6 (2,0,1,2,1)
- Leon Madsen 5 (1,1,0,0,3)
- Wiktor Leopard 5 (1,2,0,2,0)
- Chris Holder 5 (0,1,2,2,0)
- Krzysztof Lewandowski 1 (0,0,1,0,w)
- Kacper Pludra 0 (t,0,0,d)
RUN AFTER RUN
- (61.16) Zmarzlik, Dudek, Madsen, Lewandowski
- (60.14) Vaculik, Janowski, Kołodziej, Michelsen
- (59.41) Lindgren, Woryna, Miśkowiak, Holder
- (59.4) Thomsen, Kubera, Lampart, Lambert
- (57.96) Zmarzlik, Vaculik, Kubera, Miskowiak
- (58.29) Woryna, Lambert, Janowski, Dudek
- (58.65) Thomsen, Lindgren, Madsen, Kołodziej
- (59.66) Michelsen, Lampart, Holder, Pludra
- (58.53) Zmarzlik, Janowski, Lindgren, Leopard
- (58.09) Vaculik, Holder, Dudek, Lewandowski
- (58.5) Lambert, Michelsen, Miśkowiak, Madsen
- (59.12) Woryna, Kołodziej, Kubera, Pludra
- (58.57) Zmarzlik, Holder, Kołodziej, Lambert
- (59.10) Kubera, Dudek, Michelsen, Lindgren
- (58.5) Woryna, Leopard, Vaculik, Madsen
- (59.24) Janowski,Miskowiak,Lewadnowski, Pludra(d)
- (59.31) Michelsen, Zmarzlik, Woryna, Lewandowski
- (58.91) Miśkowiak, Kolodziej, Hoopoe, Leopard
- (58.68) Madsen, Kubera, Janowski, Holder
- (58.54) Vaculik, Lindgren, Lambert, Lewandowski (w)
1 semi-final: (59.12) Vaculik, Lindgren, Miśkowiak
2nd semi-final: (59.25) Kubera, Michelsen, Lambert, Janowski
Final: (59.10) Zmarzlik, Vaculik, Woryna, Kubera
