The roar of highly-tuned race engines will echo across Europe this coming Saturday – 20 May – when the FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship (SGP2) gets under way with three Qualifying events staged simultaneously in Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Denmark.
The final stepping stone for riders before they graduate to big league FIM Speedway Grand Prix racing, SGP2 gives Speedway fans the chance to see the sport’s rising stars in action. Riders who have won at this level and then gone on to win SGP titles include Australia’s Jason Crump and Polish hero Bartosz Zmarzlik.
The Qualifying rounds will be staged in Krsko in Slovenia, Pardubice in the Czech Republic and Vojens in Denmark with sixteen riders contesting each event. The top four from each with go through to the three-round final series where they will be joined by three FIM SGP Commission season wild cards along with one local wild card and two track reserves chosen by the relevant National Federation.
With seven out of last year’s top-ten finishers now too old to compete – including 2021 champion Jakub Miśkowiak from Poland – there is a big injection of new blood into the series, but one rider who is back again is Polish defending champion Mateusz Cierniak who dominated in 2022 with two wins and a third.
The twenty-year-old will be in action in Slovenia where he will once again be pitted against Petr Chlupac from the Czech Republic who was seventh last year. Latvia’s Francis Gusts who was tenth in 2022 will contest the Qualifying round in Denmark.
With experience an important factor, out of the combined forty-eight-strong entry there is no shortage of 2022 competitors returning for another attempt to win. Included in this list are the talented trio of Daniel Klíma who will be hoping to have the crowd behind him in his native Czech Republic where he will be up against Sweden’s Casper Henriksson and Jonas Knudsen who will enjoy home advantage in Denmark.
Furthest travelled of the hopefuls hoping to make the cut for the final series are Australian Keynan Rew who made it through last season and his compatriots Jacob Hook, Maurice Brown and James Pearson.
While there is no such thing as a safe bet in such an exciting and unpredictable sport, one thing we are guaranteed is a truly international atmosphere with sixteen different nations from three continents fielding riders.
The final series will be staged in the Czech Republic on 2 June in Prague’s iconic Marketa Stadium before moving onto the purpose-built Edward Jancarz Stadium in Gorzow, Poland, on 23 June. The winner will then be crowned on September 15 at Denmark’s Vojens Speedway Centre.
FIM Communications