When the third edition of the FIM Women’s Speedway Academy (WSA) gets under way today (Thursday) at Teterow’s immaculate Bergring Arena, Dutch dynamo Nynke Sijbesma will be determined to earn herself a place at the top of the class.
Then, at the end of the two-day masterclass, she will be aiming to put her freshly-polished skills to the test in the first-ever FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy (WSGT) that will be staged at the German venue this coming Saturday (22 June).
The nineteen-year-old nursing student from Waskemeer, around one-hundred-and-fifty kilometres north-east of Amsterdam, is already an accomplished racer and after attending last summer’s WSA at Great Britain’s National Speedway Stadium – where she received instruction from Phil Morris, the FIM Speedway Grand Prix Race Director, along with Australian multi-time FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Champion Jason Crump – she knows she will benefit from this year’s programme.
With the 2024 instruction overseen by American four-time FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Champion Greg Hancock and FIM Long Track Race Director and former top-flight racer Glen Phillips, Sijbesma is confident a return visit to the WSA will help her further sharpen her skills.
“It was a blast to race in Manchester last year and I’m really excited to see what this year in Teterow will bring,” she said. “I will definitely take all the tips from last year’s FIM Women’s Speedway Academy and bring them to this year’s edition. I’m sure we will have a lot of fun with all the girls!”
Following last year’s WSA, Sijbesma went on to race the 2023 FIM Long Track Under 23 World Cup at Morizès in October where she was the sole female competitor, although an injury at the start of this year temporarily disrupted her 2024 programme.
Fortunately, she is now back to full race fitness and looking to advance further along the Speedway learning curve with the WSA where she will receive further instruction in all aspects of the sport, from riding technique and race craft through to machine preparation, mental approach and diet.
“Since Morizès I’ve been focusing on Speedway as well as Grasstrack and Long Track. Unfortunately, during my first race this year I collided with another rider which resulted in a broken finger so I wasn’t able to race at the beginning of the season. When I returned to racing I still struggled with my finger, but now it’s all good again so I’m really looking forward to this year’s WSA and the FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy.”
Around two-hundred kilometres north of Berlin, the Bergring Arena is a regular stop on the FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship calendar. The FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy is scheduled to get under way at 20:00 local time on Saturday.