Following Qualifying rounds in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Denmark, twelve riders have earned themselves a place in the three-round final series of the 2023 FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship (SGP2).
The SGP2 series is designed to develop young up-and-coming talent and steer this next generation of Speedway superstars up to the elite FIM Speedway Grand Prix category and after Saturday’s action there is no doubt that the future is looking bright for the sport.
For the final series the twelve qualifiers will be joined by three FIM SGP Commission season wild cards plus one local wild card and two track reserves chosen by the relevant National Federation.
Drawing on his hard-earned experience from last year, Australia’s Keynan Rew ran out winner in Pardubice in the Czech Republic after a dramatic penultimate Heat.
On a night when no one rider dominated, Rew could only manage third in his first Heat but then fired back with an impressive unbeaten run of four wins from his remaining four Heats to take victory by the slender margin of one point and book his place in the final series.
Bartłomiej Kowalski’s route to second place followed a very similar pattern to Rew’s. Taking third in his opening heat, the Polish rider then won his next three Heats before being beaten into second by Rew in Heat Nineteen which determined the top two steps on the podium, but the drama did not end there.
In a Scandinavian showdown, Sweden’s Casper Henriksson – another rider who made the cut last year – and Denmark’s Nicolai Heiselberg were locked together on eleven points at the end of the night which called for a run-off which the swift Swede won to claim third, although both riders were guaranteed to progress to the final series before the tapes went up.
Emphasising just how close and competitive SGP2 is, it was equally tight in Krsko in Slovenia where dashing Dane Emil Breum took a one-point victory ahead of Norick Blödorn from Germany.
This time, however, Breum produced a perfect performance to sweep all five of his races and end the night with a maximum score of fifteen. Blödorn was beaten by Breum in the first Heat of the meeting before regrouping and firing back with four further wins.
Poland’s defending champion Mateusz Cierniak also took his fair share of the wins with three from five, but was beaten by both Breum and Blödorn when he came up against the on-form pair.
The final place in the final series went to Gustav Grahn from Sweden who started strongly with two Heat wins before being forced to settle for a pair of third-placed finishes. When the pressure was on in his final Heat of the night he kept his cool and raced to a vital win to earn himself fourth on the night.
The closest finish of all came at Vojens in Denmark where four additional Heats were required to determine the top four.
At the end of the scheduled twenty Heats it was Esben Hjerrild from Denmark and Philip Hellström-Bängs from Sweden who were tied at the top with the Dane claiming three wins and two seconds and the Swede racing to a third and four wins.
Hjerrild then added another win to come out on top to progress to the final series on the top step of the podium with Hellström-Bängs taking second as Latvia’s Francis Gusts – who was tenth in 2022 – took third on the night after winning his run-off and Poland’s Damian Ratajczak went through in fourth.
Focus now switches to Prague’s famous Marketa Stadium in the Czech Republic on 2 June for the first of the final series events. From there it moves to Poland and the Edward Jancarz Stadium in Gorzow on 23 June before, following a summer break, the deciding round on 15 September when the action once again returns to Denmark’s Vojens Speedway Centre.
FIM Communications