Bartosz Zmarzlik won the Riga Grand Prix in Latvia, the ninth round of the Speedway World Championship. Second place went to Swede Fredrik Lindgren and third place went to Briton Daniel Bewley. Maciej Janowski was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Bartosz Zmarzlik He had a dangerous fall at the beginning of the competition, but he still came back to be the best.
After the sixth round, Zmarzlik had a 27-point lead over second overall, Australian Jackie Holder, and it seemed that the excitement associated with the fight for the world championship had just ended. In the following two tournaments, however, the Pole scored only 17 points in total, with Swede Fredrik Lindgren and Briton Robert Lambert coming closer to 15 points.
In Riga, Zmarzlik appeared on the track for the first time in the fourth heat. The Pole was riding shoulder to shoulder with Mikkel Michelsen and at the exit of the first curve the two racetrack drivers fell onto the track. The accident appeared to be extremely serious because both drivers crashed into the barriers on the track without an inflatable cover. Zmarzlik got up on his own, but the Dane was taken off the track by an ambulance and never raced again. The referee excluded Michelsen from the replay, but the four-time world champion also clearly felt the impact, as he finished third and retired from the race basically without a fight.
In the second match, Zmarzlik showed class and won, but after two series the best Pole was Janowski, who scored five points. The popular “Magic” replaced the injured Briton Tai Woffinden in the championship, and from tournament to tournament he got better and better. However, Dominik Kubera and Szymon Woźniak were completely disappointed, scoring one point each after two matches.
Latvians Andrzej Lebedev and Lindgren were in excellent form from the start on the Riga track. After three rounds, the former was unbeaten, while the latter had eight points and an almost certain place in the round of 16.
Before the last series, Janowski was still in the best position among the Poles, who had nine points and was confident of advancing to the semi-finals. Zmarzlik was last in the third start, in the next one he was second and took 10th place with six points. Kubera and Woźniak had absolutely no chance of eighth place.
It turns out that in the last series Janowski, Zmarzlik and Kubera rode together, and Martin Vaculik joined the group. After winning in Wrocław and Riga a week ago, the Slovakian was in fourth place after four series, but was not sure of advancing to the next decisive round. Kubera was the best, but was overtaken by Zmarzlik by a distance and it was an important action to advance to the semi-finals. Vaculik came last and that left him in 10th place.
The main round was won by Lebedev, for whom it was his first success of this kind. In the first semi-final, the Latvian faced Lindgren, Lambert and Zmarzlik, the top three in the overall standings after eight rounds of the World Championship. The Pole had the best start, but the Swede overtook him in distance. Lambert fought for second place until the end, but was unable to beat the world champion. Lebedev had his weakest phase and this cost him a farewell to the tournament.
In the second semi-final, Janowski initially performed well, although Briton Daniel Bewley was ahead. However, the Pole was overtaken by Australian Max Fricke at the distance. Janowski tried to chase his rivals, but failed and together with Dane Leon Madsen ended the tournament in the semi-finals.
In the final, Zmarzlik did not perform well, but in the first corner he took the lead with a great maneuver. Lindgren chased him but was not fast enough to reach first place. Bewley was third and Fricke fourth.
After nine of the 11 GP series tournaments Zmarzlik leads the overall standings and, thanks to his victory in Riga, has increased his lead over second-placed Lindgren to 17 points. The Pole is fighting for the fifth title of his career – he was the best in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The next competition will take place on September 14th in Vojens, Denmark.
1. Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland)
2. Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden)
3. Daniel Bewley (United Kingdom)
4. Max Fricke (Australia)
5. Maciej Janowski (Poland)
6. Robert Lambert (United Kingdom)
7. Andrzej Lebedev (Latvia)
8. Leon Madsen (Denmark)
…
12. Dominik Kubera (Poland)
13. Szymon Woźniak (Poland)
1. Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland) 141 points
2. Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 124
3. Robert Lambert (UK) 117
4. Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) 102
5. Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark) 101
6. Daniel Bewley (UK) 100
7. Jack Holder (Australia) 95
8. Dominik Kubera (Poland) 78
…
12. Szymon Woźniak (Poland) 55
16. Maciej Janowski (Poland) 30.
18. Patryk Dudek (Poland) 12
19. Oskar Fajfer (Poland) 6
22. Mateusz Cierniak (Poland) 3
September 14 – Vojens (Denmark)
September 28 – Toruń
