Polish icon Bartosz Zmarzlik admits Torun will “always have a place in my heart” after leaving the iconic Marian Rose Motoarena with his fifth Speedway GP World Championship gold medal on Saturday.
Despite sealing his third straight Speedway GP world title at the Deluxe Homeart FIM Speedway GP of Denmark – Vojens on September 14, moving within one of New Zealand great Ivan Mauger and Swedish legend Tony Rickardsson’s record haul of six, Zmarzlik refused to slow down.
He collected his fourth DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Torun triumph – a record-extending 26th Speedway GP victory – beating Denmark’s Leon Madsen in second place and Great Britain’s Dan Bewley in third.
There were celebrations for Great Britain racer Robert Lambert, who overcame a late challenge from Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren to win the Speedway GP World Championship silver medal, becoming only the third British medallist of the Speedway GP era since 1995 – joining triple Speedway GP world champion Tai Woffinden and 2000 Speedway GP world champion Mark Loram in a very elite club.
Lindgren collected the bronze medal – his fourth Speedway GP podium finish since 2018 – after finishing fourth in the round with a breathtaking charge to the final, which saw him total 141 points – just three short of Lambert on 144.
But the night belonged to Zmarzlik, who finished a huge 35 points clear at the top of the table on 179 and collected his fifth Speedway GP gold medal at Torun’s iconic Marian Rose Motoarena – adding to his 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 world-title triumphs.
Historic nights in Torun never get old for Zmarzlik. He said: “This is a very special place for me because always when I come here, I have really nice memories. When I have won my five world titles, every time I have taken the medal here. I think this place will be in my heart always.
“I am really happy about tonight. I won the title two weeks ago and before the meeting, I knew there was no ‘I must’, only ‘I can.’
“When I come to the stadium, I am here to do my job and of course I want to win like always. I was still focused, but it was a little bit easier for the head.
“I love racing, I love bikes, and I love this feeling when I am winning. I do everything I can to have this feeling.’
With just three race points to his name after three heats, Zmarzlik’s season finale was not going to plan. But five points from his last two heats fired him into the semi-finals on eight, before he followed the all-action Bewley home in a dramatic semi-final two.
Zmarzlik took the chequered flag when it mattered most in the final, but he admitted: “It was not an easy meeting for me. After three heats, I was really slow. But I wasn’t thinking about this too much. For me, it didn’t matter.
“I was working with the team all the time to find a better setup and then I won. My race with Leon and all of the other riders in the final was so beautiful for the fans. Everyone gave us some amazing racing.”
Speedway GP World Championship silver medallist Lambert was elated to seal the silver medal – despite exiting the DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Torun with seven points as he fell short of the semi-finals.
He admitted: “I don’t really feel like I got the job done at all after the performance that I put in. It was a very tough night.
“I couldn’t really get things going. But with my consistency throughout the season, I secured my silver medal. I am super proud and happy to be sitting here with a silver around my neck.
“Even though I had a lead going into this round, there are all these emotions. Big respect to Freddie for his performance. It really showed a lot of character. He had age and experience on his side and pulled out something to really take it down to the wire.
“Big respect to him and big congratulations to Bartek for such an amazing season. I am striving to be in his shoes one day.”
Bronze medallist Lindgren continues to be one of Speedway GP’s frontrunners and was gutted to come up just short in his search for silver.
He said: “I gave everything I had. I was riding the wall of death a couple of times. I came up a bit short in the final unfortunately, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.”
Lindgren still dreams of a Speedway GP world title win and, despite Zmarzlik’s dominance, he refuses to throw in the towel. He said: “I haven’t given up. I am going to do the best I can next season and prepare as best I can over the winter. I’ll talk with my team and see if we can make some improvements. We will see if I can make it happen one day or not.”
Speedway GP top trio Zmarzlik, Lambert and Lindgren are joined in qualifying automatically for the 2025 series by fourth-placed Bewley, Slovakia’s Martin Vaculik in fifth and Australia’s Jack Holder in sixth spot. Latvian ace Andzejs Lebedevs won the Speedway European Championship on September 21 to join them in next season’s line-up.
Four more places will be up for grabs at the FIM SGP Challenge in Pardubice, Czech Republic next Saturday, with the final four spots going to four permanent wild cards, selected by the SGP Commission following the Challenge.
This concludes the 2024 FIM Speedway season. But racing resumes in 2025 with the FIM Speedway GP of Germany – Landshut on May 3. For full details of the 2025 calendar, CLICK HERE.
GP Result
Final Standings
Report by Speedway GP – Feature Image courtesy of Marcin Karczewski
