Australia’s newest FIM Speedway Grand Prix star Brady Kurtz was elated to weather the storm as he defied driving rain at Czech track Pardubice to race to victory in the FIM SGP Challenge on Friday.
Kurtz takes his place on the sport’s biggest stage for the first time in 2025 after winning the Speedway GP qualification event ahead of Danish champion Anders Thomsen in second place, Poland’s Dominik Kubera in third and Aussie ace Max Fricke in fourth, who all join him in sealing places in next year’s Speedway GP World Championship.
It has been a sparkling 2024 season for Kurtz, who won the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership with British side Belle Vue and the Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga with Polish club Rybnik. He also claimed FIM Speedway of Nations silver with Australia and helped Swedish side Dackarna to Bauhaus Elitserien silver.
But sealing his spot in the 2025 Speedway GP series with a 13-point tally in Pardubice is the icing on the cake for Kurtz.
When the rain started falling, the Cowra-born racer believed it could be his night. He said: “The tough conditions normally suit me. I have been fast everywhere in Europe this year and when I saw that it was wet and heavy, it looked like Belle Vue (Manchester) in the rain all over! I don’t really have any worries in tough conditions, and I think that’s where I got my advantage.
“It has been a really good year. Years like this don’t come around too often. We won with Rybnik, we won with Belle Vue on Thursday, and I am so happy I got it done here too.”
Kurtz has worked hard behind the scenes to bring together all of the elements needed to succeed at speedway’s highest level.
He said: “I would say there are a lot of moving parts that go into the wheel. I haven’t had all the parts in previous years. I worked hard in the winter to make everything a little bit better, and I think I achieved that.
“I got rid of my bad matches this year. I think I was always capable of having really good matches. But then I would have a bad one a week later for no reason. That’s what I have tried to eliminate. I think I pretty well did that, and my equipment was so good this year.
“I have been working hard with my engine tuner Ash (Ashley Holloway) for I don’t know how many years. But we have tested so much stuff and I think we have finally hit the nail on the head. My mechanics in the pits have been perfect all year. I don’t remember having any bike problems the entire year and it has just been a dream season really.”
FIM SGP Challenge runner-up Thomsen, who scored 12 points in Pardubice, admits a year out of the Speedway GP spotlight has left him better prepared to take on the sport’s elite once again in 2025.
He said: “I would say it has been good for me to sit one year on the bench, but I am really happy to be back.
“The time out of Speedway GP has allowed me to find myself, I think. Everything was going so fast. Getting a year out to only think about the leagues has been really good for me. I am much more consistent now.
“This was one of my goals for the end of the season – getting back into the GPs. It has been so good that I have been out for a while and now I am hungrier to get back. I want to fight to be at the top of the GPs next year.”
Third-placed Kubera, who scored 11 in the FIM SGP Challenge, is determined to capitalise on the experience gained in his Speedway GP debut season as he bids to improve on this year’s eighth-place finish.
He said: “I am very happy to stay in Speedway GP. This year was my first in the GP and it was really tough for me. A lot of tracks were new, and I took a lot of experience from this season.
“Now I am more ready, I know more. I always want to be in and stay for many years. I will work hard, keep pushing and next year will be better.
“I just need to be better on the track and take some podiums. This year I made three finals, and I was always in fourth position. I want to score more points and make sure I stay for 2026. Now we have the winter. I must recharge the batteries and think about everything we can do better next year.”
Fourth-placed Fricke qualified on 11 after winning a tense heat-20 showdown with Kevin Wolbert. While the German had nothing more than pride on the line, Fricke was forced to fight furiously for first place in the most high-stakes heat of his season.
“These meetings are so stressful!” he admitted. “It’s the last meeting of the season for me on top of all that. But it’s nice to know we are back in Speedway GP for next year. That’s a bit of a pressure release and now I can focus on 2025.
“Everyone is here to race, and I am here to race too. I respect that and it’s good to know that I have worked for it all the way.”
Fricke served as this year’s Speedway GP first reserve racing eight of this year’s 11 rounds in place of the injured Jason Doyle. He’s elated to have earned a full season in the 2025 line-up.
He added: “It’s nice that I was able to do it on my own merit this year and not have to worry about wild cards or anything like that.
“I still got a few GPs in and tested the waters for next year. All in all, qualifying for the GPs was one of the main goals for this year, so it was nice to achieve that.”
Kurtz, Thomsen, Kubera and Fricke are joined in the 2025 Speedway GP line-up by five-time world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik of Poland, Great Britain’s new world No.2 Robert Lambert, Swedish bronze medallist Fredrik Lindgren, GB racer Dan Bewley, Slovak star Martin Vaculik and Aussie ace Jack Holder, who all finished in this year’s Speedway GP World Championship top six. Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs also gained qualification as winner of the Speedway European Championship series.
The remaining four places will be allocated to four permanent wild cards by the SGP Commission, with the full line-up expected to be confirmed soon.
FIM SGP CHALLENGE SCORES:
1. Brady Kurtz (Australia) 13
2. Anders Thomsen (Denmark) 12
3. Dominik Kubera (Poland) 11
4. Max Fricke (Australia) 11
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5. Jacob Thorssell (Sweden) 10
6. Kevin Wolbert (Germany) 8
7. Przemyslaw Pawlicki (Poland) 8
8. Kacper Woryna (Poland) 7
9. Jan Kvech (Czech Republic) 6
10. Frederik Jakobsen (Denmark) 6
11. Patryk Dudek (Poland) 6
12. Rasmus Jensen (Denmark) 6
13. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany) 5
14. Jaimon Lidsey (Australia) 4
15. Tom Brennan (Great Britain) 4
16. Paco Castagna (Italy) 3
17. Jan Macek (Czech Republic) 0
18. Daniel Klima (Czech Republic) DNR
Words by Speedway GP – Images by Jarek Pabijan
