The hottest up-and-coming prospects in Speedway will converge on the Bergring Arena at Teterow in Germany this coming Saturday (22 June) for two Semi Finals that will decide the starting line-up for the 2024 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) Final.
A truly international competition, the Semi Finals will be contested by riders under sixteen years of age on 250cc machines from eighteen countries and four continents. At stake are sixteen places behind the tapes at the SGP3 Final that will take place the following Friday (June 28) at the world-renowned Edward Jancarz Stadium in Gorzow, Poland.
The championship, relaunched in 2022 by promoter Warner Bros. Discovery Sports when it was rebranded as SGP3, represents a major stepping stone for the world’s brightest rising stars who have ambitions to progress all the way up the career ladder to the elite FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship.
With last year’s champion Rasmus Karlsson from Sweden not competing there will be a new name on the SGP3 winner’s trophy this year, but first the thirty-six hopefuls will have to make their way through the Semi-Final stage.
Out of the entry, seven featured in last year’s Finals at Malilla in Sweden and leading the way in the first Semi Final is Poland’s Maksymilian Pawełczak. A former winner of the FIM Speedway Youth Gold Trophy, Pawełczak raced to second last year after winning his Semi-Final in Västervik in Sweden so on paper at least must start among the favourites.
However, there is talent in depth in both Semi-Finals and the Pole will go up against four other riders who made the cut for the 2023 Finals with Slovenia’s Sven Cerjak who was sixth, Villads Pedersen from Denmark who was eleventh, Great Britain’s Cooper Rushen who was fourteenth and Leo Klasson from Sweden who was sixteenth all competing in the first Semi-Final.
The top-placed finalist from 2023 in the second Semi-Final is William Cairns from Great Britain who was fifth in Malilla and on Saturday he will have to contend with Australia’s Beau Bailey who was ninth last year after winning his Semi-Final at Västervik.
Of course, while last year’s finishing positions are a good guide when it comes to picking potential Finalists, a lot can change in a year and once you factor in the unpredictable nature of Speedway it is clear that no-one can afford to be complacent on Saturday.
The first Semi-Final is scheduled to get under way at 11:30 local time before the tapes go up on the second Semi-Final at 15:30 local time. A very busy programme at Teterow will conclude with the first-ever FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy at 20:00 local time.
SEMI-FINAL 1 LINE-UP: 1 Sven Cerjak (Slovenia), 2 Silvar Avi (Estonia), 3 Jordy Loftus (Australia), 4 Adam Nejezchleba (Czech Republic), 5 Leo Klasson (Sweden), 6 Carlos Gennerich (Germany), 7 Kevin Melato (Italy), 8 Matys Sambarrey (France), 9 Nicolas Hohlbein (United States), 10 Lisandro Lobos Modon (Argentina), 11 Maksymilian Pawelczak (Poland), 12 Janek Konzack (Germany), 13 Karol Szmyd (Poland), 14 Cooper Rushen (Great Britain), 15 Zoltán Lovas (Hungary), 16 Villads Pedersen (Denmark). RESERVES: 17 Thies Schweer (Germany), 18 Mike Jarczewski (Germany).
SEMI-FINAL 2 LINE-UP: 1 Elias Jamil (Denmark), 2 Noah Urda (France), 3 Zakhar Lustiuk (Ukraine), 4 Maksymilian Kostera (Poland), 5 William Cairns (Great Britain), 6 Tilen Bracko (Slovenia), 7 Lester Matthijssen (Netherlands), 8 Beau Bailey (Australia), 9 Oskar Evertsson (Sweden), 10 Andre Damian (Romania), 11 Casper Appelgren (Sweden), 12 Karel Prusa (Czech Republic), 13 Kensei Matsudaira (United States), 14 Jacob Bolcho Pedersen (Denmark), 15 Seth Norman (Great Britain), 16 Imre Vigre (Norway). RESERVES: 17 Magnus Rau (Germany), 18 Carl Wynant (Germany).
Words by FIM Track Racing – Images by Jesper Veldhuizen
