Rising stars S
PEEDWAY’S stars of tomorrow will be heading for a lovely, wine- producing area of Slovenia this week for the second round of their battle to claim the title of World Under 21 Champion.
The first meeting in Lonigo undoubtedly saw the cream rise to the top. Michael Jepsen Jensen, Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Mikkel B Jensen, Bartosz Zmarzlik, defending champion Maciej Janowski and Piotr Pawlicki were the highest scorers. Controversially the FIM, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to run this year’s championship over seven rounds, with the final two being staged in Argentina in November. It is a very long route to the navigated by these youngsters and one hopes that they don’t run out of steam and enthusiasm by the time they have to trek down to South America. Slovenia is much nearer to home, of course, and they will be assured of a warm welcome when their navigate their way to the Lendava Speedway Club close to the Hungarian and Croatian borders in this quiet and beautiful corner of Europe.
Michael Jepsen Jensen and Mikkel B Jensen have already won FIM gold in this year’s Monster Energy Speedway World Cup, underlining the rich vein of speedway potential to be found in Denmark.
Mikkel B Jensen
Zmarzlik produced an amazing performance in the SGP at Gorzow, admittedly his home track, when he took the bronze medal. Przemyslaw Pawlicki, the older of the two brothers, did well in the GP at Leszno earlier in the season. Their pedigree is there for all to see. And Janowski looks more than capable of retaining his title, fully justifying the faith that his mentor, World Champion Greg Hancock, has in him. Sadly, Great Britain has nobody who can hold a candle to this group. Our only representative, Ritchie Worrall, sustained a broken leg before Lonigo and is still on the sidelines. The track at Lendava, nestled amongst lakes and forest, is over 400 yards in length and will suit the Poles who cut their teeth on these circuits. But this championship is a marathon not a sprint so victories at this stage are largely academic. And from what we have seen of the Danish duo so far they will rapidly adapt to whatever is placed in front of them. Erik Gundersen, so instrumental in their progress, says more of a similar ilk are hovering on the horizon. Great for Denmark, of course, but more evidence of how Britain is lagging behind.
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