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SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX 2023 Wild weekend Shocks, spills and an increasing need to consult calculators – it all added up to quite a Grand Prix weekend... THE NIGHT started with the firestorm of Bartosz Zmarzlik’s shock disqualification; it ended with the beautiful sound of a packed Vojens crowd singing the Danish national anthem a cappella as Leon Madsen stole the show. Madsen has played second fiddle to the Pole on a couple of occasions in recent years, winning the silver medal in 2019 and 2022, while Zmarzlik grabbed gold. It was written in the stars that it would be the Lublin star’s night again at the FIM Danish Speedway GP as he closed on title No. 4. But pulling the wrong race suit out of the van for Qualifying Practice had grave consequences for Zmarzlik. The triple World Champion was unceremoniously sent packing by the FIM Jury, and Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren was given the most unexpected of chances to reel in his rival’s 24-point lead. He came agonisingly close to doing maximum damage after hitting the front in the final. But Madsen was a man on a mission. When Zmarzlik first entered the club of Speedway GP World Champions, he only just made it over the line on that magical night in Torun in 2019. That was because Madsen was hunting him down like a man possessed and rattled off an unforgettable seven-ride, 21-point maximum to win at the Marian Rose Motoarena, with the Dane falling just two points short of Zmarzlik. Incredibly, Zmarzlik has won two more Speedway GP crowns since then and is now just one victory short of Jason Crump’s all- • Danish fans salute Leon Madsen time record of 23 SGP wins. Madsen hadn’t won a round since his Torun triumph four years ago. No Dane had topped the podium since Peter Kildemand swept to victory at the 2015 FIM Danish Speedway GP in Horsens. The Danes continue to look for a titlewinning successor to Nicki Pedersen, who won his third and final world crown in 2008. Madsen looks the most likely candidate and if Vojens had a roof – and it certainly needs one – it would have been blown clean off by their current national hero’s sensational charge from last to first in the final. Some will say the start should have been pulled back after a clear lunge at the tapes from Madsen. Fortunately for him, he was stationary when they lifted, and referee Craig Ackroyd let the indiscretion go as Lindgren got the drop on him going into bend one. Madsen hugged the kerb with Jack Holder rampaging around the outside in his fifth Speedway GP final of an impressive season, while Britain’s Robert Lambert found himself at the back. Madsen rode the white line like a rail and nearly surged to the front on the back straight on lap two, only for Lindgren to cut • Leon Madsen (white) just ahead of Freddie Lindgren 6 speedway star October 16, 2021 6 speedway star September 23, 2023
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ROUND NINE SCORECHART QUALIFYING SCORES Robert Lambert................................3 2 2 3 3 13 Jack Holder ....................................3 3 1 2 3 12 Dan Bewley......................................2 3 3 0 3 11 Freddie Lindgren ............................2 2 1 3 3 11 Leon Madsen ..................................3 2 3 2 0 10 Mikkel Michelsen ............................3 3 0 2 2 10 Mads Hansen ..................................1 3 2 2 2 10 Max Fricke ......................................1 R 3 3 X 7 Martin Vaculik ................................2 0 3 1 F 6 Kim Nilsson ....................................1 1 1 1 2 6 Rasmus Jensen ..............................0 1 X 3 1 5 Kai Huckenbeck ..............................1 1 2 0 1 5 Patryk Dudek ..................................0 0 1 0 2 3 Andrej Lebedev ................................0 2 X 1 X 3 Benjamin Basso ..............................2 0 1 - - 3 Jason Doyle ....................................2 X - - - 2 Jan Kvech ........................................0 1 0 1 0 2 Referee: Craig Ackroyd 1 Madsen, Vaculik, Huckenbeck, Kvech 2 Holder, Doyle, Hansen, Jensen 3 Michelsen, Bewley, Nilsson, Dudek 4 Lambert, Lindgren, Fricke, Lebedev 5 Bewley, Lindgren, Huckenbeck, Doyle (f.exc) 6 Michelsen, Lambert, Jensen, Vaculik 7 Hansen, Lebedev, Kvech, Dudek 8 Holder, Madsen, Nilsson, Fricke (ret) 9 Fricke, Huckenbeck, Dudek, Jensen (f.exc) 10 Vaculik, Basso, Nilsson, Lebedev (f.exc) 11 Bewley, Lambert, Holder, Kvech 12 Madsen, Hansen, Lindgren, Michelsen 13 Lambert, Hansen, Nilsson, Huckenbeck 14 Lindgren, Holder, Vaculik, Dudek 15 Fricke, Michelsen, Kvech, Basso 16 Jensen, Madsen, Lebedev, Bewley 17 Holder, Michelsen, Huckenbeck, Lebedev (f.exc) 18 Bewley, Hansen, Vaculik (f.exc), Fricke (f.exc) 19 Lindgren, Nilsson, Jensen, Kvech 20 Lambert, Dudek, Basso, Madsen Semi-final: Lindgren, Lambert, Michelsen, Hansen Semi-final: Holder, Madsen, Bewley, Fricke Final: Madsen, Lindgren, Holder, Lambert ROUND NINE HEATS FINAL RESULT Leon Madsen ....................20 Freddie Lindgren ..............18 Jack Holder ......................16 Robert Lambert ................14 Dan Bewley ......................12 Mikkel Michelsen ..............11 Mads Hansen ....................10 Max Fricke ........................ 9 Martin Vaculik .................. 8 Kim Nilsson ...................... 7 Rasmus Jensen ................ 6 Kai Huckenbeck ................ 5 Patryk Dudek .................... 4 Andrej Lebedev.................. 3 Benjamin Basso ................ 2 Jason Doyle ...................... 1 Jan Kvech.......................... 0 SGP STANDINGS R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 Total Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland) 20 16 14 20 20 12 20 16 - 138 Freddie Lindgren (Sweden) 16 20 11 5 16 14 18 14 18 132 Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) 9 12 20 7 3 18 16 20 16 121 Jack Holder (Australia) 8 18 16 16 11 10 - 18 16 113 Dan Bewley (Great Britain) 10 10 12 9 8 20 9 8 12 98 Robert Lambert (Great Britain) 18 5 9 10 12 9 8 12 14 97 Leon Madsen (Denmark) 4 8 18 12 18 3 10 2 20 95 Jason Doyle (Australia) 14 14 8 18 14 1 12 6 1 88 Max Fricke (Australia) 7 11 6 3 7 11 11 9 9 74 Tai Woffinden (Great Britain) 12 9 3 8 9 5 14 4 - 64 Patryk Dudek (Poland) 6 1 10 6 5 16 4 10 4 62 Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark) 11 6 5 2 4 4 5 5 11 53 Maciej Janowski (Poland) 3 7 7 4 10 2 7 3 - 43 Kim Nilsson (Sweden) 2 2 2 14 2 - 3 11 7 43 Anders Thomsen (Denmark) 5 3 4 11 6 7 0 - - 36 WILD CARDS AND RESERVES Andrej Lebedev (Latvia) - - - - - 8 6 7 3 21 Mads Hansen (Denmark) - - - - - - - - 10 10 Rasmus Jensen (Denmark) - - - - - - - - 6 6 Kai Huckenbeck (Germany) - - - 1 - - - - 5 6 Jacob Thorssell (Sweden) - - - - - 6 - - - 6 Bartlomiej Kowalski (Poland) - 4 - - - - - - - 4 Benjamin Basso (Denmark) - - - - - - - - 2 2 Francis Gusts (Latvia) - - - - - - 2 - - 2 Szymon Wozniak (Poland) - - - - 1 - - - - 1 Vaclav Milik (Czech Republic) - - 1 - - - - - - 1 Matej Zagar (Slovenia) 1 - - - - - - - - 1 Ernests Matjusonoks (Latvia) - - - - - - 1 - - 1 Steve Worrall (Great Britain) - - - - - - - 1 - 1 Jan Kvech (Czech Rep.) - - - - - - - - 0 0 Ricards Ansviesulis (Latvia) - - - - - - 0 - - 0 Filip Hjelmland (Sweden) - - - - - 0 - - - 0 Nick Skorja (Slovenia) 0 - - - - - - - - 0 Jason Edwards (Great Britain) - - - - - - - 0 - 0 • Top three Freddie Lindgren, Leon Madsen and Jack Holder back across and close the door. The Swede decided he would occupy the kerb and force Madsen to go high, wide and handsome if he wanted the win. It was a challenge he accepted with aplomb, sweeping to the boards on lap three, turn four and generating a thunderous roar from the Vojens crowd as he hit the front going into the final lap before taking the chequered flag. Madsen celebrated with a procession of wheelies and burnouts, before running out of fuel and continuing his celebrations on foot, waving to the fans at the club he recently joined as an injury replacement for Anders Thomsen, before finally gracing the podium. While all the pre-meeting talk was about how much of a dent Lindgren could put in Zmarzlik’s 24-point lead, Madsen had a topsix spot to hunt down. He started nicely with victory in Heat 1 ahead of Martin Vaculik, before taking second place to Jack Holder in race eight. Madsen took another victory in Heat 12, while 2021 World Under-21 Championship silver medallist Mads Hansen – the first track reserve promoted into the line-up to replace the disqualified Zmarzlik – reminded the speedway world of his considerable potential, taking a hard-fought second spot ahead of Lindgren. The Swede opened his evening with a second to Lambert in race four, before following home another Brit, Dan Bewley, in Heat 5. But that told only half the story after Lindgren was sent sprawling in the first run of the race. Bewley took to the dirt and hit the front with Lindgren being chased by Aussie ace Jason Doyle for second spot. But the action came to a halt when the Ipswich star picked up some unwanted drive going into lap two, bend one and clattered into Lindgren’s back wheel, taking the tyre off the rim. Lindgren was thrown over his handlebars, landing awkwardly, while Doyle flew into the fence, also suffering a hard landing, firing into his own bike, with Lindgren’s machine also following him in. The Newcastle-born man was ruled out of the rest of the meeting and taken to hospital, where mercifully no broken bones were found. Despite his tumble, Lindgren found himself on five points from three rides. He eased the pressure in his quest for the semifinals with a vital victory ahead of Holder and Vaculik in Heat 14. Having won his opening two and added a second and third, Holder was also cruising towards the last eight. But Vaculik left himself with work to do. The Slovak started the night as the only rider other than Lindgren with any chance of reeling in Zmarzlik. After opening with a second, a last place in race six cost him dearly. A majestic move around the field on the final lap of Heat 10 put him right back in contention, but a third in Heat 14 and a crash in Heat 18 ended his night as he left Vojens with eight championship points. Madsen, meanwhile, was calmly picking his way through the heats and booked his semi spot with a second place behind wild card Rasmus Jensen in race 16. Even a last in Heat 20 couldn’t stop him from progressing. Lindgren ended his regular rides on 11 race points after rounding fellow countryman Kim Nilsson on turn four to win Heat 19. Top of the score chart was Lambert, who took second place in the 2022 SON Final and the 2022 FIM Danish Speedway GP in Vojens. After beating Lindgren in his opener, he was second to Mikkel Michelsen in race six, before being pipped by Bewley as he took two more points in Heat 11. Lambert ended the heats with two wins, though, clearing off to win race 13 ahead of Hansen, before going wide enough to order the famous Vojens Speedway Sausage as he rounded track reserve Benjamin Basso on the first lap and won a lively Heat 20, with Patryk Dudek making his way into second. The last-eight showdowns saw Lindgren and Lambert pitted against each other in September 23, 2023 speedway star 7

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SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX 2023

Wild weekend

Shocks, spills and an increasing need to consult calculators – it all added up to quite a Grand Prix weekend...

THE NIGHT started with the firestorm of Bartosz Zmarzlik’s shock disqualification; it ended with the beautiful sound of a packed Vojens crowd singing the Danish national anthem a cappella as Leon Madsen stole the show.

Madsen has played second fiddle to the Pole on a couple of occasions in recent years, winning the silver medal in 2019 and 2022, while Zmarzlik grabbed gold. It was written in the stars that it would be the Lublin star’s night again at the FIM Danish Speedway GP as he closed on title No. 4.

But pulling the wrong race suit out of the van for Qualifying Practice had grave consequences for Zmarzlik. The triple World Champion was unceremoniously sent packing by the FIM Jury, and Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren was given the most unexpected of chances to reel in his rival’s 24-point lead.

He came agonisingly close to doing maximum damage after hitting the front in the final. But Madsen was a man on a mission.

When Zmarzlik first entered the club of Speedway GP World Champions, he only just made it over the line on that magical night in Torun in 2019. That was because Madsen was hunting him down like a man possessed and rattled off an unforgettable seven-ride, 21-point maximum to win at the Marian Rose Motoarena, with the Dane falling just two points short of Zmarzlik.

Incredibly, Zmarzlik has won two more Speedway GP crowns since then and is now just one victory short of Jason Crump’s all-

• Danish fans salute Leon Madsen time record of 23 SGP wins. Madsen hadn’t won a round since his Torun triumph four years ago.

No Dane had topped the podium since Peter Kildemand swept to victory at the 2015 FIM Danish Speedway GP in Horsens. The Danes continue to look for a titlewinning successor to Nicki Pedersen, who won his third and final world crown in 2008.

Madsen looks the most likely candidate and if Vojens had a roof – and it certainly needs one – it would have been blown clean off by their current national hero’s sensational charge from last to first in the final.

Some will say the start should have been pulled back after a clear lunge at the tapes from Madsen. Fortunately for him, he was stationary when they lifted, and referee Craig Ackroyd let the indiscretion go as Lindgren got the drop on him going into bend one.

Madsen hugged the kerb with Jack Holder rampaging around the outside in his fifth Speedway GP final of an impressive season, while Britain’s Robert Lambert found himself at the back.

Madsen rode the white line like a rail and nearly surged to the front on the back straight on lap two, only for Lindgren to cut

• Leon Madsen (white) just ahead of Freddie Lindgren

6 speedway star October 16, 2021 6 speedway star September 23, 2023

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