Poland national speedway team

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The Poland national speedway team is the national motorcycle speedway team of Poland and is controlled by the Polish Motor Union (PZM). They are one of the most successful speedway nations of all time.

Poland
National speedway team with the President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński
Nickname(s)Biało-czerwoni
("The white and reds")
Białe Orły
("The White Eagles")
AssociationPolish Motor Union
Polski Związek Motorowy
FIM codePZM
Nation colourWhite and Red
SWC Wins14
(1961, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1996, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2023)

History

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The Polish speedway team participated in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup, being seeded through to the final of the 1960 Speedway World Team Cup.[1] The team were a major force in the opening decade of the tournament, winning the World Team Cup in 1961, 1965, 1966 and 1969, with only the Swedish team winning more World Cups.[2]

In the 1970s, the team continued to be one of the major forces in Eastern Europe and qualified for the World Team Cup final every year from 1970 to 1979. Andrzej Wyglenda and Jerzy Szczakiel also won the 1971 Speedway World Pairs Championship.[3] However, during the 1980s the team began to struggle against the best nations and only managed two finals in 1980 and 1984.

It was not until the mid-1990s and the arrival of Tomasz Gollob that Poland began to challenge the best nations. The team won the silver medal at the 1994 Speedway World Team Cup (their first final for 10 years). They then won the World Team Cup for the sixth time in 1996 (27 years after their last win).

In 2001, the Speedway World Team Cup was rebranded the Speedway World Cup and Poland began to experience a boom in terms of spectator numbers, which led to an influx of new riders. The team reached the World Cup final every year from 2001 to 2017 (except for 2006 and 2012) and dominated world speedway by winning the title eight times, in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017.[4]

Poland's speedway team was awarded the Team of the Year in Poland by Przegląd Sportowy in 2009 and 2010.[5]

Although the team failed to win the Speedway of Nations from 2018 to 2022, they did win the World Cup when it returned in 2023. The World Cup win was their 14th World Team Championship (one behind Denmark in the all time standings).[6]

Major world titles

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World Team Cup

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1961  
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1.   Poland (32)
2.   Sweden (31)
3.   England (21)
4.   Czechoslovakia (12)
Marian Kaiser 10
Henryk Żyto 7
Florian Kapała 6
Mieczysław Połukard 5
Stanisław Tkocz 4
1965  
Kempten
Kempten Speedway
1.   Poland (38)
2.   Sweden (34)
3.   Great Britain (18)
4.   Soviet Union (7)
Andrzej Pogorzelski 11
Andrzej Wyglenda 11
Antoni Woryna 9
Zbigniew Podlecki 7
1966  
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1.   Poland (40)
2.   Soviet Union (26)
3.   Sweden (22)
4.   Great Britain (8)
Andrzej Wyglenda 11
Antoni Woryna 10
Marian Rose 10
Andrzej Pogorzelski 8
1969  
Rybnik
Rybnik Municipal Stadium
1.   Poland (31)
2.   Great Britain (23)
3.   Soviet Union (23)
4.   Sweden (12)
Andrzej Wyglenda 11
Edward Jancarz 11
Stanisław Tkoc 4
Henryk Glücklich 3
Andrzej Pogorzelski 2
1996  
Diedenbergen
Speedway Diedenbergen
1.   Poland (27)
2.   Russia (22)
3.   Denmark (21)
4.   Germany (20)
5.   Sweden (14)
6.   Great Britain (12)
7.   Hungary (9)
Tomasz Gollob 15
Sławomir Drabik 12
Piotr Protasiewicz 0
2005  
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1.   Poland (62)
2.   Sweden (34)
3.   Denmark (31)
4.   Great Britain (27)
Tomasz Gollob 14
Jarosław Hampel 13
Piotr Protasiewicz 13
Rune Holta 12
Grzegorz Walasek 10
2007  
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1.   Poland (55)
2.   Denmark (52)
3.   Australia (29)
4.   Great Britain (15)
Krzysztof Kasprzak 14
Jarosław Hampel 13
Tomasz Gollob 12
Rune Holta 12
Damian Baliński 4
2009  
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1.   Poland (44)
2.  Australia (43)
3.   Sweden (36)
4.   Russia (35)
Jarosław Hampel 18
Krzysztof Kasprzak 10
Adrian Miedziński 7
Tomasz Gollob 6
Piotr Protasiewicz 3
2010  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   Poland (44)
2.  Denmark (39)
3.   Sweden (35)
4.   Great Britain (33)
Tomasz Gollob 12
Jarosław Hampel 11
Rune Holta 10
Janusz Kołodziej 6
Adrian Miedziński 5
2011  
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Edward Jancarz Stadium
1.   Poland (51)
2.   Australia (45)
3.   Sweden (30)
4.   Denmark (29)
Tomasz Gollob 17
Jarosław Hampel 11
Krzysztof Kasprzak 8
Piotr Protasiewicz 8
Janusz Kołodziej 7
2013  
Prague
Markéta Stadium
1.   Poland (31)
2.   Denmark (40)
3.   Australia (33)
4.   Czech Republic (12)
Jarosław Hampel 15
Maciej Janowski 12
Krzysztof Kasprzak 7
Patryk Dudek 7
2016  
Manchester
National Speedway Stadium
1.   Poland (39)
2.   Great Britain (32)
3.   Sweden (27)
4.   Australia (22)
Bartosz Zmarzlik 11
Patryk Dudek 10
Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 10
Krzysztof Kasprzak 8
2017  
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1.   Poland (50)
2.   Sweden (27)
3.   Russia (18)
4.   Great Britain (15)
Maciej Janowski 14
Bartosz Zmarzlik 13
Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 13
Patryk Dudek 10
2023  
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1.   Poland (33)
2.   Great Britain (31)
3.   Denmark (29)
4.   Australia (27)
Bartosz Zmarzlik 11
Dominik Kubera 9
Maciej Janowski 7
Patryk Dudek 6
Janusz Kołodziej 0

World Pairs Championship

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1971  
Rybnik
Rybnik Municipal Stadium
1.   Poland (30)
2.   New Zealand (25)
3.   Sweden (22)
4.   Czechoslovakia (17)
5.   Scotland (16)
6.   Yugoslavia (10)
7.   Austria (6)
Andrzej Wyglenda 15
Jerzy Szczakiel 15

International caps (as of 2022)

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Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.[7]

Rider Caps
Bajerski, Tomasz 3
Baliński, Damian 2
Baron, Piotr
Bentke, Kazimierz 3
Blaszak, Eugeniusz 5
Buczkowski, Krzysztof 1
Cegielski, Krzysztof 5
Cieślak, Marek 29
Dados, Robert
Dobrucki, Rafał 4
Dobrucki, Zdzisław
Dołomisiewicz, Ryszard
Drabik, Sławomir 13
Dudek, Patryk
Dzikowski, Grzegorz
Fabiszewski, Ryszard
Fajfer, Tomasz
Fleigert, Dariusz 1
Franczyszyn, Ryszard
Friedek, Zygfryd
Glücklich, Henryk 41
Gollob, Jacek
Gollob, Tomasz 52
Gomólski, Jacek
Hampel, Jarosław 24
Holta, Rune
Huszcza, Andrzej 45
Jaguś, Wiesław
Jancarz, Edward 76
Jankowski, Roman 47
Janowski, Maciej
Jaworek, Maciej
Jurczyński, Andrzej 24
Kaiser, Marian 31
Kapała, Florian
Kasprzak, Krzysztof 13
Kasprzak, Zenon
Kepa, Marek 7
Kołodziej, Janusz 8
Kowalik, Mirosław 8
Kubera, Dominik
Krzyżaniak, Jacek
Krzystyniak, Jan
Kurmanski, Rafal 1
Kowczala, Stefan 3
Labedzki, Adam 3
Malinowski, Jan
Miedziński, Adrian 4
Migoś, Edmund
Mroz, Marek 1
Mucha, Jan
Nowak, Bogusław
Okupski, Krzysztof
Olkiewicz, Adam 1
Olszak, Henryk
Olszewski, Jarosław
Patynek, Wieslaw 1
Pawlicki Jr., Piotr
Pawlicki, Przemysław
Pieszczek, Krystian
Plech, Zenon 76
Pociejkewicz, Konstanty
Podlecki, Zbigniew
Pogorzelski, Andrzej
Połukard, Mieczysław
Proch, Bolesław 15
Protasiewicz, Piotr 24
Pyszny, Piotr 20
Raba, Leonard 10
Rembas, Jerzy 40
Rempała, Jacek 8
Rempała, Marcin 1
Rogal, Bronislaw
Rose, Marian
Skupien, Eugeniusz
Słaboń, Robert 11
Śledź, Dariusz 7
Smektała, Bartosz
Stachyra, Janusz
Świst, Piotr 18
Szczakiel, Jerzy
Tkocz, Andrzej 18
Tkocz, Stanisław
Teodorowicz, Tadeusz 5
Trzeszkowski, Jerzy 24
Ułamek, Sebastian 9
Walasek, Grzegorz 15
Waloszek, Paweł 74
Woryna, Antoni 47
Wyglenda, Andrzej
Żabiałowicz, Wojciech
Zabik, Jan 8
Zmarzlik, Bartosz
Żyto, Henryk 32

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 134. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ^ "WORLD TEAM CUP". International Speedway. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Żużlowcy Drużyną Roku, Wierietielny najlepszym trenerem" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 8 January 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  6. ^ "POLAND WIN SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP AHEAD OF GREAT BRITAIN AS MACIEJ JANOWSKI BEATS ROBERT LAMBERT IN DECISIVE HEAT 20". Eurosport. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  7. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 6 October 2023.