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)

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.

History

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

World Team Cup

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1961 Poland
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1. Poland Poland (32)
2. Sweden Sweden (31)
3. England England (21)
4. Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia (12)
Marian Kaiser10
Henryk Żyto7
Florian Kapała6
Mieczysław Połukard5
Stanisław Tkocz4
1965 West Germany
Kempten
Kempten Speedway
1. Poland Poland (38)
2. Sweden Sweden (34)
3. United Kingdom Great Britain (18)
4. Soviet Union Soviet Union (7)
Andrzej Pogorzelski11
Andrzej Wyglenda11
Antoni Woryna9
Zbigniew Podlecki7
1966 Poland
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1. Poland Poland (40)
2. Soviet Union Soviet Union (26)
3. Sweden Sweden (22)
4. United Kingdom Great Britain (8)
Andrzej Wyglenda11
Antoni Woryna10
Marian Rose10
Andrzej Pogorzelski8
1969 Poland
Rybnik
Rybnik Municipal Stadium
1. Poland Poland (31)
2. United Kingdom Great Britain (23)
3. Soviet Union Soviet Union (23)
4. Sweden Sweden (12)
Andrzej Wyglenda11
Edward Jancarz11
Stanisław Tkoc4
Henryk Glücklich3
Andrzej Pogorzelski2
1996 Germany
Diedenbergen
Speedway Diedenbergen
1. Poland Poland (27)
2. Russia Russia (22)
3. Denmark Denmark (21)
4. Germany Germany (20)
5. Sweden Sweden (14)
6. United Kingdom Great Britain (12)
7. Hungary Hungary (9)
Tomasz Gollob15
Sławomir Drabik12
Piotr Protasiewicz0
2005 Poland
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1. Poland Poland (62)
2. Sweden Sweden (34)
3. Denmark Denmark (31)
4. United Kingdom Great Britain (27)
Tomasz Gollob14
Jarosław Hampel13
Piotr Protasiewicz13
Rune Holta12
Grzegorz Walasek10
2007 Poland
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1. Poland Poland (55)
2. Denmark Denmark (52)
3. Australia Australia (29)
4. United Kingdom Great Britain (15)
Krzysztof Kasprzak14
Jarosław Hampel13
Tomasz Gollob12
Rune Holta12
Damian Baliński4
2009 Poland
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1. Poland Poland (44)
2.Australia Australia (43)
3. Sweden Sweden (36)
4. Russia Russia (35)
Jarosław Hampel18
Krzysztof Kasprzak10
Adrian Miedziński7
Tomasz Gollob6
Piotr Protasiewicz3
2010 Denmark
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1. Poland Poland (44)
2.Denmark Denmark (39)
3. Sweden Sweden (35)
4. United Kingdom Great Britain (33)
Tomasz Gollob12
Jarosław Hampel11
Rune Holta10
Janusz Kołodziej6
Adrian Miedziński5
2011 Poland
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Edward Jancarz Stadium
1. Poland Poland (51)
2. Australia Australia (45)
3. Sweden Sweden (30)
4. Denmark Denmark (29)
Tomasz Gollob17
Jarosław Hampel11
Krzysztof Kasprzak8
Piotr Protasiewicz8
Janusz Kołodziej7
2013 Czech Republic
Prague
Markéta Stadium
1. Poland Poland (31)
2. Denmark Denmark (40)
3. Australia Australia (33)
4. Czech Republic Czech Republic (12)
Jarosław Hampel15
Maciej Janowski12
Krzysztof Kasprzak7
Patryk Dudek7
2016 England
Manchester
National Speedway Stadium
1. Poland Poland (39)
2. United Kingdom Great Britain (32)
3. Sweden Sweden (27)
4. Australia Australia (22)
Bartosz Zmarzlik11
Patryk Dudek10
Piotr Pawlicki Jr.10
Krzysztof Kasprzak8
2017 Poland
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1. Poland Poland (50)
2. Sweden Sweden (27)
3. Russia Russia (18)
4. United Kingdom Great Britain (15)
Maciej Janowski14
Bartosz Zmarzlik13
Piotr Pawlicki Jr.13
Patryk Dudek10
2023 Poland
Wrocław
Stadion Olimpijski
1. Poland Poland (33)
2. United Kingdom Great Britain (31)
3. Denmark Denmark (29)
4. Australia Australia (27)
Bartosz Zmarzlik11
Dominik Kubera9
Maciej Janowski7
Patryk Dudek6
Janusz Kołodziej0

World Pairs Championship

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1971 Poland
Rybnik
Rybnik Municipal Stadium
1. Poland Poland (30)
2. New Zealand New Zealand (25)
3. Sweden Sweden (22)
4. Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia (17)
5. Scotland Scotland (16)
6. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (10)
7. Austria Austria (6)
Andrzej Wyglenda15
Jerzy Szczakiel15

International caps (as of 2022)

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, Tomasz3
Baliński, Damian2
Baron, Piotr
Bentke, Kazimierz3
Blaszak, Eugeniusz5
Buczkowski, Krzysztof1
Krzysztof Cegielski5
Cieślak, Marek29
Dados, Robert
Dobrucki, Rafał4
Dobrucki, Zdzisław
Dołomisiewicz, Ryszard
Drabik, Sławomir13
Dudek, Patryk
Dzikowski, Grzegorz
Fabiszewski, Ryszard
Fajfer, Tomasz
Fleigert, Dariusz1
Franczyszyn, Ryszard
Friedek, Zygfryd
Glücklich, Henryk41
Gollob, Jacek
Gollob, Tomasz52
Gomólski, Jacek
Hampel, Jarosław24
Holta, Rune
Huszcza, Andrzej45
Jaguś, Wiesław
Jancarz, Edward76
Jankowski, Roman47
Janowski, Maciej
Jaworek, Maciej
Jurczyński, Andrzej24
Kaiser, Marian31
Kapała, Florian
Kasprzak, Krzysztof13
Kasprzak, Zenon
Kepa, Marek7
Kołodziej, Janusz8
Kowalik, Mirosław8
Kubera, Dominik
Krzyżaniak, Jacek
Krzystyniak, Jan
Kurmanski, Rafal1
Kowczala, Stefan3
Labedski, Adam3
Malinowski, Jan
Miedziński, Adrian4
Migoś, Edmund
Mroz, Marek1
Mucha, Jan
Nowak, Bogusław
Okupski, Krzysztof
Olkiewicz, Adam1
Olszak, Henryk
Olszewski, Jarosław
Patynek, Wieslaw1
Pawlicki Jr., Piotr
Pawlicki, Przemysław
Pieszczek, Krystian
Plech, Zenon76
Pociejkewicz, Konstanty
Podlecki, Zbigniew
Pogorzelski, Andrzej
Połukard, Mieczysław
Proch, Bolesław15
Protasiewicz, Piotr24
Pyszny, Piotr20
Raba, Leonard 10
Rembas, Jerzy40
Rempała, Jacek8
Rempała, Marcin1
Rogal, Bronislaw
Rose, Marian
Skupien, Eugeniusz
Słaboń, Robert11
Śledź, Dariusz 7
Smektała, Bartosz
Stachyra, Janusz
Świst, Piotr18
Szczakiel, Jerzy
Tkocz, Andrzej18
Tkocz, Stanisław
Teodorowicz, Tadeusz5
Trzeszkowski, Jerzy24
Ułamek, Sebastian9
Walasek, Grzegorz15
Waloszek, Paweł74
Woryna, Antoni47
Wyglenda, Andrzej
Żabiałowicz, Wojciech
Zabik, Jan8
Zmarzlik, Bartosz
Żyto, Henryk32

See also

References

  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.
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