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. 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.
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. 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.
Poland's speedway team was awarded the Team of the Year in Poland by Przegląd Sportowy in 2009 and 2010.
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).
Major world titles World Team Cup YearVenueStandings (Pts)RidersPts1961WrocławStadion Olimpijski 1. Poland (32)2. Sweden (31)3. England (21)4. Czechoslovakia (12) Marian Kaiser 10 Henryk Żyto 7 Florian Kapała 6 Mieczysław Połukard 5Stanisław Tkocz 41965KemptenKempten 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 71966WrocławStadion 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 81969RybnikRybnik 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 21996DiedenbergenRhein-Main Arena 1. Poland (27)2. Russia (22)3. Denmark (21)4. Germany (20)5. Sweden (14)6. Great Britain (12)7. Hungary (9)Tomasz Gollob 15Sławomir Drabik 12Piotr Protasiewicz 02005WrocławStadion Olimpijski 1. Poland (62)2. Sweden (34)3. Denmark (31)4. Great Britain (27)Tomasz Gollob 14Jarosław Hampel 13Piotr Protasiewicz 13Rune Holta 12Grzegorz Walasek 10 2007 LesznoAlfred Smoczyk Stadium 1. Poland (55)2. Denmark (52)3. Australia (29)4. Great Britain (15)Krzysztof Kasprzak 14Jarosław Hampel 13Tomasz Gollob 12Rune Holta 12Damian Baliński 4 2009 LesznoAlfred Smoczyk Stadium 1. Poland (44)2. Australia (43)3. Sweden (36) 4. Russia (35)Jarosław Hampel 18Krzysztof Kasprzak 10Adrian Miedziński 7Tomasz Gollob 6Piotr Protasiewicz 3 2010 VojensVojens Speedway Center 1. Poland (44)2. Denmark (39)3. Sweden (35) 4. Great Britain (33)Tomasz Gollob 12Jarosław Hampel 11Rune Holta 10 Janusz Kołodziej 6Adrian Miedziński 5 2011 Gorzów WielkopolskiEdward Jancarz Stadium 1. Poland (51)2. Australia (45)3. Sweden (30) 4. Denmark (29)Tomasz Gollob 17Jarosław Hampel 11Krzysztof Kasprzak 8Piotr Protasiewicz 8 Janusz Kołodziej 7 2013 PragueMarkéta Stadium 1. Poland (31)2. Denmark (40)3. Australia (33)4. Czech Republic (12)Jarosław Hampel 15Maciej Janowski 12Krzysztof Kasprzak 7Patryk Dudek 7 2016 ManchesterNational Speedway Stadium 1. Poland (39)2. Great Britain (32)3. Sweden (27)4. Australia (22)Bartosz Zmarzlik 11Patryk Dudek 10Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 10Krzysztof Kasprzak 8 2017 LesznoAlfred Smoczyk Stadium 1. Poland (50)2. Sweden (27)3. Russia (18)4. Great Britain (15)Maciej Janowski14Bartosz Zmarzlik 13Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 13Patryk Dudek 10 2023 WrocławStadion Olimpijski 1. Poland (33)2. Great Britain (31)3. Denmark (29)4. Australia (27)Bartosz Zmarzlik 11Dominik Kubera 9Maciej Janowski7Patryk Dudek 6Janusz Kołodziej 0
World Pairs Championship YearVenueStandings (Pts)RidersPts1971RybnikRybnik 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) 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. RiderCapsBajerski, Tomasz 3Baliński, Damian 2Baron, Piotr Bentke, Kazimierz 3Blaszak, Eugeniusz 5Buczkowski, Krzysztof 1Cegielski, Krzysztof 5Cieślak, Marek 29Dados, Robert Dobrucki, Rafał 4Dobrucki, Zdzisław Dołomisiewicz, Ryszard Drabik, Sławomir 13Dudek, Patryk Dzikowski, Grzegorz Fabiszewski, Ryszard Fajfer, Tomasz Fleigert, Dariusz 1Franczyszyn, Ryszard Friedek, Zygfryd Glücklich, Henryk 41Gollob, Jacek Gollob, Tomasz 52Gomólski, Jacek Hampel, Jarosław 24Holta, Rune Huszcza, Andrzej 45Jaguś, Wiesław Jancarz, Edward 76Jankowski, Roman 47Janowski, Maciej Jaworek, Maciej Jurczyński, Andrzej 24Kaiser, Marian 31Kapała, Florian Kasprzak, Krzysztof 13Kasprzak, Zenon Kepa, Marek 7Kołodziej, Janusz 8Kowalik, Mirosław 8Kubera, Dominik Krzyżaniak, Jacek Krzystyniak, Jan Kurmanski, Rafal 1Kowczala, Stefan 3Labedzki, Adam 3Malinowski, Jan Miedziński, Adrian 4Migoś, Edmund Mroz, Marek 1Mucha, Jan Nowak, Bogusław Okupski, Krzysztof Olkiewicz, Adam 1Olszak, Henryk Olszewski, Jarosław Patynek, Wieslaw 1Pawlicki Jr., Piotr Pawlicki, Przemysław Pieszczek, Krystian Plech, Zenon 76Pociejkewicz, Konstanty Podlecki, Zbigniew Pogorzelski, Andrzej Połukard, Mieczysław Proch, Bolesław 15Protasiewicz, Piotr 24Pyszny, Piotr 20Raba, Leonard 10Rembas, Jerzy 40Rempała, Jacek 8Rempała, Marcin 1Rogal, Bronislaw Rose, Marian Skupien, Eugeniusz Słaboń, Robert 11Śledź, Dariusz 7Smektała, Bartosz Stachyra, Janusz Świst, Piotr 18Szczakiel, Jerzy Tkocz, Andrzej 18Tkocz, Stanisław Teodorowicz, Tadeusz 5Trzeszkowski, Jerzy 24Ułamek, Sebastian 9Walasek, Grzegorz 15Waloszek, Paweł 74Woryna, Antoni 47Wyglenda, Andrzej Żabiałowicz, Wojciech Zabik, Jan 8Zmarzlik, Bartosz Żyto, Henryk 32
See also Speedway in Poland
References