Two of world speedway’s brightest young talents complete the 2015 LOTTO Warsaw FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland line-up.
Bartosz Zmarzlik and Piotr Pawlicki have been called up as track reserves as speedway makes its debut in the Polish capital in front of a huge crowd at the stunning Stadion Narodowy on April 18.
The opening round of this season’s FIM Speedway World Championship features the return of 2010 world champion and Poland’s greatest ever rider Tomasz Gollob as wild card. He is joined by world No.2 Krzysztof Kasprzak, Polish national team captain Jaroslaw Hampel and SGP newcomer Maciej Janowski.
But they won’t be the only home heroes in the pits for the biggest SGP round ever staged in Poland and one of the most hotly-anticipated events in the series’ history.
First track reserve Zmarzlik, who dons the No.17 race jacket, became the youngest SGP winner in history when he won the 2014 Gorzow FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland on August 30 at 19 years and 140 days old.
He beat his Polish club team mates Matej Zagar and Kasprzak to the gold on his home town track, before joining forces with them to inspire Gorzow to Polish Ekstraliga championship gold.
Pawlicki, who rides at No.18, also had a stunning 2014. He was crowned FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion after winning the three-round series to better the silver medal he achieved in 2013.
He lines up for Leszno in the Polish Ekstraliga and played a key role in their charge to last season’s play-off final, which they lost to Gorzow. He also enjoyed a strong spell with Wolverhampton in the British Elite League.
The pair will be on hand to cover for any of the main 16 riders in the line-up if they are forced to miss a race through injury, illness, a starting offence or other reasons.
Andrzej Witkowski, president of the PZM, said: “Bartosz and Piotr are young, very talented riders who have a great opportunity to line up in front of the many fans at Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw.
“Piotr Pawlicki is the current FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion and Bartosz Zmarzlik won the SGP in Gorzow last year.
“These successes definitely make them worthy of reserve roles in Warsaw. I hope they will learn from the experience and follow in the footsteps of the master Tomasz Gollob.”
The referee for the Stadion Narodowy event is Jim Lawrence from Great Britain.
