SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX | Kurtz Doubles Down

Aussie closes the gap to Zmarzlik as his rookie title bid gains momentum

Two weeks after proving that he could win a Speedway Grand Prix round, Brady Kurtz showed that it was not a fluke as he made it back-to-back wins by claiming the Virkvarn FIM Speedway GP of Sweden at Malilla on 5 July.

Kurtz went through the heats as top scorer on 13 (four wins and a third in a re-run heat where he had led at the first attempt). He was joined by another Australian, Jason Doyle on 12 (three wins, a second and a third) going direct to the final.

From the Last Chance Qualifiers, the winners were Bartosz Zmarzlik and Daniel Bewley, who had both scored 11 points from their heats.

Jack Holder (eight points in the heats from two wins, then two thirds and a last) was one of those to bow out at that stage following Zmarzlik and Jan Kvech home. Also out went Fredrik Lindgren, Robert Lambert, Andrejs Lebedevs and Kai Huckenbeck.

While it was Doyle’s best showing of the year, for Max Fricke it was the worst, failing to reproduce his recent good form as he scored only three points.

Kurtz was leading the final when Doyle fell with red lights stopping the race, but Kurtz produced another good start while behind him Zmarzlik had to work hard to get past Bewley for second place.

That meant that Kurtz only gained a two-point advantage from the round, cutting the margin to nine, but now there are only three rounds remaining for Kurtz to claw his way to becoming the first rider in the SGP’s 30-year history to win the world title in their debut season.

The remaining rounds are at Riga, Latvia (2 August), Wroclaw, Poland (30 August) and Vojens, Denmark (13 September).

Young gun impresses in SGP2 opener

Seventeen-year-old turns in a very creditable performance while Aussie women make their mark at FIM event in Croatia

AS ONE OF the youngest riders in the line-up, Mitchell McDiarmid scored in every heat in the opening round of the SGP2 competition staged at Malilla on 4 July.

He amassed nine points including one race win, then finished third in the Last Chance Qualifier for seventh place overall.

Defending champion Wiktor Przyjemski of Poland went through the meeting unbeaten.

Meanwhile Aussie women have made their mark in Croatia.

Australia was well represented there when the FIM hosted the two-day FIM Women’s Speedway Academy at Speedway Stadion Milenium in Donji Kraljevec.

On the following day the line-up in the second FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy event included one of Australia’s best-credentialled dirt track riders, Tayla Street.

Even with very little speedway experience, Street scored nine points from her four heats to be equal third best before being disqualified in the Last Chance Qualifier, leaving her sixth overall.

It was a German clean sweep of the rostrum places, with Hannah Grunwald dethroning last year’s winner, Celina Liebmann.

One of four juniors in the Youth Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy of Croatia was Adelaide teenager Ruby Chapman. She finished second in three of her heats to claim second place overall.

SGP standings after 7 of 10 rounds