With three rounds remaining, Brady Kurtz and Bartosz Zmarzlik are tied at the top after a wild night of Speedway GP action
On a night of high drama in Poland, Australia’s Brady Kurtz managed to draw level in the overall World Speedway Championship standings with six-times winner Bartosz Zmarzlik, leaving the series’ outcome sitting on a knife’s edge.
The city of Lodz sits just 120km southwest of the Polish capital, Warsaw, and a massive crowd assembled to see the world’s best battle it out.
It’s very important to note that Poland was in the midst of a record run of high temperatures in the lead-up to the meeting, but the rains came just 12 hours before tapes up.
In anticipation of the wet weather, the track was covered with plastic sheeting, which kept the track dry and ready for race night.
However, the covering may have had an effect on the race surface, with some riders really struggling the get traction – including Kurtz and Zmarzlik.
As a sideline expert, I would suggest that the combination of heat and moisture caused the dirt to ‘sweat’ under the coverings and lose a lot of the binding that generates grip.
It was a tumultuous night for the Aussies, with Victoria’s Max Fricke again proving to be a thorn in the side of Kurtz, defeating the reigning world number two in heat eight and showing once again he rides his best when Kurtz is in the race.
While the Aussies were fighting among themselves, reigning champion Zmarzlik was finding the track an absolute nightmare, finishing third and a distant last in his first two rides.
It was clear that Kurtz had a very real chance to bridge the gap between himself and Zmarzlik, but he too was struggling, scoring just three points from his first two rides.
Then… things changed.
Kurtz won heat nine and it was almost due to a hand-of-god moment; runaway leader Andzejs Lebedevs’ bike stopped and allowed the Aussie to take the win and build momentum.
Zmarzlik picked up two points in a dramatic heat ten, which was marred by an horrific crash for Poland’s Dominic Kubera following a coming together with out-of-control countryman Kacper Woryna.
Kurtz was clearly on a mission having observed Zmarzlik below his best and he reeled off two successive wins including the ride of the night to beat Zmarzlik in heat 18.
With Kurtz advancing directly to the final (along with Poland’s Patrick Dudek) and Zmarzlik getting knocked out in the last-chance qualifier, the scene was set for Kurtz to ice the cake in the final.
However, England’s Robert Lambert did not read the script and continued his recent good form by taking a storming win ahead of Dudek, Kurtz and Denmark’s Michael Jepsen Jensen.
The scene is set for an epic showdown with just three rounds to go!
Brady Kurtz
“Back on the podium. We got better and better as the night went on and had a great chance for the win, but it wasn’t to be. The first-ever GP in Łódź was cool. Such a good stadium and track. Riga up next, and we’re in a great spot overall with three rounds to go! Thank you to my team, top-notch as always. Thanks to everyone for the support in the stadium and everyone watching from home.”
2026 FIM SPEEDWAY GP LODZ
| Pos | Rider | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | SF | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R. Lambert | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1st | 1st |
| 2 | P. Dudek | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 3 | B. Kurtz | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3rd | 3rd |
| 4 | M. J. Jensen | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1st | 4th |
| 5 | J. Kvěch | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2nd | — |
| 6 | B. Zmarzlik | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2nd | — |
| 7 | L. Madsen | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3rd | — |
| 8 | K. Woryna | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3rd | — |
| 9 | M. Fricke | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4th | — |
| 10 | J. Doyle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4th | — |
FIM SPEEDWAY GP STANDINGS
- Brady Kurtz 109
- Bartosz Zmarzlik 109
- Robert Lambert 101
- Michael Jepsen Jensen 80
