Lambert crowned, Kurtz bronze | Gillman lands 2027 Speedway GP finale

Speedway News Round Up

September 28, 2026

Lambert wins Torun decider as Kurtz takes Speedway GP bronze

Robert Lambert has won the 2026 Speedway GP World Championship after beating Brady Kurtz and Bartosz Zmarzlik in a Torun final that brought all three title contenders together for the last race of the season.

Lambert finished on 162 points, two ahead of Zmarzlik and five clear of Kurtz. The Australian’s second place on the night secured bronze, adding to the silver he claimed in his debut GP season in 2025.

Max Fricke secured seventh in the championship and automatic qualification for 2027, while Jason Doyle completed his final scheduled appearance as a permanent GP rider. There was significant Australian news away from the racing, too, with Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway confirmed for the final two rounds of next year’s championship.

Lambert becomes Britain’s ninth individual Speedway World Champion and its first since Tai Woffinden claimed his third title in 2018. Zmarzlik’s run of four consecutive crowns ends with the Pole still level with Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson on six titles.

Lambert wins five of his six races

Zmarzlik landed the first blow in the evening meeting, beating Lambert in Heat Two. That proved Lambert’s only defeat: he won his remaining four qualifying heats, then the final.

His 2-3-3-3-3 scorecard produced 14 points from a possible 15 and direct passage to the decider. Patryk Dudek also advanced directly, his three heat wins giving him the edge over Zmarzlik after both finished on 12.

Zmarzlik therefore had to win the first Last Chance Qualifier, which he did ahead of Fredrik Lindgren, Leon Madsen and Fricke. Kurtz won the second ahead of Dan Bewley, Michael Jepsen Jensen and Doyle to complete a final featuring the three championship contenders and Dudek.

Kurtz recovers to keep his title chance alive

Kurtz’s route to the final was considerably less straightforward than Lambert’s. After winning Heat Four, the Australian finished last in Heat Eight and third behind Lambert and Doyle in Heat Nine.

That left him with four points after three rides. Victories over Zmarzlik in Heat 15 and Fricke in Heat 18 lifted him to 10, before a third successive win in his Last Chance Qualifier kept him in the title contest.

The championship arithmetic was unusually restrictive for the Australian. Following the afternoon Sprint, Zmarzlik held 144 points, Lambert 142 and Kurtz 139. With 20, 18, 16 and 14 awarded to the finalists, Kurtz needed to win with Dudek second, Lambert third and Zmarzlik fourth. That combination would have put Kurtz on 159 and both rivals on 158.

Instead, Lambert won ahead of Kurtz, Zmarzlik and Dudek. Kurtz’s second place kept Zmarzlik’s GP return to 16 points, leaving the Pole on 160 against Lambert’s 162. The Australian collected 18 to finish on 157.

Kurtz said backing up his debut campaign had been a priority. He acknowledged Lambert’s late-season strength and identified his own performances in finals as an area to improve over the winter.

Brady Kurtz

“I’m really happy to say I have two medals in two years and congratulations to Robert. He definitely deserved the gold.”

Six consecutive top-two finishes turn Lambert’s season

Lambert’s championship was built on a sustained turnaround. After four rounds he had 42 points, trailing Kurtz’s 65 by 23 and Zmarzlik’s 62 by 20.

He then finished second at Wroclaw and Malilla, won in Lodz, finished second in Riga and won the final two rounds at Vojens and Torun. Those six GP results alone yielded 114 of the available 120 championship points.

Including the Sprint points earned over the same period, Lambert added 120 points to Zmarzlik’s 98 and Kurtz’s 92. The Briton gained 28 on Kurtz and 22 on Zmarzlik across the final six rounds.

The deciding victory came at the track where Lambert races his Polish league speedway and in the city where he lives. Despite that familiarity, his previous Torun GPs had never yielded more than 11 championship points.

Zmarzlik nevertheless extended his run of top-two championship finishes to nine consecutive seasons, collecting his tenth World Championship medal.

Sprint briefly puts Zmarzlik back in front

The one-point advantage Lambert carried from his Vojens victory disappeared before the evening racing began.

Dominik Kubera won the Sprint for four championship points, with Zmarzlik taking three for second. Wild card Maksymilian Pawelczak scored two and Bewley one.

Lambert was eliminated by Bewley in Q1 despite recording the session’s second-fastest time, while Kurtz lost his opening pairing to Fricke. Neither title contender reached the Sprint, leaving Zmarzlik two ahead of Lambert and five ahead of Kurtz before the GP.

Torun Speedway GP Sprint results

Fricke secures his 2027 place

Fricke finished ninth at Torun to secure a career-best seventh in the World Championship on 97 points, two ahead of Kacper Woryna.

The Australian won the opening heat and accumulated seven points across his five rides before finishing fourth in the first Last Chance Qualifier. His eight championship points were enough to secure the final automatic qualification position.

Dudek made the largest gain among the riders fighting for those places. Fourth at Torun lifted him from eighth to fifth in the championship on 103 points, ahead of Madsen on 100. Jepsen Jensen retained fourth on 111.

Woryna dropped to eighth but already held a 2027 place through the SGP Challenge. The Challenge qualifiers also include Australia’s Rohan Tungate, Sweden’s Kim Nilsson and Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs.

Kurtz, Fricke and Tungate therefore already have places secured for Australia’s return to the GP calendar. The Speedway European Championship winner and the SGP Commission’s permanent wild-card selections will complete the field.

Doyle steps back from GP, with a return still possible

Doyle finished tenth at Torun and ninth in the championship on 73 points. The meeting took him to 115 GP appearances, matching Leigh Adams in joint tenth on the series’ all-time list.

The 2017 World Champion has elected to step away from the permanent GP field for 2027 while continuing his league career. He remains open to wild-card appearances and a future series return.

Jason Doyle

“If I had the opportunity to have any wild cards, I would take them with both hands.”

Doyle said repeatedly fighting for Last Chance Qualifier places had reduced his enjoyment of GP racing. He still believes he can compete with the leading riders and has also raised the possibility of pursuing a Speedway European Championship opportunity.

He underlined his continuing league form with 10 points in Belle Vue’s 52-38 win at Ipswich in the British Premiership semi-final first leg on September 21.

Jack Holder remained absent from the GP field following further treatment after his June 20 Wroclaw crash. Replacement Anders Thomsen finished 13th at Torun, completing his ninth appearance in the ten-round series. Holder ends the championship 12th on 55 points.

Torun Speedway GP results

Points below are championship points awarded for the GP. Sprint points are listed separately above.

Official Torun Speedway GP results

Final 2026 Speedway GP championship standings

All championship points scorers, including Sprint points.

Official Speedway GP championship standings

Gillman to host 2027 Speedway GP double-header

Speedway GP will return to Australia for the first time since 2017, with Gillman Speedway in Adelaide hosting rounds ten and eleven on October 29-30, 2027.

The two meetings will conclude an eleven-round championship, bringing the title run-in back to Australia a decade after Doyle clinched his crown in Melbourne.

It will also be the first season to feature two Speedway GPs outside Europe. Gillman adds a new venue to Australia’s GP history, which previously comprised Sydney in 2002 and Melbourne from 2015 to 2017.

Kurtz welcomed the chance to contest the closing rounds at home and praised Gillman’s racing surface. With two medals from two GP seasons, he now has the prospect of taking another title challenge into an Australian finale.

The calendar opens at Donji Kraljevec on May 1, followed by Warsaw on May 15. Both venues return to the series. Ipswich makes its GP debut on August 14, while the June 12 venue remains to be confirmed.

Ticket information for Gillman and the other 2027 events will be announced in due course.

2027 FIM Speedway GP calendar

SGP2 and Speedway of Nations dates confirmed

The three-round SGP2 championship will visit Riga on July 16, Ipswich on August 13 and Vojens on September 10. Each Under-21 round takes place the day before the corresponding GP.

Vastervik in Sweden will host SON2 on August 27 and the Speedway of Nations Final on August 28, with Sweden seeded into the senior final as host nation. The two senior semi-final dates and venues, along with the SGP3 and SGP4 youth schedules, are still to be announced.

Full 2027 FIM Speedway calendar announcement

European title fight heads to Pardubice

The Speedway European Championship concludes at Pardubice on Friday, October 2, with four riders covered by one point and a fifth only four from the lead.

Madsen and Woryna share top spot on 34 points, ahead of Jepsen Jensen and Maciej Janowski on 33. Dudek remains in contention on 30.

Madsen’s sixth place in the GP championship removes the qualification pressure he had hoped to settle at Torun. Four of those five SEC contenders now already have GP places for 2027; Janowski is the exception.

If the European champion has already qualified through the GP top seven or the Challenge, the SGP Commission will award four permanent wild cards rather than three.

Speedway European Championship leading standings

Leading scores before the October 2 finale; equal points are shown without imposing a countback order. Madsen’s qualification and European title outlook.

Torun takes 20-point lead into Polish league decider

Lambert and Kurtz will meet again in the Polish league final, with Torun carrying a 55-35 advantage into the return leg at Wroclaw on October 4.

The September 20 opener turned decisively in the final three heats. Torun took successive 5-1s in Heats 13, 14 and 15, stretching what had been an eight-point lead after Heat 12 to 20.

Mikkel Michelsen led Torun with 14 points, Lambert added 11 plus two bonuses, and Emil Sayfutdinov scored 11 plus one. Kurtz finished on six plus two bonuses for Wroclaw, while Bewley and Artem Laguta each scored 10.

In the bronze-medal tie, Leszno edged Lublin 46-44. Australia’s Ben Cook contributed 10 plus two bonuses for Leszno, behind Nazar Parnitskyi’s 12 plus one. Zmarzlik scored a paid maximum of 14 plus one for Lublin. The return takes place in Lublin on October 3.

PGE Ekstraliga first-leg results – September 20

Riss claims third Long Track world title

Erik Riss secured his third FIM Long Track World Championship at Marmande on September 26, ten years after his previous crown.

The German arrived with a ten-point advantage after winning the opening two rounds. Three wins and a second from his first four heats put him close to the title, before a mechanical problem while leading his fifth ride forced him into the additional qualifying races.

Riss responded by winning Heat 21, securing his Grand Final place and the championship. His latest title joins those won in 2014 and 2016.

Chris Harris won the Marmande Grand Final and took championship bronze. Dave Meijerink finished second on the night to secure a career-best silver.

Netherlands regains Long Track of Nations crown

The previous weekend’s Long Track of Nations at Roden also produced a decisive mechanical setback, this time for Great Britain.

The defending champions topped the qualifying heats with 65 points, ahead of the Netherlands on 59, but Harris retired from the final while challenging Dutch leader Meijerink.

Meijerink won, with Romano Hummel fourth and Mika Meijer fifth, giving the Netherlands an 8-7 final victory over Britain. William Kruit also contributed to the Dutch team’s fourth title and first since 2023.

France claimed bronze with Anthony Chauffour, Noah Urda and Tino Bouin.

2027 Ice Speedway calendar confirmed

The FIM Ice Speedway World Championship will feature a January qualifier followed by four finals across two weekends in Germany and the Netherlands.

Eight riders will qualify at Malilla to join the previous season’s top five, two permanent wild cards and one local wild card. The Ice Speedway of Nations will take place at Ornskoldsvik in February.

2027 FIM Ice Speedway dates

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