Kurtz grabs Speedway GP lead as Lambert breaks two-year drought
Moto Arena Lodz’s biggest speedway weekend to date delivered major changes at the top of both the FIM Speedway Grand Prix and SGP2 standings.
Saturday’s Speedway GP qualifying session was cancelled as heavy rain and thunderstorms threatened the Polish venue. Track covers were installed to protect the racing surface, with starting positions determined by an FIM ballot rather than the usual qualifying times.
The precaution worked, with racing going ahead as scheduled in front of 9,900 spectators for the first Speedway GP staged at Moto Arena Lodz.
Lambert ends two-year Speedway GP drought
Robert Lambert emerged from the changing track conditions to score his second Speedway GP victory and his first since winning at Vojens in September 2024.
The British rider was not entirely happy with his set-up late in the heats, but changes made before the Last Chance Qualifier transformed his night. Lambert won LCQ2 to reach the decider and then defeated Patryk Dudek, Kurtz and Michael Jepsen Jensen in the final.
“It has been a long time coming,” Lambert said after collecting the maximum 20 championship points.
“The win feels like the first win. It has been such a long time since the one in Vojens.
“I am super happy with how the GP went. Getting five wins and missing out on the final was a tough one last time in Malilla. Getting the win was a great feeling. I can’t ask for much more.
“My fifth heat wasn’t the best. At that point, you want to be spot-on with the set-up and have things working. That wasn’t really the case, but we made a few changes for the LCQ and that paid off.”
Dudek produced his strongest result since returning to the championship this year, finishing second and earning 18 points. The result propelled the European champion from ninth to fifth in the standings.
Kurtz takes the Golden Race Jacket
Kurtz may have missed the top step, but third place proved enough for the Australian to take possession of the Golden Race Jacket.
The result lifted Kurtz to 109 points, level with reigning world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik. Both riders have won one Grand Prix this season, but Kurtz is ranked ahead of him courtesy of his runner-up finishes in Prague and the third round in Manchester.
Lambert’s victory moved him to 101 points, leaving just eight points covering the leading three riders with three rounds remaining.
Zmarzlik’s night ended in LCQ1, where he finished behind Jepsen Jensen. It was the first time the Pole had missed an SGP final since Warsaw in May 2025 and brought his run of 14 consecutive final appearances to an end.
Kurtz raced for local club Orzel Lodz between 2020 and 2022, although he said the Grand Prix surface differed considerably from the track he encountered during league competition.
“I don’t think it was the same track that they have in the league, but that’s the GPs,” Kurtz said.
“Every time you come to any track for a GP, it is always different to the league. You kind of have to reset and figure it out on the day.
“As the meeting went on, I got better and better, and that’s always a strong point for me.”
Kurtz remains focused on consistently reaching finals rather than the significance of carrying the championship leader’s jacket.
“I’m not really too worried about having the gold jacket,” he said.
“I think the important thing is to stay consistent, keep making finals and keep getting the points. The important thing is having the Golden Race Jacket after the final round in Torun.
“I am happy with a third. That’s more good points on the board and that has been the goal at every round. I obviously would have liked to win, but congratulations to Rob. He has definitely deserved this.”
Fricke and Doyle complete Australian challenge
Max Fricke finished ninth in Lodz and added eight championship points to his tally. He now sits eighth in the standings on 62 points.
Jason Doyle was classified 10th with seven points and holds 11th in the championship on 49, level with Andzejs Lebedevs.
Polish rookie Kacper Woryna, who had already secured a place in the 2027 Speedway GP series through the recent SGP Challenge, finished eighth in Lodz.
His nine-point return moved him to 64 points and seventh in the championship, one point ahead of Fricke.
Michael Jepsen Jensen remains fourth overall on 80 points, while Dudek’s runner-up result moved him into fifth on 69.
2026 FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Lodz results
1. Robert Lambert – 20 points
2. Patryk Dudek – 18
3. Brady Kurtz – 16
4. Michael Jepsen Jensen – 14
5. Jan Kvech – 12
6. Bartosz Zmarzlik – 11
7. Leon Madsen – 10
8. Kacper Woryna – 9
9. Max Fricke – 8
10. Jason Doyle – 7
11. Piotr Pawlicki – 6
12. Andzejs Lebedevs – 5
13. Anders Thomsen – 4
14. Dominik Kubera – 3
15. Kai Huckenbeck – 2
16. Nazar Parnitskyi – 1
17. Marcin Nowak – 0
18. Szymon Szlauderbach – 0
Full results: 2026 FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Lodz
2026 Speedway GP standings after Lodz
1. Brady Kurtz – 109 points
2. Bartosz Zmarzlik – 109
3. Robert Lambert – 101
4. Michael Jepsen Jensen – 80
5. Patryk Dudek – 69
6. Leon Madsen – 65
7. Kacper Woryna – 64
8. Max Fricke – 62
9. Jack Holder – 55
10. Anders Thomsen – 54
11. Jason Doyle – 49
12. Andzejs Lebedevs – 49
Andersen survives dramatic SGP2 final
Friday night’s SGP2 meeting delivered an even more chaotic conclusion in front of 6,630 spectators.
Denmark’s Mikkel Andersen ultimately won the round, but only after the final required two restarts and eliminated three of the four riders from contention.
Australian Beau Bailey fell at the first turn during the opening attempt and collected Nicolai Heiselberg. Heiselberg was ruled unfit to contest the restart and was classified third, with Bailey placed fourth.
Home rider Maksymilian Pawelczak had been the dominant competitor throughout the preliminary races, scoring a 15-point maximum from his five heats.
But the 16-year-old crashed entering turn four during the second attempt at running the final, handing Andersen the victory.
Andersen’s win represented a substantial recovery after two third places in his opening heats. A switch to his spare motorcycle improved his pace and allowed him to work his way into the final.
“This was definitely a hard-working win,” Andersen said.
“In the end, you just have to collect the points for the championship. I didn’t expect to be in the final after the first two heats, and I still can’t believe it in some ways.
“I took the wrong bike in the first race and finished third, and I tried it again in the second one. That was a miss, and I was third again. I had to take the spare bike and that worked straight away.
“We worked really hard in the pits. After the first two heats, we were not satisfied, but we got together and made it through in the end.”
Combined with second place at the opening round in Malilla, the Lodz victory moved Andersen to 38 championship points.
He now leads Pawelczak by 10 points ahead of the final round at Vojens on September 11.
Andersen needs 11 championship points in Denmark to guarantee the title. Success would make him Denmark’s first FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion since Michael Jepsen Jensen in 2012.
Bailey remains in SGP2 medal contention
Despite the disappointment of the final, Bailey collected 14 championship points and remains firmly in contention for an SGP2 medal.
The Australian has 23 points, placing him one behind third-ranked Villads Nagel and level with William Drejer and American Slater Lightcap.
“Anything can happen in Vojens,” Bailey said.
“I’ll just keep doing what I have been doing lately and hopefully get on to the podium there.
“I knew I didn’t make the start in the final in Lodz. It was a bit stressful because the start is very important. I hadn’t been making great starts throughout the night. It had really been pulling me down a bit.
“In the final, I went to cut back under Maks, but I didn’t have any power, so I couldn’t turn the bike.”
Fellow Australian Mitchell McDiarmid finished 10th in Lodz and collected seven points.
Nagel, who races for Orzel Lodz and had hoped his local experience would provide an advantage, finished ninth with eight points. The Dane nevertheless retains third in the championship on 24 points.
The title contest had already been reshaped before racing began when 2024 SGP2 champion and Malilla winner Wiktor Przyjemski withdrew due to injuries sustained in the Polish Under-21 Championship Final.
2026 FIM SGP2 of Poland – Lodz results
1. Mikkel Andersen – 20 points
2. Maksymilian Pawelczak – 18
3. Nicolai Heiselberg – 16
4. Beau Bailey – 14
5. Slater Lightcap – 12
6. William Cairns – 11
7. Adam Bubba Bednar – 10
8. William Drejer – 9
9. Villads Nagel – 8
10. Mitchell McDiarmid – 7
11. Kevin Malkiewicz – 6
12. Rasmus Karlsson – 5
13. Antoni Mencel – 4
14. Janek Konzack – 3
15. Kacper Halkiewicz – 2
16. Antoni Kawczynski – 1
17. Sven Cerjak – 0
18. Radoslaw Kowalski – 0
2026 SGP2 standings after Round Two
1. Mikkel Andersen – 38 points
2. Maksymilian Pawelczak – 28
3. Villads Nagel – 24
4. Beau Bailey – 23
5. William Drejer – 23
6. Slater Lightcap – 23
7. Nicolai Heiselberg – 22
Speedway GP heads to Riga
The senior Speedway GP championship resumes at the revamped Bikernieki circuit in Riga on August 8.
After Latvia, the riders travel to Vojens on September 12 before the championship concludes at Torun on September 26.
The SGP2 title will be decided at Vojens one day before the senior Grand Prix, on September 11.
Images by Taylor Lanning and Marcin Karczewski
