Riders from ten different nations are preparing to go into battle in Gdańsk this coming Sunday (23 July) when the famous Polish city on the shores of the Baltic Sea hosts the FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy.
For riders aged between eleven and sixteen years of age on 125cc machines, the event is a prestigious rung on the racing ladder and gives the sport’s brightest up-and-coming talent the opportunity to shine on an International stage.
Won by Maksymilian Pawełczak in Pardubice in the Czech Republic almost twelve months ago, the Polish teenager is continuing to build on his success and earlier this month he sped to silver at the 2023 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) Final in Sweden.
Pawełczak is certainly following in some famous footsteps. Romano Hummel from the Netherlands, who won the FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy in 2011, went on to claim the 2021 FIM Long Track World Championship.
Other notable past competitors in the event include Germany’s Lukas Fienhage who was second in 2013 and progressed to become 2020 FIM Long Track World Championship and British rider Zach Wajtknecht who claimed back-to-back wins in 2012 and 2013 and is now a Long Track title contender.
A total of twenty-four riders will be in action on Sunday afternoon across twenty-four Heats on the three-hundred-and-forty-nine-metre track and with the format not including Semi-Finals or a Final, all results will count toward the title in this exciting stand-alone event.
With Pawełczak moving full-time to a 250cc machine and opting not to defend his title this time around there will be a new winner with five riders among the entry returning for another attempt at the top spot and hoping to draw on their hard-won experience earned in last year’s competition.
Top of the list is Thies Schweer from Germany who was third last year and will renew his rivalry with the Ukraine’s Makar Levishyn who missed the 2022 podium by one position. Dutch rider Niek Meijerink and Noah Urda from France finished sixth and eighth last time and will be determined to improve upon these positions in Gdańsk.
The action in Poland gets under way at 14:00 local time when the tapes are scheduled to go up for the first Heat.
FIM Communications