History will be made this coming Saturday afternoon (15 July) when the first-ever FIM Speedway Youth World Cup – branded as SGP4 – is staged in Malilla, Sweden.
Scheduled to be held on the training track at the city’s Skrotfrag Arena before the superstars of the sport take centre stage for the FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden later in the day, SGP4 will feature riders aged between eleven and thirteen on purpose-built and revolutionary 190cc machines.
As part of promoter Discovery Sports’ vision to develop the sport and its youngest stars from an early age, six-time FIM Speedway World Champion Tony Rickardsson was tasked with developing a new 190cc four-stroke motorcycle which following a year of European trials will be given its full international debut on Saturday.
“The idea of this bike is it should look like a big bike, sound like a big bike and, most importantly, it should ride like a big bike, but in a small package and for a reasonable sum of money,” said Rickardsson. “I think we have reached all of these criteria.
“The first objective was to build a class where you can come from all over the world and race under the same regulations on an international level. If you want to race internationally, it will be with the SGP4 bike. This is the future.”
Rickardsson’s mission to build a bike with global appeal has certainly proved to be a success and the eighteen-rider line-up features competitors from twelve different nations spread across four continents which is headed by Denmark’s hot prospect Villads Pedersen.
The super-fast thirteen-year-old is in fantastic form at the moment, as evidenced by his domination of the 2023 FIM Speedway Youth Gold Trophy at Holsted in Denmark at the start of this month when he recorded five wins from five starts. However, that victory came on an 85cc machine and he will have to show that he can adapt to the increased power of the brand-new motorcycle he will race in Malilla.
Pedersen will be joined by five other competitors from the FIM Speedway Youth Gold Trophy. Their results suggest his compatriot Elias Jamil who was second in Holsted and Germany’s Niklas Bager who was fourth will provide his main opposition along with Australia’s Cooper Antone who ended the day seventh.
Also in form heading into Saturday’s ground-breaking event is British rider Oliver Bovingdon who recently claimed victory in his national 125cc championship.
Putting the formbook aside, with the field made up of riders from around the world – including as far away as Argentina and the USA – nothing will be certain until the chequered flag flies for the final time on Saturday afternoon in Sweden.
Racing is scheduled to get under way at 14:30 local time.
Starting list here
FIM Communications