The future stars of Speedway roared into action on Saturday (24 May) when the Slovenian town of Krško played host to both Semi-Finals of the 2025 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) with a combined entry of thirty-four ambitious young riders locking horns in the impressive Stadion Matija Gubec.
- Future Speedway stars shine in Slovenia
- Britain’s Cooper Rushen tops first Semi-Final in Krško
- Australia’s Beau Bailey dominates second SGP3 Semi-Final
At stake were sixteen places behind the tapes at the SGP3 Final this coming Friday (30 May) in Prague’s famous ten-thousand capacity Stadion Marketa and with such a potentially career-changing and glittering prize on the line – and so many highly-motivated, talented teenagers in action – the racing was electric throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
Open to riders under sixteen years of age on 250cc machines, a global entry drawn from sixteen nations and four continents assembled in the east of Slovenia and local fans had a home hero to cheer in the opening Semi-Final when Sven Cerjak – who was fifth in last season’s Finals in Poland – opened his account with a victory.
Following the first block of Heats, Cerjak was joined on maximum points by British rider Cooper Rushen, American Brady Landon and Adam Nejezchleba from the Czech Republic before Landon moved into the lead on his own with victory in his second Heat as Denmark’s Elias Jamil Jensen and the German pairing of Janek Konzack and Carlos Generich also moved into contention with wins.
Further victories in his next two Heat races saw Landon strengthen his hold on the competition and not even a no-score in his fifth and final outing of the afternoon could deny the fourteen-year-old Californian a place in Prague, although it handed victory to Rushen by a point after the fifteen-year-old won his final two Heats.
Cerjak took second from Landon and Generich in a run-off for the remaining podium positions with Jensen’s three Heat wins good enough to book his place in the Final along with Nejezchleba, Konzack and Australian Nate Smith.
On paper one of the starting favourites in the second Semi-Final, fifteen-year-old Beau Bailey from Australia – who won silver last year in Poland – did not disappoint, hammering out a five-race maximum score and clearly signalling his intentions to end this year’s FIM Speedway Youth World Championship one position higher than he managed in 2024.
The second step on the podium was claimed by Makar Levishyn from Ukraine whose solitary defeat in the evening programme came at the hands of Bailey while three wins and two second-placed finishes earned home rider Gregor Zorko a very popular third.
A fighting fourth in the 2024 Final, two wins and three seconds saw Denmark’s Villads Pedersen comfortably through along with Maksymilian Kostera from Poland who also picked up a couple of wins in Krško while a vital victory in his final Heat was enough to book Slovakian Marek Ziman’s place in Prague alongside Karel Prusa from the Czech Republic and Nicolas Hohlbein from the USA.
Focus now shifts to Prague’s Stadion Marketa this coming Friday (30 May) for the Final of the 2025 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) with the first Heat due to get under way at 17:00 (local time).
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