When promoter Discovery Sports relaunched the FIM Speedway Youth World Championship last season as SGP3 the vision behind the decision was clear for all to see – raise awareness of the youth side of the sport and encourage its youngest riders by giving them solid, high-profile foundations to build upon.
Competing on an SGP circuit and sharing the pits, podium and the limelight with the superstars of Speedway is a great incentive to up-and-coming riders and, while it is very much a long-term plan, 2022’s edition was a real success that highlighted the potential of SGP3.
Open to riders aged under sixteen on 250cc machines, SGP3 represents a sizeable building block for any ambitious young rider looking to construct a career on the shale.
Rising Danish star Mikkel Andersen raced to the inaugural SGP3 title in Wroclaw’s Olympic Stadium towards the end of August last year – the night before the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland at the same venue – when he was watched by two-and-a-half-thousand fans, an unprecedented crowd for a youth-only event.
Andersen is back this year to try and retain his crown with his defence starting tomorrow (12 July) in the Swedish city of Västervik which will host both Semi-Finals. The qualifiers will then fight it out for the big prize on 14 July in nearby Malilla with the night-time programme followed the next day by the FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden, also staged in the city’s Skrotfrag Arena.
Like so many sporting disciplines, Speedway is a real family affair with the passion passed down through the generations. Andersen’s father Brian was a top-flight racer, winning the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, before becoming a highly respected engine tuner and it is safe to say he was impressed by what he witnessed on that memorable night in Poland less than eleven months ago.
“I think the whole event was an eye-opener for everyone,” he said, “the standard was so high. A lot of people came to me after the meeting and said, ‘we couldn’t believe how good the racing was – it was intense, close’. You couldn’t really tell if it was a normal GP or not until they came into the pits, got their helmets off and you could see it was kids.
“Having the same setup as the Speedway GP riders experience was huge for the kids. This is what they see on TV and it is a dream come true for them to be part of it. This is the way we will build future stars up. This is where we are going to find the stars. We cannot just look for them in the leagues. We have to get new people coming from underneath league level too.”
These future stars still have a long way to go before they can emulate their SGP idols, but the road to the top may very well start for some at Västervik on Wednesday.
FIM Communications