The opening salvos in the fight for the 2025 FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship (SGP2) were fired at the first of this year’s three Qualifying rounds, staged at Pardubice in the Czech Republic and Glasgow in Great Britain on Saturday (24 May).
- Qualifying rounds for FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship get under way
- Norway’s Mathias Pollestad races to a maximum in Pardubice
- Danish teenager Mikkel Andersen unbeaten as rain stops play in Glasgow
With over two-thousand kilometres separating the Stadion Pardubice – Svitkov and Glasgow Speedway, weather conditions were vastly different and while the opening Qualifying round went ahead unhindered on Saturday afternoon in the Czech Republic, heavy rain brought racing to a premature halt later that evening in Scotland.
With an entry drawn from fourteen nations spread across three continents, the top four riders from each Qualifying round progress to the three-round Final series where they will be joined by three wild cards selected by the FIM SGP Commission along with one local wild card and two track reserveschosen by the relevant National Federation.
With so much talent competing for so few places, riders could be forgiven for feeling nervous and the action from Pardubice was red-hot from the opening Heat that pitted Poland’s defending champion Wiktor Przyjemski head-to-head with last year’s bronze medallist Mathias Pollestad with the twenty-year-old Norwegian drawing first blood.
Having cleared his biggest hurdle at the first attempt, Pollestad’s confidence remained on a high for the rest of the afternoon and after adding four further wins he booked his place in the Finals with an unbeatable maximum.
Regrouping after this early disappointment, Przyjemski fought back like a true champion and was not beaten again to qualify in second, two points clear of William Drejer from Denmark who claimed the final step on the podium after winning a run-off with his Slovenian rival Anze Grmek.
With the first four Qualifying riders determined, the action moved west to Britain where conditions at the start of the evening in Glasgow looked prime before the notoriously unpredictable Scottish weather ended proceedings after three blocks of racing.
The Glasgow entry was headed by Mikkel Andersen – who finished fourth in last year’s Finals – and the seventeen-year-old, the FIM Speedway Youth World Champion (SGP3) in 2022, did not disappoint with his full-house of three wins from the opening three blocks of racing earning him a clear two-point lead before heavy and incessant rain brought racing to an end.
After claiming victory in his opening Heat, Britain’s Jake Mulford finished as runner-up to Andersensecond time out and another second-placed finish – this time behind Danish racer Villads Nagel – in his third and final appearance put him through, tied on points with Jan Przanowski from Poland.
With the weather making it impossible to continue the meeting and Poland’s Antoni Mencel, Nagel, Australian Tate Zischke and home rider Joseph Thompson all locked together on six points, the final Qualifying position was decided by a ballot that went in favour of Mencel.
The third and final Qualifying round will be staged in Debrecen in Hungary on 7 June before the 2025 FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship (SGP2) is decided with Finals in Målilla, Sweden, on 4 July, Riga, Latvia, on 1 August and Vojens, Denmark, on 12 September.
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