Finnish rider, Niklas Sayrio, who goes by the nickname, Nicce, will be 21 years old the very day after he competes in his first ever FOGO FIM U21 World Championship in Pardubice.
But first, let’s wind the clock back to 2019, a season marked with highs and lows for the young Finn. The worst thing was a crash in Seinajoki in the Finnish SM-Liiga in June. “I had an accident with a Latvian and the season was done there and then,” he says still disappointed.
Before that he had three months of racing where he was able to put in some great results. Entered as a wildcard, he got to the final of the Italian Championships in Terenzano in April where he raced against Italy’s U21 representative at Pardubice, Mattia Lenarduzzi. He then gained Silver in the Finnish U21 Championships in May. The same month he also competed in the U21 WC qualifier in Krakow and was on the starting line up with Wiktor Lampart (POL), Oleg Michailov (LAT) and Gleb Chegunov (RUS) giving him a taste of what is to come in Pardubice. So, for Sayrio it was a disappointing third place in his last ever Finnish U21 championships this year on 19 September.
On the team front Sayrio, has been able to participate in the Baltic Speedway League (BSL) as well as the SM-Liiga in both 2019 and 2020. In Finland he has been racing with Wasamat, and whilst he has been the team’s top scorer with 6.43, they had a tough series and finished last when the season came to a close in August.
The BSL is a “development” league and includes teams from Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Russia. And there it has been a success story riding with the current league leaders, VRT Ankkurit Varkaus from Finland.
Having raced against some of his rivals before, as well as having visited Pardubice, he knows is going to be the hardest challenge of his 2020 season.
“The stadium is a great one and the atmosphere amazing,” he says about the Czech track, ”but this competition is made by tough opponents. It is up to you to make success and luck is needed,” he reflects, being realistic about what await him in next month.
