The riders didn’t enter the track yet, but tomorrow's final of the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship should already be considered as a special one. It is because of the new shape of the competition and the place where it will be held. Previous editions of the rivalry have been totally dominated by Polish teams, but the reformed Junior World Team Championships mean that there is no main candidate to win in Bydgoszcz any more.
It will be the 17th edition of the best Youth Teams World Competition. The first one took place in 2005 in Pardubice (Czech Rep). Back then the domination of the Polish National Team began. The riders from this country won the next five tournaments and their series ended in Rye House (Great Britain), where the Danes finally reached for victory. Their team included, future participants of the Grand Prix cycle like Michael Jepsen Jensen and Peter Kildemand. A year later the Russians became World Champions with Artem Laguta scoring maximum in the final. In Balakovo (Russia) defending champions had to settle for silver medals. In the next two editions the trophy went once to the Danes and the Poles. It is worth to add that since 2013, the rules of the Team U21 WC changed - from then on, teams got four, not five riders.
2014 is the crucial season for the Junior World Team Championships. The final was held in Slangerup (Denmark) where Poland returned to the highest step of the podium. As it turned out, the Poles wouldn’t be off the top spot for seven consecutive editions of the competition. The white and red team reached for victories in Slangerup (2014), Mildura (2015), Norrkoping (2016), Rybnik (2017), Outrup (2018, 2020) and Manchester (2019). During that time, the podium was completed by the national teams of Denmark (each time), Sweden (2014), Australia (2015, 2016, 2017) and Great Britain (2018, 2019 and 2020).
In Bydgoszcz we will watch duels of the Australians, the British, the Danes, the Swedes and the Poles again. The lineup of the seven-team tournament is completed by the national teams of Latvia and the Czech Republic. On paper, the most interesting duels are those, where Poland and Denmark will face each other. The 1st final of the Individual Junior World Championships was held last Saturday. The meeting in Stralsund (Germany) was won by the Dane, Mads Hansen. The podium was completed by two Poles - Jakub Miśkowiak and Wiktor Lampart. However, let’s not forget the other teams. Earlier this year Ricards Ansviesulis and Francis Gusts from Latvia won the gold medal at the European Under-19 Pairs Championships, while Petr Chlupac and Daniel Klima from the Czech Republic came in second. The Swedish riders regularly compete in their native Bauhaus-Ligan and the Australians have riders who regularly compete in the Polish speedway league.
In 2021 we will see another change in the format of the competition. Three-rider teams will compete in a 23-heat tournament. The team that scores the most points in the regular phase (21 races) will advance directly to the final. Teams from places 2-3 will fight for the finals in an extra heat. What is important, the scoring of races has been changed. The winner will receive four points, the second rider three, the third two, and the fourth will finish the race with zero points. This format does not provide ties, and as a result, the bonus is given to the pair riding, not the individual score.
Tomorrow's final is also special because of the place where it will be held. The speedway stadium in Bydgoszcz is a legendary facility, where the first "speedway steps" were made by the Individual World Champion from 2010 – Tomasz Gollob. For many years, the most important rounds of the Grand Prix series were held here. Recently, speedway in Bydgoszcz has gained popularity again. The renovated stadium hosts more and more important speedway events of international matter. Tomorrow's final of the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship will be the first tournament of World Championship rank in years.
The new format of the meeting, the lineups presented by the national team managers and the venue of tomorrow's competition promise a very interesting tournament. Bydgoszcz is ready, so we invite you to the stands of the Polonia Bydgoszcz stadium, where the final of the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship 2021 will take place.
Line-ups for the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship 2021 - Bydgoszcz
Latvia:
1. Francis Gusts
2. Ricards Ansviesulis
3. Daniils Kolodinskis
Denmark:
1. Mads Hansen
2. Tim Sorensen
3. Marcus Birkemose
Czech Rep.:
1. Daniel Klima
2. Jan Macek
3. Petr Chlupac
Poland:
1. Jakub Miskowiak
2. Wiktor Lampart
3. Mateusz Cierniak
Great Britain:
1. Tom Brennan
2. Drew Kemp
3. Leon Flint
Sweden:
1. Philip Hellström-Bängs
2. Alexander Woentin
3. Jonatan Grahn
Australia:
1. Matthew Gilmore
2. Keynan Rew
3. Brayden Mc Guinness
Tickets for the event are available at eBilet.pl and at the ticket offices located at the stadium at ul. Sportowa 2 in Bydgoszcz. The first race is scheduled for 7 PM (local time). The live broadcast will be available on TVP Sport (Poland).
The Honorary Patron of the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship is MEP Ryszard Czarnecki.
The sponsor of tomorrow's competition is ENEA.
