PREVIEW: European Club Championships
Words by Mike Hack
The 11th staging of the European Cycle Speedway Club Championships take
place this weekend, over three days from Friday to Sunday, in the city
of Torun, Poland. Twelve clubs line up – ten from Poland and two from
the UK, Birmingham and Horspath (Oxford). Matches will be held on two
tracks – the new track at Kaszczorek on Friday and the established one
at Torun on Saturday and Sunday.
Each club will contest one of three qualifying round matches on Friday
and again on Saturday. The top six teams from the group stage will
qualify for the semi-finals. The remaining clubs will contest a
Repechage match, to determine the final two places in the semi-finals.
The championships will be concluded on Sunday, with two semi-final
matches, followed by the B Final and then the Grand Final, to determine
the final placings of 1 to 8 in the Championships.
The two British clubs face a tough task, with Polish clubs having won
every bi-annual club championship apart from Southampton’s win in 2001
at Gt. Blakenham, Suffolk. However, both British clubs will be fielding
strong teams and will be serious contenders at these prestigious
championships. Horspath will be led by new British Champion, Mark
Boaler, and he will be joined by World Champion Ben Mould and former
British Champion, Zac Payne. Birmingham’s team will include the 2019
British Champion Paul Heard and the British 2019 HSBC Elite Grand Prix
series winner Chris Timms.
The last winners of the Championships, Czestochowa, have been suspended
by the ICSF from the 2021 Championships, following rider registration
irregularities, which were confirmed after completion of the 2018
Championships.
As is the established practice at International Cycle Speedway
Federation (ICSF) events, results and progressive scores will be updated
online after each race, available for anyone to access. Follow the link
to Google Drive for tournament draws, schedule and scorecharts:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f48r26L_OdMUS4HU2BFF4zvtrp2a-j5h
Look out also for live streaming of matches and posting of completed
matches on YouTube pages shortly after their completion.