2019 Speedway Grand Prix

2019 Speedway Grand Prix
Zmarzlik after winning the Slovenian Grand Prix
Season details
Dates18 May – 5 October
Events10
Cities10
Countries7
Riders15 permanents
1 wild card(s)
2 track reserves
Heats230 (in 10 events)
Winners
Champion POL Bartosz Zmarzlik
Runner-up DEN Leon Madsen
3rd place RUS Emil Sayfutdinov

The 2019 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 25th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 74th FIM Speedway World Championship.[1][2] It was the nineteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company.

The title was won by Bartosz Zmarzlik, who beat debutant Leon Madsen by two points with Russia's Emil Sayfutdinov finishing third. Zmarzlik became the third Polish world champion after Jerzy Szczakiel won in 1973 and Tomasz Gollob took the title in 2010. Defending champion Tai Woffinden's season was hampered by injury and he finished in 13th place.

2019 changes

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Qualifying for each Grand Prix was introduced for the first time in the 2019 season.[3] On the day before the Grand Prix every rider completed a timed lap, with the fastest rider getting to select their position in the draw, followed by second and so on. Matej Žagar was the first ever rider to win a qualifying session when setting the fastest time at the 2019 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland.[4]

Qualification

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For the 2019 season there were 15 permanent riders, joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.

The top eight riders from the 2018 championship qualified automatically. These riders were joined by the three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge.

The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2018 season.[5]

On 2 May Greg Hancock announced he would not be competing in the 2019 season to support his wife's battle with cancer.[6] The FIM and BSI unanimously supported Hancock's withdrawal.

Qualified riders

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# Riders 2018 place GP Ch place Appearance Previous appearances in series
108 United Kingdom Tai Woffinden 1 8th 2010, 2011, 2013–2018
95 Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik 2 4th 2012–2015, 2016–2018
66 Sweden Fredrik Lindgren 3 10th 2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2018
71 Poland Maciej Janowski 4 5th 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015–2018
45 United States Greg Hancock 5 25th 1995–2018
222 Russia Artem Laguta 6 3rd 2011, 2018
69 Australia Jason Doyle 7 5th 2015–2018
89 Russia Emil Sayfutdinov 8 8th 2009–2013, 2017–2018
692 Poland Patryk Dudek 9 3rd 2016, 2017–2018
55 Slovenia Matej Žagar 10 15 9th 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2018
54 Slovakia Martin Vaculík 13 4th 2012, 2013, 2017–2018
333 Poland Janusz Kołodziej 1 2nd 2006, 2010, 2011
88 Denmark Niels-Kristian Iversen 14 2 8th 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2017, 2018
85 Sweden Antonio Lindbäck 3 9th 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015, 2016–2017
30 Denmark Leon Madsen 1st 2013

Qualified substitutes

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The following riders were nominated as substitutes:

# Riders 2018 place GP Ch place
505 United Kingdom Robert Lambert 30 5
46 Australia Max Fricke 18 7
155 Denmark Mikkel Michelsen 29
225 Czech Republic Václav Milík Jr. 17 11
115 Poland Bartosz Smektała 26

Calendar

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The 2019 season consisted of 10 events, the same number as in 2018.[7]

Round Date City and venue Winner Runner-up 3rd placed 4th placed Results
1 18 May Poland Warsaw, Poland
Stadion Narodowy
Denmark Leon Madsen Sweden Fredrik Lindgren Poland Patryk Dudek Denmark Niels-Kristian Iversen results
2 1 June Slovenia Krsko, Slovenia
Stadion Matije Gubca
Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik Slovakia Martin Vaculík Denmark Leon Madsen Poland Patryk Dudek results
3 15 June Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic
Markéta Stadium
Poland Janusz Kołodziej Denmark Leon Madsen Poland Patryk Dudek Australia Jason Doyle results
4 6 July Sweden Hallstavik , Sweden
HZ Bygg Arena
Russia Emil Sayfutdinov Slovakia Martin Vaculík Poland Maciej Janowski Australia Max Fricke results
5 3 August Poland Wrocław, Poland
Olympic Stadium
Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik Slovakia Martin Vaculík Denmark Leon Madsen Poland Janusz Kołodziej results
6 17 August Sweden Målilla , Sweden
G&B Arena
Sweden Fredrik Lindgren Denmark Leon Madsen Poland Maciej Janowski Russia Artem Laguta results
7 31 August Germany Teterow, Germany
Bergring Arena
Poland Maciej Janowski Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik Slovenia Matej Žagar Denmark Niels-Kristian Iversen results
8 7 September Denmark Vojens, Denmark
Vojens Speedway Center
Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik Slovenia Matej Žagar Sweden Fredrik Lindgren Russia Emil Sayfutdinov results
9 21 September United Kingdom Cardiff, Great Britain
Principality Stadium
Denmark Leon Madsen Russia Emil Sayfutdinov Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik Australia Jason Doyle results
10 5 October Poland Torun, Poland
Rose Motoarena
Denmark Leon Madsen Russia Emil Sayfutdinov Denmark Niels-Kristian Iversen Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik results

Final Classification

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[8]

Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
Full-time Grand Prix rider
Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
Pos. Rider Points POL
Poland
SVN
Slovenia
CZE
Czech Republic
SWE
Sweden
PL2
Poland
SCA
Sweden
GER
Germany
DEN
Denmark
GBR
United Kingdom
PL3
Poland
Gold Poland (95) Bartosz Zmarzlik (C) 132 10 18 8 8 17 8 16 18 15 14
Silver Denmark (30) Leon Madsen 130 13 13 14 7 14 14 10 7 17 21
Bronze Russia (89) Emil Sayfutdinov 126 6 13 11 17 14 7 10 16 17 15
4 Sweden (66) Fredrik Lindgren 105 15 5 12 10 5 16 9 15 11 7
5 Slovakia (54) Martin Vaculík 95 7 17 4 16 15 9 4 7 9 7
6 Poland (71) Maciej Janowski 87 4 7 13 12 15 16 6 7 7
7 Australia (69) Jason Doyle 84 5 6 12 7 5 7 6 12 13 11
8 Poland (692) Patryk Dudek 79 16 12 12 7 8 6 8 3 3 4
9 Slovenia (55) Matej Žagar 78 7 6 4 10 3 7 15 13 9 4
10 Denmark (88) Niels-Kristian Iversen 77 14 7 3 8 2 7 13 7 5 11
11 Russia (222) Artem Laguta 76 4 9 9 5 7 16 8 5 6 7
12 Sweden (85) Antonio Lindbäck 63 10 3 4 6 7 8 9 9 7
13 United Kingdom (108) Tai Woffinden 60 6 9 6 6 8 11 5 9
14 Poland (333) Janusz Kołodziej 57 4 7 15 3 15 4 2 0 1 6
15 United Kingdom (505) Robert Lambert 39 8 7 6 3 4 3 6 2
16 Australia (46) Max Fricke 36 3 13 11 4 5
17 Denmark (155) Mikkel Michelsen 15 9 6
18 Poland (16) Bartosz Smektała 10 10
19 Sweden (16) Oliver Berntzon 7 7
20 United Kingdom (16) Charles Wright 5 5
21 Czech Republic (16) Václav Milík 4 4
22 Poland (16) Maksym Drabik 4 4
23 Poland (16) Adrian Miedziński 4 4
24 Slovenia (16) Matic Ivačič 2 2
25 Sweden (16) Jacob Thorssell 2 2
26 Germany (16) Martin Smolinski 1 1
27 Czech Republic (17) Zdeněk Holub 0 0
28 Germany (17) Kai Huckenbeck 0 0
Pos. Rider Points POL
Poland
SVN
Slovenia
CZE
Czech Republic
SWE
Sweden
PL2
Poland
SCA
Sweden
GER
Germany
DEN
Denmark
GBR
United Kingdom
PL3
Poland

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Qualifying and timing introduced for 2019". World Speedway.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Zagar tops charts". World Speedway.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "2019 SGP Wildcards". SGP.
  6. ^ "Greg Hancock statement". greghancock.com.
  7. ^ "2019 FIM Speedway World Championship provisional calendar". SGP.
  8. ^ "2019 FIM Speedway World Championship standings". SGP. 2 November 2023.
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