In the first round match in Rzeszów at the beginning of the season, a crushing loss was experienced – 27:62, but this does not mean that there are no chances to win in their moto track. It is clear that there is no hope for a bonus point, but two points should be tried to be taken. At one time (in the 1960s it was twice champion, twice second and once third) one of the strongest Polish speedway teams is experiencing a revival and this season is aiming for the 1st league, so the guests come to Daugavpils only after a victory and in almost their best lineup.
The Rzeszów team will not have its best junior Swede, Filipa Hellström-Bengs (two-time vice-champion of Swedish juniors), who is participating in the finals of the European Championship as part of the Swedish U23 national team. For the same reason, “Loko” will not have the Dane Kevin Jules Pedersen, and this time, one of the team’s leaders, the Australian Nick Morris. He refused a doping test in the British Speedway League after one of the matches and has been suspended for 30 days.
It doesn’t seem to apply to Polish leagues, but no one wants to risk it. Morris will be replaced by his compatriot, the 2017 and 2022 Australian vice-champion and one of the leaders of the “Leicester Lions” team in the Premiership Championship, Justin Sedgeman. It will be his debut in the ranks of the Daugavpils team (in 2016, Sedgemans was already registered as part of “Loko”, but did not participate in any matches then).
Among the foreigners in the Daugavpils ranks, only Briton Steven Worrall will remain, who now has at his disposal a new and better adapted engine for “Lokomotive” mototrack (Worrall will test it early on Sunday morning). The rest of the home team consists of domestic sprinters – Yevgenijs Kostigovs, Ķasts Puodžuks, Daniils Kolodinskis and junior Ernests Matjushonoks. The second junior will most likely be Ričardas Ansviesulis, it is expected that another junior Nikirta Kauliņš will also be registered for the match.
In order to understand the power of the guest team and the best team level in the Polish Speedway League 2, it is enough to mention just two legionnaires of the Jackey team – the Swedish champion of 2019 and 2020, last and this year’s Swedish vice -champion Jacob Torsel and two Grand Prix winner (7 Finals and 5 Pods in GP), 2014 mine. But there is also the two-time world junior champion in the Polish national team Rafals Karchmaržs, the 2016 world junior vice-champion, the champion of the same year in the Polish national team and the winner of the World Cup in the Polish adult national team Kristians Piszczek (moved from the 1st league team Rybnik ROW during the season and scored 10, 10 and 9 points in three matches for “Texom Stal”).
Marcins Novak is having the best season in his career and is one of the best in the 2nd league. Without Hellström-Bengs, the guest junior line will be weaker, but it will not be weak anyway – the 17-year-old Slovenian talent Anže Grmek will make his debut, and the other junior will most likely be Bartoš Curzitek.
To defeat such an opponent, everyone has to play a solid and productive match. Currently, the Opole team is the leader in the 2nd league tournament table with 14 points in 9 matches, the Rzeszów team has 13 points, but in 8 matches, the Gniezno team follows with 11 points in 9 matches and “Optibet Lokomotive” with 9 points in 9 matches. We are currently in the top four, but the Tarnuva team is only one point behind us and the Pila team is only two points behind us, and the Pila speedsters have one match less.
