EKSTRALIGA | LAMBERT & SAYFUTDINOV STAR AS TORUN TORMENTS LESZNO

Great Britain racer Robert Lambert warmed up for next week’s FIM Speedway Grand Prix opener in Croatia by dropping just one point to an opponent as Torun trounced Leszno 59-31 at the Marian Rose Motoarena on Friday.

Lambert - second in last year's SGP season opener in Donji Kraljevec - returns to Croatia in fine form after racing to 11 paid 14 points in the PGE Ekstraliga showdown, with his tally bettered only by teammate Emil Sayfutdinov, as the triple FIM Speedway of Nations world champion racked up 14.

World No.6 Lambert was only denied a maximum when Leszno’s Grzegorz Zengota got the better of him in heat seven, before the Pole returned to the track in heat eight and ended Sayfutdinov’s bid for a full house.

Former world No.2 Patryk Dudek also impressed for the home side on 10 paid 12, while Wiktor Lampart picked up a handy nine paid 11.

Zengota starred for the Bulls on 11 paid 12 points, with former World Under-21 champion Bartosz Smektala notching nine and Speedway GP newcomer Andzejs Lebedevs registering five paid seven.

In the day’s other match, Polish icon Bartosz Zmarzlik zoomed to 13 paid 14 points as Lublin continued their 100-percent start to 2024 with a 55-35 win at home to his old club Gorzow.

Zmarzlik was only beaten by Danish star Anders Thomsen in heat 13, but still collected four wins. Aussie ace Jack Holder scored 12 paid 13 and Fredrik Lindgren picked up 10 paid 11 as all three warmed up for the FIM Speedway GP of Croatia on Saturday, April 27 in fine style.

Orlen FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Warsaw wild card Mateusz Cierniak raced to seven paid nine, with SGP newcomer Dominik Kubera registering five paid six points.

Thomsen was Gorzow’s star man on 10, with Slovakia’s world No.3 Martin Vaculik scoring seven paid nine and Szymon Wozniak adding seven. Young gun Oskar Paluch impressed on six paid seven as he shows great form ahead of the SGP2 qualifiers on June 8.

For full details of the day’s results, scorers and the latest league table, please visit https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se (link in Polish).