MADSEN SEEKS SEC CROWN TO PUNCH 2026 SPEEDWAY GP TICKET

Danish racer Leon Madsen is targeting a record-equalling third Speedway European Championship crown as he bids for an instant Speedway GP return for 2026.

Madsen serves as this season’s SGP first reserve and was gutted to have missed out on a full place in the line-up after finishing ninth in 2024 and being overlooked for a permanent wild card by the SGP Commission.

The 2018 and 2022 European champion is determined to take matters into his own hands in 2025 as he targets SEC gold, which would guarantee his place in next season’s Speedway GP series.

Last year’s SEC runner-up Madsen will compete in the four-round continental series, which visits Polish club Bydgoszcz on July 12, German venue Gustrow on July 26, Polish city Leszno on August 23 and Czech track Pardubice on the opening night of their Golden Helmet weekend on September 19.

And Madsen believes winning an SEC series, which also features SGP stars Andzejs Lebedevs and Anders Thomsen, is his best way of securing an immediate Speedway GP comeback.

He said: “All my focus is to do the very best I can do in all the meetings I race, and obviously in the European Championship. I think the competition in the European Championship is quite hard now. It’s up there with the GP because it is also a qualifier to the GP.

“There is a smaller room for error with only four rounds. But I have won it twice before and had silver too, so I know what I have to do, and I am up for it because I want to get back into the GP. 

“I want to get back in as fast as possible. I don’t want to sit out for a few years. My age is also catching up on me. I am 36 now – 37 at the end of the year.

“It was not fun to get the message that I wouldn’t be part of it this year, but I have kind of accepted it now. I don’t know how to say it, but I have kind of embraced the time off and I’ll take all the advantage of it that I can, so that I can get back into the GP next year stronger.

“I will try and win the European Championship and if not, I’ll do the very best I can in all of the meetings I do, so hopefully when we come to the end of the season, the GP people will look my way for next year with the wild cards if I need one.”

Madsen has another outside chance of punching his SGP ticket. He will be called into action in Speedway GP this season if any of the 15 permanent riders are forced out of a round due to injury, illness or other reasons.

If he races the vast majority of the 10 rounds, it’s not impossible that he could finish in the World Championship’s top seven, which would guarantee him a place in the 2026 series.

Asked about his chances during the recent SGP media day in Warsaw, Madsen declared: “If you give me seven or eight GPs, I will be in there for sure when the season finishes. But I am not thinking about racing in the GP this year because then somebody would have to get injured, and you don’t hope for that.”