We are already halfway through the regular round in this year’s PGE Ekstraliga. We’ve been talking to Bartosz Zmarzlik about his performances this year and his plans for the rest of the season. Enjoy the read!
Bartek, there’ve been five rounds in this year’s Speedway Grand Prix series so far. How would you sum up your participation in 2024 SGP so far?
“Definitely on the plus side. In each of this year’s tournaments I managed to advance to the final. On top of that I won the last round in Malilla so it’s good.”
The next tournament will take place on 29 June on the track in Gorzów, which you know very well. What result are you hoping for in this competition?
“I don’t like trying to predict results. Because practically anything can happen on the track. We don’t know what surface we’ll be racing on on any given day. So, you have to adapt quite quickly to the prevailing track conditions. We’ll see on the day of the competition how it plays out.
There are still six rounds to go in this year’s SGP series competition. You are already seventeen points ahead of second-placed Robert Lambert in the overall standings. Do you think that’s a lot?
“No, I don’t. We still have a lot of rounds to go before the end of the season. There are still a lot of points to be scored on the track. Of course, I’ll do my best in each of them, but other speedway riders also want to score points and this competition for the individual medals is not quite resolved yet.”
We are already past the halfway point of the regular round in this year’s PGE Ekstraliga. How would you rate your starts so far this season in the best speedway league in the world?
“I’m satisfied with my performance. Of course, some competitions or individual races didn’t go as well as I’d like. But you can’t win all the time, that’s sport. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
Speedway is a spectacular, but also very expensive sport. Without sponsors, there is virtually no chance of achieving good results. You belong to the Orlen Team. Can you tell us if the Orlen company has a big influence on your development in terms of sport?
“Absolutely. Orlen helps me a lot financially. Unfortunately, everything is getting more expensive in sport by the year. I’ve been working with this company for a few years now and I think that both sides are satisfied with the cooperation. For sure, Orlen makes it much easier for me to pursue my dreams and goals as far as sport is concerned. I now have the ideal conditions to achieve further successes. In my opinion, together we have already managed to do a lot of good things for the development of speedway in Poland.”
A great speedway talent, Adam Bednar, has emerged in the Czech Republic. The Orlen company has also taken care of him. The boy is only sixteen years old, have you already had the opportunity to watch him on the track?
“Yes, I’ve already had the opportunity to see Adam on the track last year during a competition in Prague. Despite his young age, he has good control of his motorbike. He rides with great ambition and determination. You can see that from Adam’s results in this year’s U-24 Ekstraliga. I think that thanks to the cooperation with the Czech branch of the Orlen company he can make a big career in speedway in the future. Practically everything will be up to him now. I see a lot of talent and potential in him. I think he’ll be a strong point of the Czech national team in the near future.”
Foto: Tomasz Przybylski
