On August 6, Europe's best speedway riders will compete in Guestrow, where the second round of the Speedway Euro Championship 2022 will take place. So far, no rider has managed to win in Germany and reach the gold medal of the Individual European Championship in one year.
The first SEC round was held in Guestrow in 2014. The meeting was won by Nicki Pedersen, who defeated Peter Kildemand, Janusz Kołodziej and Tomasz Gollob in the final race of the day. In the end, both Danes stood on the podium of the cycle, but the gold medal went to the Russian, Emil Sayfutdinov.
For the next round on this track we waited until 2016. Then, in the rainy competition, which was finished after 20 races, the winner was the first gold medalist of the SEC series - Martin Vaculik. This competition went down in history due to the minor point differences that separated the riders. There were only two points difference between Kai Huckenbeck (3rd) and Hans Andersen (12th). After four tournaments Nicki Pedersen became Individual European Champion and the winner from Guestrow - Martin Vaculik - took 12th place.
The SEC series returned to the stadium at Plauer Chaussee just one year later. In 2017, the fans witnessed a great competition which was won by Artem Laguta. The Russian impressed with his form, and in the final heat of the day, the Russian crossed the line as first in front of Andzejs Lebedevs, Krzysztof Kasprzak and Vaclav Milik. The four took the top places in the final classification, but in a different order. Lebedevs won the gold medal, Laguta got silver, and Milik grabbed the bronze.
The 2018 competition is one to remember. It was a day when fans witnessed fantstic duels, and the main actors were Robert Lambert, Leon Madsen, Mikkel Michelsen and Emil Sayfutdinov. In the end, these four met in the last race of the competition, which was won by "Ruthless". The British rider finished the year with the bronze medal of the Individual European Championships but the gold was won by Madsen, who scored maximum during the Grand Final in Chorzów.
Two years after Artem's triumph the older of the Laguta brothers won in Guestrow. "Grisza" made a great start to the 2019 compettion, standing on the top step of the podium in Germany and second place in Torun. When it seemed that the Russian was one step away to the gold, Mikkel Michelsen recorded two great performances, thanks to which he equaled Laguta in the general classification, and the title was decided by an extra race, which the Dane won.
The last event in Guestrow was as interesting as the previous ones. Piotr Pawlicki won the event, but he ended SEC series on fourth place. Leon Madsen and Patryk Dudek - last year's silver and bronze medalists - were also on the podium that day. Mikkel Michelsen, who finished 5th in Germany, became European Champion again.
Take a look at the list of the winners of the Guestrow rounds and the winners of the series:
2014: Nicki Pedersen – Emil Sayfutdinov
2016: Martin Vaculik – Nicki Pedersen
2017: Artem Laguta – Andzejs Lebedevs
2018: Robert Lambert – Leon Madsen
2019: Grigorij Laguta – Mikkel Michelsen
2021: Piotr Pawlicki – Mikkel Michelsen
