A year ago, the TAURON Speedway Euro Championship series celebrated its tenth anniversary. Over the course of the decade, riders competed in 45 rounds of competition for the title of Individual European Champion. Let's check which cities have most often hosted the best speedway riders of the Old Continent.
Güstrow has hosted the Speedway European Championships an unprecedented eight times. The first competition of the series was held there in 2014. From the very beginning, the German track took a liking to the Danes - Nicki Pedersen won the competition, followed closely by Peter Kildemand in second place. Since the aforementioned 2014, the SEC round has been held in Güstrow almost periodically. What is it that makes it a permanent location on the cycle map? The facility, despite its unusual characteristics, is made for fighting in the distance. The riders look for fast lines along its entire length, so fans are witnessing many passing battles. The second important factor is that every SEC round held in Güstrow attracts thousands of fans to the stands, who wait all year for a tournament loaded with speedway at the highest level.
So far, Torun has hosted the competition for the Individual European Championship five times. The city of Mikołaj Kopernik hosted the series for the first time in 2015. The interesting, inaugural round of the competition was won by Nicki Pedersen. The rivalry ended with Paweł Przedpełski, who raced in front of the local audience thanks to a one-time "wild card" granted by the series organizers stepped on the second step of the podium. Subsequently, MotoArena was the arena of struggle in 2017 and 2019. Interestingly, the Toruń stadium is the only venue in the history of the series, where two rounds of SEC were held in one year. This was in 2020, when, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the struggles were played exclusively on Polish tracks.
The tournaments for the Individual European Championship were held in Rybnik four times, of which the rounds held in 2016 and 2021 were the final ones. It was on this oval that Nicki Pedersen and Mikkel Michelsen (second gold) sealed their titles. The venue, located in a picturesque area, witnessed many fascinating races filled to the brim with passing. So far, the last round of the Speedway Euro Championship was held in Rybnik in 2022.
