RIGA PROMOTER NAMED 2024 FIM SPEEDWAY LOCAL ORGANISER OF THE YEAR

Latvian promoter D4K Events has been honoured for its development of the OlyBet FIM Speedway GP of Latvia – Riga after being named as FIM Speedway’s Local Organiser of the Year for 2024.

Voted for by the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports team, the annual award recognises excellence, dedication, and improvement by FIM Speedway promoters, and there’s no doubt D4K Events ticks every box after bringing the championship to capital city Riga in 2023 and re-establishing the Speedway GP series in Latvia over the past two years.

There was a considerable improvement in the standard of racing from the 2023 event to the 2024 edition, with Latvian hero Andzejs Lebedevs’ charge to the top of the heat scorechart captivating the Riga crowd. An exciting night was lit even brighter by the new floodlights installed at Bikernieki Speedway Stadium for this year’s event.

With the 2023 round sold out, additional seating was installed for the 2024 Riga weekend as more and more fans flock from across Europe to enjoy an event that is already gaining a reputation as one of the world’s top speedway city breaks.

Action has also taken place in Riga on Friday over the past two years, with the DeWalt FIM Speedway of Nations – SON2 staged at Bikernieki in 2023 as Poland won gold and Latvia bagged bronze – the country’s first FIM Speedway world team medals of any colour. 

The 2024 event featured the DeWalt FIM SGP2 of Latvia – Riga – round two of the FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship, which saw Ukraine’s Nazar Parnitskyi pick up an historic win after a nail-biting final.

The WBD Sports team has been thoroughly impressed by the D4K team’s attention to detail, delivering everything from a fantastic spectator experience to world-class media facilities at Bikernieki – Latvia’s No.1 motorsport venue, which has previously staged World Rallycross action and hosted fans as part of Latvia’s first World Rally Championship round last summer.

FIM Speedway World Championships director Laura Manciet commented:“The WBD Sports team has enjoyed two unforgettable visits to Riga – a place where nothing is ever too much trouble for D4K Events, and every single detail is taken care of with great energy. The progress they have made in two short years has been simply unbelievable.

“The team in Riga has done so much more than establish a new event on the Speedway GP calendar. They have also worked hard with the Latvian media to promote the series and Andzejs Lebedevs throughout the season – and their efforts have greatly raised his profile throughout his home country.

“All of this hard work combined is the reason tickets for this event sell so quickly and speedway in Latvia has never been in better shape. We look forward to seeing this event grow further in the coming seasons.

“We also thank all of our FIM Speedway local organisers for the phenomenal job they do in delivering their events for the thousands of fans in attendance and those watching around the world. The World Championships simply wouldn’t be possible without you, and we look forward to working with our local organisers, our partners at the FIM and all of our stakeholders once again to deliver another exciting year of racing in 2025.”

Daniels Kārkliņš, event director for D4K Events, said: “It’s a real honour to have been nominated for this prize by the WBD Sports team, and especially after only our second season on the calendar.

“Delivering the OlyBet FIM Speedway GP of Latvia – Riga is a true team effort, with everybody playing their part in making the event a real success, and this hard work will continue into 2025 and beyond.

“We thank our title sponsors OlyBet and DeWalt for their fantastic support, and everyone who has visited Bikernieki in the past two years. 

“After a fantastic performance from Andzejs Lebedevs last summer, who knows? Maybe we will even see a Latvian winner next time around?”