LEBEDEVS GETS CARDIFF CALL UP

Latvian racer Andzejs Lebedevs has been handed a dream call-up for the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff on Saturday, August 13.

The former European champion – this year’s Speedway GP first reserve – steps into the line-up in place of Slovak star Martin Vaculik, who suffered a broken shoulder blade in a PGE Ekstraliga match for Gorzow on July 24.

Vaculik’s absence comes as a huge blow to a rider who is currently third in the Speedway GP World Championship on 53 points after taking second place at the 3W FIM Gorzow Speedway GP on June 25.

Lebedevs races his first Speedway GP event outside of Latvia. He also becomes the first Latvian to compete in a Speedway GP outside of their homeland.

He last appeared in the 2014 FIM Latvian Speedway GP in home city Daugavpils, scoring three points, and this will be his third Speedway GP appearance.

But Lebedevs has been making history away from the series. He won the 2017 Speedway European Championship and also inspired Latvia into the 2021 FIM Speedway of Nations Final – the country’s first speedway world team final.

Lebedevs powered to 18 points as Latvia finished second to Australia in last year’s Semi-Final 2 in Daugavpils to book their spot at the Final. He then raced to 32 points across two days of the Final in Manchester last October as Latvia claimed sixth place.

He’s not the only Latvian racer in action in Cardiff, as young gun Francis Gusts lines up in the FIM SGP2 of Great Britain on Sunday, August 14 at Principality Stadium, when the action gets underway at 1pm local time.

Gusts was second at the opening round of the SGP2 series – the revamped FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship – and was only denied the win in Prague when Poland’s Mateusz Cierniak passed him on the last turn after an epic fight for victory in the final.

Join Latvia’s finest and celebrate 20 years of Speedway GP in Cardiff on Saturday, August 13 with all tickets including entry to Sunday’s SGP2.