Speedway World Championship: Riders, teams, circuits & history

Ahead of the highly anticipated 2025 campaign, here's all you need to know about the Speedway World Championship.

Speedway World Championship - Dates

The 2025 season will get underway on Saturday 3rd May, 2025, with the final race of the campaign taking on Saturday 13th September.

Speedway World Championship - Venues

Round	Date	Venue
1	3rd May	Ellermuhle Speedway Stadium, Landshut, Germany
2	17th May	Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland
3	31st May	Marketa Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic
4	13th June	National Speedway Stadium, Manchester
5	14th June	National Speedway Stadium, Manchester
6	21st June	Edward Jancarz Stadium, Gorzow, Poland
7	5th July	Skrotfrag Arena, Malilla, Sweden
8	2nd August	Riga Speedway Stadium, Riga, Latvia
9	30th August	Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw, Poland
10	13th September	Vojens Speedway Center, Vojens, Denmark

Speedway World Championship - Riders

No.	Rider	Nationality
95	Bartosz Zmarzlik	Poland
505	Robert Lambert	Great Britain
66	Fredrik Lindgren	Sweden
99	Dan Bewley	Great Britain
54	Martin Vaculik	Slovakia
25	Jack Holder	Australia
29	Andzejs Lebedevs	Latvia
101	Brady Kurtz	Australia
105	Anders Thomsen	Denmark
415	Dominik Kubera	Poland
46	Max Fricke	Australia
155	Mikkel Michelsen	Denmark
744	Kai Huckenbeck	Germany
201	Jan Kvech	Czech Republic
69	Jason Doyle	Australia

Speedway World Championship - Bikes

The bikes used in the Speedway World Championship are unique machines designed for high-speed racing on short oval-shaped tracks.

Unlike other forms of motorcycle racing, speedway bikes do not have brakes and riders must rely on skill and experience to navigate their way around the track at high speeds.

Speedway bikes are lightweight, with a frame made from steel and a 500cc single-cylinder engine.

The engines produce around 80 horsepower, which is more than enough to propel the bike to speeds of up to 80 miles per hour around the track.

The tyres used in speedway racing are also unique and are designed to maintain control on dirt tracks.

The rear tyre tends to be wider to provide more grip during high-speed cornering, while the front tyre is narrower, offering better manoeuvrability for the rider.

Speedway World Championship - Format

The Speedway World Championship follows a series of qualification rounds, with riders from all over the world competing in multiple events throughout the season.

Each Grand Prix consists of 15 riders who compete in a series of heats. In each heat, four riders race for a place in the finals, with the top scorers from the heats progressing to the semi-finals and then to the final.

Points are awarded based on finishing positions, with the overall winner of the event taking home the most points.

At the end of the season, the rider with the most accumulated points over all the Grand Prix events is crowned the World Champion.

Riders who finish in the top places across the Grand Prix series also earn automatic qualification for the following season.

Speedway World Championship - Rules

Like all motorsports, Speedway racing has a strict set of rules to ensure fair play and safety for all riders.

If a rider touches the starting tapes before the start of a race (a false start), they are immediately disqualified and given zero points for that heat.

Riders are expected to compete fairly and dangerous or reckless behaviour, such as deliberately causing crashes or blocking other riders, can lead to penalties or even disqualification.

The bikes themselves must keep to specific technical standards and modifications that alter the performance or safety of the bike can result in disqualification from an event.

Speedway World Championship - History

The Speedway World Championship has a long history that dates back to its inception in 1936.

Since then, the competition and popularity of the discipline has grown to become one of the premier motorsport events, with riders from around the world competing for the prestigious title.

Riders such as Ivan Mauger, Tony Rickardsson and Hans Nielsen have written their names into Speedway folklore over the years.

The 2025 campaign will be the 31st season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, with Poland's Bartosz Zmarzlik the reigning champion looking to defend his crown.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.

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