Danish champion Michael Jepsen Jensen is determined to push for a Speedway GP comeback in the final weeks of the season.
MJJ finished fifth on 10 points at the FIM SGP Challenge in Holsted, Denmark on August 9, falling just one short of the top-four spot needed to book his place in the 2026 Speedway GP World Championship.
The 2012 FIM Speedway World Cup winner and FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion was disqualified from his third ride in Holsted following a clash with Czech star Jan Kvech going into turn one on the final lap.
This cost him a certain Speedway GP spot for 2026. But MJJ, who last raced in the series in 2015, could still get a place, if either Andzejs Lebedevs or Dominik Kubera finish in this year’s Speedway GP top seven.
With the pair qualifying for 2026 at the FIM SGP Challenge, their spot earned in Denmark passes to Jepsen Jensen if they finish inside this season’s automatic qualification places, with Lebedevs sixth and Kubera ninth going into the DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Wroclaw on August 30. If both of them reach the top seven, Denmark’s Anders Thomsen also qualifies for next year.
If both riders fall short, Jepsen Jensen could still qualify as European champion or receive a permanent wild card from the SGP Commission. And he’s determined to push his case, especially when he appears as Deluxe Homeart FIM Speedway GP of Denmark - Vojens wild card on September 13. He said: “I can only do what I can do for the rest of the season to show that I belong in Speedway GP. Now I have put it in the hands of somebody else, but let’s see what happens.
“It’s not up to me anymore. There is a chance that Andzejs or Dominik could help me. There could also be a permanent wild card. I finished fifth in the Challenge, so I am still in an okay position. But I should have done it myself.”
MJJ has no regrets about taking the fight to Kvech in heat 10, even though holding second place rather than being disqualified would have seen him qualify for Speedway GP.
He said: “You can say that I threw it away when there was a gap. On one hand, maybe I should have backed off. But if I did, I would have probably gone straight. There was the space, and I don’t want to race in the GPs if I don’t go for a gap.
“I did decent. If I didn’t have that exclusion, I would have done a little bit better even in my fourth ride when I was third, and then I would have done the job. I believe that.”