Two-time Speedway European Championship winner Leon Madsen is back in the hunt for title No.3 and a Speedway GP return after winning round two of the SEC series at German track Gustrow on Saturday night.
Madsen cruised straight through to the final with 12 points, joining meeting wild card Kai Huckenbeck, who topped the heat score chart on 14.
The Dane then added another three points to his tally by winning the final ahead of Huckenbeck in second, series leader Patryk Dudek in third and Polish star Kacper Woryna in fourth spot.
Posting on Instagram, a delighted Madsen wrote: “Winner of the second round in the European Championship series in Gustrow tonight. Yeeew! Great work from my team!!! We're back in the title fight! #letsgoo.”
Dudek only just fell short of automatic final qualification, with Madsen pipping him on countback after they tied on 12, with the former Warsaw winner progressing as he had three heat wins to Dudek’s two. The 2017 Speedway GP silver medallist then made it through to the final as winner of the last-chance race, with Woryna progressing in second place, while Germany’s Norick Blodorn and reigning European champion Andzejs Lebedevs were third and fourth respectively – ending their evenings.
Dudek 12 points in the heats, coupled with one more for third place in the final, saw him leave Gustrow with 13 in total and still leading the standings on 28 points, with Woryna second on 24, Madsen third on 23 and Lebedevs chasing in fourth place on 21.
The winner of the SEC series earns a guaranteed spot in the 2026 Speedway GP series, with Madsen determined to punch his ticket as European champion after being overlooked for a permanent wild card for this season’s series. He also has a place at the FIM SGP Challenge in Holsted, Denmark on August 9 after receiving the host nation’s wild card for the event. The top four riders there qualify for next season’s Speedway GP series.
Round three of the SEC series takes place at Polish club Leszno on August 23, with the title decider at Czech track Pardubice on September 19.
SPEEDWAY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1. Patryk Dudek 28, 2. Kacper Woryna 24, 3. Leon Madsen 23, 4. Andzejs Lebedevs 21, 5. Michael Jepsen Jensen 18, 6. Dimitri Berge 17, 7. Nazar Parnitskyi 16, 8. Kai Huckenbeck 16, 9. Szymon Woźniak 14, 10. Rasmus Jensen 14, 11. Mateusz Cierniak 11, 12. Norick Blodorn 9, 13. Timo Lahti 9, 14. David Bellego 7 15. Frederik Jakobsen 7, 16. Marko Levishyn 7, 17. Tom Brennan 6, 18. Przemyslaw Pawlicki 3, 19. Vaclav Milik 1, 20. Robert Chmiel 1.
GUSTROW POINTS: 1. Leon Madsen 15, 2. Kai Huckenbeck 16, 3. Patryk Dudek (Polska) 13, 4. Kacper Woryna 9, 5. Norick Blodorn 9, 6. Andrzej Lebedevs 9, 7. Nazar Parnitskyi 9, 8. Dimitri Berge 8, 9. Rasmus Jensen 7, 10. Timo Lahti 7, 11. David Bellego 7, 12. Michael Jepsen Jensen 6, 13. Marko Levishyn 4, 14. Szymon Woźniak 4, 15. Mateusz Cierniak 3, 16. Tom Brennan 0.