Danish rider, Patrick Hansen, will be 23 yrs later this year and is enjoying an impressive start to his 2021 season. He represents Grinsted KS Liga in Denmark, Avesta Masarna in Sweden and Arged Malesa Ostrow in Poland’s eWinner 1 league. In fact, he top-scored in Ostrow’s opening match and was undefeated in their match against Gniezno which was cut short due to bad weather. But the highlight so far occurred on 14 April in Esbjerg, Denmark. That night he surprised many by winning the Danish SGP/ SEC qualifier. It was not only the way he did it that caught people’s attention – he won 4 out of 5 heats – but the riders he beat, including Mikkel Michelsen, Kenneth Bjerre, Jonas Jeppesen and Marcus Birkemose who are all signed with Ekstraliga clubs this year.
The young Dane has been making steady progress over the last few years.
“It was a short and intense,” he says about the Corona affected year, “I learnt a lot and was happy at least to race all the matches in the Polish league. It helped me become a better rider for this year,” he says reflectively.
The Dane finished the season with a 1.963 average and that placed him in 15th position on the individual rankings and meant a further promotion as he was snapped up as Ostrovia’s U24 representative for 2021. And in eWinner 1 this year the development curve is continuing in the right direction. He currently finds himself in 21st place on the individual rankings with a heat average of 1.857.
So, what it is that has made the difference between 2020 and 2021?
“We started early with practice this year and I had a lot of track time,” he reveals, “The other years I have had a normal job besides speedway.”
The difference is clear for all to see and for many he is a contender to take one of the five SEC 2021 places on offer at this weekend’s SEC Challenge race.
“Pardubice is one of my favourite tracks, so I am very excited!” he admits with a broad smile on his face, “I always race to win and do my best,” he says about his chances to qualifying on Saturday.
