On Saturday five riders who took top places in the SEC Challenge held in Krško in Slovenia joined the five permanent participants of TAURON SEC series for season 2022. Today we got to know those who will take part in European Championships with permanent wild cards.
The first of the riders who received invitations from the organizers is David Bellego. The Frenchman has already competed in the European Individual Championships in recent years, but last season he missed three rounds due to injury. In the last one he scored nine points, with which he was eventually classified 17th. He did better the year before, when he finished in 9th place. Frenchman was the best rider of the eWinner 1. League last season, and before the current one he joined Unia Leszno. In the TAURON SEC series he will be partnered among others by his compatriot Dimitri Berge, who gained promotion last Saturday through the SEC Challenge.
The second rider with a permanent invitation for the 2022 season is Kai Huckenbeck. The German is currently the best representative of his country, and competing in the eWinner 1. League in the team from Landshut is currently characterized by the second gear average (2.419). Last year's competition he finished on the 9th position. This year's second final will take place in Güstrow, where a lot of German speedway fans will be cheering for their representative.
The third wild card for the TAURON SEC 2022 series was given to Vaclav Milik. The Czech is the rider who has so far completed the most races in the finals. His biggest success is certainly winning the silver medal in the 2016 season. A year later he added the bronze medal to his collection. Last year he also competed in this cycle and finished 10th. This year's final, deciding the distribution of medals will be held in Pardubice, and Milik knows that track very well.
Another rider, who will start on the basis of a permanent invitation, will be Oliver Berntzon. The Swede presents himself quite solid on the polish PGE Ekstraleague tracks representing Arged Malesa Ostrów Wielkopolski. This nearly 29-year-old rider was a regular participant of the Speedway Grand Prix series last year, now he will try to compete for the European championship at all. For the Swede it will be his debut in this series.
The organizers decided to hand the fifth and last wild card to Janusz Kołodziej. Four times Individual Champion of Poland started season 2022 in great style and currently has second gear average in PGE Ekstraleague (2.575). Recently, he had bad luck, because in a home match between Fogo Unia Leszno and rivals from Grudziądz he suffered an injury, which excluded him from the possibility of competing in the finals of the elimination in Slovenia. In the series of TAURON SEC 2022 will not miss him, because he will start with a wild card. Previously in the Individual European Championships he competed in 2016, finishing the competition in 10th place.
Apart from the riders with permanent wild cards we also got to know those who will serve as permanent reserves. They will appear in the finals of TAURON SEC series when the main participants will not be able to take part in it due to injury or other important reasons. Dominik Kubera from Poland, Jacob Thorssell from Sweden, Timo Lahti from Finland, Frederik Jakobsen from Denmark and Marko Leishyn from Ukraine are on the reserve list.
Line up of the TAURON SEC 2022 series:
Mikkel Michelsen #155
Leon Madsen #30
Patryk Dudek #692
Piotr Pawlicki #777
Daniel Bewley #99
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Andzejs Lebedevs #29
Dimitri Berge #96
Rasmus Jensen
Bartosz Smektala #115
Adam Ellis #299
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David Bellego #415
Kai Huckenbeck #744
Vaclav Milik #225
Oliver Berntzon #93
Janusz Kolodziej #333
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Dominik Kubera R1
Jacob Thorssell R2
Timo Lahti R3
Frederik Jakobsen R4
Marko Levishyn R5
