Start Gniezno

Start Gniezno
Club information
Track address	Stadion Startu Gniezno ul. Wrzesińska 25 Gniezno
Country	Poland
Founded	1952 2004 (refounded) 2016 (refounded)
Team manager	Blazej Skrzeszewski
League	1. Liga
Website	Official website
Club facts
Colours	Red and Black
Track size	348 metres (381 yd)
Track record time	61.98
Track record date	2011-10-09
Track record holder	Darcy Ward
Major team honours
Team championship bronze medal 1980 Second tier 1958, 1979, 1986, 1995, 2012 Third tier 2005, 2008

Start Gniezno is a Polish motorcycle speedway team based in Gniezno who currently race in 1. Liga.^[1]

History

1958 to 1999

Speedway in Gniezno appeared during the inaugural 1948 Polish speedway season, a team called Unia Gniezno competed in the regional Third League. However, it only lasted the one season and it was not until 1956 that Start Gniezno started riding.

The team won their first honours in 1958, after winning the second division.^[2]

In 1980, the team won the bronze medal in the Team Speedway Polish Championship. Riders included Eugeniusz Błaszak, Leon Kujawski and Jan Puk.^[3] Krzysztof Cegielski earned a silver medal in the Polish Individual Speedway Championship during the 2002 Polish speedway season.^[4]

2000 to present

When the Ekstraliga was introduced in 2000, Gniezno were in the 1. Liga.^[5]

The club was initially part the multi-sports club with the prefix SKS, before disbanding and being reformed as TŻ (Towarzystwo Żużlowe; Polish: Speedway Association) in 2004 as an independent club and after another bankruptcy reformed once again under the prefix GTM (Gnieźnieńskie Towarzystwo Motorowe; Polish: Gniezno Speedway Association).

The team have generally competed in the two lower divisions in recent years, winning the 2. Liga in 2005 and 2008 and 1. Liga in 2012.

Notable riders

• Eugeniusz Błaszak
• Krzysztof Cegielski

Teams

2023 team

• To be announced

Previous teams

Extended content
2022 squad Michael Jepsen Jensen Ernest Koza Szymon Szlauderbach Oskar Fajfer Antonio Lindbäck Marcel Studzinski Mikolaj Czapla Jedrzej Chmura Zbigniew Suchecki

Honours

Competitions	Total	Golden medals		Silver medals		Bronze medals
		Total	Years	Total	Years	Total	Years
Team (DMP) (since 1948)	1					1	1980
Team U-21 (MDMP) (since 1978)	1					1	1980
Pairs (MPPK) (since 1974)	4			1	1996	3	1979, 1980, 1998
Pairs U-21 (MMPPK) (1980 U-23; since 1983)	4			2	1990, 1998	2	1987, 1999
Individual (IMP) (since 1948)	1			1	2002
Individual U-21 (MIMP) (since 1967)	3			2	1982, 1988	1	1975
Total Polish Championship medals: 14		Gold: 0		Silver: 6		Bronze: 8
Competitions	Total	I place		II place		III place
		Total	Years	Total	Years	Total	Years
European Club (KPE) (since 1998)	0
Team Cup (DPP) (?)	0
Golden Helmet (ZK) (since 1961)	3			2	1980, 1999	1	1990
Silver Helmet U-21 (SK) (since 1966)	4					4	1975, 1998, 2006, 2007
Bronze Helmet U-19 (BK) (1976-81; since 1983)	3			2	1981, 1997	1	1998

References

1. "Speedway from Around the Globe - Poland PGE Ekstraliga". Speedway Star. 10 September 2022. p. 42.
2. "Historia Speedway Polsce 1958". Historia Speedway. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
3. "Gniezno 1980 team stats". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
4. "Historia Speedway Polsce 2002". Historia Speedway. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
5. "Historia Drużynowych Mistrzostw Polski". Zuzeland.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.