KS Toruń, currently competing as PRES Grupa Deweloperska Toruń, is a Polish

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team from

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

. The team currently competes in the Ekstraliga (the highest division) and have won the

Team Speedway Polish Championship The Team Speedway Polish Championship ( Polish: ''Drużynowe Mistrzostwa Polski, DMP'') is an annual speedway event held each year in different Polish clubs organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1948. In 2000, the First Division was r ...

four times (as of 2025).

Team information

* Name: Klub Sportowy Toruń SA * Address: 87-100 Toruń, ul. Pera Jonssona 7 * Home track: Pera Jonssona 7, Toruń * Home arena capacity: 15,500

History

1930 to 1945

Speedway motorcycles came to

as early as the 1930, where they raced in classes according to engine size. The sport, called "Dirt-track" at the time, carried on in Toruń up until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

1946 to 1956

Immediately after the war, racing resumed and the Toruń's Motorcycle Club (Toruński Klub Motocyklowy) was formed. The speedway team saw its first race in 1950, when races were moved from the Bema street Municipal Stadium to the then Military Stadium at Ulica Broniewskiego.

1957 to 1961

In 1957, due to regulatory requirements, a major renovation took place and the new facilities opened on 20 October 1957. The stadium was now named after Zbigniew Raniszewski, a Toruń speedway rider who lost his life in a race in Vienna on 21 April 1956. From 1957, the speedway club operated under the Friends of Soldiers League (Liga Przyjaciół Żołnierza), and one year later Toruń officially raced under the league and won with

Unia Leszno Unia Leszno are a motorcycle speedway team established on 8 May 1938 and based in Leszno, Poland. The team's home track is at the Stadion Alfreda Smoczyka. They compete in the Ekstraliga (speedway), Ekstraliga (the highest division) and are Pol ...

. During the 1959 Polish speedway season, the riders from Copernicus's birthplace appeared in the third league placing second to last (7th). In

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

, they continued to race as LPŻ Toruń but placed last and in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

a team called MKŻ Toruń finished 7th.

1962 to 1975

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, a speedway club named Stal Toruń was founded and competed in the second league. In 1966, their leading rider Marian Rose won the silver medal at the

Polish Individual Speedway Championship The Individual Speedway Polish Championship ( Polish: ''Indywidualne Mistrzostwa Polski, IMP'') is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1932. The current Polish Champion is Maciej Janowski, w ...

. Rose helped riders like Jan Ząbik, Janusz Plewiński, Roman Kościecha and Bogdan Szuluk, but he died after a crash during a match at the Stal Rzeszów Municipal Stadium on 19 April 1970. Meanwhile the club continued to compete in the second division for 14 years.

1976 to 1985

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

the first league was rebuilt into ten teams and Toruń received a promotion. A young talented rider Kazimierz Araszewicz died in a crash during the 1976 season. The team began to race as Apator Toruń after the Apator Sports Club and continued to compete in the highest division. They won a silver medal in the pairs during

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and the team gained their first honours in 1983, after taking the team championship bronze medal. Wojciech Żabiałowicz won the 1985 Golden Helmet.

1986 to 1999

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, KS Apator Toruń won their first Polish champion title, overtaking rivals

Polonia Bydgoszcz Polonia Bydgoszcz is a Polish sports club based in Bydgoszcz most known for its Motorcycle speedway, speedway team ŻKS Polonia Bydgoszcz which currently races in the Polish Speedway First League, 1. Liga. The club has won the Team Speedway Pol ...

at the end of the season. The team consisted of riders such as Zabiałowicz, Eugeniusz Miastkowski, Grzegorz Śniegowski and Stanisław Miedziński. Zabiałowicz and Śniegowski also won the pairs championship. The team grew to become one of the best speedway teams in Poland, winning the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

gold medal with a team that included Żabiałowicz, Jacek Krzyżaniak, Mirosław Kowalik and Robert Sawina. They then won four consecutive bronze medals followed by two silver medals from

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. The 1990 world champion Per Jonsson was instrumental in much of the success. In-between in 1994, the stadium was renamed again, taking the name of Marian Rose.

2000 to 2008

Toruń were inaugural members of the Ekstraliga in 2000 and in 2001, signed

Tony Rickardsson Jan Tony Sören Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006 and won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. ...

, which instantly saw success as Toruń won their third gold medal. The Polish championship title in 2001 lasted to the final heat of the final match against Atlas Wrocław, with Toruń's riders winning the heat 5-1. They secured two silver medals in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

but in between the team was bought by a trader Roman Karkosik and the name was changed to Unibax Toruń. Plans for a new speedway stadium arose in 2008 and the last league match held at the KS Apator Stadium was a league match against

during the 2008 season, played on 19 October. A fourth gold medal was won during the 2008 season and

Wiesław Jaguś Wiesław Jaguś (born 13 September 1975) is a former Polish speedway rider. Career In August 2006, during the Speedway Grand Prix Qualification he won the GP Challenge, which ensured that he claimed a permanent slot for the 2007 Grand Prix. ...

and

Robert Kościecha Robert Kościecha (born 22 November 1977 in Toruń, Poland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Kościecha won 2005 European Pairs Speedway Champion title. In 2005, he rode in several fixtures for Poole Pirates. Robert ...

also won the pairs.

2009 to present

Racing from a new home, the MotoArena Toruń, the club won three more silver medals and two more bronze medals but in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, the club suffered its first relegation after 44 successive years in the top league. The team won the 2020 1.Liga to gain a quick promotion back to the Ekstraliga.

Previous teams

2025 team *

Patryk Dudek Patryk Dudek (; born 20 June 1992) is a Polish motorcycle speedway rider who is a member of the Poland national speedway team, Polish national speedway team. Career Dudek's father, Sławomir Dudek, Sławomir, was a professional rider and P ...

* Robert Lambert ''(captain)'' *

Mikkel Michelsen Mikkel Michelsen (born 19 August 1994) is a Danish speedway rider. Career Born in Nykøbing Falster, Michelsen took up speedway at the age of 6, and went on to win the Junior World Cup in both 2008 and 2009.Laursen Brock, Jeppe (2013)Speedway ...

Emil Sayfutdinov Emil Damirovich Sayfutdinov (; born 26 October 1989) is a motorcycle speedway rider from Russia. He is a member of the Russia national speedway team. He is a three times World team champion, twice World Junior champion and a two-time winner o ...

Jan Kvěch Jan Kvěch (born 18 October 2001) is a Czech international speedway rider. He is a member of the Czech Republic national speedway team. Career Kvěch won the bronze medal at the Czech Republic Championship in 2019. He qualified for the 20 ...

* Anders Rowe * Mikołaj Duchiński * Antoni Kawczyński * Krzysztof Lewandowski * Oskar Rumiński

Notable riders

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Honours

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:KS Torun

Sport in Toruń 1962 establishments in Poland Sports clubs and teams established in 1962