Warsaw Speedway has consisted of several former

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 ...

teams and stadia, including the current major venue for the sport at the

Stadion Narodowy The Stadion Narodowy (, ), known for sponsorship reasons as the PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna, PGE Narodowy since 2015 (with patron being added in 2021), is a retractable-roof football (soccer), football stadium located in Warsaw, Poland. It is ...

History

1923 to 1939

The origins of speedway in Warsaw began with the founding of two clubs in the city; the first in 1923, when the Polish Motorcycle Club (Polski Klub Motorowy, PKM) were formed. One of its founders was Witold Rychter and the club's members took part in motorcycle and car competitions throughout the interwar period. The second club created in Warsaw was in late 1929, when the

Legia Warsaw (sports club) Legia Warszawa (), known in English as Legia Warsaw, is a Polish multi-sports club based in Warsaw, Poland. History and overview Legia was formed between 5 and 15 March 1916 during military operations in World War I on the Eastern Front in the ...

created a motorcycle section, officially celebrating its anniversary on 8 December. The first speedway was raced on 9 November 1930 at the

Polish Army Stadium The Polish Armed Forces, Polish Army Stadium (, ), official named the Marshall Józef Piłsudski Legia Warsaw Stadium (), is an all-seater stadium, all-seater, UEFA stadium categories, highest fourth category football-specific stadium located at 3 ...

. The progression of speedway in Poland was halted by

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 ...

1948 to 1959

Swimming pools and stadium Skra Warsaw 1984 aerial

It was not until 1948 that the first league season of speedway in Poland was held. The

1948 Polish speedway season The 1948 Polish Speedway season was the 1948 season of motorcycle speedway in Poland. Individual Polish Individual Speedway Championship The individual event was cancelled. Start list Kraków, October 24 *First league ** Jan Wąsikowski – ...

contained both PKM Warszawa and Legia Warszawa, in addition to a third club called OM TUR Okęcie Warszawa (the speedway section of the Workers' Sports Club Okęcie Warszawa), who raced at Stadion RKS Skra. The team of PKM Warszawa, consisting of Jan Wąsikowski, Jerzy Dąbrowski, Stanisław Brun and Mieczysław Chlebicz, were crowned the first winners of 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 ...

. The following year in 1949, the Okęcie speedway merged with the Skra-Związkowiec Warszawa speedway section and went on to win the silver medal in the

1949 Polish speedway season The 1949 Polish Speedway season was the 1949 season of motorcycle speedway in Poland. Individual Polish Individual Speedway Championship The 1949 Individual Speedway Polish Championship was held in Leszno on 23 October 1949. It was the fifth ru ...

. PKM competing as PKM Ogniwo Warszawa finished 5th and Legia did not compete. After the 1950 season the speedway leagues were re-organised, which resulted in PKM Warszawa being dissolved and Skra-Związkowiec becoming Budowlani Warszawa. Legia returned in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

under the name of CWKS Warszawa (the Central Military Sports Club of the Polish Army) but was then relocated to

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. From 1952 to 1954, only Budowlani represented Warsaw before CWKS Warszawa returned for the 1955 season. In 1957, CWKS reverted to the name Legia Warszawa and Budowlani reverted to the name Skra Warszawa. Legia also celebrated their first Polish champion in

Marian Kaiser Marian Kaiser (14 January 1933 – 10 April 1991) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He earned 31 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Speedway career Kaiser reached the final of the Speedway Worl ...

, before winning the bronze medal in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. The 1959 season turned out to be the last season of league speedway participation by any Warsaw club for 40 years because both Legia and Skra were dissolved under different circumstances. Legia merged with LPŻ Neptun Gdańsk but remained in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

and Skra was disbanded. The only speedway in Warsaw was the continuation of the qualifying rounds of the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

at the

in 1961, 1962 and 1964 (it had previously held rounds in (1956, 1957 and 1958). At the end of 1987, the speedway track was removed from the stadium.

2000 to 2003

Forty years after the last league speedway in Warsaw, later the

Gwardia Warsaw WKS Gwardia Warszawa () was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. The club was dissolved in 2018. Football It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953 to 1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–19 ...

sports club introduced a speedway section and a team by the name of WSŻ Gwardia Warszawa entered the

2000 Polish speedway season The 2000 Polish Speedway season was the 2000 season of motorcycle speedway in Poland. Individual Polish Individual Speedway Championship The 2000 Individual Speedway Polish Championship final was held on 15 August at Piła. Golden Helmet ...

in the

Polish Speedway Second League The Polish National Speedway League or Krajowa Liga Żużlowa, formerly 2 Liga żużlowa is the third division of motorcycle speedway in Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from t ...

, racing at the

Gwardia Warsaw Stadium The Gwardia Warsaw Stadium () was a 9,000-capacity multi-use stadium in Warsaw, Poland. It was primarily used for association football and later motorcycle speedway. History The site was originally part of the Mokotów Airport from 1910 to ...

. The following season in 2001, the Warsaw Speedway Society (Warszawskie Towarzystwo Żużlowe) took over the club and ran as WTŻ Warszawa before yet another change for the 2002 season, when the Warsaw Motor Club ran as WKM Warszawa. The 2002 season resulted in promotion to 1. Liga. The promotion seemed inevitable because the club had signed famous names, such as former world champion

Sam Ermolenko Guy Allen Ermolenko (born November 23, 1960 Maywood, California) is a former motorcycle speedway rider. During his career he was known as Sam Ermolenko. In 1993, he won the Speedway World Championship. Career Early career After originally ...

, in addition to former international riders Andy Smith,

Craig Boyce Craig Vincent Boyce (born 2 August 1967 in Sydney, Australia) is a former motorcycle speedway rider who primarily rode for the Poole Pirates in the British Elite League (speedway), Elite League. After retiring from riding, Boyce became manager ...

and

Roman Jankowski Roman Jankowski (born 5 October 1957 in Kościan, Poland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 47 international caps for the Poland speedway team and was twice champion of Poland. Career Jancarz rode from 1976 until 2006. He won t ...

. Unfortunately the 2003 1.Liga season was a disaster, WKM Warszawa ending the campaign bottom of the table with just four points and then disbanding.

2015 to present

In 2015, the

Speedway Grand Prix of Poland The Speedway Grand Prix of Poland is a motorcycle speedway event that is a part of the Speedway Grand Prix series (world championship). History From 1995 until 2009 the Grand Prix of Poland was only held once every year, primarily at the Pol ...

, which is part of the

series, was held at the

. It has held subsequent rounds in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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 ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

{{coord missing, Masovian Voivodeship Speedway venues in Poland Speedway teams in Poland Sports venues in Warsaw