Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain 2026: Kurtz Steals Manchester
Two nights, two Grand Prix, and Belle Vue’s own skipper walks away leading the world. Manchester got the lot this weekend, so here’s how the double-header actually went down.
The National Speedway Stadium doesn’t do quiet weekends, and the FIM ATPI Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain proved it twice over. Rounds three and four of the World Championship, back to back on Friday and Saturday, in front of a Belle Vue crowd that got to watch one of their own end the weekend top of the pile. You couldn’t have scripted it better if you tried.
Friday: Fricke leads an all-Aussie clean sweep
King’s Lynn number one Max Fricke kept his head down all night and walked off with the lot. It was his third career Grand Prix win, and it came the hard way. He binned a last place in his opening ride, then went through the card and held off Belle Vue captain Brady Kurtz when it mattered most in the Final.
Sheffield’s Jack Holder made it an Australian one-two-three on the rostrum, fighting back from the gate in his Last Chance Qualifier through a late downpour that turned the track greasy. The big talking point, though, was the bloke who wasn’t on the podium. World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik topped qualifying with a string of proper passing moves, picked the outside gate for the Final, ran out of room early on and came down. The re-run was Fricke’s to control, and he did.
Kacper Woryna walked away from a heavy one in his last ride. No drama on the result for him, but good to see him on his feet. Friday left Zmarzlik clinging to a one-point series lead over Kurtz, with Holder lurking four back.
Saturday: Kurtz from last to first, and a championship swing
Then Saturday happened. If you missed it, you missed one of the best Grand Prix Finals the series has thrown up in years.
Kurtz lined up off gate four and was dead last on lap one. Michael Jepsen Jensen led away, Zmarzlik fired through to the front off bend four, and at half distance it was Kurtz, Zmarzlik and Jepsen Jensen virtually three abreast down the home straight. Out of that scrap, Kurtz found a gap nobody else could see and came out in front. Last to first, four laps, on his home track. Mega.
There was needle behind him too. Jepsen Jensen firmly shut the door on Zmarzlik on turn three, leaving the defending champ to claw back a podium spot off Holder on the final lap. Jepsen Jensen took second and announced himself as a genuine threat, topping qualifying with 14 and using that inside line off turn four all night.
Kurtz, typically, played it down afterwards. By his own account he had no idea how he’d done it, hadn’t seen the replay, knew he’d made an awful start, but trusted he had the speed on the outside if he could get there. He got there.
The standings: a new name on top
That win flipped the title race. Kurtz now leads the World Championship on 65, three clear of Zmarzlik on 62, with Holder third on 55. Jepsen Jensen’s weekend lifts him to fourth on 45, Woryna’s on 44, and Fricke’s Friday heroics put him level with Robert Lambert on 42.
Brit watch
No home rider troubled the rostrum across the two nights, but Lambert had his moments, making good starts in the qualifiers before getting mugged by riders with more in hand. He sits joint-sixth in the standings, which keeps him in the conversation. Tom Brennan had a weekend to forget. The Aussie contingent riding British league colours, Fricke at King’s Lynn and Holder at Sheffield, did most of the damage.
What’s next
The series rolls on to Wroclaw on June 20, which is more or less Kurtz’s Polish back garden. He heads there with the red plate and momentum. Closer to home, Belle Vue are straight back to league business hosting Leicester on Monday June 15.
Plenty more racing where that came from, on track and trackside. Find what’s on near you, whatever you ride.
