On Saturday 30 April 2016 a good crowd of over 2000 spectators watched an exciting event in Hungary.
Debrecen hosted in fact the Individual European Championship Semi Final 1, the season opener in Track Racing.
Only 4 riders out of 16 from this round would qualify for the European Challenge on May 25th in Olching (Germany).
Due to weather conditions of the day before – it was raining all day long – the track was a bit wet in the beginning and needed an extra track maintenance in between, but it got better an better.
It was a tight meeting, with hard fights and close finishes in a nice and warm Saturday afternoon.
At the end of 20 heats a run off was needed for the first 3 podium places and for the 4th qualifying place. For the 4th place, it was a challenge among 4 riders and Leon Madsen from Denmark was qualified.
Unfortunately for runner up in this heat Linus Sundström from Sweden, Patryk Dudek from Poland and Timo Lahti from Finland, the Championship finished here.
In the struggle for the podium, in lap 3 Eduard Krecmar from Czech Republic overtook Martin Smolinski from Germany and was able to maintain the first place till the end. Third place for Peter Ljund from Sweden.
The organizer was very happy with the event and the mayor of the city announced that they are thinking to build a new Speedway Stadium for the next European and World Speedway Championship events.
