SPEEDWAY/NEWS/M2E: Bartosz Smektała: I have made many efforts to make this season better

On Friday evening, on the Poznań Radio Afera station, we could hear the new faces of HUNTERS PSŻ – the coach Eryk Jóźwiak and Bartosz Smektała, who talked about how they ended up in Poznań and how the preparations for the upcoming season are going.

• Bartosz Smektała and Eryk Jóźwiak were guests on the Sporting Klub Afera program on Radio Afera.
• Both Smektała and Jóźwiak are new to the club. They also come here after the relegation of their previous employer.
• I decided that I want to ride here. A strong argument was that Poznań is relatively close – says the team’s captain about his reasons for joining HUNTERS PSŻ.
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Bartosz Smektała is a multiple medalist in both individual and team world junior championships, also having successes in the senior category. However, the recent years have not been successful for the athlete. Returning to his home club did not prove to be a salvation, as shown by the PGE Ekstraliga’s average race points ranking in the 2024 season, in which he finished 39th. – It was a poor season for me in many respects. I was not completely satisfied with the equipment or my performance, and I feel like either I didn’t react at the right moment, or I couldn’t handle it. We drew conclusions, and a lot has changed for us. I hope this season will be better. I have made many efforts to make it so. We have invested in several other things related to motorcycles, so everything looks good at the moment, and I also feel good after the first training sessions – said the new speedway rider of HUNTERS PSŻ, speaking to Radio Afera.

How did it happen that Smektała ended up in Poznań? – At some point, I had to make a decision because one club was strongly pushing for my transfer, so we called President Kozaczek to see if he would like to meet. He responded, of course, but next week. The problem was that I was supposed to have signed a document elsewhere by then, so I had to go to the sea where we came to an agreement – said the 26-year-old.

– I decided that I want to ride here. A strong argument was that Poznań is relatively close. The president assured me that the track in Poznań would be at my disposal whenever I want, and that was my main interest. I signed contracts in the Swedish and Danish leagues, so kilometers are not scary, but I wanted to have my home track at hand – he explained.

The new recruit of HUNTERS PSŻ has been preparing for the season for many months. During the winter, he did not even lack motorcycle training because the rider raced on ice. – Yes, I have already ridden on ice, of which I am very satisfied because I had been waiting for a few winters for such thick ice. It’s great fun. I am the kind of rider who will take advantage of this. Every ride on a motorcycle improves certain things. When you get on a motorcycle at the beginning of March, certain muscles that you have forgotten about start to awaken, and indeed, after this ice riding, I returned home and felt as if it was spring, so after these two training sessions, nothing hurts as it always used to – said Smektała about his unusual training on Radio Afera.

The coach of the Poznań speedway team for the upcoming season will be Eryk Jóźwiak, who last year led WYBRZEŻE Gdańsk, experiencing relegation to the National Speedway League. – The decision to leave Gdańsk was made earlier than the relegation. There was a plan to take a break from speedway. In early September, I finished working with Wybrzeże, which I did not announce anywhere, and I asked the club to keep it a secret as long as possible. I felt like when this information goes out, certain movements will begin, and we could no longer maintain the secrecy when an official announcement went out. At 8:00 a.m., the first article appeared on WP SportoweFakty, and by 8:30 a.m., I had the first phone call with an offer. The offer from Poznań came a bit later. The president called me with specifics and asked if I would take on the tasks that needed to be done. He gave me the weekend to think it over, and we met the following week. There were specific tasks laid out in front of me, and a concrete plan was in place, which moved me to come here – the coach said.

– The team has taken a step forward and marked its presence on the speedway arenas. Now our task is to maintain it because it is a great time for speedway in Poznań regarding the city and sponsors. Our work is to keep it going, so it doesn’t get worse, which will not be easy– said Eryk Jóźwiak in the Sporting Klub Afera program.

Marcin Rusewicz