Statistical Summary of METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga. Brady Kurtz the Best Speedway Rider of the Competition

The 2024 speedway season has already gone down in history. After an exciting regular phase and dramatic playoffs, INNPRO ROW Rybnik was promoted to PGE Ekstraliga. As for individual statistics, Brady Kurtz excelled in them, achieving the highest run point average and scoring the most points. Who was behind him?

In METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga, Kurtz was unmatched. The Australian, although overshadowed by Krzysztof Buczkowski until mid-season, surpassed the Pole in terms of numbers and moved up in several rankings to take first place. One of them is the average ranking, where the leader of INNPRO ROW achieved a result of 2.402 points/run. Second in this classification was the mentioned Buczkowski, with an average of 2.351 points/run. The 38-year-old led ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz to the final of the competition. Closing the podium in this ranking is Gleb Chugunov, who before the season moved to ARGED MALESA Ostrowa from the top-tier BAYERSYSTEM GKM Grudziądz. His name is associated with an average of 2.241 points/run.

In terms of points scored on the track, the top three looks similar. In the 2024 season, Brady Kurtz accumulated as many as 222 “points.” In the playoffs alone, he scored 65. Moreover, the Australian only once finished a match without a double-digit score. This happened… in the league’s second leg final. Following Kurtz is Krzysztof Buczkowski, who lost the competition by just seven points, riding one more match. After the leader of ABRAMCZYK POLONIA, in third place is the representative of #ORZECHOWAOSADA PSŻ Poznań – Oleksandr Loktayev. The Ukrainian had a phenomenal second half of the season, accumulating a total of 194 points.

If these statistics were divided by individual heats, Kurtz crossed the finish line first the most times, 55 in total. In the case of Buczkowski, it was 49 times, and for Loktayeva, 46 times. The situation is different when it comes to the second places ranking. There, the top is comprised of Chris Holder (34), Szymon Szlauderbach (33), and Andreas Lyager (32). The most frequently rewarded with just one “point” after the race was Norick Bloedorn, doing so 34 times. As for the unfortunate fourth places, Franciszek Karczewski (25) primarily finished races without points.

The “king” of bonuses was Mateusz Szczepaniak. The speedway rider accumulated a total of 27 throughout the entire season. This is almost seven times more than last year when Rohan Tungate was at the top of this ranking. Now, the Australian is in third place in this regard.

It is also worth mentioning the best riders of various categories. The most effective junior of METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga in the 2024 season was Sebastian Szostak, thanks to whom his ARGED MALESA also performed the best in this category, scoring an average of 7.44 points per match with riders under 21. In the category of Polish seniors, the top position remains with Ostrowa athletes. Their result is an average of 21.44 points for each meeting. Conversely, this looks different in the ranking of non-Polish riders. Foreign riders were the strongest side of #ORZECHOWAOSADA PSŻ Poznań (29.44 pts/match). When it comes to U24 riders, Tim Sorensen from ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz turned out to be the best transfer, ending the competition with an average of 1.783 points/run, which gave him the 26th place in the league. Interestingly, just behind him, in 27th place, is his compatriot – Jonas Seifert-Salk, with a score of 1.662 points/run.

The title of the unluckiest rider of the season could be assigned to Wiktor Rafalski. The junior from TEXOM STAL Rzeszów had five breakdowns this year. In total, speedway motorcycles broke down 55 times, which compared to last year’s season is a higher number – in 2023, there were 52 breakdowns. Most tapes were recorded by Miłosz Wysocki (2). This is exactly 12.5% of all tapes torn throughout the year. The letter “W” was noted in the program 83 times during all 68 matches.

An important aspect of every sport is the fans. These, in turn, were most willing to attend stadiums in Bydgoszcz, Rybnik, and Krosno. In total, 350,618 fans sat in the stadium seats for the season of 2024. More on attendance at METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga stadiums can be read HERE.

Marcin Rusewicz