Tarasenko: we want to aim for the highest goals

ZOOLESZCZ GKM Grudziądz lost in the derby match against KS APATOR Toruń 36:54. The guest’s leader at Motoarena was Vadim Tarasenko, who scored 11 points. In an interview for ekstraliga.pl, the rider talked, among other things, about the reasons for the defeat and whether he will stay in Grudziądz for the 2025 season.

Kamil Szyszkowski (ekstraliga.pl): In the end, you lose the derby match quite significantly. What went wrong with your team?

Vadim Tarasenko (ZOOLESZCZ GKM Grudziądz): I believe it was the local track knowledge of the Toruń team. The guys showed that they could ride here perfectly, and it was hard for us to compete. From my side, I can say that I didn’t have too many opportunities to race here. I’m already in my second year in the PGE Ekstraliga, but it’s hard for me to visualize this track. I haven’t ridden many races here. I’m still learning it. The Toruń riders had well-tuned bikes and knew they could attack from the outside. We didn’t have the same certainty of speed to go there. Moreover, I mostly rode after the track was leveled, so I had to focus on the inner line.

Did you observe how the track was behaving between races? It was noticeable that the Toruń riders were constantly attacking wide, while your team was sticking tightly to the inner line.

Exactly. The Toruń riders read the track well. I can’t speak for my other teammates. I had one race without leveling in the 4th race and didn’t know that it was already possible to ride wide. The rest of the races were after leveling, and I didn’t consider whether the track would have enough grip to go wide.

Did the team consult with you about the settings for the Toruń track? After all, you were the leader of the Grudziądz team in this match.

We shared information. I was searching a lot myself. Only for the 11th race did I find optimal settings that I stuck to until the end. Everyone was looking for their best settings. I think it was somewhat unnecessary, and we could have just chosen better lines and adjusted the bikes.

However, it can be said that this track was not entirely Toruń-like. From the times, I can say that it was quite hard. Did that surprise you?

It appeared similarly to the previous match. However, from TV, it looks different than when you look at it with your own eyes. You can’t draw the track in your mind just by watching on TV. I couldn’t figure out much from it.

Your team has a very important match against the team from Częstochowa. If you don’t want to rely on others and advance to the playoffs comfortably, you have to win this match and get 3 points. What is your mindset before this match?

Our team is very ambitious. Everyone will certainly push for points. We will try to win; we want to aim for the highest goals. We will do everything to satisfy both the fans and ourselves.

Have any contract talks for the 2025 season already taken place? Can you tell the fans from Grudziądz whether you will stay with ZOOLESZCZ GKM?

For now, I can say that I enjoy riding in Grudziądz. The people suit me. The time will come, and we will see how everything turns out. We still have a few conversations ahead. I can’t say anything specific yet, but I am happy with all the conditions I have in Grudziądz.

Kamil Szyszkowski