ŻUŻEL/INTERVIEW/M2E: Rafał Okoniewski: The limit of bad luck has been utilized. The goal is clear, and we know what we are aiming for

FOGO UNIA Leszno is facing its first season on the second level of national competition in nearly thirty years. The eighteen-time Polish Team Champions failed to defend their position in the PGE Ekstraliga last year, due to many factors including injuries to key team riders. It was also the first year for Rafał Okoniewski as the team manager. He spoke about his experiences as a coach and the plans for FOGO UNIA in the coming months in the following interview.

• FOGO UNIA started preparations for the 2025 season as early as November. As the team’s coach said in an interview with ekstraliga.pl – everything is heading in the right direction.
• Before heading to the track, the team will still undergo a training camp. This year, FOGO UNIA’s goal will be the mountains.
• We want our riders to have contact with the world’s elite – explained Rafał Okoniewski when choosing sparring partners.
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Marcin Rusewicz (ekstraliga.pl): How are FOGO UNIA’s preparations for the 2025 season going? Are the riders in good condition after the break, in your opinion?

Rafał Okoniewski (manager of FOGO UNIA Leszno): I think that at this stage of preparations, the riders are in very good condition, so everything is going in the right direction. We started preparations for the 2025 season a little earlier than usual, from mid-November, to have more training sessions. It really looks good, and the attendance is almost always one hundred percent, because if someone is absent, it’s usually due to illness, but this doesn’t happen often, which I’m pleased about. Soon, we are entering the final phase of preparations, because February is the month where we have a few intense training sessions left, after which we slow down and then head out to a mountain camp with the team. There, we plan activities like downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, gym training, and mountain hiking, all under the supervision of Mr. Michał Turyński – a great specialist, a well-known MMA fighter, so the guys are in very good hands, and we are watching over them to be well-prepared, and they definitely will be.

When do you plan to bring Joshua Pickering and Benjamin Cook to Poland for the season?

Josh and Ben will arrive only in March, so they will join us after the camp. We want them to normally participate in training sessions with us, including those on the track. If the weather permits, we plan to get on the track between the tenth and the fifteenth of March.

Your sparring partners are INNPRO ROW Rybnik, STELMET FALUBAZ Zielona Góra, and ORLEN OIL MOTOR Lublin, so you won’t compete against any team from your league. Is this solely determined by schedule availability, or was this a deliberate choice?

This was a joint plan. It’s a strategy not to reveal all our cards, and I believe that having competed in the PGE Ekstraliga last year, we are a strong team because our lineup hasn’t changed much. I also believe we should compete with the best. I’m not saying that METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga is a weak league, but I want our riders to have contact with the world’s elite, as we know how strong a team ORLEN OIL MOTOR Lublin is. They will also want a lot of riding because it’s difficult to get on the track early in the spring in Lublin, while in Leszno, the track has always opened earlier. We contacted coach Maciej Kuciapa and booked a date, so I hope the weather will be favorable, allowing us to prepare the track well.

Regarding your schedule for the 2025 season, it starts with a home match against AUTONA UNIA Tarnów, but then you’ll face CELLFAST WILKI Krosno and ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz. What are your thoughts on it?

Away matches will certainly not be easy. We must not underestimate any team because it’s known that FOGO UNIA hasn’t played at a lower league level for a long time, so the tracks are not completely familiar to us. It will be harder for us to adapt or adjust to some of them, but on the other hand, we have experienced riders who race on various types of tracks, and it should be relatively easy for them, and everything will be in order.

Your first year as a club manager. What did this season teach you, and how was it for you?

It was primarily a tough year due to many injuries. I think I managed to get through it somehow, though it wasn’t easy. In the next season, I will certainly be wiser from certain experiences.

So the next season should be much easier for you…

This is sports, and it’s hard to predict anything. You certainly can’t predict injuries, but I think FOGO UNIA’s limit of bad luck has already been completely used. I hope it will avoid us, and we will go through this season safely and healthy. The riders will be well-prepared under expert supervision, which I already observe. Janek Kołodziej also looks much better than last year, which doesn’t mean he was poorly prepared last season but was dealing with an injury during winter. Then he had to operate on his shoulder, and afterward another injury came—a cycle where one untreated injury leads to another. Damian also dealt with an injury sustained in Denmark, but as a coach, I can’t forbid a rider to race anywhere else because the season is short, and they need to compete somewhere. That’s already history, and hopefully, everything will now go smoothly, which I wish for myself and the riders.

In the next season, FOGO UNIA Leszno is only interested in first place, and not being promoted would be seen as a significant failure. True or false?

I would be lying if we weren’t interested. We know what we’re striving for, and our objectives are clear. We want to get promoted, but there are many who want to achieve this, so we are not alone, but we will certainly fight to achieve this goal. As long as injuries avoid us, the riders will make every effort to return to the PGE Ekstraliga.

To follow up on personnel matters, is Hubert Jabłoński’s future already clarified?

Yes. Hubert Jabłoński will not be racing for FOGO UNIA Leszno in the 2025 season.

Marcin Rusewicz