Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium

Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium
Location Bydgoszcz, Poland
Coordinates 53°7′39″N 18°1′27″E / 53.12750°N 18.02417°E / 53.12750; 18.02417Coordinates: 53°7′39″N 18°1′27″E / 53.12750°N 18.02417°E / 53.12750; 18.02417
Owner Bydgoszcz
Operator Polonia Bydgoszcz
Capacity 20,000
Surface Grass
Opened August 3, 1924
Tenants
Speedway team: Polonia Bydgoszcz

Polonia Stadium (Polish: Stadion Polonii Bydgoszcz) is a multi-purpose stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland. It is currently used mostly for speedway matches (formerly for football) and is the home stadium of Polonia Bydgoszcz. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 people and was opened in 1924 by president Stanisław Wojciechowski.

History

The stadium has hosted the Final of both the old Speedway World Team Cup in 1995 and the Speedway World Cup in 2014. It has also hosted 16 Speedway Grand Prix events including the final of the 2008 season which was actually run as the FIM Final Speedway Grand Prix. The final was to be the Speedway Grand Prix of Germany and held at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, however the FIM deemed that track to be unsafe due to the inclement weather (despite the Veltins-Arena sporting a retractable roof which was closed at the time the track was laid) and the GP was re-staged a week later in Bydgoszcz.

Poland's 2010 World Champion Tomasz Gollob is the most successful Grand Prix rider at the track, winning 7 of the 16 Grand Prix held in Bydgoszcz including the first GP held there, the 1998 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland.

The speedway track at the stadium is 348 metres (381 yards) in length. Tomasz Gollob is the track record holder with 60.11 seconds for a 4 lap race with a clutch start. Gollob set his time on 20 June 1999.

Speedway World Finals

World Team Cup

World Cup

Speedway Grand Prix

* Event re-staged in Bydgoszcz due to FIM ruling the track at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany was unsafe due to bad weather. As it was run in Poland it was renamed the "FIM Final Speedway Grand Prix".

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bydgoszcz#Polonia.
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