Motorcycle Speedway By Anna Dziedzic

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti- clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes, or gearbox. This sport is especially popular in Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and in Poland.

Polish name „żużel” (slag) and popular term „black sport” came from times when only the slag was used as a base material on the track. Nowadays, the track surface consists of four layers of grading; shale, granite, brick granules or other loose material of which no individual piece can be over 7 millimetres in size have replaced slag granules. More common name of this sport is the speedway.

Beginnings This sport has its beginning in early 20’s of twentieth century. Races were irregular, and only ordinary road motorcycles were used. Grass fields or other flat surfaces were the very first places where the first speedway races were held. The first speedway meeting took place on 15 December 1923 at the Maitland Showground in the Lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia.

Variations An international individual speedway championship has taken various forms since its beginnings in the 1930s. Each of these forms vary - the type of surface may be different, length of track, too. Different world regions have their favourite speedway types too, of course.

The oldest and most popular variety is called „classic slag”, which is held on the tracks with a length of on loose surface (brick, slag, shale, granite granules). The length of the track may change race specificication. Tracks up to 300 m (i.e. technical), which are popular in Great Britain, are more demanding as far as racer’s skills are concerned. The most popular tracks in Poland vary from 320 m to 400m. Races consist of four riders racing over four laps. This variety is the most popular in Poland, Sweden and the UK as these countries have the most developed speedway leagues in the world.

In some countries of former USSR very popular variation of speedway is ice speedway. This type of racing features racing on frozen surfaces. The sport uses bikes enhanced for the terrain. Bikes have studded tyres, longer wheelbase and more rigid frame.

Any motor sport expose competitors to danger. In the case of speedway it is especially frequent as participants have immediate contact with themselves. However, only small number of accidents poses serious consequences. In the history of Polish speedway there are only 40 fatal accidents. In the honor of dead racers many tournaments are held annually.

Bibliography C5%BClowy