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Igor

R.I.P. Jerzy Szczakiel

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A name that will never be forgotten by speedway fans everywhere.

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Sorry to hear this -71 is young these days. Was interested he was from Opole, until the end of WW2 it was the German city of Oppeln for almost 200 years.

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Sorry to hear this. A very good rider who was vastly underrated in some quarters. World Champion and good international rider (including 18 point max in one World Class meeting - World Pairs?). 
 

R I P Jerzy

 

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One of the best one-off World Finals (1973)  in my opinion full of drama and good racing...the complete package.

Saw Jerzy ride at Cowley in 1973 prior to his championship win.

May he RIP

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1 hour ago, Wessex Wanderer said:

Sorry to hear this. A very good rider who was vastly underrated in some quarters. World Champion and good international rider (including 18 point max in one World Class meeting - World Pairs?). 
 

R I P Jerzy

 

It was the 1971 World Pairs final. He scored 15 paid 18 - a paid maximum -to take the title along with Andrzej Wyglenda.

That win included a Polish 5-1 over Mauger and Briggs - which would probably explain why Ivan said he saw Jerzy as a threat before the 1973 World final.

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OTD September 2, 1973: Jerzy Szczakiel became Poland’s first World Champion, after defeating defending champion Ivan Mauger in a run-off for first place in Katowice.

It was a huge shock to most people outside of Poland, although the Opole star was more than a match for anyone on Polish turf.

Szczakiel was often unfairly branded the ‘Worst World Champion’ by British fans. He crashed out of the 1973 Daily Mirror International Tournament at Oxford, while he failed to score in the World Team Cup final at Wembley a fortnight after becoming World Champion while riding with an injury sustained practicing for the event.

But he wasn’t a one-hit wonder. He scored a paid maximum for the triumphant Poles in the 1971 World Pairs Final in Rybnik, when he and Andrzej Wyglenda took a comprehensive victory and left the New Zealand pairing of Mauger and Barry Briggs trailing in their wake.

Szczakiel won his opening three outings at Katowice, including a victory over Mauger in Heat 8 – a race in which the Kiwi only mustered a third.

Russian Grigory Khlinovsky bundled the Pole wide in Heat 15, but he came behind to recover second place. He needed to win Heat 18 to clinch the title, but he finished second to Ole Olsen to join Mauger in the run-off for first place on 13 points.

Polish ‘boy wonder’ Zenon Plech should have joined them in the run-off, but for some bizarre refereeing from West German Georg Traunspurger in Heat 19.

Khlinovsky, also in with a chance of the run-off, knocked off Plech as they battled for the lead on the final lap. The referee stopped have stopped the race and excluded the Russian, but allowed it to finish, before booting out the Russian. Under FIM rules of the time, a re-run was not permitted, while first place had to be given to Peter Collins since he had completed the race and Plech had not.

Maybe it’s just as well that Plech wasn’t in the run-off, since he had gained an extra point when Edward Jancarz let him through for victory in Heat 16 in a race stage-managed between four Polish riders.

On the other hand, Szczakiel had won all his points fair and square. In the run-off, he took advantage of a typically ragged start from Traunspurger. Mauger closed in, but he misjudged his inside pass of the Pole on the third bend of the second lap and came crashing down. Szczakiel completed the remaining laps alone to thunderous noise from a crowd of over 100,000.

 Szczakiel become the first rider to defeat Mauger TWICE in the same World Final – a feat only John Louis would repeat. To his credit, Mauger was magnanimous in defeat and often praised Szczakiel. Research showed in the years between ’71 and ’73, the head-to-head between the two riders stood at a very close 7-6 to the Kiwi. Not many riders were able to go toe-to-toe with Mauger over this period.

Szczakiel passed away yesterday at the age of 71. RIP Jerzy.

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