The Australian who challenged Bartosz Zmarzlik. Brady Kurtz with his first Grand Prix win
Kurtz left Prague with just 7 points in the general classification. Zmarzlik won in the Czech Republic, earning 20 points and his current advantage practically "hangs" on that victory.
1. Brady Kurtz (Australia) – 15 (2,3,1,3,3,3) – 20 GP2 points. Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland) – 15 (3,1,3,3,3,2) – 18 3. Daniel Bewley (Great Britain) – 11+3 (0,3,3,3,2,1) – 164. Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) – 12+3 (3,2,2,3,2,0) – 145. Jason Doyle (Australia) – 6+2 (1,0,3,2,w) – 126. Anders Thomsen (Denmark) – 6+2 (2,1,w,2,1) – 117. Max Fricke (Australia) – 8+1 (1,2,2,2,1) – 108. Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark) – 6+1 (1,0,1,1,3) – 99. Jack Holder (Australia) – 11+0 (2,2,3,1,3) – 810. Jan Kvěch (Czech Republic) – 9+d (3,3,d,2,1) – 711. Dominik Kubera (Poland) – 5 (0,3,2,0,0) – 612. Andžejs Ļebedevs (Latvia) – 5 (0,2,1,1,1) – 513. Robert Lambert (Great Britain) – 5 (1,1,0,1,2) – 414. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany) – 4 (3,1,d,-,-) – 315. Oskar Paluch (Poland) – 3 (0,0,1,0,2) – 216. Bartłomiej Kowalski (Poland) – 2 (2,0,0) – 117. Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) – 2 (2,in,-,-,-)
18. Kevin Malkiewicz (Poland) – 0 (d,d)
28-year-old Brady Kurtz rode in the PGE Ekstraliga league a year ago – he won promotion to it in the colors of ROW Rybnik, after which he moved to Betard Sparta Wrocław. Earlier, in the years 2020-2022, he represented Orzeł Łódź, averaging around 2 points per race. Nothing indicated that it would be him, perhaps the first since Artiom Łaguta (and the Russians' ejection from the Grand Prix), who would seriously challenge Zmarzlik. Previously, since 2018, the Australian rode for the Ekstraliga Unia Leszno. They gave up on Kurtz, focusing on developing the talent of another rider from the Antipodes, Jaimon Lidsey. Lidsey, three years younger than Kurtz, has barely scratched the surface of the Grand Prix so far – he appeared in one tournament in 2021.
– I couldn’t imagine it as a kid, but even two years ago, that I would approach the Grand Prix as a rookie and win a round straight away – admitted Brady Kurtz after the competition in Gorzów. He is the ninth Australian in history to win the SGP tournament and the 49th winner overall.
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However, Zmarzlik remains the favourite for a sixth world championship title. In two weeks, the series moves to Malilla, Sweden, where the "F-16" has already won four times.
1. Zmarzlik – 113 pts. 2. Kurtz – 102 3. Lindgren – 87 4. Bewley – 815. Holder – 77 6. Fricke – 567. Ļebedevs – 518. Lambert – 479. Kubera – 4510. Thomsen – 4311. Michelsen – 4312. Vaculik – 38 13. Kvěch – 3814. Doyle – 2515. Huckenbeck – 2516. Patryk Dudek (Poland) - 16 17. Leon Madsen (Denmark) - 16 18. Charles Wright (Great Britain) – 7 19. Erik Riss (Germany) - 2 20. Paluch – 221. Daniel Klima (Czech Republic) - 1
22. Kowalski – 1
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