Unia Leszno

History

1949 to 1962

The club competed in the inaugural 1948 Polish speedway season, under the name of LKM Leszno and won the silver medal. The following year they captured the gold medal during the 1949 Polish speedway season and Leszno rider Alfred Smoczyk won the Polish Individual Speedway Championship. The team dominated the Championship during the following period and won six successive league titles from 1949 to 1954. The club later won bronze medals in 1958 and 1962.

1963 to 1978

The 1960s were a much quieter time for the club as Rybnik dominated Polish speedway. Although Henryk Żyto won the 1963 Polish Individual Speedway Championship, the club were relegated in 1964. They won the Polish Speedway First League in 1966 but failed to gain promotion based on the two year system at the time. They finally gained promotion in 1972 and began to compete again by the mid-70s. The team contained riders such as Zdzisław Dobrucki and Bernard Jąder who would win three Polish titles between them. Two bronze medals in 1975 and 1976 and one silver medal in 1977 ensued.

1979 to 1990

1979 to 1990 was a golden period for the club as they won five Polish championship gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. In addition they won the Polish Pairs Speedway Championship five times in 1980, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1989 and Roman Jankowski was twice Polish champion and Zenon Kasprzak was champion in 1990.

1991 to 2001

In contrast to earlier success, the club spent 11 years struggling, with the exception of winning the second division in 1996. They were however inaugural members of the Ekstraliga in 2000.

2002 to present

In 2002, a return to form saw the team win the silver medal and Unia became one of the leading teams in Polish speedway for the next two decades, matching the 1980s achievements. They have won ten medals, including seven gold's in 2007, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Five more Polish Pairs championships were added and riders such as Janusz Kołodziej, Jarosław Hampel and Piotr Pawlicki Jr. have all become Polish champions. Foreign riders such as Leigh Adams, Nicki Pedersen and Emil Saifutdinov have been integral in their gold medal wins in recent years.

Previous teams

2022 team

• POL Janusz Kolodziej
• POL Piotr Pawlicki
• AUS Jason Doyle
• FRA David Bellego
• AUS Jaimon Lidsey
• DEN Jesper Knudsen
• DEN Jonas Kundsen
• AUS James Pearson
• AUS Keynan Rew
• POL Hubert Scibak
• POL Damian Ratajczak
• POL Maksym Borowiak
• POL Antoni Mencel
• POL Hubert Jablonski

2023 team

• AUS Chris Holder
• POL Janusz Kolodziej
• POL Bartosz Smektała
• AUS Jaimon Lidsey
• POL Grzegorz Zengota
• POL Damian Ratajczak
• POL Maksym Borowiak
• POL Antoni Mencel
• POL Hubert Jablonski
• AUS James Pearson
• POL Tobias Musielak
• POL Jakub Oleksiak
• POL Nazar Parnitskyi
• AUS Maurice Brown

Notable riders

Honours

[[Team Speedway Polish Championship|Team Polish Champions]]

• Gold: 18* (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1979, 1980, 1984*, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
• Silver: 8 (1948, 1977, 1982, 1983, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2014)
• Bronze: 7 (1958, 1962, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1985, 1986)

[[Polish Pairs Speedway Championship|Pair Polish Champion]]

• Gold: 10 (1980, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2003, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020)
• Silver: 9 (1978, 1982, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2008, 2016, 2022)
• Bronze: 2 (2007, 2009)

[[Individual Speedway Polish Championship|Individual Polish Champion]]

• Gold: 13 (1949, 1950, 1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1990, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019)
• Silver: 9 (1955, 1962, 1987, 1988, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2016)
• Bronze: 9 (1961, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1996, 2007, 2018, 2021, 2022)

References

References

1. "Passion for speedway".
2. . (10 September 2022). "Speedway from Around the Globe - Poland PGE Ekstraliga".
3. "Historia Speedway Polsce 2022".
4. "HISTORICAL RESULTS 1948-2023".
5. "Historia Speedway Polsce 1948".
6. Bott, Richard. (1980). "The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4". Stanley Paul & Co Ltd.
7. "Historia Speedway Polsce 1962".
8. "Historia Speedway Polsce 1970".
9. "Historia Speedway Polsce 1990".
10. "Historia Drużynowych Mistrzostw Polski".
11. "KADRA KSUL – FOGO Unia Leszno – oficjalny serwis".