Debrecen can host the SEC (Speedway Euro Championship), i.e. the first final of this year’s individual European Championship, on June 8 – announced the organizers at the Wednesday press conference announcing the 2024 Debrecen cinder bike racing season.
In 2001, the International Motorsport Federation (FIM) established the individual European Championship for dirt bikes. The fight series was renamed One Sport SEC in 2013 by the new promoter, and since then, instead of the one-day final, the fate of the championship has been decided by four rounds – the organizers explained the history of the series.
Norbert Baráth, the managing director of Speedwolf Sportsorganizer Nonprofit Kft., emphasized at the press conference that such a prestigious dirt bike competition has not been held in Hungary since the existence of the sport. He added that Speedwolf has proven itself because it organized so many qualifying competitions, as it will do this year, but the training camps held here by different nations also brought good news to Debrecen.
He announced that five competitors have a place in the finals, namely the Danish champion Mikkel Michelsen and his compatriot Leon Madsen, the Polish Janusz Kolodziej and Patryk Dudek, and the Latvian Andzejs Lebedevs. They will be joined by the best five clay players who have advanced from the SEC Challenge, five players who receive permanent starting rights from One Sport, and one free card per location.
In this year’s series, after Debrecen, the finals will be organized in Grudziadz, Poland, on July 20, then in Güstrow, Germany, on August 24, and finally in Chorzów, also in Poland, on September 21, said Norbert Baráth.
The managing director of Speedwolf Sportsorganizer Nonprofit Kft. explained the competition calendar and emphasized that Debrecen will host not only the SEC final, but also one of the qualifiers, which will immediately start the clay year 2024 in the city of Cívisváros, because on May 1st the individual European Championship qualification competition is held here.
He also explained that there will also be a competition on May 20 this year, when the Grand Prix World Championship Qualifier will be held, followed by the aforementioned European Championship Final, after which the 250cc Youth European Championship Semi-Finals and fans of the sport can see the final. On August 20, the cobblers will compete for the 49th Debrecen Grand Prix, while on October 12 the flat track World Cup final will be held at the Perényi Pál Salakmotor Stadium.
Deputy Mayor Lajos Barcsa highlighted at the press conference that since the organization and operation of the stadium was handed over to Speedwolf in 2019, the public has been able to see prestigious events every year since then. Last year, five competitions were held, an average of three thousand people visited each test, and more than five thousand for the 48th Debrecen Grand Prix. All this shows that there is a lot of interest in the sport, not only from Debrecen, but from the agglomeration, even in some cases at the national level, but also across borders – explained Lajos Barcsa.
Last year, the city supported slag motorsports with HUF 11 million, and the municipality wants to support Speedwolf in the same way this year, but the settlement’s budget is still being negotiated, so information about the specific amount will be available later, said the deputy mayor.
Schaeffler Debrecen Kft. has supported the sport since the beginning, and managing director Péter Szabó explained that where this sport has reached in recent years is a success story, and it is always good to be part of a success story. A Grand Prix round is still missing, but everyone can be proud of what this sport has achieved in the city so far – emphasized Péter Szabó.
(MTI)
