Falubaz Zielona Góra
{{for|the former football team|KSF Zielona Góra}}
{{Short description|Polish motorcycle speedway team}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox motorcycle speedway team
|clubname = Falubaz Zielona Góra
|image = File:Falubaz 2023 logo.png
|image_size = 150px
|track = Stadion Żużlowy w Zielonej Górze
ul. Wrocławska 69
65-019 Zielona Góra
|country = Poland
|founded = 1946 (as MKS)
1961 (as Zgrzeblarki)
|closed =
|manager = Marek Mróz
|captain =
|league = Ekstraliga
|website = [http://www.zkzssa.pl/ Official site]
|colours = Yellow, White, Green
{{color box|#FFD02E}} {{color box|#FFFFFF}} {{color box|#0B7E45}}
|tracksize = {{convert|334|m|yd}}
|track record time= 59.22 seconds
|track record date= 3 June 2023
|track record holder= Przemysław Pawlicki
|nickname = Myszy (Mice)
|honour1 = Polish Team Champions
|year1 = 1981, 1982, 1985, 1991, 2009, 2011, 2013
|honour2 = Pairs champions
|year2 = 2009
}}
Falubaz Zielona Góra is a Polish motorcycle speedway team based in Zielona Góra who currently races in PGE Ekstraliga.{{Cite web|url=https://ekstraliga.pl/en/se/table/pgee/2024|title=PGEE - Tables of the competitions|website=ekstraliga.pl}} It is one of the most successful teams in Poland, winning seven Team Speedway Polish Championships (latest in 2013). It is commonly known as Falubaz due to one of its former names.{{cite web |url=http://www.zkzssa.pl/ |title=Official speedway website |website=Falubaz Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://sport.zgora.pl/zuzel |title=speedway section |website= Zielona Góra sports portal |access-date=8 March 2023}}
Stadium
The Zielona Góra Speedway Stadium, informally named as W69, is located on 69 Wrocławska Street. It contains 15,000 seats. The track is 337.50 metres long and has a granite surface. It has had an inflatable airfence since May 4, 2006. The stadium was later renovated with floodlights erected and the track widened on the bends. The club's new headquarters were also built and moved from 31 Dworcowa Street.
History
= 1946 to 1979 =
File:Zbigniew Filipiak (1994).jpg
The club was founded in 1946 with the establishing of a motorcycle department of Militia Sports Club (Polish Milicyjny Klub Sportowy). The first speedway race in the city took place on a 450 meters long track on October 20, 1946. The winner was Zygmunt Dolata as he holds best time of the meeting.
In 1947, Mieczysław Chlebisz, a re-emigrant from the United Kingdom, arrived back in the city, bringing the first professional speedway motorcycle which had been used in Britain. In 1948, a Poznan District League was set up, containing nine teams, including Unia Zielona Góra. The club's riders were (in alphabetical order): Jerzy Błoch, Mieczysław Chlebicz, Kazimierz Juzala, Alfons Kostusiak, Ksawery Sawicki, Józef Śmigielski, Stanisław Świstak and Marian Zadoń.
Second division honours were won in 1963/1964, 1971, 1975 and 1977. In between they won the bronze medal in the Team Speedway Polish Championship in 1973{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1973.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1973 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}} and in 1979 they won their second bronze medal.{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1979.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1979 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}}
= 1980 to 1999 =
File:Morawski(Falubaz) Zielona Góra 1991.jpg
The 1980s saw a period of significant success for the club; they won their first team gold medal in 1981{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1981.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1981 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}} and followed this up by defending their crown in 1982.{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1982.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1982 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}} In addition, Andrzej Huszcza won the 1982 Polish Individual Speedway Championship. Other riders at the time included Henryk Olszak, Maciej Jaworek and Jan Krzystyniak.{{cite web |url=https://speedway.com.pl/teams/zielona-gora/1981/ |title=Zielona Gora 1981 team stats |website=Polish Speedway Database |access-date=8 March 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://speedway.com.pl/teams/zielona-gora/1982/ |title=Zielona Gora 1982 team stats |website=Polish Speedway Database |access-date=8 March 2023}}
Just three years later in 1985 they secured a third gold medal{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1982.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1985 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}} and Maciej Jaworek was Polish champion in 1986. The good form continued as they picked up a silver medal in 1989 before winning a fourth Championship gold medal in 1991.{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayw.pl/pl_1991.htm |title=Historia Speedway Polsce 1991 |website=Historia Speedway |access-date=8 March 2023}} The period of success was followed by nine seasons of mediocrity.
=2000 to 2007 =
File:Speedway Zielona Gora.jpg
When the Ekstraliga was introduced in 2000, Zielona Gora were in 1. Liga but were able to win the division and return to the top league for 2001.{{cite web |url=https://www.zuzelend.com/i,89,Historia-Druzynowych-Mistrzostw-Polski |title=Historia Drużynowych Mistrzostw Polski |website=Zuzeland.com |access-date=8 March 2023}} However they bounced back and forth from the divisions winning the 1.Liga in both 2002 and 2006. Rafał Okoniewski won the Golden Helmet in 2003.
= 2008 to present =
File:Greg Hancock falubaz2010.JPG
It was not until 2008 that they won a top league honour, winning the bronze medal, before being crowned champions of Poland in 2009 for the fifth time in their history.
The team then embarked on another superb run, winning the Polish Pairs Speedway Championship in 2009 (Rafał Dobrucki and Grzegorz Walasek), team silver in 2010, gold in 2011 and 2013. Some of the star riders at the time were former world champion Greg Hancock, Swede, Andreas Jonsson and Piotr Protasiewicz.
During celebrations of the team's 2011 victory, a fan was accidentally run over and by an unmarked police vehicle and died, which led to overnight riots.{{cite news|title=Polish speedway fans attack police after accident |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_POLAND_RIOTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |access-date=4 October 2011 |newspaper=The Associated Press |date=3 October 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Patryk Dudek completed the Polish Championship and Golden Helmet double during the 2016 Polish speedway season and the team picked up a bronze medal.
In 2021 the team were relegated from the Ekstraliga after a 14-year stay.
In their first season in the 1. Liga Falubaz failed to gain promotion back to the top league after losing the promotion play-off final to Wilki Krosno.
In the 2023 season, Falubaz went on to win the league title and get promoted to Ekstraliga after winning all of their 20 matches, becoming only the second club to achieve this feat on the second level after Unia Leszno in 1996.{{Cite web |last=Media |first=Wirtualna Polska |date=2023-10-08 |title=Żużel. Wielki wyczyn Falubazu! Pierwszy taki w tym wieku na zapleczu PGE Ekstraligi |url=https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/1084649/zuzel-wielki-wyczyn-falubazu-pierwszy-taki-w-tym-wieku-na-zapleczu-pge-ekstralig |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=sportowefakty.wp.pl |language=pl}}
Teams
= 2024 Team =
- {{flagicon|POL}} Przemysław Pawlicki
- {{flagicon|POL}} Jarosław Hampel
- {{flagicon|DEN}} Rasmus Jensen
- {{flagicon|CZE}} Jan Kvěch
- {{flagicon|POL}} Piotr Pawlicki
- {{flagicon|POL}} Michał Curzytek
- {{flagicon|POL}} Krzysztof Sadurski
- {{flagicon|POL}} Oskar Hurysz
- {{flagicon|POL}} Kacper Rychliński
- {{flagicon|POL}} Mateusz Łopuski
=Previous teams=
{{collapse top}}
2022 team
- {{flagicon|POL}} Piotr Protasiewicz
- {{flagicon|CZE}} Jan Kvěch
- {{flagicon|AUS}} Max Fricke
- {{flagicon|AUS}} Rohan Tungate
- {{flagicon|POL}} Mateusz Tonder
- {{flagicon|POL}} Krzysztof Buczkowski
- {{flagicon|POL}} Antoni Mencel
- {{flagicon|POL}} Maksym Borowiak
- {{flagicon|POL}} Fabian Ragus
2023 team
- {{flagicon|POL}} Przemysław Pawlicki
- {{flagicon|POL}} Krzysztof Buczkowski
- {{flagicon|DEN}} Rasmus Jensen
- {{flagicon|CZE}} Jan Kvěch
- {{flagicon|AUS}} Rohan Tungate
- {{flagicon|USA}} Luke Becker
- {{flagicon|POL}} Fabian Ragus
- {{flagicon|POL}} Dawid Rempała
- {{flagicon|POL}} Filip Frącewicz
- {{flagicon|POL}} Kacper Rychliński
{{collapse bottom}}
Notable riders
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
- {{player||POL|Rafał Dobrucki}}
- {{player||POL|Patryk Dudek}}
- {{player||USA|Greg Hancock}}
- {{player||POL|Andrzej Huszcza}}
- {{player||POL|Maciej Jaworek}}
- {{player||SWE|Andreas Jonsson}}
- {{player||POL|Jan Krzystyniak}}
- {{player||POL|Rafał Okoniewski}}
- {{player||POL|Henryk Olszak}}
- {{player||POL|Piotr Protasiewicz}}
- {{player||POL|Grzegorz Walasek}}
}}
Honours
{{Polish speedway club honours
| DMP 1 =7|DMP 1y =1981, 1982, 1985, 1991, 2009, 2011, 2013
| DMP 2 =2|DMP 2y =1989, 2010
| DMP 3 =5|DMP 3y =1973, 1979, 1984, 2008, 2016
|MDMP 1 =5|MDMP 1y =1980, 1987, 1988, 2019, 2020
|MDMP 2 = |MDMP 2y =
|MDMP 3 =7|MDMP 3y =1979, 1986, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2014
| MPPK 1 =4|MPPK 1y =1979, 1982, 1983, 2009
| MPPK 2 =7|MPPK 2y =1993, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2020
| MPPK 3 =3|MPPK 3y =1986, 2008, 2021
|MMPPK 1 =4|MMPPK 1y =1988, 2001, 2019, 2020
|MMPPK 2 =2|MMPPK 2y =2009, 2011
|MMPPK 3 =6|MMPPK 3y =1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 2002, 2015
| IMP 1 =3|IMP 1y =1982, 1986, 2016
| IMP 2 =2|IMP 2y =1980, 1992
| IMP 3 =9|IMP 3y =1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2017
|MIMP 1 =7|MIMP 1y =1973, 1975, 1982, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2013
|MIMP 2 =3|MIMP 2y =1971, 1978, 1989
|MIMP 3 =8|MIMP 3y =1977, 1981, 1984, 1992, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2020
| KPE 1 = |KPE 1y =
| KPE 2 = |KPE 2y =
| KPE 3 =1|KPE 3y =2010
|DPP 1 =1|DPP 1y =1992
|DPP 2 = |DPP 2y =
|DPP 3 = |DPP 3y =
| ZK 1 =4|ZK 1y =1983, 2003, 2007, 2016
| ZK 2 =4|ZK 2y =1989, 1991, 2009, 2011
| ZK 3 =8|ZK 3y =1978, 1983, 1985, 1986, 2000, 2010, 2013, 2019
|SK 1 =11|SK 1y =1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1993, 2009, 2016
|SK 2 =10|SK 2y =1970, 1978, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013
|SK 3 =7|SK 3y =1976, 1979, 1981, 1989, 1997, 2001, 2011
| BK 1 =3|BK 1y =1985, 2010, 2011
| BK 2 =3|BK 2y =1976, 1986, 2009
| BK 3 =6|BK 3y =1978, 1986, 1987, 1995, 2000, 2016
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Polish speedway teams}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zkz Zielona Gora}}
Category:Speedway teams in Poland
Category:Sport in Zielona Góra