‘Night of the Fights’ in Cloppenburg: Danes celebrate double victory in speedway

Mikkel Bech had already won in Cloppenburg once before in 2018, but then retired from speedway at the end of the 2019 season. In 2026, the Dane returned to the oval and was able to build on his past successes at the ‘Night of the Fights’. In his first four heats, the comeback rider remained unbeaten and was even able to bounce back from a fall in the tenth heat, when he went down following contact with Patrick Wojdylo. Bech suffered his only loss of points in the final heat, when he conceded a point to his compatriot Mads Hansen. With 14 points, he topped the standings after the heats ahead of Hansen and the Latvian Francis Gusts, who had both scored 13 points.

German riders impressed only sporadically

The German riders had a tough time in Cloppenburg: Martin Smolinski crashed in the first heat alongside Beau Bailey and still managed to score a point in the re-run, before recording a clear zero in the second heat. Lukas Fienhage faced a rider from a lower division in his first race and still managed to secure a point ahead of Jonny Wynant. In his second race, Fienhage was initially in second place but then dropped back to third behind Bailey. Smolinski faced a similar fate in the third heat: he was initially in second place, but was then successfully overtaken by Mads Hansen and ultimately finished third. Fienhage secured his first German victory in the twelfth heat, getting off to a good start from the inside grid position. Whilst the North German failed to score any points in the fourth and fifth heats, Smolinski claimed two heat wins and thus still made it through to the semi-finals. In the 16th race, the Olchinger consistently stayed on the inside and was thus able to work his way past Patrick Wojdylo. In the 19th race, too, ‘Smoli’ managed to move up the field after initially being only third off the start. Jonny Wynant scored five points, his brother Carl one.

Final without German representation

In the first semi-final, Mikkel Bech and Tom Brennan took the lead and secured their places in the final, which meant the end of the race for Smolinski, who finished last. In the second semi-final, Mads Hansen won ahead of Benjamin Basso, whilst Francis Gusts, who had scored 13 points in the heats, finished last and was eliminated. This meant that the final featured three Danes and one Briton: Bech, Basso, Hansen and Brennan. The final was a straightforward affair for Bech, who moved into the lead from the outside and won ahead of Basso and Brennan.

Results: ‘Night of the Fights’, Cloppenburg, Germany:

Topic of the week

Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring: track – hit or miss?

The people of Madrid had set their sights high for their city’s first Formula 1 World Championship race since 1981. But have the high expectations for the new Madring mixed-circuit track really been met?

Mathias Brunner

Read More