Apator Toruń, historically KS Toruń, known also in the past as Unibax Toruń due to ownership changes, is a Polish speedway team from Toruń, Poland.

Team information

* Name: Klub Sportowy KS Toruń SA * Address: 87-100 Toruń, ul. Pera Jonssona 7 * Home track: MotoArena im. Mariana Rose; ul. Pera Jonssona 7, Toruń * Home arena capacity: 15500

Honours

* Golden Medal: 1986, 1990, 2001, 2008 * Silver Medal: 1995, 1996, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2016 * Bronze Medal: 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2010, 2012

History

Speedway motorcycles roared in Toruń as early as 1930, where they raced in classes according to engine size. The sport, called "Dirt-track" at the time, carried on in Toruń up until World War II. Immediately after the war, racing resumed and the Toruń's Motorcycle Club (Toruński Klub Motocyklowy) was formed. The current speedway track in Toruń saw its first race in 1950 when races were move from Bema street to the then army stadium at Ulica Broniewskiego. At the time,

Zbigniew Raniszewski Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ang ...

was Toruń's best rider. He died during a match in Vienna in the mid-1950s. From 1957 the speedway club operated under the Friends of Soldiers League (Liga Przyjaciół Żołnierza), and one year later Toruń officially raced under the league and won with Unia Leszno. In 1959, the riders from Copernicus's birthplace appeared in the third league placing second to last (7th). In 1960 Toruń was placed in the second league, but the team placed last. In 1962 was founded a speedway club named Stal KS Toruń which started his activity in the second league. Important person for Toruń's speedway history, representing the team in the 1960s was

Marian Rose Marian Rose (1933-1970) was an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Rose won a gold medal in the Speedway World Team Cup in the 1966 Speedway World Team Cup. He was killed in a race at the Stal Rzeszów Speedway Circuit on ...

- first coach, leading rider and one of the best Polish riders at the time. Under his care budded several talented riders, like

Jan Ząbik Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

, Janusz Plewiński, Roman Kościecha or

Bogdan Szuluk Bogdan or Bohdan (Cyrillic: Богдан) is a Slavic masculine name that appears in all Slavic countries as well as Romania and Moldova. It is derived from the Slavic words ''Bog/Boh'' (Cyrillic: Бог), meaning " god", and ''dan'' (Cyrillic: ...

. Marian Rose died after a crash during a match in Rzeszów in 1970. In 1976 the first league was rebuilt into ten teams and Toruń receive a promotion. Since that year Toruń always performed in the prime Polish league. In their first season in highest league they placed 8th. The team was supported by new riders, like

Jerzy Kniaź Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means " swift" in Polish. People ...

from Stal Rzeszów or a young talented fighter

Kazimierz Araszewicz Kazimierz (; la, Casimiria; yi, קוזמיר, Kuzimyr) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Cr ...

, who died in that year. First honours came in early 1980s. In 1983 KS Toruń won their first medal in the league and in 1986 Toruń has reached the top and won their first Polish champion title, overtaking in the table their biggest opponent from neighbourhood,

Polonia Bydgoszcz Polonia Bydgoszcz is a Polish sports club based in Bydgoszcz most known for its speedway team ŻKS Polonia Bydgoszcz which currently races in the 1. Liga. The club has won the Polish Speedway League Championship seven times, the latest in 2002, ...

, at the very end of the season. Best riders in those years were

Wojciech Żabiałowicz Wojciech Żabiałowicz (born 16 October 1957) is a former international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Żabiałowicz was the champion of Poland, winning the Polish Individual Speedway Championship The Individual Speedway Polish ...

, Eugeniusz Miastkowski,

Grzegorz Śniegowski Grzegorz (german: Falkenstein) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmża, within Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Chełmża and north of Toruń ...

Stanisław Miedziński Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

. In the 1990s KS Toruń was one of the best speedway teams in Poland, winning 7 medals in the league, included their second gold in 1990, won with a huge advantage over opponents, being the youngest team in the league. In the 1990s the team was represented by many brilliant riders, like world champion from Sweden Per Jonsson and

Jacek Krzyżaniak Jacek Krzyżaniak (born 18 October 1968 in Toruń, Poland) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Poland, who was a member of Poland national team and won silver medals at 1997 Speedway World Team Cup and 2001 Speedway World C ...

, Mirosław Kowalik,

Robert Sawina Robert Sawina (born 27 May 1971) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Baron represented Poland during the 1992 Speedway World Team Cup. He also reached the 1992 Speedway Under-21 World Championship final. He won the sil ...

, Tomasz Bajerski, Mark Loram, Ryan Sullivan or a future star

Wiesław Jaguś Wiesław Jaguś (born 13 September 1975) is a former Polish speedway rider. Career In August 2006, during the Speedway Grand Prix Qualification he won the GP Challenge, which ensured that he claimed a permanent slot for the 2007 Grand Prix. He ...

. Next golden medal was awarded in 2001, when Toruń has in the squad another Swedish world champion Tony Rickardsson, and also Swedish U-21 world champion

Andreas Jonsson Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015. Career summary Jonsson won Under ...

. Battle over Polish champion title in 2001 lasted to the ending heat of the final match against

Atlas Wrocław An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. Toruń's riders won this heat 5-1 and the crowd became exalted. Two years later another champion, Jason Crump came to Toruń, becoming a new team leader. Other great riders racing for KS in new Millennium were:

Piotr Protasiewicz Piotr Protasiewicz (born 25 January 1975 in Zielona Góra, Poland) is a Polish international speedway rider. Career He has ridden for the Polish national team in the Speedway World Cup in 1996 and 2005. He was also World U-21 Champion in 1996 ...

(brought from Bydgoszcz), Robert Kościecha, Tomasz Chrzanowski,

Adrian Miedziński Adrian Miedziński (born 20 August 1985 in Toruń, Poland) is a Polish motorcycle speedway rider. Career He has won the Team Under-21 World Champion and Individual Under-21 Polish Champion titles. In 2022, while riding for Bydgoszcz he suffer ...

and Karol Ząbik. The year 2006 was the beginning of the new era in Toruń's speedway. After KS's resignation from sponsorship, the team was bought by a trader Roman Karkosik and the name was changed to Unibax. After a silver in 2007 the team was plugged with new riders: Hans Andersen and Chris Holder. It resulted in the fourth golden medal in Toruń's speedway history after beating the title holders, Unia Leszno, in Speedway Ekstraliga final in October 2008.

Team information

Honours

History

Team roster 2022

See also