Orzeł Łódź (''Eagle Lodz'') is a Polish motorcycle speedway team based in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

who currently race in the

Polish Speedway First League The Polish Speedway First League or Liga.1 żużlowa is the second division of motorcycle speedway in Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces ...

(1. Liga). The club's full name is H. Skrzydlewska Eagle Lodz.

Stadium

The club hold their meetings at the Moto Arena Łódź, which opened in July 2018.

History of speedway in Łódź

Tramwajarz Łódź and DKS Łódź

Speedway in Łódź began in 1948 with two clubs called Tramwajarz Łódź (tram drivers) and DKS Łódź. Both Tramwajarz and DKS competed in the inaugural 1948 Polish speedway season. Three years later the club moved to Bytom and changed their name to Ogniwo, before returning a year later. In 1954, the club became Sparta before but changed again to its original name of Tramwajarz before the club disbanded in 1964. Tadeusz Kołeczek of Ogniwo Łódź finished second in

Polish Individual Speedway Championship The Individual Speedway Polish Championship (Polish: ''Indywidualne Mistrzostwa Polski, IMP'') is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1932. The current Polish Champion is Bartosz Zmarzlik ( S ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

Włodzimierz Szwendrowski Włodzimierz Szwendrowski (1931–2013) was an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Szwendrowski was the champion of Poland on two occasions, winning the Polish Individual Speedway Championship in 1951 and 1955. Referen ...

of Sparta Łódź, won the title in 1955.

Gwardia Łódź

Gwardia Łódź was formed in 1967 and ran for 14 years until 1980; they stayed in the second division and often languished in the lower half.

JAG Speedway Club

After 15 years without speedway in the city a team was formed with the name JAG or Holiday Club Łódź. They competed from 1995 to 1998.

ŁTŻ Łódź

In 1999, ŁTŻ Łódź joined the speedway league and when the Ekstraliga was introduced in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, ŁTŻ Łódź were in the 1. Liga. In 2001 they were relegated to the 2. Liga.

TŻ Łódź

From 2002 until 2005 Towarzystwo Żużlowe Łódź competed in the leagues.

Orzeł Łódź

In 2006, the Skrzydlewski family founded Orzeł Łódź. The club won the 2. Liga title in 2010. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, the team topped the 1. Liga table to complete their best season for many years. They lost in the play off final to

Lokomotiv Daugavpils Lokomotīve Daugavpils, also known as Lokomotiv Daugavpils, is a Latvian motorcycle speedway team based in Daugavpils who race in the Polish Speedway Second League (2. Liga). Stadium Stadium Lokomotīve (former name Spīdveja centrs) is located ...

but the Latvian club were unable to be promoted. Orzeł declined a move to the Ekstraliga, despite winning 16 out of 18 matches that season. In July 2018, the team moved to a new stadium called the Moto Arena Łódź.

Teams

2023 team

Niels Kristian Iversen Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (, born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Early life ...

Tomasz Gapiński Tomasz Gapiński (born 8 July 1982 in Piła, Poland''Świat Żużla'', No 1 (73) / 2008, pages 20-21, ) is an international motorcycle speedway rider who was riding in 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Europe. He was won Team Polish Champion titles ...

Timo Lahti Timo Lahti (born 16 July 1992) is a speedway rider from Finland. Career Lahti started his British career riding for the Eastbourne Eagles in 2011. He became the national champion of Finland after winning the Finnish Individual Speedway Champion ...

Jakub Jamróg Jakub Jamróg (born 24 June 1991) is Polish speedway rider. Craeer Born in Tarnów, he began his career with local team Unia Tarnów who he rode for between 2009 and 2012, before signing for Orzeł Łódź in 2013. In 2015, he won the Argent ...

* Pontus Aspgren * Tom Brennan *

Nick Škorja Nick Škorja (born 28 July 1998) is a Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider. Career Škorja appeared twice as a track reserve in the 2016 Speedway Grand Prix and once at the 2017 Speedway Grand Prix and 2018 Speedway Grand Prix. He has finished ...

* Mateusz Tonder * Mateusz Dul * Jacob Sroka * Aleksander Grygolec

Previous teams

2022 team *

Brady Kurtz Brady Kurtz (born 27 September 1996) is an Australian speedway rider. Biography Born in Cowra, New South Wales, Kurtz isn't the only racer in his family. Brady's older brother Todd Kurtz is a fellow Speedway rider, who has ridden for the Plymo ...

* Luke Becker * Norbert Kościuch * Marcin Nowak *

* Mateusz Dul * Nikodem Bartoch * Aleksander Grygolec

Notable riders

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orzel Lodz Speedway teams in Poland