Stefan Kwoczała (15 June 1934 – 7 July 2019) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider. He won the Polish championship in 1959 and reached the World Final in 1960, placing 7th.

Career

Born in Kiedrzyn, Kwoczała rode for

Włókniarz Częstochowa Eltrox CKM Włókniarz Częstochowa is a motorcycle speedway team based in Częstochowa, Poland. They were established in 1946. They compete in the Speedway Ekstraliga, Polish Ekstraliga. The club has won Team Speedway Polish Championship, Polish ...

in the Polish league between 1955 and 1961, and in 1959 won the Polish championship at

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; szl, Rybńik) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 miles) from the Czech border. It is on ...

.Kozanecki, Mateusz (2019)
Nie żyje legenda częstochowskiego żużla. Stefan Kwoczała miał 85 lat
, sportowefakty.pl, 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019 The same year he won one of the continental rounds of the World Championship, but failed to qualify for the final. Kwoczała finished third in the 1960 European final at

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, qualifying for the World final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, in which he scored 8 points to finish 7th. Kwoczała also rode in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

in the UK in 1960 for

Leicester Hunters The Leicester Hunters were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1948 until 1962.Bamford, R & Jarvis J. (2001) ''Homes of British Speedway'', , p. 147-149 History Speedway had operated before the war at both Leicester Stadium and the ...

.Noga, Robert (2014)
Robert Noga: Żużlowe podróże w czasie (133): Stefan Kwoczała - gwiazda, która mogła jaśniej rozbłysnąć
, sportowefakty.pl, 21 September 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2019 His career ended after suffering a fractured skull in a crash at

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

in 1961 during the Golden Helmet competition. After retiring from racing he moved into coaching riders at Włókniarz Częstochowa and Gwardia Łódź.Rajek, Mateusz (2019)
Stefan Kwoczała nie żyje
, radiofon.fm, 8 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

- 7th - 7pts

Death

Stefan Kwoczała died in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

during the night of 6/7 July 2019, aged 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwoczala, Stefan 1934 births category:2019 deaths Polish speedway riders People from Częstochowa Leicester Hunters riders