Florian Kapała (1929 - 2007) was an international speedway rider from Poland.

Speedway career

Kapała reached the final of the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

in the

1961 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 16th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The final was held outside of Wembley and England for the first time when on the 15 September Ove Fu ...

. He was a four times Polish champion after he won gold at the

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 Maciej Janowski, w ...

in 1953, 1956, 1961 and 1962. Kapała won the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

with Poland in 1961. In 1956 he toured the United Kingdom with the Polish team, which cost £2,000 to organise and was paid by the Polish Motor Club and British authorities. Although he did not ride in the British leagues throughout his career he nearly signed for

Birmingham Brummies Birmingham Brummies are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League (1929–31), Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of Britis ...

in 1957 and was named in the

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London from 1929 until 1991. The team were seven times champions of Britain. History Origins The speedway track opened ...

team during the same season. He was working as an ambulance driver in Poland at the time. In 2008 the year after his death, the Kolejarz Rawicz renamed their stadium to the Florian Kapała Stadium, in honour of him.

World final appearances

Individual
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

- London,

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

- Reserve - Did not ride *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

–

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Malmö Stadion Malmö Stadion, often known simply as Stadion before the construction of the new Stadion, Malmö, Stadion between 2007 and 2009, is a multi-purpose stadium in Malmö, Sweden. As of 2015, it is the home of association football club IFK Malmö, p ...

- 7th - 8pts

World Team Cup

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

(with

Marian Kaiser Marian Kaiser (14 January 1933 – 10 April 1991) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He earned 31 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Speedway career Kaiser reached the final of the Speedway Worl ...

Henryk Żyto Henryk Żyto (1936–2018) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He earned 32 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Speedway career Żyto reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1 ...

/ Mieczysław Połukard /

Stanisław Tkocz Stanisław Tkocz (1936–2016) was an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Tkocz reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on two occasions in the 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship and the 1966 Indi ...

) - Winner - 32pts (6) *

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Slaný Slaný (; ) is a town in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 17,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, ur ...

(with

/ Mieczysław Połukard /

Joachim Maj Joachim Maj (21 August 1932 – 20 April 2019) was an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Maj reached the 1958 European Final as part of the 1958 Individual Speedway World Championship. Maj reached the final of the Spe ...

/ Paweł Waloszek) - 3rd - 20pts (5)

References

1929 births 2007 deaths Polish speedway riders {{Poland-speedway-bio-stub

Speedway career

World final appearances

Individual World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

World Team Cup

References

Individual
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...