Włókniarz Częstochowa is a

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 clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team based in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

, Poland. They were established in 1946 and the team's home track is at the Arena Częstochowa, which has a capacity of over 16,850 people. The team currently competes in the Ekstraliga (the highest division) and have won the

Team Speedway Polish Championship The Team Speedway Polish Championship ( Polish: ''Drużynowe Mistrzostwa Polski, DMP'') is an annual speedway event held each year in different Polish clubs organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1948. In 2000, the First Division was r ...

four times.

History

1948 to 1955

The first club in the city was CTCiM Częstochowa who competed in the inaugural 1948 Polish speedway season and

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

season. During the 1950 Polish speedway season the club appeared in the second division under the name used today. In

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, they were selected to compete in a single division. However, in 1953 they were effectively relegated as one of four teams that would form part of the new second league.

1956 to 1969

During the 1956 Polish speedway season the team won their first honours by becoming the second division champions and this would kick start a golden period for the club. In 1959, the team won the gold medal for the

and Stefan Kwoczała won 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 1961, the team suffered relegation but won the second division in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. Bizarrely the team were not promoted until after the 1966 season because there was a system in place at the time that collated results from 1963 and 1964 combined and then 1965 and 1966 combined to determine promotion. Relegation ensued in 1969.

1970 to 1999

After promotion in 1971 the club began to grow in prominences. In

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, the team won their second gold medal and then won successive silver medals in 1975 and 1976 and Marek Cieślak won the gold medal in the 1976 Golden Helmet. Bronze medals were won in 1977 and 1978 ending a period of continued success. The entire decade of the 1980s passed without success and it was not until 1991 that Sławomir Drabik won the double of Polish champion and Golden Helmet winner. Drabik spearheaded the team when they won the 1996 play offs during the 1996 Polish speedway season to win the gold medal for the third time. Drabik won the Polish title again and the team also included

Joe Screen Joseph Screen (born 27 November 1972 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire), is a former British international motorcycle speedway rider. His major speedway honours include winning the World Under-21 Championship in 1993, the British Championship in 1 ...

and Sebastian Ułamek. After relegation in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

the team were promoted in 1999.

2000 to present

Włókniarz Częstochow were inaugural members of the Ekstraliga in 2000. In 2003, their fourth gold medal and Rune Holta won the Polish title. The 2003 team contained the likes of Holta,

Ryan Sullivan Ryan Geoffrey Sullivan (born 20 January 1975, in Fitzroy, Victoria) is a former Australian international motorcycle speedway rider who has won the Australian Solo Championship, Australian Under-21 Speedway Championship, and Under-16 champi ...

Andreas Jonsson Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015. He earned 26 caps for ...

and Grzegorz Walasek. The team won the European Club Cup once in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. Ulamek and Drabik won the 2006

Polish Pairs Speedway Championship The Polish Pairs Speedway Championship ( Polish: ''Mistrzostwa Polski Par Klubowych, MPPK'') is an annual speedway event held each year in different Polish clubs organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1974. The participating teams are dr ...

and the club continued to compete in the Ekstraliga until 2015 when they failed to compete in the Polish leagues for the first time in their history. In 2016, they returned in the second tier but in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

they returned to the Ekstraliga. They won bronze medals in 2019 and 2022.

Previous teams

2022 team *

Leon Madsen Leon Daniel Madsen (born 5 September 1988) is a Danish speedway rider who is twice a World Championship silver medalist. Career Born in Vejle, Madsen won the 80cc junior World Championship in 2001. In 2018, Madsen won the Individual Spee ...

* Jonas Jeppesen * Fredrik Lindgren *

Bartosz Smektała Bartosz Smektała (born 22 August 1998) is an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Smektała won the gold medal at the World Under-21 Championship in the 2018 World Under-21 Championship. Smektała rode in the Team Sp ...

* Kacper Woryna * Mateusz Świdnicki * Jakub Miśkowiak * Kajetan Kupiec 2023 team *

* Kacper Woryna * Jakub Miśkowiak * Kajetan Kupiec

Notable riders

Honours

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wlokniarz Czestochowa Speedway teams in Poland Sport in Częstochowa 1946 establishments in Poland Sports clubs and teams established in 1946