Australia has dealt arch-rival Poland a psychological blow ahead of the upcoming 2026 FIM Speedway World Cup (SWC) final, winning a one-off test match at Rybnik on July 26.
In front of 8500 spectators, the SWC dress rehearsal saw Australia – Brady Kurtz, Rohan Tungate, Jason Doyle, Ryan Douglas, Max Fricke and Ben Cook – take the lead from heat two and keep its nose in front for the balance of the ‘friendly’.
The final margin was 8pts in favour of the Kangaroos, with Kurtz, Doyle and Cook leading the scoring. Cook finished strongly with the fastest race time in heat 15 when he led home Kurtz, world SGP champion Bartosz Zmarzlik and Dominik Kubera.
The SWC final will be held in Warsaw on August 29, with the host Poland and Australia, thanks to its stirring victory in the 2025 FIM Speedway of Nations, already guaranteed places. Great Britain will join them after winning the first semi-final on May 1, with the second semi-final to be fought out between Latvia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden on August 7.
The SWC sees the sport’s biggest nations battle it out for the Ove Fundin Trophy. Team Australia won the event in 2001 and 2002, with Sweden, Poland and Denmark sharing the successes since then.
Australia’s SWC team is backed by CBS Bins and A1 Accessory Imports.
AUSTRALIA VS POLAND TEST MATCH SCORES
Australia: 49 points
1. Brady Kurtz – 11+1 (3,1,3,2,2*)
2. Rohan Tungate – 6 (0,3,1,2,0)
3. Jason Doyle – 9 (3,0,3,0,3)
4. Ryan Douglas – 7+2 (2*,2,1,0,2*)
5. Max Fricke – 7 (2,1,3,0,1)
6. Ben Cook – 9+1 (1*,2,1,2,3)
Poland: 41 points
9. Kacper Woryna – 3+2 (1*,d,0,-,2*)
10. Dominik Kubera – 13 (2,3,2,3,3,0)
11. Patryk Dudek – 10 (1,2,2,1,1,3)
12. Piotr Pawlicki – 0 (d,0,0,-,0)
13. Bartosz Zmarzlik – 13 (3,3,2,1,3,1)
14. Przemysław Pawlicki – 2 (0,1,0,-,1)
Race by race:
1. (66.18) Kurtz, Kubera, Woryna, Tungate – 3:3 – (3:3)
2. (67.10) Doyle, Douglas, Dudek, Pawlicki (d) – 1:5 – (4:8)
3. (66.04) Zmarzlik, Fricke, Cook, Pawlicki – 3:3 – (7:11)
4. (66.02) Tungate, Dudek, Kurtz, Pawlicki – 2:4 – (9:15)
5. (66.10) Zmarzlik, Douglas, Pawlicki, Doyle – 4:2 – (13:17)
6. (65.19) Kubera, Cook, Fricke, Woryna (d) – 3:3 – (16:20)
7. (64.68) Kurtz, Zmarzlik, Tungate, Pawlicki – 2:4 – (18:24)
8. (65.05) Doyle, Kubera, Douglas, Woryna – 2:4 – (20:28)
9. (65.72) Fricke, Dudek, Cook, Pawlicki – 2:4 – (22:32)
10. (65.13) Kubera, Kurtz, Zmarzlik, Douglas – 4:2 – (26:34)
11. (64.83) Kubera, Cook, Dudek, Doyle – 4:2 – (30:36)
12. (64.51) Zmarzlik, Tungate, Dudek, Fricke – 4:2 – (34:38)
13. (64.80) Doyle, Douglas, Pawlicki, Pawlicki – 1:5 – (35:43)
14. (64.59) Dudek, Woryna, Fricke, Tungate – 5:1 – (40:44)
15. (64,27) Cook, Kurtz, Zmarzlik, Kubera – 1:5 – (41:49)