Three Australians – Jack Holder, Max Fricke and Brady Kurtz – have secured places in the FIM SGP Challenge in Pardubice, Czech Republic on October 4, where the top four riders will be guaranteed places in the 2025 Speedway Grand Prix series.
The trio qualified after a series of Continental qualifying meetings over the last week, while it was disappointment for reigning Aussie champion Rohan Tungate and Jaimon Lidsey who failed to progress.
Holder is currently second in this year’s SGP series, firmly inside the top-six automatic qualification places for 2025. But he finished third in in his Italian qualifier to secure himself the insurance policy of an FIM SGP Challenge spot.
Holder joins fellow SGP incumbents Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley, Andzejs Lebedevs, Kai Huckenbeck and Dominik Kubera in the October FIM SGP Challenge, while Fricke is among a group of former SGP riders all battling for returns to the series.
Meanwhile, Kurtz (pictured) is bidding to qualify for the first time, and he defeated Lambert in a run-off for third place in the Slovakian qualifying round.
The five Australians involved in the qualifying rounds achieved spots via the 2024 Australian Speedway Championship (Tungate, Fricke, Holder and Lidsey) and the 2024 Oceania Speedway Championship (Kurtz).
2024 FIM SGP CHALLENGE LINE-UP (not in riding order): Kai Huckenbeck (Germany), Rasmus Jensen (Denmark), Dominik Kubera (Poland), Max Fricke (Australia), Przemyslaw Pawlicki (Poland), Antonio Lindback (Sweden), Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia), Kacper Woryna (Poland), Jan Kvech (Czech Republic), Dan Bewley (Great Britain), Jack Holder (Australia), Paco Castagna (Italy), Anders Thomsen (Denmark), Patryk Dudek (Poland), Brady Kurtz (Australia), Robert Lambert (Great Britain).