LEICESTER captain Max Fricke heads into a crucial weekend in Denmark prior to leading the club in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-offs.
Fricke is looking to secure his position in the 2026 Grand Prix series with the final round of the World Championship taking place at Vojens on Saturday.
Whilst most eyes will be on the title battle between Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz, Fricke is in his own head-to-head with Great Britain racer Robert Lambert for seventh place overall – the final automatic qualifying place for next year.
The riders are separated by just three points with Fricke having 75 points to Lambert’s 72, and with sixth placed Andzejs Lebedevs on 86, and Anders Thomsen in ninth on 63, it’s likely that it will come down to just Fricke or Lambert.
Fricke will be guaranteed a top seven finish if he comes first or second in Vojens, or if he finishes within two points of Lambert and scores at least nine points in the process.
In a two-page Speedway Star feature this week, Fricke said: “It isn’t exactly where we want to be, but it’s the last spot in the top seven and it would be a good achievement anyway to be able to maintain a Speedway GP place and be back in the series next year. That’s what we are racing for at this point.”
Attention then turns back to domestic matters and Fricke’s job in captaining the Watling JCB Lions in their crucial play-off semi-final against Sheffield.
The sides meet at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Monday with the Lions looking to build up a first leg lead in their bid to reach a second successive Grand Final – and take another step towards a league and KO Cup double.
Fricke added: “That’s the plan – our goal is to try and make the finals.
“It’s great that we were able to win the Knockout Cup. Hopefully going into the play-offs we will be able to bring a little bit of silverware home for the fans.
“That would be really nice. But it will be a tough ask. There are a lot of good teams in the league who want the same thing.”
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