ZKŻ Zielona Góra

Infobox Speedway team
clubname = ZKŻ Kronopol Zielona Góra


track = ul. Wrocławska 69
65-019 Zielona Góra
country = Poland
founded = 1946
closed =
manager =
captain =
league = Speedway Ekstraliga
website = [http://www.zkzkronopol.pl Official site]
colours = Yellow, White and Green
tracksize = 340,25 m
track record time= 60.68 seconds
track record date= June 22 2007
track record holder= Grzegorz Walasek
teamhonour =
teamyear =

ZKŻ Kronopol Zielona Góra is a Polish speedway team based in Zielona Góra who currently races in Speedway Ekstraliga. The club has won Polish Speedway League 4 times (latest in 1991). It is commonly known as "Falubaz" due to one of its former names.

Stadium

The stadium, informally named as "W69", is located on 69 Wrocławska Street. It contains 15,000 seats, but except for the most interesting matches, the capacity is reduced to only 12,000. The track is 340.25 metres long and has a granite surface. It has had an inflatable airfence since May 4, 2006.

The stadium is currently being renovated. Some of the benches are being replaced with plastic seats, the floodlights have been erected, the cash desks and the fence were modernised. The track was widened on the bends and the club's new headquarters has been built and moved from 31 Dworcowa Street.

History

Early years (1946-1960)

The club was founded in 1946 with the establishing of a motorcycle department of Militia Sports Club (Polish "Milicyjny Klub Sportowy"). The first speedway race in the city took place on a 4.5 kilometre long track on October 20, 1946. The winner was Nijaki [The name is not known.] , before Henryk Szurkowski and Alfons Kostusiak.

In 1947 Mieczysław Chlebisz, a re-emigrant from the UK, arrived back to the city, bringing the first professional speedway motorcycle as used in many speedway leagues, including Britain. In the same year a "District Speedway League" (Polish "Okręgowa Liga Żużlowa") was set up, containing 10 teams, including Leszczyński Klub Motorowy, Ostrowski Klub Motorowy, Unia Gniezno, Unia Gorzów and Unia Zielona Góra.

The club's riders were (in alphabetical order): Jerzy Błoch, Mieczysław Chlebicz, Kazimierz Juzala, Alfons Kostusiak, Ksawery Sawicki, Józef Śmigielski, Stanisław Świstak and Marian Zadoń.

2008 Team

Squad in 2008:
*Seniors:
**Flag|POL Grzegorz Walasek (captain) - 2,048
**Flag|SWE Fredrik Lindgren - 1,770
**Flag|POL Piotr Protasiewicz - 2,012
**Flag|DNK Niels Kristian Iversen - 1,837
**Flag|POL Rafał Dobrucki - 1,689
**Flag|DNK Charlie Gjedde - 1,725
**Flag|POL Mariusz Staszewski - 1,357
**Flag|POL Adam Kulczyński
*Juniors
**Flag|POL Grzegorz Zengota - 0,946
**Flag|SWE Ricky Kling - 0,905
**Flag|DEU Kevin Wölbert - 0,833
**Flag|POL Janusz Baniak
**Flag|POL Paweł Gwóźdź
**Flag|POL Przemysław Zarzycki
**Flag|POL Mateusz Łukowiak
**Flag|DNK Nicolai Klindt - 0,800
**Flag|RUS Artem Vodyakov
**Flag|RUS Aleksandr Kosołapkin
**Flag|SWE Ludvig Lindgren

References

External links

* [http://www.zkzkronopol.pl/ Official website] _pl. Polski
* [http://sport.zgora.pl/zuzel Zielona Góra sports portal – speedway section] _pl. Polski
* [http://www.falubaz.com/ Falubaz.com – archive of speedway in Zielona Góra] _pl. Polski