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Florian Kapała

Florian Kapała (1929 - 2007) was an international speedway rider from Poland.[1]

Speedway career

Kapała reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship.[2]

He was a four times Polish champion after he won gold at the Polish Individual Speedway Championship in 1953, 1956, 1961 and 1962.[3] Kapała won the World Team Cup with Poland in 1961.

In 1956 he toured the United Kingdom with the Polish team, which cost £2,000 to organise and was paid by the Polish Motor Club and British authorities.[4] Although he did not ride in the British leagues throughout his career he nearly signed for Birmingham Brummies in 1957[5] and was named in the Wimbledon Dons team during the same season. He was working as an ambulance driver in Poland at the time.[6]

In 2008 the year after his death, the Kolejarz Rawicz renamed their stadium to the Florian Kapała Stadium, in honour of him.[7]

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

World Team Cup

References

  1. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  2. ^ "World Speedway finals" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  3. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  4. ^ "Polish speedway team visits England". Halifax Evening Courier. 4 May 1956. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Pole may sign on". Sports Argus. 4 May 1957. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Speedway starts on Good Friday". Streatham News. 19 April 1957. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Metalika Recycling Kolejarz Rawicz". Sportowe Katy. Retrieved 16 November 2023.