Jerzy Szczakiel

Jerzy Szczakiel was a Polish speedway rider, born on 28 January 1949 and died on 1 September 2020. He won the Speedway World Championship in 1973 at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, Poland, in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history, estimated at around 130,000. He tied on 13 points with the defending champion Ivan Mauger of New Zealand and won the title in a run-off after Mauger fell. Before the meeting he had been considered a rank outsider. He had first been a reserve for the 1970 World Final in Wroclaw, and he rode in the 1971 final in Gothenburg without scoring. He is one of three Polish riders to win the title, the others being Tomasz Gollob and Bartosz Zmarzlik.