Zach Wajtknecht

Last updated

Zach Wajtknecht
Zach Wajtknecht 2018.jpg
Born (1998-02-08) 8 February 1998 (age 25)
Saltford, Bristol, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
2015–2016 Birmingham Brummies
2016 Somerset Rebels
2017 Lakeside Hammers
2017 Swindon Robins
2018 Lakeside Hammers
2019 Birmingham Brummies
Individual honours
2022 World longtrack silver medal
2012, 2013FIM 125cc Youth Gold Trophy Champion
2013British 250cc Youth Champion
2014 FIM Long Track Youth World Cup 250cc winner
2017British Under-19 Champion
2019 European Grasstrack Champion
2018 British Grasstrack Champion
2016 British Sand Ace Championship
Team honours
2018 World Longtrack Team silver
2023 World Longtrack Team bronze
2015National League
2015 National League Fours
2017 SGB Premiership

Zach Wajtknecht (born 8 February 1998) is a motorcycle speedway rider from Great Britain. [1]

Contents

Career

At an early age Wajtknecht became a double World Champion, twice triumphing in the FIM 125cc Grasstrack Youth Gold Trophy. He followed up these successes by being crowned British 250cc Youth Champion in 2013 and winner of the FIM 250cc Longtrack Youth World Cup in 2014. These successes led to Zach being awarded the prestigious Pinhard trophy, a trophy he described himself as being "over the moon" to win. [2]

Wajtknecht was handed his big break in speedway by the newly reformed National League Birmingham Brummies ahead of the 2015 season, the team's first season in the third tier of British Speedway. The team was put together by former manager Phil Morris, the newly appointed FIM Race Director for the Speedway Grand Prix series. Morris described Wajtknecht as having "what it takes to enjoy a very successful speedway career" [3] He was part of the Birmingham team that won the league title during the 2015 National League speedway season and the National League Fours, held on 14 June 2015 at Brandon Stadium. [4]

In 2017, he won the British Under-19 Championship at Plymouth. [5] His 2017 season was cut short in July when a crash at Swindon resulted in a ruptured spleen and punctured lung. [6]

In 2019, he was the European Grasstrack champion. [7]

In 2022, he finished second for the World Longtrack title, finishing 28 points behind Mathieu Trésarrieu in the 2022 Individual Long Track World Championship. [8] In 2023, he was part of the British longtrack team, along with Chris Harris and Andrew Appleton, that won the bronze medal at the 2023 Team Long Track World Championship. [9]

Results

Speedway

British League Record

YearTeamMatchesRidesPointsBonusTotalAverageFull
Maximum		Paid
Maximum
2015 Sheffield Tigers 394152.22
2016 Somerset Rebels 1548317383.17
2017 Swindon Robins 1981652594.44
2018 Swindon Robins 22106114221365.13
2018 Lakeside Hammers 24104126181445.54
2019 Birmingham Brummies 835505556.29
2019 Swindon Robins 940170171.70

Grasstrack

European Championship

YearVenuePointsPos
2015Semi-finalist
2016Semi-finalist
2017Did not compete
2018 Flag of France.svg Tayac 163rd
2019 Flag of Germany.svg Bad Hersfeld 18Champion
2020Did not compete

British Masters

YearVenuePointsPos
2015 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Wimborne 1614th
2018 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Gawsworth 37Champion

Longtrack

World Championship Grand-Prix

  • 2019 - 2 apps (14th) 25pts
  • 2020 - 2 apps (4th) 32pts
  • 2021 - 2 apps (15th) 8pts
  • 2022 - 6 apps (2nd) 88pts

World Team Championship

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Harris (speedway rider)</span> British speedway rider

Christopher Calvin Harris from Truro, Cornwall, nicknamed Bomber, is a Great Britain international motorcycle speedway rider from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grasstrack</span> Motorcycle racing format

Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in the UK with the first meetings having taken place in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Brummies</span> British motorcycle speedway team

Birmingham Brummies are a British speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of British speedway, during the 1952 Speedway National League and 2013 Elite League speedway season. After four years in the National League, in 2019 they moved up to the second tier of British speedway in the SGB Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redcar Bears</span> British speedway team

The Redcar Bears are a British speedway team who currently compete in the SGB Championship. Their major team honour to date is the SGB Championship KO Cup win in 2019 against rivals Newcastle Diamonds. The team also run a junior side called the Redcar Cubs and the Teesside Tigers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Screen</span>

Joseph Screen, is a former British international motorcycle speedway rider. His major speedway honours include winning the World Under-21 Championship in 1993, the British Championship in 1996 and 2004, and the British League Riders' Championship in 1992. Screen also competed in grasstrack and longtrack motorcycle racing and is a former British Masters champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Hall (speedway rider)</span>

Richard James Hall ,(born 23 August 1984) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Auty</span> British speedway rider

Joshua Liam Auty in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, is a British speedway rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theo Pijper</span> Dutch motorcycle speedway rider

Theo Pijper is a Dutch motorcycle speedway rider.

Mathieu "Mat" Trésarrieu is a French motorcycle speedway rider who competes in Speedway, Longtrack and Grasstrack. He is a two times World Longtrack Champion and is a three-time speedway champion of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Ellis</span> British grasstrack and speedway rider (born 1996)

Adam Ellis is a British grasstrack and motorcycle speedway rider and former British champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Perry (speedway rider)</span> British speedway and grasstrack rider (born 1993)

Thomas Andrew Perry is a British speedway and grasstrack rider.

Nicolás Covatti is an Argentine and Italian motorcycle speedway rider. He rides under an Italian licence and qualifies for the Italian national team and is a seven times national champion of Italy and five times national champion of Argentina.

Aaron Richard Summers is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia.

James Shanes is a British speedway rider and also competes in Grasstrack and Longtrack speedway. He is a four times British Masters Grasstrack Champion, 2 times European Grasstrack Champion and world long track competitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Appleton</span> British motorcycle racer

Andrew Appleton is a motorcycle racer from England.

Erik Riss is a German speedway and grasstrack rider, who won the World Longtrack Championship in 2014 and 2016, and was German speedway champion in 2016.

Michael Härtel is a German speedway, grasstrack and longtrack rider, who finished runner-up in the 2017 Longtrack World Championship.

Dimitri Bergé is a French motorcycle speedway rider.

Mitchel Stuart Godden

The SGB Championship 2019 is the second division of Great British speedway. The season runs between March and October 2019 and consisted of 12 participating teams. The current league champions are the Workington Comets who completed an excellent 2018 season winning three major trophies. Four new teams joined the SGB Championship in 2019 with two of them dropping down from the 2018 SGB Premiership league season these teams were Leicester Lions and Somerset Rebels with Ipswich Witches and Peterborough Panthers moving in the opposite direction. Two teams from the third tier of British speedway the National League Birmingham Brummies and Eastbourne Eagles moved up into this season's league while the Lakeside Hammers did not compete.

References

  1. ↑ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Speedway: Zach Wajtknecht scoops prestigious award for young riders". Sky Sports. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "DOUBLE WORLD CHAMP JOINS BRUMMIES". Birmingham Brummies. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "2015 National League Fours" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  5. ↑ "Results: Thursday July 6", speedwaygb.co, 6 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017
  6. ↑ "Zach Ruled Out", speedwaygb.co, 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017
  7. ↑ "Zach Wajtknecht". Grasstrack GB. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  8. ↑ "King Mat, champ Zach". Speedway Star page 20. 17 September 2022.
  9. ↑ "24 September 2023 in Roden". Bahn Sport (In Dutch). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.