EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Pontus Aspgren – everything is in place

Pontus Aspgren turned 30 yrs on 15 March and is already looking forward to his qualifying race to the TAURON SEC at Plzen on 1 May. “It’s a new track for me,” he admitted, “but I’ve got everything in place to make it to the SEC and the SGP for 2022 as well,” he says confidently.

Aspgren is originally from Avesta and lives in the same area of the town as Sweden’s only medallist in the European Championship, Antonio Lindbäck.

But in 2020 he decided to join Kumla Indianerna after the shock decision of his team, Eskilstuna Smederna, to not take part in the pandemic affected season in Elitserien. 

The change seemed to do Aspgren good as he scored his highest average in his career in Sweden with 2.116. That placed him 12^th in the overall riders’ list and made him the fourth best Swedish rider that season. The team went all the way to the final where Aspgren top scored in both the home and away legs of the match with 13 points. However, it was Lindbäck and Masarna that went home with the title. 

“Kumla is a really good club,” he says, “Of course, there were not many fans, but I was well received by the team and it was great to be in the final again,” he summarised. 

Aspgren started the 2020 season well by picking up third place in the Swedish National Championships in Målilla. And his success in his home country also means he is one of an elite group of Swedish riders who are also competing in Polish leagues.

In 2020 he represented Latvian club, Lokomotiv Daugavpils in eWinner 1. 

“It is a very unique,” he says about the 373-metre-long track, “and does not have much shale on it. But that wasn’t the problem for me, I had difficulty with my engine at the beginning of the season,” he reveals, “plus that we could not practice. My first time on the bike was, like, the match away at Lodz! With just one match a week it was very hard to do the necessary adjustments to the bike. It was much better when the Elitserien started,” he admits. 

Aspgren said he thought long and hard about continuing with the Latvian club in 2021. But in the end, he decided it was better to get a contract with a League 1 team than go back to League 2. So, he signed a Warsaw contract with ROW Rybnik. 

“I know that on a good day, I can beat any rider, and be the best in Sweden,” he says with a confident smile.