INTERVIEW: Berntzon – I took it one heat at a time

Oliver Berntzon has just earnt himself the chance of lifetime – the opportunity to race in the world’s top series, the FIM Speedway Grand Prix in 2021. That’s thanks to his second place in the Speedway GP Challenge race at Gorcian last weekend.

More than a wildcard

The experience will not be completely new, Berntzon has been wildcard three times, including last year at Hallstavik where he picked up 7 points at the Swedish SGP.

But this will be different, “it is hard to believe I am going be there for every race. I will be part of the whole SGP circus! think I need to wait until this season is over then we’ll sit down and really think about it,” he says.

No mistakes at Gorcian

Berntzon was honest about how he thought before the meeting, “I was just there to do my best but, never thought about qualifying.”

So when did he realize that he might be about to make the biggest step of his career?

“I try not to look at the results and just get as many points as I could in each heat. But then I started noticing my mechanics and family were getting excited. I just had to keep my cool and take it one heat at a time”.

With such a big prize at stake it is a wonder that Berntzon did not crack under the pressure. In his final heat everything went crazy and two of the four riders were dismissed before they even had completed their four laps.

“At this level is it just small things that make a difference,” he says, “in the Swedish National Championship I had an engine stop early which meant I was chasing the whole meeting. Then at the end I got the worst gate in the draw. In Gorcian, one Touch the Tapes or a crash and my chances would have gone. So it is just about keeping calm and being in the “now” of each heat,” he says philosophically.

Focused on Sweden and Poland

And that approach means he has not started dreaming about being on the big stage, “I’ve still got a season here with Dackarna and with Start Gniezno to finish,” the Swede says.

With both clubs he currently the teams second highest scorer behind Jacob Thorssell at Dackarna and Timo Lahti at Gniezno.

That despite revealing that he he finds the Polish track hard despite having been at Gniezno for four years, „it is not my favourite in Poland,” he admits.

Whereas is it much more at home at Målilla, “I had a really good year at Dackarna last year. I scored double points in almost every meeting and was beating SGP riders every week. This year we’ve got a good team at the club and we get on really well. We’ve been a bit unlucky, but that’s speedway,” he reasons.

Whatever happens this year we can be sure of one thing – thanks to a brilliant performance this weekend Oliver Berntzon is a face you are going to see a lot more of in 2021.