EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Kim Nilsson – My best season so far

Kim Nilsson was part of the Avesta Masarna team that won the Bauhaus Elitserien in his home country of Sweden in 2020. Not only that, but he was the highest scoring Swede in the league with 2.250. That put him in sixth place overall just behind former world champion, Nicki Pedersen and three riders who competed in the SGP – Robert Lambert, Niels-Kristian Iversen and Jason Doyle.

The 31-year-old, understandably, was very happy, “It was great fun to go all the way and win with Masarna. We managed to get there against all the odds, with injuries and so on throughout the season. So, it was fantastic that everything went right for the playoffs.”

And of course, the team victory was partly built on Nilsson’s great performance, “it was definitely my best ever season in the league so far,” he said, “I seemed to find “harmony” in riding and everything worked from the very first match,” he says reflectively.

Nilsson has been selected to represent Sweden in the European Championship qualifying race in Pocking, Germany on 8 May. It is not a track he has raced on before, “So, I’ll just have to go there with an open mind and do my best!” he says with a warm smile.

Should the Swede qualify for the Finals in the European Championship he will be riding on tracks he is very familiar with from his time racing in League 1 and 2 in Poland. In particular Bydgoszcz, “it is place I really like to race,” he says.

This year he has signed a “Warsaw Contract” with Unia Tarnow in eWinner1, the same club he representing in 2020 where he scored 1.541. But despite his success he feels he could have done better, “I had no time to practice on my new home track and little time to do any adjustments to the bike. So, I felt like I never got the best set up in Poland,” he says self-critically.  

In Sweden he decided to with Rospiggarna who race at Hallstavik who hosted the Swedish SGP in 2017-2018 and the TAURON SEC back in 2017.

And qualifying for the SEC, as well as a good result in the SGP Challenge are, naturally, part of his goals for 2021, “I want to do a good job for my clubs and continue to develop as a person and a speedway rider”, he says modestly.