SGP & SEC: Sweden nominates riders from eWinner leagues

SVEMO have decided to nominate seven riders who will represent Sweden in the qualifying rounds for the European Championships (SEC) and World Championships (SGP) which will all be held in May this year. 

By contrast, the Danish Motor Union is going to have a separate national qualifying round on 17 April to see who will be eligible for the international competitions. 

For SVEMO, the recent retirement of both Andreas Jonsson and Antonio Lindbäck in 2019 and 2020 means they are looking for a new name to take their place in the upper echelons of the sport alongside the country’s best rider, Fredrik Lindgren.

Not surprisingly, they are relying on their five riders who raced in eWinner 1 in 2020, and were also the top scoring Swedish riders in Elitserien last year – Oliver Berntzon, Kim Nilsson, Pontus Aspgren, Jacob Thorssell and Peter Ljung. 

The latter also appeared in the SEC in 2020, but struggled to deliver at the top end of his racing ability in the competition. However, he will get a chance to make amends if he makes it through qualifying in Debrecen on 1 May and the veteran is also on the reserve list for the SGP qualifiers. 

Linus Sundström is also in the line up, taking the reserve spot for the SEC and will be hoping to find the form he had in 2019 before his serious crash which nearly ended his career at the end of that season. 

The final rider to make up the Swedish selection is Mathias Thörnbolm. He will represent the country in the SEC qualifier in Rivne on 8 May. 

He is the least experienced rider when it comes to competing outside his home nation and last

year he raced just one match in eWinner 2 with Wilki Krosno.

2022 SGP Challenge

Berntzon will be competing in this year’s SGP, but he will also have a second chance to qualify for 2022, just in case if he does not get an automatic qualification, when he races at Gorcian on 29 May.

Nilsson, Aspgren and Thorssell will also have a chance at qualifying for the 2022 SGP in their GP Challenge races in Abensberg (24/5), Glasgow (29/5) and Lamothe-Landerron (29/5).

SEC Qualifying 

Since 2015, Lindbäck and Ljung have taken turns representing Sweden in the SEC and Lindbäck is the only Swede to have medaled in the competition in the One Sport era. 

Joining Ljung in having a shot at the 2021 competition are Aspgren and Thorssell who both will represent the Nordic country in Plzen on 1 May. A week later Nilsson will get his chance at Pocking. 

When I spoke to Pontus Aspgren (in photo by Anders Björk) he was optimistic about his chances in the competitions saying, “we [Swedes] are all very even and on a good day I know I can beat any rider and get first into turn one.” 

Inspired by Berntzon’s unexpected success in the GP Challenge race, the soon 30 year old from Avesta has full focus on the SGP qualifier in Glasgow, which will take place in 3 months only three weeks after the Swedish season will have started.