Eight Nations set for 28-Heat SoN2 showdown in Manchester

Eight of the sport’s top under-21 teams will compete over an epic 28 heats for the FIM Speedway of Nations – SoN2 title in Manchester on Friday, July 12.The FIM Team Speedway Under-21 World Championship is staged as part of the FIM Speedway of Nations – the sport’s world team championship for 2024, which takes place at Britain’s National Speedway Stadium from July 9-13.

While the FIM SoN was replaced on the 2023 calendar by the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup, SoN2 was still raced in Riga on August 11 as Poland blazed to an incredible 10th straight gold medal and their 16th overall.

Great Britain was due to sit out the 2024 event after finishing seventh in Riga. But after being seeded into the competition as host nation, they will now join an eight-team field, expanded from seven in 2023, featuring Poland, Denmark, Latvia, Australia, Germany, Czech Republic and the returning Swedish team, which missed the 2023 competition after finishing seventh in 2022.

With 28 heats and the sport’s under-21 world team crown on the line, René Schäfer, FIM race director for SoN2, is expecting a dramatic night of action in Manchester.

He said: “We looked at all the different options. With this being an under-21 event, the SoN2 riders are the future of our sport, and we felt the right decision was to find a way to allow every team to race and give these riders the valuable experience of an FIM Speedway World Championships event.

“There will be no Semi-Final or Final to decide the champions. Every team will race against the other seven nations. The highest-scoring team at the end of it will be the world under-21 team champions, and we look forward to seeing who comes out on top.”

The FIM has confirmed the FIM Speedway of Nations world rankings ahead of the 2024 tournament, which sees Australia defend the title they won at the last FIM SoN, staged at Danish venue Vojens in 2022.

The FIM SoN rankings correspond to the countries’ finishing positions in the 2022 competition, with the SoN2 rankings taken from the 2023 event in Riga.