Zach Wajtknecht

Zach Wajtknecht
Born (1998-02-08) 8 February 1998 (age 26)
Saltford, Bristol, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
2015–2016Birmingham Brummies
2016Somerset Rebels
2017Lakeside Hammers
2017Swindon Robins
2018Lakeside Hammers
2019Birmingham Brummies
Individual honours
2022World longtrack silver medal
2024World longtrack bronze medal
2012, 2013FIM 125cc Youth Gold Trophy Champion
2013British 250cc Youth Champion
2014FIM Long Track Youth World Cup 250cc winner
2017British Under-19 Champion
2019European Grasstrack Champion
2018British Grasstrack Champion
Team honours
2018World Longtrack Team silver
2023, 2024World Longtrack Team bronze
2015National League
2015National League Fours
2017SGB Premiership

Zach Wajtknecht (born 8 February 1998) is a motorcycle speedway rider from Great Britain.[1]

Career

At an early age Wajtknecht became a double World Champion, twice triumphing in the FIM 125cc Grasstrack Youth Gold Trophy. He followed up these successes by being crowned British 250cc Youth Champion in 2013 and winner of the FIM 250cc Longtrack Youth World Cup in 2014. These successes led to Zach being awarded the prestigious Pinhard trophy, a trophy he described himself as being "over the moon" to win.[2]

Wajtknecht was handed his big break in speedway by the newly reformed National League Birmingham Brummies ahead of the 2015 season, the team's first season in the third tier of British Speedway. The team was put together by former manager Phil Morris, the newly appointed FIM Race Director for the Speedway Grand Prix series. Morris described Wajtknecht as having "what it takes to enjoy a very successful speedway career"[3] He was part of the Birmingham team that won the league title during the 2015 National League speedway season and the National League Fours, held on 14 June 2015 at Brandon Stadium.[4]

In 2017, he won the British Under-19 Championship at Plymouth and rode for Swindon.[5][6] His 2017 season was cut short in July when a crash at Swindon resulted in a ruptured spleen and punctured lung.[7]

In 2019, he was the European Grasstrack champion.[8] This was the same season that he decided to concentrate longtrack and grasstrack and stop riding conventional speedway.[9]

In 2022, he finished second for the World Longtrack title, finishing 28 points behind Mathieu Trésarrieu in the 2022 Individual Long Track World Championship.[10] In 2023, he was part of the British longtrack team, along with Chris Harris and Andrew Appleton, that won the bronze medal at the 2023 Team Long Track World Championship.[11] At the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship Wajtknecht secured the bronze medal after the five rounds.[12][13]

Major results

World Longtrack Championship Grand-Prix

  • 2019 - 2 apps (14th) 25pts
  • 2020 - 2 apps (4th) 32pts
  • 2021 - 2 apps (15th) 8pts
  • 2022 - 6 apps (2nd) 88pts
  • 2023 - 6 apps (4th) 77pts
  • 2024 - 5 apps (3rd) 86pts

World Longtrack Team Championship

European Grasstrack Championship

Year Venue Points Pos
2015 Semi-finalist
2016 Semi-finalist
2017 Did not compete
2018 France Tayac 16 3rd
2019 Germany Bad Hersfeld 18 Champion
2020 Did not compete

References

  1. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Speedway: Zach Wajtknecht scoops prestigious award for young riders". Sky Sports. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  3. ^ "DOUBLE WORLD CHAMP JOINS BRUMMIES". Birmingham Brummies. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  4. ^ "2015 National League Fours" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  5. ^ "SPEEDWAY: Zach Wajtknecht on fire as he inspires the Sprockets". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Results: Thursday July 6", speedwaygb.co, 6 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017
  7. ^ "Zach Ruled Out", speedwaygb.co, 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017
  8. ^ "Zach Wajtknecht". Grasstrack GB. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Zach Wajknecht explains the reasons behind his exit from speedway - and fails to rule out a return in the future". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  10. ^ "King Mat, champ Zach". Speedway Star. 17 September 2022. p. 20.
  11. ^ "24 September 2023 in Roden". Bahn Sport (In Dutch). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  12. ^ "Storming Smolinski retains FIM Long Track World Championship". FIM Long Track. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Lukas Fienhage fährt auf dritten Rang". NWZ online. Retrieved 29 September 2024.