Motor Lublin beats Unia Leszno to secure PGE Ekstraliga bronze despite Woryna injury

Opening heat setback

Orlen Oil Motor Lublin entered Saturday's return leg at Aleje Zygmuntowskie needing to overturn a two-point aggregate deficit from the first match in Leszno. The home side was already riding without Mateusz Cierniak, who broke bones in both arms during a heat 12 collision with Emil Konieczny 13 days earlier. Motor applied rider replacement for Cierniak, but suffered an immediate blow in the opening race when Kacper Woryna crashed into the inflatable barrier. The collision occurred on the first turn after Grzegorz Zengota moved toward the inside line, with Woryna also making contact with team-mate Martin Vaculik. Medical staff attended to Woryna on the track before he walked back to the pits, but rib pain forced him to the hospital. Ekstraliga regulations prevented Lublin from applying a second rider replacement, leaving them two riders down for the remainder of the fixture.

Looking at how it appeared, I am glad that I only broke my arms.

Lublin takes control of the match

Referee Bartosz Ignaszewski ordered a four-rider rerun of heat one, which Vaculik won on his own against Piotr Pawlicki and Zengota. Unia Leszno moved ahead 10:8 after three races, helped by junior Kacper Mania winning the second heat. Motor answered by taking four consecutive heats to turn the score around. In heat four, Vaculik and junior Bartosz Bańbor secured a 5:1 heat win over Nazar Parnicki and Janusz Kołodziej, establishing a 15:9 lead for the hosts. The heat was veteran Kołodziej's only start of the evening. Unia brought on Ben Cook as a tactical substitution for Kołodziej in heat five, where the Australian split Fredrik Lindgren and Bańbor while Zengota suffered a machine failure. Vaculik completed his first three rides unbeaten, and Lindgren added a heat victory in the second series to widen Lublin's lead to 27:15 after heat seven.

Disqualification seals the bronze

Bartosz Zmarzlik won his first two starts before a bike failure in the third series, but Bańbor covered the loss by defeating Zengota and Pawlicki to push the score to 30:18. Cook continued to lead the resistance for Leszno, twice passing Lindgren on the track and challenging Zmarzlik. The aggregate outcome was settled in heat 12 when Australian rider Keynan Rew crossed the finish line in first place for Leszno. Referee Ignaszewski ruled that Rew crossed the inner boundary line with both wheels during the heat, disqualifying him and annulling his three race points. Cook subsequently executed an outside pass on six-time world champion Zmarzlik to win heat 13, but the result did not alter the aggregate outcome.

Six consecutive league podiums

The victory earned Motor Lublin their first bronze medal in club history and extended their streak to six consecutive PGE Ekstraliga podium finishes since 2020. Over that six-year period, Lublin has accumulated three league championships, two silver medals, and one bronze medal. Fogo Unia Leszno finished fourth after missing the chance to capture their eighth bronze medal, with their most recent third-place finish dating to 1986.