Alfred Smoczyk Stadium () is a stadium in Leszno, Poland. It is currently used for speedway matches and is the home stadium of Unia Leszno. The stadium has a capacity of 16,700 people.
The stadium is located on ulica Strzelecka 7.
History Alfred Smoczyk (1928–1950) was the first Polish speedway superstar. He successfully competed on Dutch tracks in the late 1940s, but died in a road accident in October 1950. He was the first Individual Polish Champion after World War II (in 1949). The year after his death in 1951, the Alfred Smoczyk Memorial event was first held and shortly afterwards in April 1952, plans were put into action to build a new speedway stadium.
The opening of the new stadium took place on 19 April 1953. In 1960, the stadium hosted a qualifying round of the Speedway World Championship.
In 1974/75 the track was replaced and the stands were expanded to increase the capacity to 40,000. In 1977, as part of the national harvest celebrations and the visit of Edward Gierek to Leszno, the stadium underwent a major renovation and modernisation, opening on 11 September 1977.
In 1984, the stadium held the first of four World Cup finals, the first being the 1984 edition followed by 2007, 2009 and 2017. In-between, it also hosted the final of the 1989 Speedway World Pairs Championship.
The stadium has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Europe (a round of the world championship) for five consecutive years from 2008 to 2012.
Track details
The track is long and has a syenite surface. The track record was made by Janusz Kołodziej (58.12 sec on 9 May 2010).
Records 383 m (1953–1975)Time Date Rider Club Meeting80.0 19.04.1953 Stanisław Glapiak Leszno friendly: Leszno - Ostrów Wlkp.77.7 05.07.1953 Marian Kuśnierek Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Łódź77.1 16.08.1953 Edward Kupczyński Wrocław 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław76.7 16.08.1953 Józef Olejniczak Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław76.4 16.08.1953 Józef Olejniczak Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław76.0 13.09.1953 Florian Kapała Rawicz III Alfred Smoczyk Memorial76.0 13.06.1954 Andrzej Krzesiński Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław75.3 21.08.1955 Edward Kupczyński Wrocław V Alfred Smoczyk Memorial??.? 11.04.1960 Kazimierz Bentke Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Częstochowa74.8 before 22.05.1960 Ove Fundin - ?74.0 16.10.1960 Peter Craven - Poland - England73.9 21.05.1961 Henryk Żyto Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Częstochowa73.8 14.04.1963 Henryk Żyto Leszno Polish Motor Union Cup73.2 08.10.1967 Henryk Gluecklich Bydgoszcz Poland - Soviet Union73.1 24.10.1971 Zdzisław Dobrucki Leszno XXI Aldred Smoczyk Memorial
354 m (1975–1979)Time Date Rider Club Meeting76.4 23.03.1975 Kazimierz Adamczak Leszno friendly: Leszno - Guestrow76.0 13.04.1975 Jerzy Kowalski Leszno Individual Meeting76.0 20.04.1975 Piotr Bruzda Wrocław 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław75.4 20.04.1975 Zygfryd Kostka Wrocław 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław75.4 20.04.1975 Zbigniew Jąder Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław74.5 01.05.1975 Henryk Gluecklich Bydgoszcz 1st League: Leszno - Bydgoszcz74.5 01.05.1975 Jerzy Kowalski Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Bydgoszcz73.4 05.06.1975 Bogusław Nowak Gorzów Wlkp. Golden Helmet73.0 28.06.1975 Zdzisław Dobrucki Leszno Pairs Meeting71.6 29.08.1976 Bernard Jąder Leszno Alfred Smoczyk Memorial71.4 26.06.1977 Roman Jankowski Leszno U-23 Polish Motor Union Cup71.4 03.07.1977 Bernard Jąder Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Opole71.3 24.07.1977 Zdzisław Dobrucki Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Lublin70.6 31.07.1977 Józef Jarmuła Częstochowa 1st League: Leszno - Częstochowa70.0 28.08.1977 Zenon Plech Gdańsk 1st League: Leszno - Gdańsk70.0 21.05.1978 Bernard Jąder Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Rybnik70.0 21.05.1978 Mariusz Okoniewski Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Rybnik69.2 04.06.1978 Malcolm Simmons - International Individual Meeting69.0 04.06.1978 Bernard Jąder Leszno International Individual Meeting68.0 28.06.1978 Bernard Jąder Leszno Individual Meeting
347 m (1979–1987)Time Date Rider Club Meeting70.1 12.04.1979 Eugeniusz Miastkowski Toruń Individual Polish Championship Quarter-Final68.6 22.04.1979 Piotr Pyszny Rybnik 1st League: Leszno - Rybnik68.1 29.04.1979 Mariusz Okoniewski Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław68.1 29.04.1979 Mariusz Okoniewski Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Wrocław67.4 19.08.1979 Ryszard Buśkiewicz Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Gdańsk67.4 22.07.1980 Bogusław Nowak Gorzów Individual Polish Championship Final66.2 22.07.1980 Edward Jancarz Gorzów Individual Polish Championship Final65.0 14.06.1981 Edward Jancarz Gorzów Individual World Championship Continental Semi-Final
342 m (since 1987)Time Date Rider Club Meeting65.8 08.04.1987 Zenon Kasprzak Leszno Poland - Sweden65.8 14.04.1987 Zenon Kasprzak Leszno 1st League: Leszno - Gorzów Wlkp.63.51 13.06.1987 Zoltan Adorjan - Individual World Championship Continental Semi-Final63.35 06.08.1988 Zenon Kasprzak Leszno Individual World Championship Continental Final63.0 25.09.1988 Zenon Kasprzak Leszno Individual Polish Championship Final62.6 05.08.1989 Erik Gundersen - World Pairs Championship Final62.6 1993 Roman Jankowski Leszno FSO Individual Meeting62.6 21.05.1994 Roman Jankowski Leszno 2nd League: Leszno - Lublin62.4 21.05.1994 Roman Jankowski Leszno 2nd League: Leszno - Lublin62.2 15.07.1995 Tomasz Gollob Bydgoszcz XLV Alfred Smoczyk Memorial61.6 16.06.1996 Roman Jankowski Leszno 2nd League: Leszno - Łódź60.5 16.06.1996 Leigh Adams Leszno 2nd League: Leszno - Łódź60.2 28.05.2000 Leigh Adams Leszno Ekstraliga: Leszno - Gdańsk60.2 21.04.2002 Rafał Okoniewski Leszno Ekstraliga: Leszno - Wrocław60.0 21.04.2002 Krzysztof Kasprzak Leszno Ekstraliga: Leszno - Wrocław59.0 03.05.2002 Leigh Adams Leszno Ekstraliga: Leszno - Częstochowa58.4 03.05.2007 Krzysztof Kasprzak Leszno Ekstraliga: Leszno - Zielona Góra58.1 09.05.2010 Janusz Kołodziej Leszno ?
See also Motorcycle speedway
References