Florian Kapała

Florian Kapała

Born	28 March 1929 Szymanowo, Poland
Died	19 November 2007 (aged 78) Tarnów, Poland
Nationality	Polish
Career history
1948-1950, 1952-1957	Rawicz
1951	Ostrów
1958-1967	Rzeszów
Individual honours
1961	Speedway World Championship finalist
1953, 1956, 1961, 1962	Polish champion
1961	Continental Final Champion
1961	Poland Golden Helmet Winner
Team honours
1961	World Team Cup Winner
1960, 1961	Polish League Champion

Florian Kapała (1929 - 2007) was an international speedway rider from Poland.[1]

Speedway career

Kapała reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship.[2]

He was a four times Polish champion after he won gold at the Polish Individual Speedway Championship in 1953, 1956, 1961 and 1962.[3] Kapała won the World Team Cup with Poland in 1961.

In 1956 he toured the United Kingdom with the Polish team, which cost £2,000 to organise and was paid by the Polish Motor Club and British authorities.[4] Although he did not ride in the British leagues throughout his career he nearly signed for Birmingham Brummies in 1957[5] and was named in the Wimbledon Dons team during the same season. He was working as an ambulance driver in Poland at the time.[6]

In 2008 the year after his death, the Kolejarz Rawicz renamed their stadium to the Florian Kapała Stadium, in honour of him.[7]

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

• 1959 - London, Wembley Stadium - Reserve - Did not ride
• 1961 – Malmö, Malmö Stadion - 7th - 8pts

World Team Cup

• 1961 - Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Marian Kaiser / Henryk Żyto / Mieczysław Połukard / Stanisław Tkocz) - Winner - 32pts (6)
• 1962 - Slaný (with Marian Kaiser / Mieczysław Połukard / Joachim Maj / Paweł Waloszek) - 3rd - 20pts (5)

References

1. "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
2. "World Speedway finals" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
3. Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
4. "Polish speedway team visits England". Halifax Evening Courier. 4 May 1956. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Pole may sign on". Sports Argus. 4 May 1957. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Speedway starts on Good Friday". Streatham News. 19 April 1957. Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Metalika Recycling Kolejarz Rawicz". Sportowe Katy. Retrieved 16 November 2023.