Florian Kapała

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

Speedway career Kapała reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship.

He was a four times Polish champion after he won gold at the Polish Individual Speedway Championship in 1953, 1956, 1961 and 1962. 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. Although he did not ride in the British leagues throughout his career he nearly signed for Birmingham Brummies in 1957 and was named in the Wimbledon Dons team during the same season. He was working as an ambulance driver in Poland at the time.

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

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)