Martin Vaculík

Martin Vaculík (born 5 April 1990) is a Slovak motorcycle speedway rider.

Career

On the 6 May 2008, Vaculík gained a Polish speedway licence (Licencja "Ż") at Toruń, and from 4 June 2008, he has taken part in the Polish Championships as a Polish domestic rider.

In 2012, Vaculik won his first ever Grand Prix as part of the 2012 World Championship, he won the 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in Gorzów. The following year, he won the 2013 Speedway European Championship. After missing the World Championship from 2014 until 2016, he returned in 2017 and won the 2017 Speedway Grand Prix of Slovenia. He won his third Grand Prix during the 2018 Speedway Grand Prix series when winning the 2018 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland II.

Vaculík's only venture into British speedway (in 2018) ended in unfortunate circumstances after he broke an ankle riding for Leicester Lions in only his second outing with them.

In 2019, Vaculík rode strongly and finished in fifth place in the World Championship but suffered several injuries that affected his 2020 and 2021 performances.

Vaculík finished in ninth place (despite injury problems) during the 2022 Speedway World Championship, after securing 91 points during the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix, which included winning the Czech Republic and Toruń Grand Prix. He later broke his shoulder during a Polish league match.

Vaculík was selected as a full time rider for the 2023 Speedway Grand Prix and won the Czech Republic Grand Prix in June and Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain in September. He went on to secure a career best finish in the World Championship by claiming the bronze medal.

During the 2024 Speedway Grand Prix, Vaculík secured a third consecutive Czech Republic Grand Prix and won the Polish Grand Prix in Wrocław. In 2025, he had a disappointing season, finishing 14th in the World Championship.

Major results World individual Championship 2012 Speedway Grand Prix - 11th 2013 Speedway Grand Prix - 14th 2017 Speedway Grand Prix - 9th 2018 Speedway Grand Prix - 13th 2019 Speedway Grand Prix - 5th 2020 Speedway Grand Prix - 9th 2021 Speedway Grand Prix - 12th 2022 Speedway Grand Prix - 9th 2023 Speedway Grand Prix - 3rd 2024 Speedway Grand Prix - 5th 2025 Speedway Grand Prix - 14th

Grand Prix wins 1: 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland (Gorzów) 2: 2017 Speedway Grand Prix of Slovenia 3: 2018 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland II (Gorzów) 4: 2022 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic 5: 2022 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland IV (Toruń) 6: 2023 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic 7: 2023 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain 8: 2024 Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic 9: 2024 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland (Wrocław)

World junior Championships Individual U-21 World Championship 2007 - 12th place in the Semi-final 2 2008 - Pardubice - 5th place (9 pts) 2009 - 16th place in the Semi-Final 1

European Championships Speedway European Championship 2013 - European Champion Individual European Championship 2008 - withdrew from the Qualifying Round 3 Individual U-19 European Championship 2007 - Częstochowa - 6th place (10 pts + 4th in Rune-Off) 2009 - Tarnów - 3rd place (13 pts + 2nd in Run-Off)

Speedway World Championships Results Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Heats Heat Wins GP Finals GP Wins Position Points 2012 NZL EUR CZE SWE DEN POL CRO ITA GBR SCN NOR PL2 35 12 2 1 11th 67 2013 NZL EUR SWE CZE GBR POL DEN ITA LAT SLO SCA PL2 58 8 0 0 14th 62 2017 SVN POL LAT CZE DEN GBR SWE PL2 GER SCA PL3 AUS 69 13 3 1 9th 99 2018 POL CZE DEN SWE GBR SCA PL2 SVN GER PL3 41 11 2 1 13th 52 2019 POL SVN CZE SWE PL2 SCA GER DEN GBR PL3 59 17 3 0 5th 95 2020 POL PL2 PL3 PL4 CZE CZ2 PL5 PL6 47 12 1 0 9th 78

Speedway European Championship Results Year 1 2 3 4 Heats Heat Wins GP Finals GP Wins Position Points 2013 POL RUS CRO PL2 22 14 2 1 1st 47 2014 GER RUS DEN POL 22 7 2 0 4th 41 2015 POL GER SWE PL2 20 4 0 0 5th 33 2016 GER LAT RUS POL 17 3 1 1 12th 24