Matěj Kůs (born 11 July 1989) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from the Czech Republic.[2] He is a Czech Republic national champion[3] and earned 10 international caps for the Czech Republic national speedway team.[4]
 | |
| Born | 11 July 1989 Plzeň, Czechoslovakia |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Matty, Magicman or KusKus.[1] |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Career history | |
| Czech Republic | |
| 2005–2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 | Olmp/Marketa Praha |
| 2007 | Liberec |
| Great Britain | |
| 2007, 2014 | Berwick Bandits |
| 2011-2013, 2015, 2018 | Redcar Bears |
| 2016 | Newcastle Diamonds |
| Poland | |
| 2007 | Lublin |
| 2008 | Rivne |
| 2009, 2013 | Toruń |
| 2010 | Gdańsk |
| 2012-2013, 2019 | Kraków |
| 2014-2015 | Gniezno |
| Denmark | |
| 2008 | Slangerup |
| 2011 | Fjelsted |
| Sweden | |
| 2010 | Valsarna |
| Individual honours | |
| 2010 | Czech Republic Speedway Championship |
Career
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Kůs represented the Czech Republic national speedway team and was named 3 times as Speedway Grand Prix Wild Card in Prague. He became a full Czech international representative rider when he was selected for the Speedway World Cup first time in 2008. Kus is supported by Centrum Sportu Ministerstva Vnitra of the Czech Republic.
He began his British league career in 2007, when he rode for Berwick Bandits.[5] In 2007, Kůs was racing for the Berwick Bandits, when a crash left him unconscious for 45 minutes. When he awoke he was suffering from amnesia and reportedly spoke perfect English, a sudden and unexplained knowledge of the English language, a phenomenon known as xenoglossy. As Kůs had just begun to study the English language, his team members were shocked to hear him speaking the language perfectly. However, the effect did not last long and Kůs had no recollection of the incident after two days.[6]
He returned to Britain for the 2011 season after signing for the Redcar Bears and spent the next three seasons with the club. In 2013, he received a 28 day ban in Britain following his failure to ride in a British league fixture.[7]
In 2014, Kus rode for Berwick Bandits[8] returning to his parent club Redcar Bears in 2015. Newcastle Diamonds speedway bought him in 2016 and paid the transfer fee to Redcar Bears. In 2017, he started well after winning the first meeting of the season in Lonigo (Italy). Unfortunately, he was injured the following week and badly broke his foot in Poland. Kus missed most of the rest of the 2017 season because of the injury, although he managed to ride in the Speedway World Cup at King's Lynn.
His last season in Britain was riding for Redcar and Newcastle in 2018.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Bamford, Robert (2008). Methanol Press Speedway Yearbook 2008. Methanol Press. ISBN 978-0-9553103-5-5.
- ^ "Matěj Kůs Czechy". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ "Individual Czechoslovakian Championship". Historia Sportu Zuzlowego. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ "Czech crash victim wakes up speaking English". News.com.au. 14 September 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ "Matej Kus gets 28-day speedway ban". Teesside Live. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ "WATCH: Matej Kus hails 'brilliant' Bandits". The Southern Reporter. Retrieved 28 August 2024.