The destiny of the 2016 Long Track title will be decided on Saturday when Final of this year’s series is staged on the 535m ‘sandbahn’ in the North German town of Vechta.
The start draw has now been made and can be viewed here.
Local fans will be expecting to celebrate a German victory with Erik Riss currently 16 points ahead at the top of the leader board and seemingly set to take his second World Championship. Riss, son of Long Track legend Gerd, lost his title to Jannick De Jong last year but has led the series from the start and, barring incident, should be collecting the gold medal at around 10.00 on Saturday evening.
There is still a good competition for the remaining medals with at least three riders in contention. De Jong dropped points in the last event in Morizes allowing Frenchmen Dmitri Berge and Mathieu Tresarrieu to close in on the top places and Dutchman Theo Pjiper also has a theoretical chance.
Wild Card for this meeting will be young German prospect Michael Hartel, a member of their Long Track World Championship team that won the silver medal earlier this year but there is disappointment for the local supporters with the enforced withdrawal of Jorg Tebbe and Stephan Katt both of whom picked up season-ending injuries in Morizes. Finland’s Jesse Mustonen and Italian Alessandro Milanese take their places in the draw.
The other battle to be resolved is the race to finish as one the top eight riders who will automatically qualify for the 2017 championship. Richard Hall, Josef Franc, Aki-Pekka Mustonen and Glen Phillips are in contention whilst Tebbe will be left to watch from the side lines hoping for a favourable selection as a permanent Wild Card next year.
As if to illustrate the reality of present day track racing, both Riss and Berge are taking part in the Under 21 Speedway World Championship and will be racing in Pardubice on Friday. They will aim for a successful event before making the 800km journey from the Czech Republic in time for practice in Vechta on Saturday morning.
Current leading scores:
1. Erik Riss (Germany) 94
2. Jannick De Jong (Netherlands) 78
3. Dmitri Berge (France) 76
4. Mathieu Tresarrieu (France) 74
5. Theo Pijper (Netherlands) 63
6. Richard Hall (Great Britain) 51
7. Josef Franc (Czech Republic) 40
8. Jorg Tebbe (Germany) 38
9. Aki-Pekka Mustonen (Finland) 36
10. Glen Phillips (Great Britain) 35
FIM Jury President Christian Bouin of France and Referee Chris Durno from Great Britain will supervise the meeting. Racing in Vechta will start at 19.00 local time with a full programme of sidecar and national races to supplement the main event.
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