The 2025 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by HKC Koopmann, Anlas, Kineo and Blackburst gets under way this coming Sunday (25 May) at Terenzano in north-east Italy and with seven of last season’s top-ten-ranked riders returning for another attempt at the title the action promises to be relentless from the get-go.
With six rounds spread across five countries in the space of four months, the 2025 calendar mirrors the short, sharp and incredibly intense nature of Flat Track racing itself and the entry for Sunday’s opening round is truly international with twenty-four riders lining up, representing twelve nations and three continents with three former and current FIM World Champions in action.
At each round riders will compete over a programme of twelve Heats with the top ten progressing directly to the Grand Final. Riders placed eleventh to twentieth will then take part in a Last Chance Heat with the top two finishers also earning a place in the Grand Final where, in a change for this year, on top of the regular championship points available an additional point will be awarded to the fastest rider.
The rider everyone wants to beat is defending champion Sammy Halbert from the USA. A former American Motorcyclist Association Grand National Champion and X-Games gold medallist, the thirty-seven-year-old from the Pacific Northwest was in dominant form last season and finished on the podium at every round with a Grand Final record of two wins, three seconds and a third.
In just his second full season in the championship, such incredible consistency should have seen Halbert take the title by a comfortable margin, but Ervin Krajčovič (KTM) – who won the crown in 2023 – had not read the script and the thirty-three-year-old from Prague in the Czech Republic was a constant threat, winning the last two Grand Finals of the season and falling just four points short of his American rival.
While last year’s top two will be looking to carry their dominance into this season, the retirement of 2024 bronze medallist Lasse Kurvinen – himself a two-time champion – leaves a vacant step on the podium. After losing third on a tie-break to the Finn, Britain’s Tim Neave (Yamaha) will be focussed on stepping up his title challenge, but he will face fierce opposition from Kevin Corradetti (Yamaha) – the 2021 silver medal winner – who ended 2024 just three points behind him in fifth and who will enjoy home advantage on Sunday.
Following a solid if unspectacular campaign last year, Spain’s Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) – the 2022 FIM Flat Track World Champion – completed the season in sixth, although failed to achieve a single Grand Final podium, an issue he will need to address this season if he is to strike gold for a second time.
Ondřej Svědík (Yamaha) only scored one podium last season on his way to eighth in the championship, and the charging Czech rider has won at this level and must be considered a threat if he can eliminate unforced errors and produce consistent results.
The final member of last season’s top ten, German’s Markus Jell (Schruf Racing KTM) won a bronze medal in 2021, though has not been able to replicate this form since over a full campaign and ended the 2024 championship in ninth.
Jell will team up with fast female Yasmin Poppenreiter (Schruf Racing KTM)who returns to action after opting to sit out the 2024 series. While the Austrian is unlikely to be pushing for a podium, she is extremely experienced having made her series debut in 2013 and will be hoping to score solid points at every opportunity.
From Terenzano, which is appearing on the FIM Flat Track World Championship calendar for the first time since 2019, riders will travel north to the more familiar surroundings of Meissen in Germany in mid-June before the series makes its Croatian debut with round three in Donji Kraljevec one month later.
Another venue new to the championship, Scheessel in Germany is next up in August before the championship concludes on consecutive weekends with a first-ever visit to Vasad in Hungary followed by the deciding sixth and final round at Pardubice in the Czech Republic.
To stay fully up to date with the 2025 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by HKC Koopmann, Anlas, Kineo and Blackburst please download the SportityApp and use the password FIMFT to access FlatTracknews.
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